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