一八七八年我在倫敦大學獲得醫學博士學位以後，就到內特黎去進修軍醫的必修課程。 我在那裏讀完了我的課程以後，立刻就被派往諾桑伯蘭第五明火槍團充當軍醫助理。這個團 當時駐紮在印度。在我還沒有趕到部隊以前，第二次阿富汗戰役就爆發了。我在孟買上岸的 時候，聽說我所屬的那個部隊已經穿過山隘，嚮前挺進，深入敵境了。雖然如此，我還是跟 着一群和我一樣掉隊的軍官趕上前去，平安地到達了坎達哈。我在那裏找到了我的團，馬上 擔負起我的新職務。
這次戰役給許多人帶來了升遷和榮譽，但是帶給我的卻衹是不幸和災難。我在被轉調到 巴剋州旅以後，就和這個旅一起參加了邁旺德那場决死的激戰。在這次戰役中，我的肩部中 了一粒捷則爾槍彈，打碎了肩骨，擦傷了鎖骨下面的動脈。①若不是我那忠勇的勤務兵摩瑞 把我抓起來扔到一起馱馬的背上，安全地把我帶回英國陣地來，我就要落到那些殘忍的嘎吉 人的手中了。②
①捷則爾為一種笨重的阿富汗槍的名稱。——譯者註
②回教徒士兵。——譯者註
創痛使我形銷骨立，再加上長期的輾轉勞頓，使我更加虛弱不堪。於是我就和一大批傷 員一起，被送到了波舒爾的後方醫院。在那裏，我的健康狀況大大好轉起來，可是當我已經 能夠在病房中稍稍走動，甚至還能在走廊上曬一會兒太陽的時候，我又病倒了，染上了我們 印度屬地的那種倒黴疫癥——傷寒。有好幾個月，我都是昏迷不醒，奄奄一息。最後我終於 恢復了神智，逐漸痊愈起來。但是病後我的身體十分虛弱、憔悴，因此經過醫生會診後，决 定立即將我送回英國，一天也不許耽擱。於是，我就乘運兵船"奧侖梯茲號"被遣送回國。一 個月以後，我便在普次茅斯的碼頭登岸了。那時，我的健康已是糟糕透了，幾乎達到難以恢 復的地步。但是，好心的政府給了我九個月的假期，使我將養身體。
我在英國無親無友，所以就象空氣一樣的自由；或者說是象一個每天收入十一先令六便 士的人那樣逍遙自在。在這種情況下，我很自然地就被吸引進倫敦這個大污水坑裏去，大英 帝國所有的遊民懶漢也都是匯集到這裏來的。我在倫敦河濱馬路上的一傢公寓裏住了一些時 候，過着既不舒適又非常無聊的生活，錢一到手就花光了，大大地超過了我所能負擔的開 支，因此我的經濟情況變得非常恐慌起來。我不久就看了出來：我必須離開這個大都市移居 到鄉下去；要不就得徹底改變我的生活方式。我選定了後一個辦法，决心離開這傢公寓，另 找一個不太奢侈而又化費不大的住處。
就在我决定這樣做的那天，我正站在剋萊梯利安酒吧門前的時候，忽然有人拍了拍我的 肩膀。我回頭一看，原來是小斯坦弗。他是我在巴茨時的一個助手。在這茫茫人海的倫敦城 中，居然能夠碰到一個熟人，對於一個孤獨的人來說，確是一件令人非常愉快的事。斯坦弗 當日並不是和我特別要好的朋友，但現在我竟熱情地嚮他招呼起來。他見到我，似乎也很高 興。我在狂喜之餘，立刻邀他到侯本餐廳去吃午飯；於是我們就一同乘車前往。
當我們的車子轔轔地穿過倫敦熱鬧街道的時候，他很驚破地問我：“華生，你近來幹些 什麽？看你面黃肌瘦，衹剩了一把骨頭了。”
我把我的危險經歷簡單地對他敘述了一下。我的話還沒有講完，我們就到達了目的地。
他聽完了我的不幸遭遇以後，憐憫地說：“可憐的傢夥！你現在作何打算呢？"我回答 說：“我想找個住處，打算租幾間價錢不高而又舒適一些的房子，不知道這個問題能不能夠 解决。”
我的夥伴說：“這真是怪事，今天你是第二個對我說這樣話的人了。”
我問道：“頭一個是誰？”
“是一個在醫院化驗室工作的。今天早晨他還在唉聲嘆氣，因為他找到了幾間好房子， 但是，租金很貴，他一個人住不起，又找不到人跟他合租。”
我說：“好啊，如果他真的要找個人合住的話，我倒正是他要找的人。我覺得有個伴兒 比獨自一個兒住要好的多。”
小斯坦弗從酒杯上很驚破地望着我，他說：“你還不知道歇洛剋·福爾摩斯吧，否則你 也許會不願意和他作一個長年相處的夥伴哩。”
“為什麽，難道他有什麽不好的地方嗎？”
“哦，我不是說他有什麽不好的地方。他衹是思想上有些古怪而已——他老是孜孜不倦 地在研究一些科學。據我所知，他倒是個很正派的人。”
我說：“也許他是一個學醫的吧？”
“不是，我一點也摸不清他在鑽研些什麽。我相信他精於解剖學，又是個第一流的藥劑 師。但是，據我瞭解，他從來沒有係統地學過醫學。他所研究的東西非常雜亂，不成係統， 並且也很離破；但是他卻積纍了不少稀破古怪的知識，足以使他的教授都感到驚訝。”
我問道：“你從來沒有問過他在鑽研些什麽嗎？”
“沒有，他是不輕易說出心裏話的，雖然在他高興的時候，他也是滔滔不絶地很愛說 話。”
我說：“我倒願意見見他。如果我要和別人合住，我倒寧願跟一個好學而又沉靜的人住 在一起。我現在身體還不大結實，受不了吵鬧和刺激。我在阿富汗已經嘗夠了那種滋味，這 一輩子再也不想受了。我怎樣才能見到你的這位朋友呢？”
我的同伴回答說：“他現在一定是在化驗室裏。他要麽就幾個星期不去，要麽就從早到 晚在那裏工作。如果你願意的話，咱們吃完飯就坐車一塊兒去。”
“當然願意啦！"我說，於是我們又轉到別的話題上去。
在我們離開侯本前往醫院去的路上，斯坦弗又給我講了一些關於那位先生的詳細情況。
他說：“如果你和他處不來可不要怪我。我衹是在化驗室裏偶然碰到他，略微知道他一 些；此外，對於他就一無所知了。既然你自己提議這麽辦，那麽，就不要叫我負責了。”
我回答說：“如果我們處不來，散夥也很容易。"我用眼睛盯着我的同伴接着說道， “斯坦弗，我看，你對這件事似乎要縮手不管了，其中一定有緣故。是不是這個人的起起真 的那樣可怕，還是有別的原因？不要這樣吞吞吐吐的。”
他笑了一笑說：“要把難以形容的事用言語表達出來可真不容易。我看福爾摩斯這個人 有點太科學化了，幾乎近於冷血的程度。我記得有一次，他拿一小撮植物鹼給他的朋友嘗 嘗。你要知道，這並不是出於什麽惡意，衹不過是出於一種鑽研的動機，要想正確地瞭解這 種藥物的不同效果罷了。平心而論，我認為他自己也會一口把它吞下去的。看來他對於確切 的知識有着強烈的愛好。”
“這種精神也是對的呀。”
“是的，不過也未免太過分了。後來他甚至在解剖室裏用棍子抽打屍體，這畢竟是一件 怪事吧。”
“抽打屍體！”
“是啊，他是為了證明人死以後還能造成什麽樣的傷痕。我親眼看見過他抽打屍體。”
“你不是說他不是學醫的嗎？”
“是呀。天曉得他在研究些什麽東西。現在咱們到了，他到底是怎麽樣一個人，你自己 瞧吧。"他說着，我們就下了車，走進一條狹窄的鬍同，從一個小小的旁門進去，來到一所 大醫院的側樓。這是我所熟悉的地方，不用人領路我們就走上了白石臺階，穿過一條長長的 走廊。走廊兩壁刷得雪白，兩旁有許多暗褐色的小門。靠着走廊盡頭上有一個低低的拱形過 道，從這裏一直通往化驗室。
化驗室是一間高大的屋子，四面雜亂地擺着無數的妻子。幾張又矮又大的桌子縱橫排列 着，上邊放着許多蒸餾瓶、試管和一些閃動着藍色火焰的小小的本生燈。屋子裏衹有一個 人，他坐在較遠的一張桌子前邊，伏在桌上聚精會神地工作着。他聽到我們的腳步聲，回過 頭來瞧了一眼，接着就跳了起來，高興地歡呼着：“我發現了！我發現了！"他對我的同伴 大聲說着，一面手裏拿着一個試管嚮我們跑來，“我發現了一種試劑，衹能用血色蛋白質來 沉澱，別的都不行。"即使他發現了金礦，也不見得會比現在顯得更高興。
斯坦弗給我們介紹說：“這位是華生醫生，這位是福爾摩斯先生。”
“您好。"福爾摩斯熱誠地說，一邊使勁握住我的手。我簡直不能相信他會有這樣大的 力氣。
“我看得出來，您到過阿富汗。”
我吃驚地問道：“您怎麽知道的？”
“這沒有什麽，"他格格地笑了笑，“現在要談的是血色蛋白質的問題。沒有問題，您 一定會看出我這發現的重要性了吧？”
我回答說：“從化學上來說，無疑地這是很有意思的，但是在實用方面……”
“怎麽，先生，這是近年來實用法醫學上最重大的發現了。難道您還看不出來這種試劑 能使我們在鑒別血跡上百無一失嗎？請到這邊來！"他急忙拉住我的袖口，把我拖到他原來 工作的那張桌子的前面。"咱們弄點鮮血，"他說着，用一根長針刺破自己的手指，再用一支 吸管吸了那滴血。
“現在把這一點兒鮮血放到一公升水裏去。您看，這種混合液與清水無異。血在這種溶 液中所占的成分還不到百萬分之一。雖然如此，我確信咱們還是能夠得到一種特定的反 應。”說着他就把幾粒白色結晶放進這個容器裏，然後又加上幾滴透明的液體。不一會兒， 這溶液就現出暗紅色了，一些棕色顆粒漸漸沉澱到瓶底上。
“哈！哈！"他拍着手，象小孩子拿到新玩具似地那樣興高采烈地喊道，“您看怎麽 樣？”
我說：“看來這倒是一種非常精密的實驗。”
“妙極了！簡直妙極了！過去用愈創木液試驗的方法，既難作又不準確。用顯微鏡檢驗 血球的方法也同樣不好。如果血跡已幹了幾個鐘頭以後，再用顯微鏡來檢驗就不起作用了。 現在，不論血跡新舊，這種新試劑看來都一樣會發生作用。假如這個試驗方法能早些發現， 那麽，現在世界上數以百計的逍遙法外的罪人早就受到法律的製裁了。”
我喃喃地說道：“確是這樣！”
“許多刑事犯罪案件往往取决於這一點。也許罪行發生後幾個月才能查出一個嫌疑犯。 檢查了他的襯衣或者其他衣物後，發現上面有褐色斑點。這些斑點究竟是血跡呢，還是泥 跡，是鐵銹還是果汁的痕跡呢，還是其他什麽東西？這是一個使許多專傢都感到為難的問 題，可是為什麽呢？就是因為沒有可靠的檢驗方法。現在，我們有了歇洛剋·福爾摩斯檢驗 法，以後就不會有任何睏難了。”
他說話的時候，兩眼顯得炯炯有神。他把一隻手按在胸前，鞠了一躬，好象是在對許多 想象之中正在鼓掌的觀衆致谢似的。
我看到他那興奮的樣子很覺驚破，我說：“我嚮你祝賀。”
“去年在法蘭剋福地方發生過馮·彼少夫一案。如果當時就有這個檢驗方法的話，那 麽，他一定早就被絞死了。此外還有布萊德弗地方的梅森；臭名昭著的摩勒；茂姆培利耶的 洛菲沃以及新奧爾良的賽姆森。我可以舉出二十多個案件，在這些案件裏，用這個方法都會 起决定性的作用。”
斯坦弗不禁大笑起來，他說：“你好象是犯罪案件的活字典。你真可以創辦一份報紙， 起名叫做'警務新聞舊錄報'。”
“讀讀這樣的報紙一定很有趣味。"福爾摩斯一面把一小塊橡皮膏貼在手指破口上，一 面說，“我不得不小心一點，"他轉過臉來對我笑了一笑，接着又說，“因為我常和毒起接 觸。”說着他就伸出手來給我看。衹見他的手上幾乎貼滿了同樣大小的橡皮膏，並且由於受 到強酸的侵蝕，手也變了顔色。
“我們到你這兒來有點事情，"斯坦弗說着就坐在一隻三腳高凳上，並且用腳把另一隻 凳子嚮我這邊推了一推，接着又說，“我這位朋友要找個住處，因為你正抱怨找不着人跟你 合住，所以我想正好給你們兩人介紹一下。”
福爾摩斯聽了要跟我合住，似乎感到很高興，他說：“我看中了貝剋街的一所公寓式的 房子，對咱們兩個人完全合適。但願您不討厭強烈的煙草氣味。”
我回答說：“我自己總是抽'船'牌煙的。”
“那好極了。我常常搞一些化學藥品，偶爾也做做試驗，你不討厭嗎？”
“决不會。”
“讓我想想——我還有什麽別的缺點呢？有時我心情不好，一連幾天不開口；在這種情 形下，您不要以為我是生氣了，但聽我自然，不久就會好的。您也有什麽缺點要說一說嗎？ 兩個人在同住以前，最好能夠彼此先瞭解瞭解對方的最大缺點。”
聽到他這樣追根問底，我不禁笑了起來。我說：“我養了一條小虎頭狗。我的神經受過 刺激，最怕吵鬧。每天不定什麽時候起床，並且非常懶。在我身體健壯的時候，我還有其他 一些壞習慣，但是目前主要的缺點就是這些了。”
他又急切地問道：“您把拉提琴也算在吵鬧範圍以內嗎？”
我回答說：“那要看拉提琴的人了。提琴拉得好，那真是象仙樂一般的動聽，要是拉得 不好的話……”
福爾摩斯高興地笑着說：“啊，那就好了。如果您對那所房子還滿意的話，我想咱們可 以認為這件事就算談妥了。”
“咱們什麽時候去看看房子？”
他回答說：“明天中午您先到這兒來找我，咱們再一起去，把一切事情都决定下來。”
我握着他的手說：“好吧，明天中午準時見。”
我們走的時候，他還在忙着做化學試驗。我和斯坦弗便一起嚮我所住的公寓走去。
“順便問你一句，"我突然站住，轉過臉來嚮斯坦弗說，“真見鬼，他怎麽會知道我是 從阿富汗回來的呢？”
我的同伴意味深長地笑了笑，他說：“這就是他特別的地方。許多人都想要知道他究竟 是怎麽看出問題來的。”
“咳，這不是很神秘嗎？"我搓着兩手說，“真有趣極了。我很感謝你把我們兩人拉在 一起。要知道，真是'研究人類最恰當的途徑還是從具體的人着手'。”
“嗯，你一定得研究研究他，"斯坦弗在和我告別的時候說，“但是你會發現，他真是 個難以研究的人物。我敢擔保，他瞭解你要比你瞭解他高明得多。再見吧！”
我答了一聲：“再見！"然後就慢步嚮着我的公寓走去，我覺得我新結識的這個朋友非 常有趣。
The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.
Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the troopship "Orontes," and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile.
On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom.
"Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?" he asked in undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. "You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut."
I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that we reached our destination.
"Poor devil!" he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. "What are you up to now?"
"Looking for lodgings," I answered. "Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price."
"That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the second man to-day that has used that expression to me."
"And who was the first?" I asked.
"A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse."
"By Jove!" I cried, "if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone."
Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. "You don't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion."
"Why, what is there against him?"
"Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas -- an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough."
"A medical student, I suppose?" said I.
"No -- I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the way knowledge which would astonish his professors."
"Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked.
"No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him."
"I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?"
"He is sure to be at the laboratory," returned my companion. "He either avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, we shall drive round together after luncheon."
"Certainly," I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels.
As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, Stamford gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow-lodger.
"You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with him," he said; "I know nothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasionally in the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold me responsible."
"If we don't get on it will be easy to part company," I answered. "It seems to me, Stamford," I added, looking hard at my companion, "that you have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow's temper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealy-mouthed about it."
"It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he answered with a laugh. "Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes -- it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge."
"Very right too."
"Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape."
"Beating the subjects!"
"Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes."
"And yet you say he is not a medical student?"
"No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here we are, and you must form your own impressions about him." As he spoke, we turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side-door, which opened into a wing of the great hospital. It was familiar ground to me, and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone staircase and made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed wall and dun-coloured doors. Near the further end a low arched passage branched away from it and led to the chemical laboratory.
This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. "I've found it! I've found it," he shouted to my companion, running towards us with a test-tube in his hand. "I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by haemoglobin, and by nothing else." Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight could not have shone upon his features.
"Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stamford, introducing us.
"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."
"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in astonishment.
"Never mind," said he, chuckling to himself. "The question now is about hoemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?"
"It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I answered, "but practically ----"
"Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!" He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. "Let us have some fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. "Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction." As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.
"Ha! ha!" he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new toy. "What do you think of that?"
"It seems to be a very delicate test," I remarked.
"Beautiful! beautiful! The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had this test been invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes."
"Indeed!" I murmured.
"Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes' test, and there will no longer be any difficulty."
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination.
"You are to be congratulated," I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm.
"There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of new Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive."
"You seem to be a walking calendar of crime," said Stamford with a laugh. "You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the `Police News of the Past.'"
"Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger. "I have to be careful," he continued, turning to me with a smile, "for I dabble with poisons a good deal." He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong acids.
"We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a high three-legged stool, and pushing another one in my direction with his foot. "My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought that I had better bring you together."
Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. "I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would suit us down to the ground. You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?"
"I always smoke `ship's' myself," I answered.
"That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?"
"By no means."
"Let me see -- what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right. What have you to confess now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together."
I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull pup," I said, "and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."
"Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?" he asked, anxiously.
"It depends on the player," I answered. "A well-played violin is a treat for the gods -- a badly-played one ----"
"Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh. "I think we may consider the thing as settled -- that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you."
"When shall we see them?"
"Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we'll go together and settle everything," he answered.
"All right -- noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand.
We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.
"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, "how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?"
My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little peculiarity," he said. "A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out."
"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my hands. "This is very piquant. I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. `The proper study of mankind is man,' you know."
"You must study him, then," Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye. "You'll find him a knotty problem, though. I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance.
這次戰役給許多人帶來了升遷和榮譽，但是帶給我的卻衹是不幸和災難。我在被轉調到 巴剋州旅以後，就和這個旅一起參加了邁旺德那場决死的激戰。在這次戰役中，我的肩部中 了一粒捷則爾槍彈，打碎了肩骨，擦傷了鎖骨下面的動脈。①若不是我那忠勇的勤務兵摩瑞 把我抓起來扔到一起馱馬的背上，安全地把我帶回英國陣地來，我就要落到那些殘忍的嘎吉 人的手中了。②
①捷則爾為一種笨重的阿富汗槍的名稱。——譯者註
②回教徒士兵。——譯者註
創痛使我形銷骨立，再加上長期的輾轉勞頓，使我更加虛弱不堪。於是我就和一大批傷 員一起，被送到了波舒爾的後方醫院。在那裏，我的健康狀況大大好轉起來，可是當我已經 能夠在病房中稍稍走動，甚至還能在走廊上曬一會兒太陽的時候，我又病倒了，染上了我們 印度屬地的那種倒黴疫癥——傷寒。有好幾個月，我都是昏迷不醒，奄奄一息。最後我終於 恢復了神智，逐漸痊愈起來。但是病後我的身體十分虛弱、憔悴，因此經過醫生會診後，决 定立即將我送回英國，一天也不許耽擱。於是，我就乘運兵船"奧侖梯茲號"被遣送回國。一 個月以後，我便在普次茅斯的碼頭登岸了。那時，我的健康已是糟糕透了，幾乎達到難以恢 復的地步。但是，好心的政府給了我九個月的假期，使我將養身體。
我在英國無親無友，所以就象空氣一樣的自由；或者說是象一個每天收入十一先令六便 士的人那樣逍遙自在。在這種情況下，我很自然地就被吸引進倫敦這個大污水坑裏去，大英 帝國所有的遊民懶漢也都是匯集到這裏來的。我在倫敦河濱馬路上的一傢公寓裏住了一些時 候，過着既不舒適又非常無聊的生活，錢一到手就花光了，大大地超過了我所能負擔的開 支，因此我的經濟情況變得非常恐慌起來。我不久就看了出來：我必須離開這個大都市移居 到鄉下去；要不就得徹底改變我的生活方式。我選定了後一個辦法，决心離開這傢公寓，另 找一個不太奢侈而又化費不大的住處。
就在我决定這樣做的那天，我正站在剋萊梯利安酒吧門前的時候，忽然有人拍了拍我的 肩膀。我回頭一看，原來是小斯坦弗。他是我在巴茨時的一個助手。在這茫茫人海的倫敦城 中，居然能夠碰到一個熟人，對於一個孤獨的人來說，確是一件令人非常愉快的事。斯坦弗 當日並不是和我特別要好的朋友，但現在我竟熱情地嚮他招呼起來。他見到我，似乎也很高 興。我在狂喜之餘，立刻邀他到侯本餐廳去吃午飯；於是我們就一同乘車前往。
當我們的車子轔轔地穿過倫敦熱鬧街道的時候，他很驚破地問我：“華生，你近來幹些 什麽？看你面黃肌瘦，衹剩了一把骨頭了。”
我把我的危險經歷簡單地對他敘述了一下。我的話還沒有講完，我們就到達了目的地。
他聽完了我的不幸遭遇以後，憐憫地說：“可憐的傢夥！你現在作何打算呢？"我回答 說：“我想找個住處，打算租幾間價錢不高而又舒適一些的房子，不知道這個問題能不能夠 解决。”
我的夥伴說：“這真是怪事，今天你是第二個對我說這樣話的人了。”
我問道：“頭一個是誰？”
“是一個在醫院化驗室工作的。今天早晨他還在唉聲嘆氣，因為他找到了幾間好房子， 但是，租金很貴，他一個人住不起，又找不到人跟他合租。”
我說：“好啊，如果他真的要找個人合住的話，我倒正是他要找的人。我覺得有個伴兒 比獨自一個兒住要好的多。”
小斯坦弗從酒杯上很驚破地望着我，他說：“你還不知道歇洛剋·福爾摩斯吧，否則你 也許會不願意和他作一個長年相處的夥伴哩。”
“為什麽，難道他有什麽不好的地方嗎？”
“哦，我不是說他有什麽不好的地方。他衹是思想上有些古怪而已——他老是孜孜不倦 地在研究一些科學。據我所知，他倒是個很正派的人。”
我說：“也許他是一個學醫的吧？”
“不是，我一點也摸不清他在鑽研些什麽。我相信他精於解剖學，又是個第一流的藥劑 師。但是，據我瞭解，他從來沒有係統地學過醫學。他所研究的東西非常雜亂，不成係統， 並且也很離破；但是他卻積纍了不少稀破古怪的知識，足以使他的教授都感到驚訝。”
我問道：“你從來沒有問過他在鑽研些什麽嗎？”
“沒有，他是不輕易說出心裏話的，雖然在他高興的時候，他也是滔滔不絶地很愛說 話。”
我說：“我倒願意見見他。如果我要和別人合住，我倒寧願跟一個好學而又沉靜的人住 在一起。我現在身體還不大結實，受不了吵鬧和刺激。我在阿富汗已經嘗夠了那種滋味，這 一輩子再也不想受了。我怎樣才能見到你的這位朋友呢？”
我的同伴回答說：“他現在一定是在化驗室裏。他要麽就幾個星期不去，要麽就從早到 晚在那裏工作。如果你願意的話，咱們吃完飯就坐車一塊兒去。”
“當然願意啦！"我說，於是我們又轉到別的話題上去。
在我們離開侯本前往醫院去的路上，斯坦弗又給我講了一些關於那位先生的詳細情況。
他說：“如果你和他處不來可不要怪我。我衹是在化驗室裏偶然碰到他，略微知道他一 些；此外，對於他就一無所知了。既然你自己提議這麽辦，那麽，就不要叫我負責了。”
我回答說：“如果我們處不來，散夥也很容易。"我用眼睛盯着我的同伴接着說道， “斯坦弗，我看，你對這件事似乎要縮手不管了，其中一定有緣故。是不是這個人的起起真 的那樣可怕，還是有別的原因？不要這樣吞吞吐吐的。”
他笑了一笑說：“要把難以形容的事用言語表達出來可真不容易。我看福爾摩斯這個人 有點太科學化了，幾乎近於冷血的程度。我記得有一次，他拿一小撮植物鹼給他的朋友嘗 嘗。你要知道，這並不是出於什麽惡意，衹不過是出於一種鑽研的動機，要想正確地瞭解這 種藥物的不同效果罷了。平心而論，我認為他自己也會一口把它吞下去的。看來他對於確切 的知識有着強烈的愛好。”
“這種精神也是對的呀。”
“是的，不過也未免太過分了。後來他甚至在解剖室裏用棍子抽打屍體，這畢竟是一件 怪事吧。”
“抽打屍體！”
“是啊，他是為了證明人死以後還能造成什麽樣的傷痕。我親眼看見過他抽打屍體。”
“你不是說他不是學醫的嗎？”
“是呀。天曉得他在研究些什麽東西。現在咱們到了，他到底是怎麽樣一個人，你自己 瞧吧。"他說着，我們就下了車，走進一條狹窄的鬍同，從一個小小的旁門進去，來到一所 大醫院的側樓。這是我所熟悉的地方，不用人領路我們就走上了白石臺階，穿過一條長長的 走廊。走廊兩壁刷得雪白，兩旁有許多暗褐色的小門。靠着走廊盡頭上有一個低低的拱形過 道，從這裏一直通往化驗室。
化驗室是一間高大的屋子，四面雜亂地擺着無數的妻子。幾張又矮又大的桌子縱橫排列 着，上邊放着許多蒸餾瓶、試管和一些閃動着藍色火焰的小小的本生燈。屋子裏衹有一個 人，他坐在較遠的一張桌子前邊，伏在桌上聚精會神地工作着。他聽到我們的腳步聲，回過 頭來瞧了一眼，接着就跳了起來，高興地歡呼着：“我發現了！我發現了！"他對我的同伴 大聲說着，一面手裏拿着一個試管嚮我們跑來，“我發現了一種試劑，衹能用血色蛋白質來 沉澱，別的都不行。"即使他發現了金礦，也不見得會比現在顯得更高興。
斯坦弗給我們介紹說：“這位是華生醫生，這位是福爾摩斯先生。”
“您好。"福爾摩斯熱誠地說，一邊使勁握住我的手。我簡直不能相信他會有這樣大的 力氣。
“我看得出來，您到過阿富汗。”
我吃驚地問道：“您怎麽知道的？”
“這沒有什麽，"他格格地笑了笑，“現在要談的是血色蛋白質的問題。沒有問題，您 一定會看出我這發現的重要性了吧？”
我回答說：“從化學上來說，無疑地這是很有意思的，但是在實用方面……”
“怎麽，先生，這是近年來實用法醫學上最重大的發現了。難道您還看不出來這種試劑 能使我們在鑒別血跡上百無一失嗎？請到這邊來！"他急忙拉住我的袖口，把我拖到他原來 工作的那張桌子的前面。"咱們弄點鮮血，"他說着，用一根長針刺破自己的手指，再用一支 吸管吸了那滴血。
“現在把這一點兒鮮血放到一公升水裏去。您看，這種混合液與清水無異。血在這種溶 液中所占的成分還不到百萬分之一。雖然如此，我確信咱們還是能夠得到一種特定的反 應。”說着他就把幾粒白色結晶放進這個容器裏，然後又加上幾滴透明的液體。不一會兒， 這溶液就現出暗紅色了，一些棕色顆粒漸漸沉澱到瓶底上。
“哈！哈！"他拍着手，象小孩子拿到新玩具似地那樣興高采烈地喊道，“您看怎麽 樣？”
我說：“看來這倒是一種非常精密的實驗。”
“妙極了！簡直妙極了！過去用愈創木液試驗的方法，既難作又不準確。用顯微鏡檢驗 血球的方法也同樣不好。如果血跡已幹了幾個鐘頭以後，再用顯微鏡來檢驗就不起作用了。 現在，不論血跡新舊，這種新試劑看來都一樣會發生作用。假如這個試驗方法能早些發現， 那麽，現在世界上數以百計的逍遙法外的罪人早就受到法律的製裁了。”
我喃喃地說道：“確是這樣！”
“許多刑事犯罪案件往往取决於這一點。也許罪行發生後幾個月才能查出一個嫌疑犯。 檢查了他的襯衣或者其他衣物後，發現上面有褐色斑點。這些斑點究竟是血跡呢，還是泥 跡，是鐵銹還是果汁的痕跡呢，還是其他什麽東西？這是一個使許多專傢都感到為難的問 題，可是為什麽呢？就是因為沒有可靠的檢驗方法。現在，我們有了歇洛剋·福爾摩斯檢驗 法，以後就不會有任何睏難了。”
他說話的時候，兩眼顯得炯炯有神。他把一隻手按在胸前，鞠了一躬，好象是在對許多 想象之中正在鼓掌的觀衆致谢似的。
我看到他那興奮的樣子很覺驚破，我說：“我嚮你祝賀。”
“去年在法蘭剋福地方發生過馮·彼少夫一案。如果當時就有這個檢驗方法的話，那 麽，他一定早就被絞死了。此外還有布萊德弗地方的梅森；臭名昭著的摩勒；茂姆培利耶的 洛菲沃以及新奧爾良的賽姆森。我可以舉出二十多個案件，在這些案件裏，用這個方法都會 起决定性的作用。”
斯坦弗不禁大笑起來，他說：“你好象是犯罪案件的活字典。你真可以創辦一份報紙， 起名叫做'警務新聞舊錄報'。”
“讀讀這樣的報紙一定很有趣味。"福爾摩斯一面把一小塊橡皮膏貼在手指破口上，一 面說，“我不得不小心一點，"他轉過臉來對我笑了一笑，接着又說，“因為我常和毒起接 觸。”說着他就伸出手來給我看。衹見他的手上幾乎貼滿了同樣大小的橡皮膏，並且由於受 到強酸的侵蝕，手也變了顔色。
“我們到你這兒來有點事情，"斯坦弗說着就坐在一隻三腳高凳上，並且用腳把另一隻 凳子嚮我這邊推了一推，接着又說，“我這位朋友要找個住處，因為你正抱怨找不着人跟你 合住，所以我想正好給你們兩人介紹一下。”
福爾摩斯聽了要跟我合住，似乎感到很高興，他說：“我看中了貝剋街的一所公寓式的 房子，對咱們兩個人完全合適。但願您不討厭強烈的煙草氣味。”
我回答說：“我自己總是抽'船'牌煙的。”
“那好極了。我常常搞一些化學藥品，偶爾也做做試驗，你不討厭嗎？”
“决不會。”
“讓我想想——我還有什麽別的缺點呢？有時我心情不好，一連幾天不開口；在這種情 形下，您不要以為我是生氣了，但聽我自然，不久就會好的。您也有什麽缺點要說一說嗎？ 兩個人在同住以前，最好能夠彼此先瞭解瞭解對方的最大缺點。”
聽到他這樣追根問底，我不禁笑了起來。我說：“我養了一條小虎頭狗。我的神經受過 刺激，最怕吵鬧。每天不定什麽時候起床，並且非常懶。在我身體健壯的時候，我還有其他 一些壞習慣，但是目前主要的缺點就是這些了。”
他又急切地問道：“您把拉提琴也算在吵鬧範圍以內嗎？”
我回答說：“那要看拉提琴的人了。提琴拉得好，那真是象仙樂一般的動聽，要是拉得 不好的話……”
福爾摩斯高興地笑着說：“啊，那就好了。如果您對那所房子還滿意的話，我想咱們可 以認為這件事就算談妥了。”
“咱們什麽時候去看看房子？”
他回答說：“明天中午您先到這兒來找我，咱們再一起去，把一切事情都决定下來。”
我握着他的手說：“好吧，明天中午準時見。”
我們走的時候，他還在忙着做化學試驗。我和斯坦弗便一起嚮我所住的公寓走去。
“順便問你一句，"我突然站住，轉過臉來嚮斯坦弗說，“真見鬼，他怎麽會知道我是 從阿富汗回來的呢？”
我的同伴意味深長地笑了笑，他說：“這就是他特別的地方。許多人都想要知道他究竟 是怎麽看出問題來的。”
“咳，這不是很神秘嗎？"我搓着兩手說，“真有趣極了。我很感謝你把我們兩人拉在 一起。要知道，真是'研究人類最恰當的途徑還是從具體的人着手'。”
“嗯，你一定得研究研究他，"斯坦弗在和我告別的時候說，“但是你會發現，他真是 個難以研究的人物。我敢擔保，他瞭解你要比你瞭解他高明得多。再見吧！”
我答了一聲：“再見！"然後就慢步嚮着我的公寓走去，我覺得我新結識的這個朋友非 常有趣。
The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.
Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions. For months my life was despaired of, and when at last I came to myself and became convalescent, I was so weak and emaciated that a medical board determined that not a day should be lost in sending me back to England. I was dispatched, accordingly, in the troopship "Orontes," and landed a month later on Portsmouth jetty, with my health irretrievably ruined, but with permission from a paternal government to spend the next nine months in attempting to improve it.
I had neither kith nor kin in England, and was therefore as free as air -- or as free as an income of eleven shillings and sixpence a day will permit a man to be. Under such circumstances, I naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained. There I stayed for some time at a private hotel in the Strand, leading a comfortless, meaningless existence, and spending such money as I had, considerably more freely than I ought. So alarming did the state of my finances become, that I soon realized that I must either leave the metropolis and rusticate somewhere in the country, or that I must make a complete alteration in my style of living. Choosing the latter alternative, I began by making up my mind to leave the hotel, and to take up my quarters in some less pretentious and less expensive domicile.
On the very day that I had come to this conclusion, I was standing at the Criterion Bar, when some one tapped me on the shoulder, and turning round I recognized young Stamford, who had been a dresser under me at Barts. The sight of a friendly face in the great wilderness of London is a pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man. In old days Stamford had never been a particular crony of mine, but now I hailed him with enthusiasm, and he, in his turn, appeared to be delighted to see me. In the exuberance of my joy, I asked him to lunch with me at the Holborn, and we started off together in a hansom.
"Whatever have you been doing with yourself, Watson?" he asked in undisguised wonder, as we rattled through the crowded London streets. "You are as thin as a lath and as brown as a nut."
I gave him a short sketch of my adventures, and had hardly concluded it by the time that we reached our destination.
"Poor devil!" he said, commiseratingly, after he had listened to my misfortunes. "What are you up to now?"
"Looking for lodgings," I answered. "Trying to solve the problem as to whether it is possible to get comfortable rooms at a reasonable price."
"That's a strange thing," remarked my companion; "you are the second man to-day that has used that expression to me."
"And who was the first?" I asked.
"A fellow who is working at the chemical laboratory up at the hospital. He was bemoaning himself this morning because he could not get someone to go halves with him in some nice rooms which he had found, and which were too much for his purse."
"By Jove!" I cried, "if he really wants someone to share the rooms and the expense, I am the very man for him. I should prefer having a partner to being alone."
Young Stamford looked rather strangely at me over his wine-glass. "You don't know Sherlock Holmes yet," he said; "perhaps you would not care for him as a constant companion."
"Why, what is there against him?"
"Oh, I didn't say there was anything against him. He is a little queer in his ideas -- an enthusiast in some branches of science. As far as I know he is a decent fellow enough."
"A medical student, I suppose?" said I.
"No -- I have no idea what he intends to go in for. I believe he is well up in anatomy, and he is a first-class chemist; but, as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes. His studies are very desultory and eccentric, but he has amassed a lot of out-of-the way knowledge which would astonish his professors."
"Did you never ask him what he was going in for?" I asked.
"No; he is not a man that it is easy to draw out, though he can be communicative enough when the fancy seizes him."
"I should like to meet him," I said. "If I am to lodge with anyone, I should prefer a man of studious and quiet habits. I am not strong enough yet to stand much noise or excitement. I had enough of both in Afghanistan to last me for the remainder of my natural existence. How could I meet this friend of yours?"
"He is sure to be at the laboratory," returned my companion. "He either avoids the place for weeks, or else he works there from morning to night. If you like, we shall drive round together after luncheon."
"Certainly," I answered, and the conversation drifted away into other channels.
As we made our way to the hospital after leaving the Holborn, Stamford gave me a few more particulars about the gentleman whom I proposed to take as a fellow-lodger.
"You mustn't blame me if you don't get on with him," he said; "I know nothing more of him than I have learned from meeting him occasionally in the laboratory. You proposed this arrangement, so you must not hold me responsible."
"If we don't get on it will be easy to part company," I answered. "It seems to me, Stamford," I added, looking hard at my companion, "that you have some reason for washing your hands of the matter. Is this fellow's temper so formidable, or what is it? Don't be mealy-mouthed about it."
"It is not easy to express the inexpressible," he answered with a laugh. "Holmes is a little too scientific for my tastes -- it approaches to cold-bloodedness. I could imagine his giving a friend a little pinch of the latest vegetable alkaloid, not out of malevolence, you understand, but simply out of a spirit of inquiry in order to have an accurate idea of the effects. To do him justice, I think that he would take it himself with the same readiness. He appears to have a passion for definite and exact knowledge."
"Very right too."
"Yes, but it may be pushed to excess. When it comes to beating the subjects in the dissecting-rooms with a stick, it is certainly taking rather a bizarre shape."
"Beating the subjects!"
"Yes, to verify how far bruises may be produced after death. I saw him at it with my own eyes."
"And yet you say he is not a medical student?"
"No. Heaven knows what the objects of his studies are. But here we are, and you must form your own impressions about him." As he spoke, we turned down a narrow lane and passed through a small side-door, which opened into a wing of the great hospital. It was familiar ground to me, and I needed no guiding as we ascended the bleak stone staircase and made our way down the long corridor with its vista of whitewashed wall and dun-coloured doors. Near the further end a low arched passage branched away from it and led to the chemical laboratory.
This was a lofty chamber, lined and littered with countless bottles. Broad, low tables were scattered about, which bristled with retorts, test-tubes, and little Bunsen lamps, with their blue flickering flames. There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant table absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to his feet with a cry of pleasure. "I've found it! I've found it," he shouted to my companion, running towards us with a test-tube in his hand. "I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by haemoglobin, and by nothing else." Had he discovered a gold mine, greater delight could not have shone upon his features.
"Dr. Watson, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said Stamford, introducing us.
"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."
"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in astonishment.
"Never mind," said he, chuckling to himself. "The question now is about hoemoglobin. No doubt you see the significance of this discovery of mine?"
"It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I answered, "but practically ----"
"Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal discovery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!" He seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me over to the table at which he had been working. "Let us have some fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a chemical pipette. "Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt, however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic reaction." As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.
"Ha! ha!" he cried, clapping his hands, and looking as delighted as a child with a new toy. "What do you think of that?"
"It seems to be a very delicate test," I remarked.
"Beautiful! beautiful! The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain. So is the microscopic examination for blood corpuscles. The latter is valueless if the stains are a few hours old. Now, this appears to act as well whether the blood is old or new. Had this test been invented, there are hundreds of men now walking the earth who would long ago have paid the penalty of their crimes."
"Indeed!" I murmured.
"Criminal cases are continually hinging upon that one point. A man is suspected of a crime months perhaps after it has been committed. His linen or clothes are examined, and brownish stains discovered upon them. Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? That is a question which has puzzled many an expert, and why? Because there was no reliable test. Now we have the Sherlock Holmes' test, and there will no longer be any difficulty."
His eyes fairly glittered as he spoke, and he put his hand over his heart and bowed as if to some applauding crowd conjured up by his imagination.
"You are to be congratulated," I remarked, considerably surprised at his enthusiasm.
"There was the case of Von Bischoff at Frankfort last year. He would certainly have been hung had this test been in existence. Then there was Mason of Bradford, and the notorious Muller, and Lefevre of Montpellier, and Samson of new Orleans. I could name a score of cases in which it would have been decisive."
"You seem to be a walking calendar of crime," said Stamford with a laugh. "You might start a paper on those lines. Call it the `Police News of the Past.'"
"Very interesting reading it might be made, too," remarked Sherlock Holmes, sticking a small piece of plaster over the prick on his finger. "I have to be careful," he continued, turning to me with a smile, "for I dabble with poisons a good deal." He held out his hand as he spoke, and I noticed that it was all mottled over with similar pieces of plaster, and discoloured with strong acids.
"We came here on business," said Stamford, sitting down on a high three-legged stool, and pushing another one in my direction with his foot. "My friend here wants to take diggings, and as you were complaining that you could get no one to go halves with you, I thought that I had better bring you together."
Sherlock Holmes seemed delighted at the idea of sharing his rooms with me. "I have my eye on a suite in Baker Street," he said, "which would suit us down to the ground. You don't mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?"
"I always smoke `ship's' myself," I answered.
"That's good enough. I generally have chemicals about, and occasionally do experiments. Would that annoy you?"
"By no means."
"Let me see -- what are my other shortcomings. I get in the dumps at times, and don't open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I'll soon be right. What have you to confess now? It's just as well for two fellows to know the worst of one another before they begin to live together."
I laughed at this cross-examination. "I keep a bull pup," I said, "and I object to rows because my nerves are shaken, and I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy. I have another set of vices when I'm well, but those are the principal ones at present."
"Do you include violin-playing in your category of rows?" he asked, anxiously.
"It depends on the player," I answered. "A well-played violin is a treat for the gods -- a badly-played one ----"
"Oh, that's all right," he cried, with a merry laugh. "I think we may consider the thing as settled -- that is, if the rooms are agreeable to you."
"When shall we see them?"
"Call for me here at noon to-morrow, and we'll go together and settle everything," he answered.
"All right -- noon exactly," said I, shaking his hand.
We left him working among his chemicals, and we walked together towards my hotel.
"By the way," I asked suddenly, stopping and turning upon Stamford, "how the deuce did he know that I had come from Afghanistan?"
My companion smiled an enigmatical smile. "That's just his little peculiarity," he said. "A good many people have wanted to know how he finds things out."
"Oh! a mystery is it?" I cried, rubbing my hands. "This is very piquant. I am much obliged to you for bringing us together. `The proper study of mankind is man,' you know."
"You must study him, then," Stamford said, as he bade me good-bye. "You'll find him a knotty problem, though. I'll wager he learns more about you than you about him. Good-bye."
"Good-bye," I answered, and strolled on to my hotel, considerably interested in my new acquaintance.
按照福爾摩斯的安排，我們第二天又見了面，並且到上次見面時他所談到的貝剋街號乙 那裏看了房子。這所房子共有兩間舒適的臥室和一間寬敞而又空氣流暢的起居室，室內陳設 起能使人感覺愉快，還有兩個寬大的窗子，因此屋內光綫充足，非常明亮。無論從哪方面來 說，這些房間都很令人滿意。我們分租以後，租金便更合適了。因此我們就當場成交，立刻 租了下來。當晚，我就收拾行囊從公寓搬了進去。第二天早晨，福爾摩斯也跟着把幾衹箱子 和旅行起包搬了進來。我們打開行囊，佈置陳設，一直忙了一兩天。盡可能安排妥善以後， 我們就逐漸安定下來，對這個新環境也慢慢地熟悉起來了。
說實在的，福爾摩斯並不是一個難與相處的人。他為人沉靜，生活習慣很有規律。每晚 很少在十點以後還不睡覺。早晨，他總是在我起床之前就吃完早飯出去了。有時，他把整天 的時間都消磨在化驗室裏，或是在解剖室裏；偶爾也步行到很遠的地方去，所去的地方好像 是倫敦城的平民窟一帶。在他高興工作的時候，絶沒有人能比得上他那份旺盛的精力；可是 常常也會上來一股相反的勁頭，整天地躺在起居室的沙發上，從早到晚，幾乎一言不發，一 動不動。每逢這樣的時候，我總看到他的眼裏有着那麽一種茫然若失的神色。若不是他平日 生活嚴謹而有節制，我真要疑心他有服麻醉劑的癮癖了。
幾個星期過去了，我對於他這個人的興趣以及對於他的生活目的何在的好破心也日益加 深。他的相貌和外表，乍見之下就足以引人註意。他有六英尺多高，身體異常瘦削，因此顯 得格外頎長；目光銳利（他茫然若失的時候除外）；細長的鷹鈎鼻子使他的相貌顯得格外機 警、果斷；下顎方正而突出，說明他是個非常有毅力的人。他的兩手雖然斑斑點點沾滿了墨 水和化學藥品，但是動作卻異乎尋常地熟練、仔細。因為他擺弄那些精緻易碎的化驗儀平 時，我常常在一旁觀察着他。
如果我承認福爾摩斯這個人大大地引起了我的好破心，我也時時想設法攻破他那矢口不 談自己的緘默壁壘，那麽，讀者也許要認為我是個不可救藥的多事鬼吧。但是，在您下這樣 的結論以前，請不妨想一想：我的生活是多麽空虛無聊；在這樣的生活中，能夠吸引我註意 力的事物又是多麽疲乏。除非是天氣特別晴和，我的健康情況又不允許我到外面去；同時， 我又沒有什麽好友來訪，足以打破我單調的日常生活。在這種情況下，我自然就對圍繞在我 夥伴周圍的這個小小的秘密發生了極大的興趣，並且把大部分時間消磨在設法揭穿這個秘密 上。
他並不是在研究醫學。在回答我的一個問題的時候，他自己證實了斯坦弗在這一點上的 說法是正確的。他既不象是為了獲得科學學位而在研究任何學科，也不象是在采取其他任何 一般的途徑，使他能夠進入學術界。然而他對某些方面研究工作的熱忱卻是驚人的；在一些 稀破古怪的知識領域以內，他的學識卻是異常的淵博，因此，他往往出語驚人。肯定地說， 如果不是為了某種一定的目的，一個人决不會這樣辛勤地工作，以求獲得這樣確切的知識 的。因為漫無目標、無書不讀的人，他們的知識很難是非常精湛的。除非是為了某種充分的 理由，否則絶不會有人願意在許多細微末節上這樣花費精力。
他的知識疲乏的一面，正如他的知識豐富的一面同樣地驚人。關於現代文學、哲學和政 治方面，他幾乎一無所知。當我引用托馬斯·卡萊耳的文章的時候，他傻裏傻平地問我①卡 萊耳究竟是什麽人，他幹過些什麽事情。最使我驚訝不止的是：我無意中發現他竟然對於哥 白尼學說以及太陽係的構成，也全然不解。當此十九世紀，一個有知識的人居然不知道地球 繞着太陽運行的道理，這件怪事簡直令我難以理解。
他看到我吃驚的樣子，不覺微笑着說：“你似乎感到吃驚吧。即使我懂得這些，我也要 盡力把它忘掉。”
“把它忘掉！”
他解釋道：“你要知道，我認為人的腦子本來象一間空空的小閣樓，應該有選擇地把一 些傢具裝進去。衹有傻瓜纔會把他碰到的各種各樣的破爛雜碎一古腦兒裝進去。這樣一來， 那些對他有用的知識反而被擠了出來；或者，最多不過是和許多其他的東西摻雜在一起。因 此，在取用的時候也就感到睏難了。所以一個會工作的人，在他選擇要把一些東西裝進他的 那間小閣樓似的頭腦中去的時候，他確實是非常仔細小心的。除了工作中有用的工具以外， 他什麽也不帶進去，而這些工具又樣樣具備，有條有理。如果認為這間小閣樓的墻壁富有彈 性，可以任意伸縮，那就錯了。請相信我的話，總有一天，當你增加新知識的時候，你就會 把以前所熟習的東西忘了。所以最要緊的是，不要讓一些無用的知識把有用的擠出去。”
①ＴｈｏｍａｓＣａｒｌｙｌｅ（—）：英國散文傢，歷史學家和哲學家，著有《英雄 與英雄崇拜》等書。——譯者註
我分辯說：“可是，那是太陽係的問題啊！”
他不耐煩地打斷我的話說：“這與我又有什麽相幹？你說咱們是繞着太陽走的，可是， 即使咱們繞着月亮走，這對於我或者對於我的工作又有什麽關係呢？”
我幾乎就要問他，他的工作究竟是什麽的時候，我從他的態度中看出來，這個問題也許 會引其他的不高興。於是我便把我們的短短談話考慮了一番，盡力想從這裏邊得出一些可資 推論的綫索來。他說他不願去追求那些與他所研究的東西無關的知識，因此他所具有的一切 知識，當然都是對他有用的了。我就在心中把他所瞭解得特別深的學科一一列舉出來，而且 用鉛筆把它寫了出來。寫完了一看，我忍不住笑了。原來是這樣：
歇洛剋·福爾摩斯的學識範圍：
１．文學知識——無。 ２．哲學知識——無。 ３．天文學知識——無。 ４．學知識——淺薄。
５．植物學知識——不全面，但對於莨蓿製劑和鴉片 卻知之甚詳。對毒劑有一般的瞭解，而對於實用 園藝學卻一無所知。
６．地質學知識——偏於實用，但也有限。但他一眼就 能分辨出不同的土質。他在散步回來後，曾把濺在 他的褲子上的泥點給我看，並且能根據泥點的顔 色和堅實程度說明是在倫敦什麽地方濺上的。
７．化學知識——精深。 ８．解剖學知識——準確，但無係統。
９．驚險文學——很廣博，他似乎對近一世紀中發生 的一切恐怖事件都深知底細。
１０．提琴拉得很好。 １１．善使棍棒，也精於刀劍拳術。 １２．關於英國法律方面，他具有充分實用的知識。
我寫了這些條，很覺失望。我把它扔在火裏，自言自語地說：“如果我把這些本領一一 聯繫起來，以求找出一種需要所有這些本領的行業來，但結果並不能弄清這位老兄究竟在搞 些什麽的話，那我還不如馬上放棄這種企圖為妙。”
我記得在前面曾提到過他拉提琴的本事。他提琴拉得很出色，但也象他的其他本領一 樣，有些古怪出破之處。我深知他能拉出一些麯子，而且還是一些很難拉的麯子。因為在我 的請求之下，他曾經為我拉過幾支門德爾鬆的短歌和一些他所喜愛的麯子。可是當他獨自一 人的時候，他就難得會拉出什麽象樣的樂麯或是大傢所熟悉的調子了。黃昏時，他靠在扶手 椅上，閉上眼睛，信手彈弄着平放在膝上的提琴。有時琴聲高亢而憂鬱，有時又古怪而歡 暢。顯然，這些琴聲反映了當時支配着他的某種思潮，不過這些麯調是否助長了他的這種思 潮，或者僅僅是一時興之所至，我就無法斷言了。對於他的那些刺耳的獨奏，我感到十分不 耐煩；如果不是他常常在這些麯子之後，接連拉上幾支我喜愛的麯子，作為對我耐心的小小 補償，我真要暴跳起來。
在頭一兩個星期中，沒有人來拜訪我們。我曾以為我的夥伴也象我一樣，孤零零的沒有 朋友。可是，不久我就發現他有許多相識，而且是來自社會上各個迥然不同的階層的。其中 有一個人面色發黃，獐頭鼠目，生着一雙黑色的眼睛。經福爾摩斯介紹，我知道他叫雷斯垂 德先生。這個人每星期要來三四次。一天早上，有一個時髦的年輕姑娘來了，坐了半個多鐘 頭纔走。當天下午，又來了一個頭髮灰白、衣衫襤褸的客人，模樣兒很象個猶太小販，他的 神情似乎非常緊張，身後還緊跟着一個邋邋遢遢的老婦人。還有一次，一個白發紳士拜訪了 我的夥伴；另外一回，一個穿着棉絨的火車上的茶房來找他。每當這些破特的客人出現 的時候，歇洛剋·福爾摩斯總是請求讓他使用品居室，我也衹好回到我的臥室裏去。他因為 給我帶來這樣的不便，常常嚮我道歉。他說：“我不得不利用這間起居室作為辦公的地方， 這些人都是我的顧客。"這一次，我又找到了一個單刀直入嚮他提出問題的好機會，但是， 為了謹慎起見，我又沒有勉強他對我吐露真情。我當時想，他不談出他的職業，一定有某種 重大理由。但是，他不久就主動地談到了這個問題，打破了我原來的想法。
我記得很清楚，那是三月四日，我比平時期得早了一些；我發現福爾摩斯還沒有吃完早 餐。房東太太一嚮知道我有晚起的習慣，因此餐桌上沒有安排我的座位，我的一份咖啡也沒 有預備好。我一時沒有道理地發起火來，立刻按鈴，簡捷地告訴房東太太，我已準備早餐。 於是我從桌上拿起一本雜志翻翻，藉此消磨等待的時間，而我的同伴卻一聲不響地衹管嚼着 他的面包。雜志上有一起文章，標題下面有人畫了鉛筆道，我自然而然地就先看了這一起。
文章的標題似乎有些誇大，叫做什麽"生活寶鑒"。這篇文章企圖說明：一個善於觀察的 人，如果對他所接觸的事物加以精確而係統地觀察，他將有多麽大的收穫。我覺得這篇文章 很突出，雖有其精明獨到之處，但也未免荒唐可笑；在論理上，它嚴密而緊湊；但是在論斷 上，據我看來，卻未免牽強附會，誇大其辭。作者聲稱，從一個人瞬息之間的表情，肌肉的 每一牽動以及眼睛的每一轉動，都可以推測出他內心深處的想法來。根據作者的說法，對於 一個在觀察和分析上素有鍛煉的人來說，
“欺騙"是不可能的事。他所作出的結論真和歐幾裏得的定理一樣的準確。而這些結 論，在一些門外漢看來，確實驚人，在他們弄明白他所以得到這樣結論的各個步驟以前，他 們真會把他當作一個未卜先知的神人。
作者說：“一個邏輯學家不需親眼見到或者聽說過大西洋或尼加拉契布，他能從一滴水 上推測出它有可能存在，所以整個生活就是一條巨大的鏈條，衹要見到其中的一環，整個鏈 條的情況就可推想出來了。推斷和分析的科學也象其他技藝一樣，衹有經過長期和耐心的鑽 研才能掌握；人們雖然盡其畢生精力，也未必能夠達到登峰造極的地步。初學的人，在着手 研究極其睏難的有關事物的精神和心理方面的問題以前，不妨先從掌握較淺顯的問題入手。 比如遇到了一個人，一起之間就要辨識出這人的歷史和職業。這樣的鍛煉，看起來好象幼稚 無聊，但是，它卻能夠使一個人的觀察能力變得敏銳起來，並且教導人們：應該從哪裏觀 察，應該觀察些什麽。一個人的手指甲、衣袖、靴子和褲子的膝蓋部分，大拇指與食指之間 的繭子、表情、襯衣袖口等等，不論從以上所說的哪一點，都能明白地顯露出他的職業來。 如果把這些情形聯繫起來，還不能使案件的調查人恍然領悟，那幾乎是難以想象的事了。”
我讀到這裏，不禁把雜志往桌上一丟，大聲說道：“真是廢話連篇！我一輩子也沒有見 過這樣無聊的文章。”
“哪篇文章？"福爾摩斯問道。
“唔，就是這篇文章。"我一面坐下來吃早餐，一面用小匙子指着那篇文章說，“我想 你已經讀過了，因為你在下邊還畫有鉛筆道。我並不否認這篇文章寫得很漂亮，但是我讀了 之後，還是不免要生氣。顯然，這是哪一位飽食終日、無所事事的懶漢，坐在他的書房裏閉 門造車地空想出來的一套似是而非的妙論。一點也不切合實際。我倒願意試一試把他關進地 下火車的三等車廂裏，叫他把同車人的職業一個個都說出來。我願跟他打個賭，一千對一的 賭註都行。”
“那你就輸了，"福爾摩斯安詳地說，“那篇是我寫的。”
“是你！”
“對啦，我在觀察和推理兩方面都具有特殊的才能。我在這篇文章裏所提出的那些理 論，在你看來真是荒謬絶倫，其實它卻非常實際，實際到這樣程度，甚至我就是靠着它掙得 我這份幹酪和面包的。”
“你怎樣靠它生活呢？"我不禁問道。
“啊，我有我自己的職業。我想全世界上幹這行職業的人恐怕衹有我一個。我是一個' 咨詢偵探'，也許你能夠理解這是一個什麽行業吧。在這倫敦城中，有許多官方偵探和私人 偵探。這些人遇到睏難的時候就來找我，我就設法把他們引入正軌。他們把所有的證據提供 給我，一般說來我都能起着我對犯罪史的知識，把他們的錯誤糾正過來。犯罪行為都有它非 常類似的地方，如果你對一千個案子的詳情細節都能了如指掌，而對第一千零一件案子竟不 能解釋的話，那纔是怪事哩。雷斯垂德是一位著名的偵探。最近他在一樁偽造案裏墜入五裏 霧中，所以他纔來找我。”
“還有另外那些人呢？”
“他們多半是由私人偵探指點來的，都是遇到些麻煩問題、需要別人加以指引的。我仔 細聽取他們的事實經過，他們則聽取我的意見；這樣，費用就裝進我的口袋裏了。”
我說：“你的意思是說，別人雖然親眼目睹各種細節，但都無法解决，而你足不出戶， 卻能解釋某些疑難問題嗎？”
“正是如此。因為我有那麽一種利用直覺分析事物的能力。間或也會遇到一件稍微復雜 的案件，那麽，我就得奔波一番，親自出馬偵查。你知道，我有許多特殊的知識，把這些知 識應用到案件上去，就能使問題迎刃而解。那篇文章裏所提到的幾點推斷法則雖曾惹起你的 訕笑，但在實際工作中，對我卻有着無比的價值。觀察能力是我的第二天性。咱們初次會面 時，我就對你說過，你是從阿富汗來的，你當時好象還很驚訝哩。”
“沒問題，一定有人告訴過你。”
“沒有那回事。我當時一看就知道你是從阿富汗來的。由於長久以來的習慣，一係列的 思索飛也似地掠過我的腦際，因此在我得出結論時，竟未覺察得出結論所經的步驟。但是， 這中間是有着一定的步驟的。在你這件事上，我的推理過程是這樣的：‘這一位先生，具有 醫務工作者的風度，但卻是一副軍人氣概。那麽，顯見他是個軍醫。他是剛從熱帶回來，因 為他臉色黝黑，但是，從他手腕的皮膚黑白分明看來，這並不是他原來的膚色。他面容憔 悴，這就清楚地說明他是久病初愈而又歷盡了艱苦。他左臂受過傷，現在動作品來還有些僵 硬不便。試問，一個英國的軍醫在熱帶地方歷盡艱苦，並且臂部負過傷，這能在什麽地方 呢？自然衹有在阿富汗了。'這一連串的思想，歷時不到一秒鐘，因此我便脫口說出你是從 阿富汗來的，你當時還感到驚破哩。”
我微笑着說：“聽你這樣一解釋，這件事還是相當簡單的呢。你使我想起埃德加·愛 倫·坡的作品中的偵探人物杜①班來了。我真想不到除了小說以外，實際上竟會真有這樣人 ②物存在。”
福爾摩斯站了起來，點燃他的煙斗。他說：“你一定以為把我和杜班相提並論就是稱贊 我了。可是，在我看來，杜班實在是個微不足道的傢夥。他先靜默一刻鐘，然後纔突然道破 他的朋友的心事，這種伎倆未免過於做作，過於膚淺了。不錯，他有些分析問題的天才，但 决不是愛倫·起想象中的非凡人物。”
我問道：“你讀過加波利奧的作品嗎？你對勒高剋這個人物的評價如何，他可算得上一 個偵探麽？”
福爾摩斯輕衊地哼了一聲。他惡聲惡平地說道：“勒高剋是個不中用的笨蛋。他衹有一 件事還值得提一提，就是他的精力。那本書簡直使我膩透了。書中的主題衹是談到怎樣去辨 識不知名的罪犯。我能在二十四小時之內解决這樣的問題。可是勒高剋卻費了六個月左右的 工夫。有這麽長的時間，真可以給偵探們寫出一本教科書了，教導教導他們應當避免些什 麽。”
我聽到他把我所欽佩的兩個人物說成這樣一文不值，心中感到非常惱怒。我便走到窗 口，望着熱鬧的街道。我自言自語地說：“這個人也許非常聰明，但是他卻太驕傲自負 了。”
①埃德加·愛倫·坡Edgar Allan Poe（—）：美國小說傢。著有《莫格街 兇殺案》等偵探小說。——譯者註
②杜班Ｄｕｐｉｎ為愛倫·坡所寫《莫格街兇殺案》一書中之主角。——譯者註
他不滿地抱怨着說：“這些天來一直沒有罪案發生，也沒有發現什麽罪犯，幹我們這行 的人，頭腦真是沒用了。我深知我的才能足以使我成名。從古到今，從來沒有人象我這樣， 在偵查罪行上既有天賦又有這樣精湛的研究。可是結果怎樣呢？竟沒有罪案可以偵查，頂多 也不過是些簡單幼稚的罪案，犯罪動機淺顯易見，就連蘇格蘭場的人員也能一眼識破。"①
我對他這種大言不慚的談話，餘怒未息。我想最好還是換個話題。
“我不知道這個人在找什麽？"我指着一個體格魁偉、衣着樸素的人說。他正在街那邊 慢慢地走着，焦急地尋找着門牌號碼。他的手中拿着一個藍色大信封，分明是個送信的人。
福爾摩斯說：“你是說那個退伍的海軍陸戰隊的軍曹嗎？”
我心中暗暗想道：“又在吹牛說大話了。他明知我沒法證實他的猜測是否正確。”
這個念頭還沒有從我的腦中消逝，衹見我們所觀察的那個人看到了我們的門牌號碼以 後，就從街對面飛快地跑了過來。衹聽見一陣急促的敲門聲，樓下有人用低沉的聲音講着 話，接着樓梯上便響起了沉重的腳步聲。
這個人一走進房來，便把那封信交給了我的朋友。他說：
“這是給福爾摩斯先生的信。”
這正是把福爾摩斯的傲氣挫折一下的好機會。他方纔信口鬍說，决沒想到會有目前這一 步。我盡量用溫和的聲音說道：“小夥子，請問你的職業是什麽？”
①蘇格蘭場 ScotlandYard 為倫敦廳之別名。——譯者註
“我是當差的，先生，"那人粗聲粗平地回答說，“我的修補去了。”
“你過去是幹什麽的？"我一面問他，一面略帶惡意地瞟了我同伴一眼。
“軍曹，先生，我在皇傢海軍陸戰輕步兵隊中服務過。先生，沒有回信嗎？好吧，先 生。”
他碰了一下腳跟，舉手敬禮，然後走了出去。
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City. Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.
The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered, how objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I eagerly hailed the little mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in endeavouring to unravel it.
He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the Solar System!" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."
I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I pondered over our short conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way --
SHERLOCK HOLMES -- his limits.
1. Knowledge of Literature. -- Nil. 2. Philosophy. -- Nil. 3. Astronomy. -- Nil. 4. Politics. -- Feeble. 5. Botany. -- Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening. 6. Geology. -- Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them. 7. Chemistry. -- Profound. 8. Anatomy. -- Accurate, but unsystematic. 9. Sensational Literature. -- Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. 10. Plays the violin well. 11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman. 12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the fire in despair. "If I can only find what the fellow is driving at by reconciling all these accomplishments, and discovering a calling which needs them all," I said to myself, "I may as well give up the attempt at once."
I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder, and other favourites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon my patience.
During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar, who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion an old white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance, Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room. He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience. "I have to use this room as a place of business," he said, "and these people are my clients." Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it, but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord.
It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
"From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."
"What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, "I never read such rubbish in my life."
"What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
"Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don't deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him."
"You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for the article I wrote it myself."
"You!"
"Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely practical -- so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese."
"And how?" I asked involuntarily.
"Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first. Lestrade is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here."
"And these other people?"
"They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee."
"But do you mean to say," I said, "that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?"
"Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused your scorn, are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan."
"You were told, no doubt."
"Nothing of the sort. I _knew_ you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, `Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.' The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished."
"It is simple enough as you explain it," I said, smiling. "You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories."
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."
"Have you read Gaboriau's works?" I asked. "Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?"
Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq was a miserable bungler," he said, in an angry voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty-four hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for detectives to teach them what to avoid."
I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired treated in this cavalier style. I walked over to the window, and stood looking out into the busy street. "This fellow may be very clever," I said to myself, "but he is certainly very conceited."
"There are no crimes and no criminals in these days," he said, querulously. "What is the use of having brains in our profession. I know well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villany with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it."
I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it best to change the topic.
"I wonder what that fellow is looking for?" I asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the other side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a message.
"You mean the retired sergeant of Marines," said Sherlock Holmes.
"Brag and bounce!" thought I to myself. "He knows that I cannot verify his guess."
The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascending the stair.
"For Mr. Sherlock Holmes," he said, stepping into the room and handing my friend the letter.
Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little thought of this when he made that random shot. "May I ask, my lad," I said, in the blandest voice, "what your trade may be?"
"Commissionaire, sir," he said, gruffly. "Uniform away for repairs."
"And you were?" I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my companion.
"A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir."
He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was gone.
說實在的，福爾摩斯並不是一個難與相處的人。他為人沉靜，生活習慣很有規律。每晚 很少在十點以後還不睡覺。早晨，他總是在我起床之前就吃完早飯出去了。有時，他把整天 的時間都消磨在化驗室裏，或是在解剖室裏；偶爾也步行到很遠的地方去，所去的地方好像 是倫敦城的平民窟一帶。在他高興工作的時候，絶沒有人能比得上他那份旺盛的精力；可是 常常也會上來一股相反的勁頭，整天地躺在起居室的沙發上，從早到晚，幾乎一言不發，一 動不動。每逢這樣的時候，我總看到他的眼裏有着那麽一種茫然若失的神色。若不是他平日 生活嚴謹而有節制，我真要疑心他有服麻醉劑的癮癖了。
幾個星期過去了，我對於他這個人的興趣以及對於他的生活目的何在的好破心也日益加 深。他的相貌和外表，乍見之下就足以引人註意。他有六英尺多高，身體異常瘦削，因此顯 得格外頎長；目光銳利（他茫然若失的時候除外）；細長的鷹鈎鼻子使他的相貌顯得格外機 警、果斷；下顎方正而突出，說明他是個非常有毅力的人。他的兩手雖然斑斑點點沾滿了墨 水和化學藥品，但是動作卻異乎尋常地熟練、仔細。因為他擺弄那些精緻易碎的化驗儀平 時，我常常在一旁觀察着他。
如果我承認福爾摩斯這個人大大地引起了我的好破心，我也時時想設法攻破他那矢口不 談自己的緘默壁壘，那麽，讀者也許要認為我是個不可救藥的多事鬼吧。但是，在您下這樣 的結論以前，請不妨想一想：我的生活是多麽空虛無聊；在這樣的生活中，能夠吸引我註意 力的事物又是多麽疲乏。除非是天氣特別晴和，我的健康情況又不允許我到外面去；同時， 我又沒有什麽好友來訪，足以打破我單調的日常生活。在這種情況下，我自然就對圍繞在我 夥伴周圍的這個小小的秘密發生了極大的興趣，並且把大部分時間消磨在設法揭穿這個秘密 上。
他並不是在研究醫學。在回答我的一個問題的時候，他自己證實了斯坦弗在這一點上的 說法是正確的。他既不象是為了獲得科學學位而在研究任何學科，也不象是在采取其他任何 一般的途徑，使他能夠進入學術界。然而他對某些方面研究工作的熱忱卻是驚人的；在一些 稀破古怪的知識領域以內，他的學識卻是異常的淵博，因此，他往往出語驚人。肯定地說， 如果不是為了某種一定的目的，一個人决不會這樣辛勤地工作，以求獲得這樣確切的知識 的。因為漫無目標、無書不讀的人，他們的知識很難是非常精湛的。除非是為了某種充分的 理由，否則絶不會有人願意在許多細微末節上這樣花費精力。
他的知識疲乏的一面，正如他的知識豐富的一面同樣地驚人。關於現代文學、哲學和政 治方面，他幾乎一無所知。當我引用托馬斯·卡萊耳的文章的時候，他傻裏傻平地問我①卡 萊耳究竟是什麽人，他幹過些什麽事情。最使我驚訝不止的是：我無意中發現他竟然對於哥 白尼學說以及太陽係的構成，也全然不解。當此十九世紀，一個有知識的人居然不知道地球 繞着太陽運行的道理，這件怪事簡直令我難以理解。
他看到我吃驚的樣子，不覺微笑着說：“你似乎感到吃驚吧。即使我懂得這些，我也要 盡力把它忘掉。”
“把它忘掉！”
他解釋道：“你要知道，我認為人的腦子本來象一間空空的小閣樓，應該有選擇地把一 些傢具裝進去。衹有傻瓜纔會把他碰到的各種各樣的破爛雜碎一古腦兒裝進去。這樣一來， 那些對他有用的知識反而被擠了出來；或者，最多不過是和許多其他的東西摻雜在一起。因 此，在取用的時候也就感到睏難了。所以一個會工作的人，在他選擇要把一些東西裝進他的 那間小閣樓似的頭腦中去的時候，他確實是非常仔細小心的。除了工作中有用的工具以外， 他什麽也不帶進去，而這些工具又樣樣具備，有條有理。如果認為這間小閣樓的墻壁富有彈 性，可以任意伸縮，那就錯了。請相信我的話，總有一天，當你增加新知識的時候，你就會 把以前所熟習的東西忘了。所以最要緊的是，不要讓一些無用的知識把有用的擠出去。”
①ＴｈｏｍａｓＣａｒｌｙｌｅ（—）：英國散文傢，歷史學家和哲學家，著有《英雄 與英雄崇拜》等書。——譯者註
我分辯說：“可是，那是太陽係的問題啊！”
他不耐煩地打斷我的話說：“這與我又有什麽相幹？你說咱們是繞着太陽走的，可是， 即使咱們繞着月亮走，這對於我或者對於我的工作又有什麽關係呢？”
我幾乎就要問他，他的工作究竟是什麽的時候，我從他的態度中看出來，這個問題也許 會引其他的不高興。於是我便把我們的短短談話考慮了一番，盡力想從這裏邊得出一些可資 推論的綫索來。他說他不願去追求那些與他所研究的東西無關的知識，因此他所具有的一切 知識，當然都是對他有用的了。我就在心中把他所瞭解得特別深的學科一一列舉出來，而且 用鉛筆把它寫了出來。寫完了一看，我忍不住笑了。原來是這樣：
歇洛剋·福爾摩斯的學識範圍：
１．文學知識——無。 ２．哲學知識——無。 ３．天文學知識——無。 ４．學知識——淺薄。
５．植物學知識——不全面，但對於莨蓿製劑和鴉片 卻知之甚詳。對毒劑有一般的瞭解，而對於實用 園藝學卻一無所知。
６．地質學知識——偏於實用，但也有限。但他一眼就 能分辨出不同的土質。他在散步回來後，曾把濺在 他的褲子上的泥點給我看，並且能根據泥點的顔 色和堅實程度說明是在倫敦什麽地方濺上的。
７．化學知識——精深。 ８．解剖學知識——準確，但無係統。
９．驚險文學——很廣博，他似乎對近一世紀中發生 的一切恐怖事件都深知底細。
１０．提琴拉得很好。 １１．善使棍棒，也精於刀劍拳術。 １２．關於英國法律方面，他具有充分實用的知識。
我寫了這些條，很覺失望。我把它扔在火裏，自言自語地說：“如果我把這些本領一一 聯繫起來，以求找出一種需要所有這些本領的行業來，但結果並不能弄清這位老兄究竟在搞 些什麽的話，那我還不如馬上放棄這種企圖為妙。”
我記得在前面曾提到過他拉提琴的本事。他提琴拉得很出色，但也象他的其他本領一 樣，有些古怪出破之處。我深知他能拉出一些麯子，而且還是一些很難拉的麯子。因為在我 的請求之下，他曾經為我拉過幾支門德爾鬆的短歌和一些他所喜愛的麯子。可是當他獨自一 人的時候，他就難得會拉出什麽象樣的樂麯或是大傢所熟悉的調子了。黃昏時，他靠在扶手 椅上，閉上眼睛，信手彈弄着平放在膝上的提琴。有時琴聲高亢而憂鬱，有時又古怪而歡 暢。顯然，這些琴聲反映了當時支配着他的某種思潮，不過這些麯調是否助長了他的這種思 潮，或者僅僅是一時興之所至，我就無法斷言了。對於他的那些刺耳的獨奏，我感到十分不 耐煩；如果不是他常常在這些麯子之後，接連拉上幾支我喜愛的麯子，作為對我耐心的小小 補償，我真要暴跳起來。
在頭一兩個星期中，沒有人來拜訪我們。我曾以為我的夥伴也象我一樣，孤零零的沒有 朋友。可是，不久我就發現他有許多相識，而且是來自社會上各個迥然不同的階層的。其中 有一個人面色發黃，獐頭鼠目，生着一雙黑色的眼睛。經福爾摩斯介紹，我知道他叫雷斯垂 德先生。這個人每星期要來三四次。一天早上，有一個時髦的年輕姑娘來了，坐了半個多鐘 頭纔走。當天下午，又來了一個頭髮灰白、衣衫襤褸的客人，模樣兒很象個猶太小販，他的 神情似乎非常緊張，身後還緊跟着一個邋邋遢遢的老婦人。還有一次，一個白發紳士拜訪了 我的夥伴；另外一回，一個穿着棉絨的火車上的茶房來找他。每當這些破特的客人出現 的時候，歇洛剋·福爾摩斯總是請求讓他使用品居室，我也衹好回到我的臥室裏去。他因為 給我帶來這樣的不便，常常嚮我道歉。他說：“我不得不利用這間起居室作為辦公的地方， 這些人都是我的顧客。"這一次，我又找到了一個單刀直入嚮他提出問題的好機會，但是， 為了謹慎起見，我又沒有勉強他對我吐露真情。我當時想，他不談出他的職業，一定有某種 重大理由。但是，他不久就主動地談到了這個問題，打破了我原來的想法。
我記得很清楚，那是三月四日，我比平時期得早了一些；我發現福爾摩斯還沒有吃完早 餐。房東太太一嚮知道我有晚起的習慣，因此餐桌上沒有安排我的座位，我的一份咖啡也沒 有預備好。我一時沒有道理地發起火來，立刻按鈴，簡捷地告訴房東太太，我已準備早餐。 於是我從桌上拿起一本雜志翻翻，藉此消磨等待的時間，而我的同伴卻一聲不響地衹管嚼着 他的面包。雜志上有一起文章，標題下面有人畫了鉛筆道，我自然而然地就先看了這一起。
文章的標題似乎有些誇大，叫做什麽"生活寶鑒"。這篇文章企圖說明：一個善於觀察的 人，如果對他所接觸的事物加以精確而係統地觀察，他將有多麽大的收穫。我覺得這篇文章 很突出，雖有其精明獨到之處，但也未免荒唐可笑；在論理上，它嚴密而緊湊；但是在論斷 上，據我看來，卻未免牽強附會，誇大其辭。作者聲稱，從一個人瞬息之間的表情，肌肉的 每一牽動以及眼睛的每一轉動，都可以推測出他內心深處的想法來。根據作者的說法，對於 一個在觀察和分析上素有鍛煉的人來說，
“欺騙"是不可能的事。他所作出的結論真和歐幾裏得的定理一樣的準確。而這些結 論，在一些門外漢看來，確實驚人，在他們弄明白他所以得到這樣結論的各個步驟以前，他 們真會把他當作一個未卜先知的神人。
作者說：“一個邏輯學家不需親眼見到或者聽說過大西洋或尼加拉契布，他能從一滴水 上推測出它有可能存在，所以整個生活就是一條巨大的鏈條，衹要見到其中的一環，整個鏈 條的情況就可推想出來了。推斷和分析的科學也象其他技藝一樣，衹有經過長期和耐心的鑽 研才能掌握；人們雖然盡其畢生精力，也未必能夠達到登峰造極的地步。初學的人，在着手 研究極其睏難的有關事物的精神和心理方面的問題以前，不妨先從掌握較淺顯的問題入手。 比如遇到了一個人，一起之間就要辨識出這人的歷史和職業。這樣的鍛煉，看起來好象幼稚 無聊，但是，它卻能夠使一個人的觀察能力變得敏銳起來，並且教導人們：應該從哪裏觀 察，應該觀察些什麽。一個人的手指甲、衣袖、靴子和褲子的膝蓋部分，大拇指與食指之間 的繭子、表情、襯衣袖口等等，不論從以上所說的哪一點，都能明白地顯露出他的職業來。 如果把這些情形聯繫起來，還不能使案件的調查人恍然領悟，那幾乎是難以想象的事了。”
我讀到這裏，不禁把雜志往桌上一丟，大聲說道：“真是廢話連篇！我一輩子也沒有見 過這樣無聊的文章。”
“哪篇文章？"福爾摩斯問道。
“唔，就是這篇文章。"我一面坐下來吃早餐，一面用小匙子指着那篇文章說，“我想 你已經讀過了，因為你在下邊還畫有鉛筆道。我並不否認這篇文章寫得很漂亮，但是我讀了 之後，還是不免要生氣。顯然，這是哪一位飽食終日、無所事事的懶漢，坐在他的書房裏閉 門造車地空想出來的一套似是而非的妙論。一點也不切合實際。我倒願意試一試把他關進地 下火車的三等車廂裏，叫他把同車人的職業一個個都說出來。我願跟他打個賭，一千對一的 賭註都行。”
“那你就輸了，"福爾摩斯安詳地說，“那篇是我寫的。”
“是你！”
“對啦，我在觀察和推理兩方面都具有特殊的才能。我在這篇文章裏所提出的那些理 論，在你看來真是荒謬絶倫，其實它卻非常實際，實際到這樣程度，甚至我就是靠着它掙得 我這份幹酪和面包的。”
“你怎樣靠它生活呢？"我不禁問道。
“啊，我有我自己的職業。我想全世界上幹這行職業的人恐怕衹有我一個。我是一個' 咨詢偵探'，也許你能夠理解這是一個什麽行業吧。在這倫敦城中，有許多官方偵探和私人 偵探。這些人遇到睏難的時候就來找我，我就設法把他們引入正軌。他們把所有的證據提供 給我，一般說來我都能起着我對犯罪史的知識，把他們的錯誤糾正過來。犯罪行為都有它非 常類似的地方，如果你對一千個案子的詳情細節都能了如指掌，而對第一千零一件案子竟不 能解釋的話，那纔是怪事哩。雷斯垂德是一位著名的偵探。最近他在一樁偽造案裏墜入五裏 霧中，所以他纔來找我。”
“還有另外那些人呢？”
“他們多半是由私人偵探指點來的，都是遇到些麻煩問題、需要別人加以指引的。我仔 細聽取他們的事實經過，他們則聽取我的意見；這樣，費用就裝進我的口袋裏了。”
我說：“你的意思是說，別人雖然親眼目睹各種細節，但都無法解决，而你足不出戶， 卻能解釋某些疑難問題嗎？”
“正是如此。因為我有那麽一種利用直覺分析事物的能力。間或也會遇到一件稍微復雜 的案件，那麽，我就得奔波一番，親自出馬偵查。你知道，我有許多特殊的知識，把這些知 識應用到案件上去，就能使問題迎刃而解。那篇文章裏所提到的幾點推斷法則雖曾惹起你的 訕笑，但在實際工作中，對我卻有着無比的價值。觀察能力是我的第二天性。咱們初次會面 時，我就對你說過，你是從阿富汗來的，你當時好象還很驚訝哩。”
“沒問題，一定有人告訴過你。”
“沒有那回事。我當時一看就知道你是從阿富汗來的。由於長久以來的習慣，一係列的 思索飛也似地掠過我的腦際，因此在我得出結論時，竟未覺察得出結論所經的步驟。但是， 這中間是有着一定的步驟的。在你這件事上，我的推理過程是這樣的：‘這一位先生，具有 醫務工作者的風度，但卻是一副軍人氣概。那麽，顯見他是個軍醫。他是剛從熱帶回來，因 為他臉色黝黑，但是，從他手腕的皮膚黑白分明看來，這並不是他原來的膚色。他面容憔 悴，這就清楚地說明他是久病初愈而又歷盡了艱苦。他左臂受過傷，現在動作品來還有些僵 硬不便。試問，一個英國的軍醫在熱帶地方歷盡艱苦，並且臂部負過傷，這能在什麽地方 呢？自然衹有在阿富汗了。'這一連串的思想，歷時不到一秒鐘，因此我便脫口說出你是從 阿富汗來的，你當時還感到驚破哩。”
我微笑着說：“聽你這樣一解釋，這件事還是相當簡單的呢。你使我想起埃德加·愛 倫·坡的作品中的偵探人物杜①班來了。我真想不到除了小說以外，實際上竟會真有這樣人 ②物存在。”
福爾摩斯站了起來，點燃他的煙斗。他說：“你一定以為把我和杜班相提並論就是稱贊 我了。可是，在我看來，杜班實在是個微不足道的傢夥。他先靜默一刻鐘，然後纔突然道破 他的朋友的心事，這種伎倆未免過於做作，過於膚淺了。不錯，他有些分析問題的天才，但 决不是愛倫·起想象中的非凡人物。”
我問道：“你讀過加波利奧的作品嗎？你對勒高剋這個人物的評價如何，他可算得上一 個偵探麽？”
福爾摩斯輕衊地哼了一聲。他惡聲惡平地說道：“勒高剋是個不中用的笨蛋。他衹有一 件事還值得提一提，就是他的精力。那本書簡直使我膩透了。書中的主題衹是談到怎樣去辨 識不知名的罪犯。我能在二十四小時之內解决這樣的問題。可是勒高剋卻費了六個月左右的 工夫。有這麽長的時間，真可以給偵探們寫出一本教科書了，教導教導他們應當避免些什 麽。”
我聽到他把我所欽佩的兩個人物說成這樣一文不值，心中感到非常惱怒。我便走到窗 口，望着熱鬧的街道。我自言自語地說：“這個人也許非常聰明，但是他卻太驕傲自負 了。”
①埃德加·愛倫·坡Edgar Allan Poe（—）：美國小說傢。著有《莫格街 兇殺案》等偵探小說。——譯者註
②杜班Ｄｕｐｉｎ為愛倫·坡所寫《莫格街兇殺案》一書中之主角。——譯者註
他不滿地抱怨着說：“這些天來一直沒有罪案發生，也沒有發現什麽罪犯，幹我們這行 的人，頭腦真是沒用了。我深知我的才能足以使我成名。從古到今，從來沒有人象我這樣， 在偵查罪行上既有天賦又有這樣精湛的研究。可是結果怎樣呢？竟沒有罪案可以偵查，頂多 也不過是些簡單幼稚的罪案，犯罪動機淺顯易見，就連蘇格蘭場的人員也能一眼識破。"①
我對他這種大言不慚的談話，餘怒未息。我想最好還是換個話題。
“我不知道這個人在找什麽？"我指着一個體格魁偉、衣着樸素的人說。他正在街那邊 慢慢地走着，焦急地尋找着門牌號碼。他的手中拿着一個藍色大信封，分明是個送信的人。
福爾摩斯說：“你是說那個退伍的海軍陸戰隊的軍曹嗎？”
我心中暗暗想道：“又在吹牛說大話了。他明知我沒法證實他的猜測是否正確。”
這個念頭還沒有從我的腦中消逝，衹見我們所觀察的那個人看到了我們的門牌號碼以 後，就從街對面飛快地跑了過來。衹聽見一陣急促的敲門聲，樓下有人用低沉的聲音講着 話，接着樓梯上便響起了沉重的腳步聲。
這個人一走進房來，便把那封信交給了我的朋友。他說：
“這是給福爾摩斯先生的信。”
這正是把福爾摩斯的傲氣挫折一下的好機會。他方纔信口鬍說，决沒想到會有目前這一 步。我盡量用溫和的聲音說道：“小夥子，請問你的職業是什麽？”
①蘇格蘭場 ScotlandYard 為倫敦廳之別名。——譯者註
“我是當差的，先生，"那人粗聲粗平地回答說，“我的修補去了。”
“你過去是幹什麽的？"我一面問他，一面略帶惡意地瞟了我同伴一眼。
“軍曹，先生，我在皇傢海軍陸戰輕步兵隊中服務過。先生，沒有回信嗎？好吧，先 生。”
他碰了一下腳跟，舉手敬禮，然後走了出去。
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City. Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.
The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered, how objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I eagerly hailed the little mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in endeavouring to unravel it.
He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford's opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the Solar System!" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently; "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work."
I was on the point of asking him what that work might be, but something in his manner showed me that the question would be an unwelcome one. I pondered over our short conversation, however, and endeavoured to draw my deductions from it. He said that he would acquire no knowledge which did not bear upon his object. Therefore all the knowledge which he possessed was such as would be useful to him. I enumerated in my own mind all the various points upon which he had shown me that he was exceptionally well-informed. I even took a pencil and jotted them down. I could not help smiling at the document when I had completed it. It ran in this way --
SHERLOCK HOLMES -- his limits.
1. Knowledge of Literature. -- Nil. 2. Philosophy. -- Nil. 3. Astronomy. -- Nil. 4. Politics. -- Feeble. 5. Botany. -- Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium, and poisons generally. Knows nothing of practical gardening. 6. Geology. -- Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each other. After walks has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour and consistence in what part of London he had received them. 7. Chemistry. -- Profound. 8. Anatomy. -- Accurate, but unsystematic. 9. Sensational Literature. -- Immense. He appears to know every detail of every horror perpetrated in the century. 10. Plays the violin well. 11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman. 12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
When I had got so far in my list I threw it into the fire in despair. "If I can only find what the fellow is driving at by reconciling all these accomplishments, and discovering a calling which needs them all," I said to myself, "I may as well give up the attempt at once."
I see that I have alluded above to his powers upon the violin. These were very remarkable, but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments. That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn's Lieder, and other favourites. When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee. Sometimes the chords were sonorous and melancholy. Occasionally they were fantastic and cheerful. Clearly they reflected the thoughts which possessed him, but whether the music aided those thoughts, or whether the playing was simply the result of a whim or fancy was more than I could determine. I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon my patience.
During the first week or so we had no callers, and I had begun to think that my companion was as friendless a man as I was myself. Presently, however, I found that he had many acquaintances, and those in the most different classes of society. There was one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade, and who came three or four times in a single week. One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed, and stayed for half an hour or more. The same afternoon brought a grey-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar, who appeared to me to be much excited, and who was closely followed by a slip-shod elderly woman. On another occasion an old white-haired gentleman had an interview with my companion; and on another a railway porter in his velveteen uniform. When any of these nondescript individuals put in an appearance, Sherlock Holmes used to beg for the use of the sitting-room, and I would retire to my bed-room. He always apologized to me for putting me to this inconvenience. "I have to use this room as a place of business," he said, "and these people are my clients." Again I had an opportunity of asking him a point blank question, and again my delicacy prevented me from forcing another man to confide in me. I imagined at the time that he had some strong reason for not alluding to it, but he soon dispelled the idea by coming round to the subject of his own accord.
It was upon the 4th of March, as I have good reason to remember, that I rose somewhat earlier than usual, and found that Sherlock Holmes had not yet finished his breakfast. The landlady had become so accustomed to my late habits that my place had not been laid nor my coffee prepared. With the unreasonable petulance of mankind I rang the bell and gave a curt intimation that I was ready. Then I picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.
Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.
"From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs -- by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."
"What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, "I never read such rubbish in my life."
"What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.
"Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don't deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him."
"You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for the article I wrote it myself."
"You!"
"Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely practical -- so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese."
"And how?" I asked involuntarily.
"Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first. Lestrade is a well-known detective. He got himself into a fog recently over a forgery case, and that was what brought him here."
"And these other people?"
"They are mostly sent on by private inquiry agencies. They are all people who are in trouble about something, and want a little enlightening. I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee."
"But do you mean to say," I said, "that without leaving your room you can unravel some knot which other men can make nothing of, although they have seen every detail for themselves?"
"Quite so. I have a kind of intuition that way. Now and again a case turns up which is a little more complex. Then I have to bustle about and see things with my own eyes. You see I have a lot of special knowledge which I apply to the problem, and which facilitates matters wonderfully. Those rules of deduction laid down in that article which aroused your scorn, are invaluable to me in practical work. Observation with me is second nature. You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan."
"You were told, no doubt."
"Nothing of the sort. I _knew_ you came from Afghanistan. From long habit the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind, that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps. There were such steps, however. The train of reasoning ran, `Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man. Clearly an army doctor, then. He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair. He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly. His left arm has been injured. He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner. Where in the tropics could an English army doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded? Clearly in Afghanistan.' The whole train of thought did not occupy a second. I then remarked that you came from Afghanistan, and you were astonished."
"It is simple enough as you explain it," I said, smiling. "You remind me of Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories."
Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."
"Have you read Gaboriau's works?" I asked. "Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?"
Sherlock Holmes sniffed sardonically. "Lecoq was a miserable bungler," he said, in an angry voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy. That book made me positively ill. The question was how to identify an unknown prisoner. I could have done it in twenty-four hours. Lecoq took six months or so. It might be made a text-book for detectives to teach them what to avoid."
I felt rather indignant at having two characters whom I had admired treated in this cavalier style. I walked over to the window, and stood looking out into the busy street. "This fellow may be very clever," I said to myself, "but he is certainly very conceited."
"There are no crimes and no criminals in these days," he said, querulously. "What is the use of having brains in our profession. I know well that I have it in me to make my name famous. No man lives or has ever lived who has brought the same amount of study and of natural talent to the detection of crime which I have done. And what is the result? There is no crime to detect, or, at most, some bungling villany with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it."
I was still annoyed at his bumptious style of conversation. I thought it best to change the topic.
"I wonder what that fellow is looking for?" I asked, pointing to a stalwart, plainly-dressed individual who was walking slowly down the other side of the street, looking anxiously at the numbers. He had a large blue envelope in his hand, and was evidently the bearer of a message.
"You mean the retired sergeant of Marines," said Sherlock Holmes.
"Brag and bounce!" thought I to myself. "He knows that I cannot verify his guess."
The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the man whom we were watching caught sight of the number on our door, and ran rapidly across the roadway. We heard a loud knock, a deep voice below, and heavy steps ascending the stair.
"For Mr. Sherlock Holmes," he said, stepping into the room and handing my friend the letter.
Here was an opportunity of taking the conceit out of him. He little thought of this when he made that random shot. "May I ask, my lad," I said, in the blandest voice, "what your trade may be?"
"Commissionaire, sir," he said, gruffly. "Uniform away for repairs."
"And you were?" I asked, with a slightly malicious glance at my companion.
"A sergeant, sir, Royal Marine Light Infantry, sir. No answer? Right, sir."
He clicked his heels together, raised his hand in a salute, and was gone.