The Midwinter Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Three Adventures & The Grand Gift of Sherlock

by Craig Janacek

  [212] The mark of a Chinese apothecary shop was a bundle of hay hanging under the eaves.

  [213] The Compendium of Materia Medica was written by Li Shizhen during the Ming Dynasty. It is regarded as the most complete and comprehensive medical book ever written in the history of traditional Chinese medicine. It lists all the plants, animals, minerals, and other items that were believed to have medicinal properties.

  [214] Of all of the leukemias, a rare subtype known as acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is particularly sensitive to arsenic, which is still employed today as part of its cure.

  [215] The Bradford sweets case was the accidental arsenic poisoning of more than 200 people in Bradford, England, in 1858; an estimated 20 people died when sweets accidentally made with arsenic were sold from a market stall. The event contributed to the passage of the Pharmacy Act 1868 in the United Kingdom and legislation regulating the adulteration of foodstuffs

  [216] One of the first things that Watson recognized about Mr. Sherlock Holmes was that he had a “good practical knowledge of British law” (Chapter II, A Study in Scarlet).

  [217] Waterloo Bridge was referred to with sad irony as London’s ‘Bridge of Sighs’ for the numerous suicidal leaps that took place from its railings. There was even an 1844 poem by Thomas Hood commemorating this sad tradition. John Openshaw was murdered on this bridge by the K.K.K. (The Five Orange Pips).

  [218] Holmes would go on to condone justifiable private revenge again, most famously in the assassination of the king of all the blackmailers (The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton).

  [219] Watson’s famous list of Holmes’ limits suggests that his knowledge of astronomy was ‘nil’ (Chapter II, A Study in Scarlet).

  [220] When he refers to the Napoleon of crime, Holmes is of course speaking about Professor Moriarity (Chapter I, The Valley of Fear).

  [221] It has been argued that the famous quote of Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) to Napoleon Bonaparte is apocryphal, though there is little doubt that Laplace was either a deist (as were most of the great scientists and philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, including many of the founding fathers of the United States, as well as Victorians like Alfred Lord Tennyson) or an agnostic, and thus, the quote is certainly plausible. Deism is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a Higher Power, accompanied with the rejection of revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge, with a disbelief in supernatural events such as miracles.

  [222] There is very little evidence in the Canon that Holmes possessed any particular religious inclinations. We know that he made a special study on the Buddhism of Ceylon (Chapter X, The Sign of Four), and visited with the head (or Dalai) Llama of Lhasa, while living in Buddhist Tibet for two years (The Empty House). Watson even once described Holmes as sitting “upon the floor like some strange Buddha” (The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger). Holmes admitted that his “Biblical knowledge is a bit rusty” (The Crooked Man) and he also did not appear disturbed by the magnum opus of Professor Coram in which his analysis of the documents found in the Coptic monasteries of Syria and Egypt cut deep at the very foundations of the revealed Abrahamic religions (The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez). Holmes was also a passionate devotee of William Winwood Reade’s book, The Martyrdom of Man, which was a secular history of the Western world, with rather outspoken attacks upon Christian dogma (Chapters II & X, The Sign of Four). There are few instances of Holmes having any sense of a higher power. One such is when he referred to flowers as evidence of the “the goodness of Providence” (The Adventure of the Naval Treaty). However, a close reading of the case suggests that at the time of that comment Holmes was being purposely distracting, so any such reference must be viewed with suspicion. Holmes also comments on the terrible mystery of the universe at the conclusion of the grim case of The Cardboard Box. The most likely conclusion is that Holmes was either a Buddhist or a deist, or some combination of the two, and while those particular religious leanings perhaps situated upon him a skeptical viewpoint of some of the trappings of the Christian version of the midwinter solstice, they would not have limited him from enjoying the season as a whole, nor prevented him from developing his own interpretation of its deeper meaning.

  [223] This is not hyperbole on the part of Watson. He and Holmes had known each other for over seven years before Holmes deigned to inform Watson that he had a brother (The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter)! And yet, Watson really has little grounds for complaint, since he also neglected to tell Holmes about his brother Henry for a similar period of time (Chapter I, The Sign of Four)!

  [224] A paraphrase of a portion of the great “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet (Act III, Scene I). Watson’s brother Henry had died by 1888, and while the exact date of Mary’s passing is never made clear, it is estimated to have occurred by 1892, during the Great Hiatus.

  [225] Watson’s hesitation sounds similar to what he expressed at the beginning of several of the more scandalous tales, including The Adventures of The Empty House and Charles Augustus Milverton.

  [226] This would most likely be one of the huge scale grand oratorio renditions of the ‘Messiah’ (1741) of George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) sung by the Royal Choral Society (founded 1872). The Royal Albert Hall was opened in 1871 in honor of Queen Victoria’s late husband. Holmes and Watson also partook of a concert by ‘Carina’ at the Albert Hall in The Adventure of the Retired Colourman.

  [227] Holmes was not an avid partaker of exercise for the sheer sake of exercise, but he was not adverse to a stroll from time to time, as detailed in numerous of the stories.

  [228] A distance of 2.1 miles, it might take slightly longer than Holmes’ estimate in the snow. One of the first actions of Sir Henry Baskerville upon arriving in London was to go look at the folk promenading along the ‘Rotten Row’ in Hyde Park (Chapter VI, The Hound of the Baskervilles).

  [229] Holmes is being a bit hypocritical here, as he himself mocked Lestrade at the time, asking him if he had also dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square (The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor).

  [230] The first wife of the famous poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) committed suicide by drowning in the Serpentine in December 1816. He married Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of Frankenstein, less than two weeks later.

  [231] Holmes is referring to Speaker’s Corner, an area utilized for public speaking since at least the 1850’s.

  [232] The Tyburn tree was the most infamous of London’s sites of public execution, which took place there until the late 1700’s. Watson later echoes Holmes words when he described their passage along Edgeware Road on the way to visit Mr. Nathan Garrideb in 1902 (The Adventure of the Three Garridebs). Jonathan Wild (c.1682-1725) was a notorious criminal mastermind who was hanged at Tyburn. Holmes recommended a study of his exploits to Inspector MacDonald in Chapter II of The Valley of Fear.

  [233] On 30 January 1661, (the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I), Cromwell's body was exhumed from its place of honor in Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, along with the company of three of his deceased lieutenants (though his daughter was allowed to remain buried at the Abbey.) His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then eventually thrown into a pit, while his severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. The body has been lost to history, but Cromwell’s head is now buried at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, his alma mater, which plainly forgave some of Cromwell’s less generous qualities.

  [234] That Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), military dictator of England from 1653 until his death was a Puritan religious fanatic should not be doubted, as most clearly evidence by his ban of Christmas itself! In the England of that era, Christmas was considered to be a holiday of celebration and enjoyment. In London, soldiers were ordered to go round the streets and take, by force if necessary, food being cooked for a Christmas celebration. Traditional Christmas decorations, such
as holly, were banned. This was all in addition to his other attempts to impose joyless order upon the nation. All of the theatres were closed down. Most sports were banned, and boys caught playing ball on a Sunday could be whipped as a punishment. Women and girls were required to dress in ‘a proper manner,’ which included no cosmetics, no color in their dresses, and their hair covered by a white head-dress.

  [235] Billy, the page-boy at 221B Baker Street is only mentioned in Chapters I & II of The Valley of Fear, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone, and The Problem of Thor Bridge.

  [236] Holmes expressed similar sentiments (“The London criminal is certainly a dull fellow…”) in the beginning of The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.

  [237] Holmes was a great expert on the uses of footprints and wrote a monograph on it that he showed to Watson in Chapter II of The Sign of Four.

  [238] Holmes’ knowledge of the types of tobacco ash was profound. His monograph on the subject was mentioned in A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

  [239] I have been unable to locate any records indicating that a public house by this name existed in the relative locale of Baker Street at the time of this incident. However, it is a very common name for English pubs, despite its representation of a pagan vegetative deity, most likely Viridios of Roman Britain. Perhaps Watson was unable to recall the actual name and used the first one that sprang to mind?

  [240] Watson can only be referring to the medieval adventure romance Quentin Durward by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832).

  [241] Although the Celsius system had been proposed originally in the 1740s, England did not adopt it until approximately 1962.

  [242] The Baker Street Underground Station opened in 1863 as one of the original stations of the Metropolitan Railway. Curiously, Holmes and Watson almost never travel by the Tube. Watson mentions it in Chapter II of A Study in Scarlet and The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, and it plays a large role in The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, but the only time they actually travel on it is during The Adventure of the Red-Headed League.

  [243] The Corps of Commissionaires were formed in 1859 to serve as a source of occupation for pensioned veterans. They wore uniforms and served as porters and messengers. Commissionaire Peterson was the exceptionally honest man who brought Holmes the eponymous Blue Carbuncle.

  [244] The Crimean War (1853-1856) was fought between England, France, and the Ottoman Empire on one side, and the Russian Empire on the other. It is famous today mainly for the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade and the heroisms of Florence Nightingale.

  [245] Paddington Hospital (more properly St. Mary’s) was founded in 1845. It is most famous for being the locale where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin.

  [246] Strangely enough, Holmes makes no mention of these markings on the body of the convict Seldon, who escaped from the prison of Princetown in The Hound of The Baskervilles.

  [247] Holmes also manipulated the press in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.

  [248] Simpson’s Grand Cigar Tavern, now known simply as Simpson’s on the Strand, was one of Holmes’ favorite restaurants. It is where he chose to eat after starving himself in The Adventure of the Dying Detective. He and Watson also dined there in The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.

  [249] Holmes was an eccentric chemist and could be found practicing his hobby in numerous cases.

  [250] Christmas crackers are a traditional part of Christmas celebrations in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth countries. They consist of cardboard tubes wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, resembling an oversized sweet-wrapper and usually containing a small trinket. A cracker is pulled by two people, with their arms crossed, until it splits unevenly. The split is accompanied by a mild bang or snapping sound produced by the effect of friction upon a shock-sensitive card strip chemically-impregnated with the unstable silver fulminate. Tradition holds that Tom Smith of London invented crackers in 1847 and named them after the ‘Cossaques’ (i.e. Cossacks) of Russia. Over time the name morphed into the ‘cracker,’ by which they are still called today.

  [251] It sounds like Holmes may have invented the ‘bang-snap.’ I have been unable to trace the historical origin of these novelty noisemakers, so perhaps Holmes’ claim is valid?

  [252] The crackers also usually contain a paper crown, which is an echo of a tradition that goes back to Roman times, and the Saturnalia celebrations. The King of the Saturnalia, or Saturnalicius princeps, ruled as master of ceremonies for the proceedings and was the precursor for the medieval Lord of Misrule at the Feast of Fools. His capricious commands, such as “Sing naked” or “Throw him into cold water,” had to be obeyed by the other guests at the convivium.

  [253] This is similar to what Holmes’ says in Chapter I of The Valley of Fear.

  [254] The Canon is replete with examples where Holmes chides Watson for theorizing prematurely only to do so himself.

  [255] Holmes had an affinity for the number seven: he had 7 separate explanations for the curious case of Miss Violet Hunter (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches), 7 schemes for getting a glimpse of a telegram (The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter) and 7 clues from Percy Phelps (The Naval Treaty). In none of these instances does Holmes ever elaborate upon their exact nature.

  [256] From Shakespeare’s King Henry V (Epilogue).

  [257] The Evening Star is simply the appearance of the planet Venus in the evening. However, the Greeks decided to make him a separate deity called Hesperus, the son of Eos, and half-brother of Phosphorus, the Morning Star. The Romans called him Vesper.

  [258] ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’ is a narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), first published in Ballads and Other Poems in 1842. It is a story that presents the tragic consequences of a sea captain's pride. The Canon of Sherlock Holmes was littered with references to shipwrecks, including that of the ‘Sophy Anderson’ & ‘Lone Star’ (The Five Orange Pips), the ‘Norah Creina’ (The Adventure of the Resident Patient), and the eponymous ‘Gloria Scott.’

  [259] Baedeker’s Great Britain was the main travel guide to the United Kingdom from its inception in 1887 (with earlier London-only editions). The four villages include the hamlet of Star, in the civil parish of Shipham, Somerset, England; the village of Star, Fife, Scotland; the hamlet of Star, Pembrokeshire, Wales; and Star, a small settlement near the village of Gaerwen, Wales.

  [260] The Star was a London evening newspaper founded in 1888 and which finally ceased publication in 1960.

  [261] The ‘First State’ is Delaware, on the basis of it being the first to ratify the Constitution of the United States on 7 December, 1787.

  [262] Here we can safely assume that Holmes is obliquely referring to his terrible failure to prevent the murder of John Oppenshaw at the hands of the K.K.K. members travelling aboard the barque ‘Lone Star’ (The Five Orange Pips).

  [263] Perhaps not officially invented by Henry VII, he nonetheless perfected the use of the Star Chamber tribunal in the Palace of Westminster. The ceiling of the chamber in which the court convened was painted with a representation of the night sky and stars, supposedly so that the accused could gaze upon it and contemplate their small place in the universe. The ceiling has survived until the modern day can still be seen at Leasowe Castle. Court sessions were held in secret and over time it evolved into a political weapon, a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power by the English monarchy and courts. It was formally abolished in 1641.

  [264] Holmes is plainly referring to Moriarty’s book The Dynamics of an Asteroid, mentioned in Chapter I of The Valley of Fear.

  [265] There was a vivid astronomical event, possibly a comet or nova, recorded by Chinese and Korean stargazers in about March to April of the year 5 BCE. This object was observed for over seventy days with no movement recorded. Ancient writers described comets as "hanging over" specific cities, just as the Star of Bethlehem was said to have stood over the town of Bethlehem. Holmes cert
itude is a bit of bluster, as other theories exist for the historical basis of this particular ‘Star.’

  [266] Sol Invictus (‘Unconquered Sun’) was a solar deity of the late Roman period. His ‘birthday’ on 25 December was celebrated as a festival that followed closely on the heels of Saturnalia.

  [267] Watson is plainly referring to Mr. Fezziwig from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, to whom Ebenezer Scrooge was first apprenticed.

  [268] Greensleeves is a traditional English folk song dating as far back as 1580. Alternative lyrics from c.1686 associated the tune with Christmas texts, becoming the familiar refrain “On Christmas Day in the morning.”

  [269] This appears similar to how Holmes would compensate Watson’s patience with his exasperating melancholy violin solos, with a sudden burst of his “favorite airs,” the exact identity of which remains uncertain (Chapter II, A Study in Scarlet).

  [270] The Christmas tree first gained popularity in British and American society thanks to the husband of Queen Victoria, the German-born Prince Albert. He installed a decorated Christmas tree (‘Tannenbaum’) at Windsor Castle in 1841, and woodcuts of the Royal Family’s tree appeared in London magazines in 1848. Such illustrations, published in America a year later, created the fashionable impression of the Christmas tree in upper class homes.