Sherlock Holmes Film Night 2025 by Joe Eckrich

On Saturday, February 22, The Parallel Case of St. Louis held a Sherlockian Film Night at the Ethical Society of St. Louis.  Joe Eckrich hosted the event with films from his extensive Sherlockian film collection.  The program consisted of three films from three different eras and, naturally, a cartoon.  

Up first was a film from 1932 naturally entitled Sherlock Holmes, starring Clive Brook (1887 – 1974).  Brook first played  Sherlock Holmes in The Return of Sherlock Holmes in 1929.  This was the first sound Sherlock Holmes film, although a silent version was made for those theaters not yet converted to sound.  It was actually this film which started the trend for giving Holmes a much older and dimmer Watson, played by H. Reeves-Smith.  

In general, reviewers liked Brooks’ Holmes and he was given another opportunity with the film shown that night.  Sherlock Holmes was produced by Fox and directed by William K. Howard.  Brook was originally cast as Holmes because producer David O. Selznick though he looked like the Paget drawings, although Brook, along with most critics, failed to see the resemblance.  Brook was essentially a stage actor of the old school and he often appeared as the perfect English gentleman.  

In this film Watson is played by Reginald Owen, who a year later would play Holmes himself in A Study in Scarlet, and would go on to play Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

By the way, in between his two Holmes films, Brook would play the detective in a revue Paramount on Parade.  One of the skits featured in the film was Murder Will Out which combined two of Paramount’s successful series of films featuring Philo Vance played by William Powell and the other Dr. Fu Manchu played by Warner Oland.  The sketch also included Sherlock Holmes played by Brook.  Both Vance and Holmes are killed by Fu Manchu.

Sherlock Holmes contained a romance for Holmes which was not new, having been taken from the Gillette play and introduced in several previous movies.  In addition, we are presented with a Holmes who has invented a gadget that produces an electric ray to immobilize automobiles.  However, in spite of these anomalies the film was considered “great fun, moved at a fast pace and was far glossier that its British counterparts.”

Our next film was The House of Fear starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.  Rathbone and Bruce first played Holmes and Watson in two films produced by Twentieth Century Fox, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, both in 1939.  These were both set in the Victorian period.  Afterwards Fox dropped the series and in 1942 Universal picked up the series and brought it forward to the current time.  In the first three films Holmes faced off against the Nazis and, of course, won.  After that it reverted to normal detective films and the fifth of these was The House of Fear (number 8 overall) produced in 1945 and directed by Roy William Neill.

A press release at the time confessed that attempts to modernize Holmes "to solve problems of the current war, in Canada and Washington, did not meet with the expected response from devotees of the Conan Doyle mysteries.  Film fans want to see their Holmes and Watson in typical Doyle plots and in English settings where they belong."

The House of Fear is the nearest the series got to an old-fashioned, old dark house whodunit.  The setting was a remote Scottish mansion perched on the cliff top with a nearby fishing village with quaint inhabitants and even quainter buildings from Universal’s Frankenstein set. It is loosely based on “The Five Orange Pips," very loosely.

It was now time for a cartoon and Joe chose “The Case of the Screaming Bishop," produced in 1944 and directed by Howard Swift. The best that can be said is that this was a seven minute wild and crazy Columbia Phantasy cartoon starring Hairlock Combs and Dr. Gotsum.

The final offering of the evening was “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” produced in 1968 as part of a series starring  Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock.

In 1964-65 the BBC brought Sherlock Holmes to television in the person of Douglas Wilmer with Nigel Stock as Watson in a 13 episode series.  Many, including many British Holmesians, believe Wilmer to have been an excellent Holmes.  However, he was dissatisfied with many of the production values, including rehearsal time and the quality of the scripts.  He would often spend hours rewriting them, so after one series he left to star in several Fu Manchu films in a very Holmes like character of Nayland Smith.

In 1968 the BBC decided to try again this time with Peter Cushing in the lead and Nigel Stock again as Watson.  Cushing had previously played Holmes in the 1959 Hammer Films production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.  The series was produced in color and 16 50-minute episodes were filmed.  Unfortunately only six episodes have survived.

Cushing was a fan of Sherlock Holmes from his childhood.  When he was approached to play the part in Hammer’s The Hound of the Baskervilles he accepted immediately. Cushing shared many qualities with the Great Detective, including a steely gaze, gaunt features and a preciseness of speech, although he did lack height.  Cushing’s interpretation of Holmes is decidedly prickly in the Hammer Hound, but when he resumed the part for the BBC series in 1968 he presented a softer, more humane version of the character.  Many consider the two-part Hound of the Baskervilles that was part of this series to be superior to his Hammer Hound.

That brought the evening to a close and everyone looked forward to the next film night.

Information provide at the film program and contained in this article come primarily from the book Starring Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies, an excellent guide to Sherlockian film.

Sherlockian Musings in Shibuya by Kristen Mertz

About 3 years ago I was fortunate enough to have been able to attend the Reichenbach Irregulars conference in Leukerbad, Switzerland. Little did I know just how much that would affect my Sherlockian life. I mean I had a clue, but I digress. In attendance at that conference were Sherlockians from all over, including members of the Sherlock Holmes Club of Japan. I remember having a good chat with the group at the top of the Gemmi Pass about my upcoming Japan trip to visit my son, who was at the time doing a semester abroad. They inquired what I was most looking forward to about visiting and I remember saying everything, but probably anime and the food the most. I was wrong about the anime. I mean yes, they have lots of great anime, but this is a small fraction of what makes Japan so wonderful.  I was NOT wrong about the food.  The food in Japan is amazing.

Fast forward to summer of last year, while attending the Sherlock Holmes @50 conference in Minneapolis, MN. To my surprise, 3 members of the Japan Sherlock Holmes Club were in attendance, Yaeko Amano, Masamichi Higurashi and Yumiko Shigaki. I had a great time catching up Yaeko and Yumiko about my trip to Japan last year, including telling them about my son’s girlfriend, whom he met while studying there. I also told them that I have been studying Japanese and about another upcoming trip to Japan I was planning as a graduation gift for my son. I tried to remember some of my Japanese, although I can speak for us all when I say it is very difficult to actually put into practice a language you have been studying without much time practicing in conversational situations. I felt an immediate sympathy for our Japanese friends listening to Sherlockian lectures in English, especially with the blistering pace at which some of us speak. Upon hearing I was visiting Japan, Masamachi suggested I come to the end of year meeting for the Japan club. I immediately said that I would love to meet with the club! Yaeko and I exchanged emails and I promised to send my travel plans once they were pinned down so we could arrange a meeting. I don’t think I need to tell you dear readers that I was very excited about all of this.  So much so that I may have been overzealous in in my bidding for the Strand Hound of the Baskervilles set, but it provided a good photo opportunity for me since Yaeko just happened to be wearing a lovely Hound scarf.  

 

After a few emails back and forth, plans were made! I thank Yaeko again for kindly arranging this dinner with the club members and handling the reservations. The dinner was set for December 29th at the Izakaya Banya in Shinjuku, Tokyo. In case you are interested here is their website: https://www.banya-group.jp/en/

My son, Teddy and I arrived in Tokyo on December 16th and made a whirlwind tour that went from Saitama, Obanazawa and Sendai to Fukuoka, Osaka and Nagoya, finally coming back around to Tokyo on the 28th of December. The day of the dinner finally arrived (it went rather quickly actually with all the running about!) and I had to get ready early to meet up with my son and his girlfriend who were already in Tokyo. I was staying in Saitama, so I planned to leave by 4 PM as the trip by train was about an hour, plus I always give myself extra time for the possibility of getting lost, finding exact locations and just general additional walking time. Google thinks I can walk a kilometer in 10 minutes for some reason and it is definitely not accounting for the massive number of stairs you will encounter in Japan. Also, I was possibly excited and certainly didn’t want to be late. I was immediately proven right, because although I found the building with no issue, I was confounded as to the location of the restaurant in the building. The signs were in Japanese, and Google translate was very little help, probably because I was looking at the wrong signs. Eventually, I figured out there are elevator banks in the center of the building and the different elevators went to different floors. I immediately texted my son’s girlfriend to let her know so they wouldn’t have the same issue. After that, I made my way onto the elevator. I arrived at the restaurant’s front desk and I heard the woman from the elevator ask for “Amano” and quickly realized it was Yaeko. We were actually in the elevator together and didn’t recognize each other probably because it is rude to stare at other people in an elevator.  We greeted each other and we were led to a private room with hooks on the walls for coats and purses and got settled in for our dinner together. My son and his girlfriend ended up being a little late, but it all ended well with everyone seated comfortably.

Attendees of the dinner, clockwise around the table starting on the left include Yaeko AMANO, Hiroyuki FUTUKAWA, Yuki SAHARA, Hiroko NAKASHIMA, Takahiko ENDO, Mayuko YAMASHITA, Theodore DANG, Nachi ONODERA, myself, Tommoya YOSHIDA, Masamichi HIGURASHI, and Yumiko SHIGAKI.

Dinner was wonderful. We started with drinks, including sake, beer and highballs (I have not tried one, but they are very popular in Japan!). Dinner started with tofu at the table, then the servers brought out sashimi, then tempura and chicken hotpot. It got really warm in that room when the hotpot was going. When I thought I couldn’t eat anymore, the servers came back and added udon noodles into the pot. I do not regret eating probably more than I should have as everything was amazing. For our final course we had ice cream for dessert. It was quite the feast! 

During the dinner, I had several lively conversations with Tommoya, Yuki and Hiroko. Our conversations included so many topics, I wish I could remember them all.  We talked about anime and manga, including Detective Conan, Moriarty the Patriot and we did wander off into others, including Jujutsu Kaisen and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. Masamachi told me that his BSI Investiture was Baron von Gruner, much to my surprise. I was very confused by this because Masamichi is so nice, but then he explained because of Gruner’s collection of pottery, that link had not occurred to me at all. I was happy to have that explained to me. I regaled them with the story of my visit to the Sherlock Statue in Oiwake, my adventure in getting there from the shinkansen, to the local train to my 45-minute hike past Mount Asama and the very nice man I directed to the statue after a brief conversation. We also chatted about the BSI weekend. Tommoya was going for his first time and didn’t know what to expect. Since I have never gone, I was not much help but I did mention that others have told me there is always plenty to do and Sherlockians in New York would never let other Sherlockians go without company. I hope you enjoyed your trip to New York, Tommoya!

We also exchanged gifts. I brought Parallel Case pins for all the Japanese club members and Yaeko presented me with a beautiful handmade calendar and various collectibles from the Japan Sherlock Holmes club including pens that look like needles.

After dinner, gathering our things, we stood and looked out the window at the view of Tokyo at night. Masamachi asked if I had seen the crime scene the club had put together. I believe I have heard of it previously, but have not been lucky enough to see it yet. Masamichi, if you are reading this, I would LOVE to have a picture of your crime scene, please.

We went down in the elevators and took photos together, shook hands and exchanged farewells. Even my son, Teddy and his girlfriend, Nachi had fun, but I’m not sure I have convinced them to become official Sherlockians just yet. I will keep trying!

There is something about sitting down and having a meal and drinks with other Sherlockians that is magical. Even with the challenges of language differences. I would say that Sherlockians share, not only an admiration of Sherlock Holmes and “the game”, but also curiosity and a love of books and learning in general that really shines through when I listen to all the conversations and talks we have. I will say my only regret is that I never have enough time with my Sherlockian friends, that was especially so at this dinner. There is just not enough time to share all of our experiences and things we have learned and done in the times between seeing each other. I honestly wish I could remember every single word of the conversations we shared because they are a gift.

What I will remember very clearly is that tucked away in a cozy izakaya in Tokyo we shared some of the best food, drink and conversation with a wonderful group of friends, that I am very fortunate to have had the chance to meet. To my new Japanese friends, I hope you had wonderful New Year celebrations. Thank you for sharing your evening with me. I cannot tell you how much this meant to me. Mata aimashou! I will be practicing my Japanese and I hope our next meeting comes very soon.

2025 and The Parallel Case of St. Louis

The Parallel Case of St. Louis has spent the past few years building up our connections in the Sherlockian community.  Through our members travelling to Sherlockian events around the country, hosting our own Zoom meetings three times a year, and hosting a wildly popular Holmes in the Heartland in 2023, we believe that our Sherlockian bonds have really strengthened over the years.

And we have no plans to slow down in that avenue.  We have members planning on attending Holmes, Doyle & Friends, 221B Con, and the Canonical Conclave this year.  Our next Zoom meeting is on February 8 (Register HERE), and Holmes in the Heartland will be back in 2026.  And of course we will continue with our monthly blog posts. (If you missed Heather's great post on Inspector Lestrade last month, don't miss out!)

But this year we want to be more intentional about engaging with our city, St. Louis.  We have lots of ideas in the hopper and who knows what will come to fruition in 2025, but hopefully it will lead our group to enjoying the city more and meeting some new friends who are also interested in Sherlock Holmes.  

After a few years of inactivity, our Instagram account has gotten up and running again.  We are following all kinds of bookstores, coffee shops, and St. Louis-centric accounts.  If you're on Instagram, give us a follow!

We are still meeting every other month at The Ethical Society of St. Louis, but this year finds us in the more comfortable setting of the Teen Hangout Room.  Even though we are pretty well past our teen years, we all appreciated the couches, comfortable chairs, and relaxed vibe it gave during our first meeting in January.

And it's time to start having more fun events outside of our meetings!  February 22 will be a Sherlockian movie movie night.  We will watch 1932's Sherlock Holmes starring Clive Brook, 1945's The House of Fear with Basil Rathbone, and 1968's The Boscombe Valley Mystery with Peter Cushing.  And look for more fun local events this summer once all of the aforementioned conference travels are over!

We plan on reaching out to area libraries and newspapers to promote our in-person meetings.  Maybe even some bookstore visits after upcoming meetings.  And we'd love to hear from you!  What ideas should we consider for outreach in the community?  

On an internal note, our group has formalized some roles to help with organizational tasks.  Our current officer list is:

Gasogene (President) - Rob Nunn

Tantalus (Secretary) - Heather Hinson

Commissionaire (Treasurer) - Adam Presswood

Gasogene Emeritus (Advisor) - Joe Eckrich

2025 is looking like it's going to be a pretty great year for The Parallel Case of St. Louis!  If you are interested in joining our group or haven't been to a meeting in a while, we'd love to see you.  In the immortal words of Sherlock Holmes, "Come at once if convenient. If inconvenient, come all the same.”

"I Believe in Hard Work and Not in Sitting by the Fire Spinning Fine Theories” Or, Why is Inspector Lestrade So Popular? by Heather Hinson

“There was one little sallow rat-faced, dark-eyes fellow,” Watson writes in A Study in Scarlet, “who was introduced to me as Mr. Lestrade.”

This is the audience’s first introduction to Inspector G. Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Arguably not the best introduction to a man who becomes a staple in later stories.  A little while later, Sherlock Holmes adds to this introduction with these words: 

“Gregson is the smartest of the Scotland Yarders,” my friend remarked; “he and Lestrade are the pick of a bad lot. They are both quick and energetic, but conventional—shockingly so. They have their knives into one another, too. They are as jealous as a pair of professional beauties. There will be some fun over this case if they are both put upon the scent.”

From Watson’s, and later, Holmes’ descriptions of Inspector Lestrade, how did this man become an unofficial fan favorite?

In Watson’s narratives there are four members of Scotland Yard that Holmes deems worthy enough to interact with during Holmes’ adventures. Inspector Bradstreet (who never gets a first name), who interacted with Holmes and Watson in three adventures (TWIS, ENGR, and BLUE).

Next is Stanley Hopkins, who is not an Inspector but a promising detective (GOLD). Hopkins, whom Holmes tells Watson when Hopkins writes to him about Sir Eustace’s death: “Hopkins’s writing shows considerable agitation, and he is not an emotional man.” (ABBE). Hopkins joins Holmes and Watson on four adventures. (ABBE, GOLD, BLAC, and MISS).

Third on this list is Inspector Tobias Gregson whom Watson writes, “was well known to us as Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard, an energetic, gallant, and, within his limitations, a capable officer”. (WIST).  Out of all the officers of Scotland Yard, Holmes seems to get along with Gregson the most even if they have only worked with him on fours cases (STUD, GREE, WIST, and REDC). He was also mentioned in SIGN as well, “When Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depths—which, by the way, is their normal state—the matter is laid before me.”

So, despite Inspector G. Lestrade working with Holmes and Watson on a breathtaking thirteen adventures (BOSC, NOBL, EMPT, NORW, CHAS, SIXN, SECO, CARD, BRUC, LADY, 3GAR, HOUN, and STUD) and  being mentioned in STUD as well, what is it that made Lestrade show up for many of these cases?  As Holmes mentioned in STUD, both Gregson and Lestrade are not only the “best of a bad lot,” but they have a professional rivalry. Yet Lestrade blows Gregson out of the water when it comes to cases with Holmes. Which, of course, gets his name in the paper much more. But why?

Is it because Gregson has other cases he’s working on when these adventures appear? Is Lestrade hoarding the good cases, or just camping out around Baker Street so he’s the first to get a jump on these cases?  Is Lestrade just clever or ambitious enough that, when these cases appear on his docket, he directs them towards Holmes for consultation?  But again, why? 

Outside the books, the media tends to use Lestrade often as their official liaison to Scotland Yard. Even outside the original canonical stories. Pastiches will add Lestrade into their stories. The Inspector even has an entire book series dedicated to him.  I could be wrong but I don’t believe Hopkins, Bradstreet or Gregson are this lucky.  The closest I could come to another one of the four being chosen over Lestrade was Captain Tobias Gregson in the TV series Elementary.  Even then, Lestrade appeared in a few episodes. Because he’s notable and if you’re reading a Sherlock Holmes adventure, outside the core two of Holmes and Watson, people are going to think of Lestrade.

Working closely with Holmes on thirteen different cases seems to have worked for the Inspector. Watson had to put him in, (even if he did add his own commentary) and Watson’s literary agent seemed to know a good thing when he read it, keeping the Yarder in as well.

Was it just good publicity? Smarter people than me will probably have answers and if I had six months of research, I could probably give a well-thought-out answer. My current thought is despite being a “sallow, rat-faced fellow” as Watson seems to think, Lestrade is clever enough, “the best of a bad bunch”, cocky, stubborn and seems to give Holmes at least a little bit of a challenge. He doesn’t acquiesce to Holmes immediately, instead pushing his own theories be them correct or wildly wrong. I think Holmes likes the challenge, enjoys the power play. If Lestrade could ever get one over on the great Sherlock Holmes, that would be something to crow about. He never does, but it doesn’t mean he stops trying. This challenge comes out in the stories and in the way the Inspector is used outside the canon as well. 

Over the years, Lestrade has become as household as Holmes and Watson. If Watson is Holmes’ Boswell, when Lestrade is his ombudsman. The man to toss in if one needs a Scotland Yard Inspector in the midst. He’s easy, the copper with the most written about him, the man with the most interaction with Holmes outside Watson. These interactions make it easy for others to write about him, and from there, it just gave him the edge needed to become the favorite.

Another Adventure of Sherlock Hunting by Kristen Mertz

In my last blog post back in June of this year, I told you all of my adventures hunting down Sherlock statues around the world. After some planning, a cancellation and some re-planning, I am happy to say I was back at it again earlier this month. Fortunately for me, this statue is much closer to home than the first three I visited last year.  Our destination, Chester, IL, a short 90-minute drive from St. Louis, MO.  For those unfamiliar with this small town, it is the birthplace of Elzie Crisler Segar, the creator of Popeye and, just like us, an avid Sherlock Holmes fan. 

For this trip, I was lucky enough to be joined by a lovely group of Sherlockians from this very group plus a special guest from out of town, Ms. Anastasia Klimchynskaya. We drove to Chester on a very sunny, very warm November day to meet up with some of the group at our first rendezvous point, Reid’s Harvest House. There we had a smorgasbord buffet as we waited for everyone else to arrive at our second rendezvous point, the town post office. (NOTE: It was changed to the bank only a half block away, but I do not read my e-mails whilst adventuring.  My apologies to Rob Nunn.)

After everyone arrived, we headed out on foot for a brief walk and finally arrived at our first stop, our dear Sherlock statue. Many, many photos were taken by all! What a wonderful statue, with so many things to observe! Not only our detective, but the wall behind him with the letters “RACHE” in red. But also, the circle around and behind on the wall, the inscriptions of all those who contributed to the statue itself. I particularly noted, our St. Louis groups, The Parallel Case of St. Louis and the Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn, The Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes and friends abroad as well, including the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and Sherlock Holmes Societe de France.  I would like to make a particular call out to the Japanese Sherlock Holmes Club, who I shall be seeing at the end of the year! (HINT: I am very excited about this and will take any chance I can to talk about it. HINT 2: This WILL definitely be in a future blog post.)

Speaking of hints, you can’t go to Chester without looking at other statues as well, as there are easter eggs to find along the Popeye character trail. Our group continued our walk around town to visit other statues to discover their secrets. From the school, to the firehouse and finally made our way towards a Casey’s gas station, as this day ended up being surprisingly hot and I was desperate for hydration. As we walked out of the Casey’s and were about to head back up the hill to where are cars were parked, a strange man yelled at us from his truck. What luck, it was Michael McClure, the very man who arranged to have the Sherlock statue erected! Not only did I get to meet another Sherlockian but he was kind enough to give us all a tour of his house, which held many more treasures and other collectibles. Far too many to include of the pictures, but some are included for a peak at what you might find.

Finally, we ended the day by locating the last of the easter eggs on the trail.  No spoilers here, but if you want some hints or a bit of a riddle, it is near a building that holds some mysteries, some pictures here may give you a clue, it is my favorite story in the canon and I paid a bit a cash for the full Strand version at the Minneapolis conference. Answer in the comments if you can figure it out.  No cheating to the Sherlockians who were on the adventure with me! For more history on Chester and the Popeye Character Trail, you can look here: https://www.chesterill.com/character-trail/.  

So, dear readers, I have now logged the 4th statue in my continuing Sherlock hunt. Which can only mean that I have decided to keep going. The only question left is, which statue will be next? Stay tuned for future adventures!

Scion Societies by Joe Eckrich

Steve Doyle, leader of The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis, publisher of The Baker Street Journal, and one-half of Wessex Press, has recently given several talks on the importance of scion societies.  Those talks resonated with me very much.  I joined my first scion society in 1976 and since then I have been and I am a member of numerous societies.  I’ve seen societies come and go.  I even started one. 

 

The first society I joined was The Noble Bachelors of St. Louis, then the only one in the area.  At the time it met in dinner meetings 3 or 4 time a year with up to 40 or more in attendance.  I am still a member although the group doesn’t meet all that often and only had a picnic this year.  In November of 1988 I founded The Parallel Case of St. Louis as a smaller group that discussed a case each meeting, something that could not be done in the larger setting of The Noble Bachelor dinners.  Then, in January 1989, The Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn was started in St. Charles, Missouri, a stone’s throw from St. Louis.  Somewhat earlier The Occupants of The Empty House was begun in Du Quoin, Illinois, about two hours from St. Louis in Southern Illinois. Somewhat later The Chester Baskervilles saw the light of day in Chester, Illinois, about an hour from St. Louis.  

Now there was an abundance of societies within easy driving distance, but I noted a peculiar thing.  Most members of these societies were reluctance to attend other groups’ meetings. Oh, I picked up a few members of The Noble Bachelors but most of my group were new Sherlockians who pretty much only attended my meetings, even though I encouraged them to spread their wings.  The same was true for The Harpooners.  Now there was nothing wrong with that but I do believe it was a missed opportunity.  I ended up attending meetings of all of the area groups extending to The Occupants of The Empty House and made new Sherlockian friends and had many great evenings.

Now I have to admit, we were very fortunate to have so many scion societies within easy reach.  Many Sherlockians are lucky to have one group within driving distance and many don’t have any.  Fortunately with Zoom meetings so readily available it is relatively easy to find a meeting to attend.  Even after COVID, there are many groups either meeting exclusively on Zoom of doing hybrid meetings of in-person and Zoom meetings.  

So why do I think supporting scion societies is so important?  The BSI weekend only occurs once a year and, while there are numerous events other than the invitation-only BSI dinner, attendance is often difficult and certainly expensive.  While the BSI is an important part of our hobby, most of the work of keeping it alive and growing is done by the scion societies.  New members are attracted through the local groups.  Much of the scholarship, including that which appears in the Baker Street Journal, begins in discussions in local groups.  While the BSI hosts periodic conferences, there are many more hosted by scion societies.

Covid affected societies in various ways.  Locally, the Harpooners now meet exclusively via Zoom.  The Occupants died out during Covid.  Fortunately, The Parallel Case, after meeting on Zoom during Covid, went back to in-person meetings and also continue to do Zoom meetings several times a year.  Also, in the last few years, I’ve joined The Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis and The Tankerville Club of Cincinnati and attend several meeting of each during the year.  Also, the Clients host hybrid meetings so when I can’t be there in person I can still attend.  Attending these meetings has broaden my outlook, not to mentions significantly increased my Sherlockian friends.

I was investitured into The Baker Street Irregulars in 1993 as “The Stockbrokers Clerk” and I am very proud to be a member but I have always maintained that had I never become a BSI, I would still be doing exactly as I am doing now.  Attending scion society meetings and enjoying the scholarship, the friends and the fun that can be found in these groups.  

[Editor's Note: As mentioned above, The Parallel Case of St. Louis meets via Zoom three times a year and you can register for this Saturday's Zoom at this link.]

Medicine in the 19th Century: A Canonical Perspective by Srinivasan Raghavan

I first came across the Sherlock Holmes canon in a small town in India during my mid-teens. At the time I would rush through the pages to reach the end and to discover the solution to the mystery. 

Later, after qualifying as a medical doctor, I revisited the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It became evident that many of Sherlock Holmes' deductive processes were inspired by medical history-taking and physical examination, which are core aspects of medical training. In fact, Holmes’ character was partially modeled on Dr. Doyle’s teacher at Edinburgh, Dr. Joseph Bell, a physician renowned for his keen observational skills and ability to diagnose patients with remarkable accuracy.

With this in mind, I began focusing on the medical aspects of the stories and tried to reconcile them with contemporary terminology and practices.

While many instances of medical elements are woven throughout the stories, I’ve chosen a few that I think might interest readers.

One term that appears frequently in the canon is “brain fever.” For instance, in “The Naval Treaty," poor Percy Phelps has an important document stolen from him, after which he experiences both mental and physical collapse. He says, “Here I have lain, Mr. Holmes, for over nine weeks, unconscious and raving with brain fever… in my mad fits, I was capable of anything. Slowly, my reason has cleared, but it is only in the last three days that my memory has quite returned.”

It seems Phelps suffered a mental and physical breakdown, and similar references to "brain fever" appear in other stories as well.

In modern mental health, there is a condition known as acute psychosis, defined as a clinical syndrome involving hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thoughts or behaviors, or some combination of these, within an acute time frame (often less than a month). When comparing Phelps’ description of his condition with this definition, we can see some similarities, although the duration of the illness differs.

So, what is brain fever? In modern medical terminology, it would likely be classified as encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, often caused by bacterial or viral infections.

Can stress cause encephalitis? Yes, in rare cases, stress can trigger an autoimmune response in which the body’s own immune system turns against itself, resulting in conditions like lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE).

Did Percy Phelps and others in the canon suffer from encephalitis due to an overactive autoimmune  system triggered by stress, or was it primarily a mental health crisis? We may never know for sure!

Next, let’s turn to Curare, mentioned in A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, and "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire." Curare is an alkaloid derived from South American plants, initially used by indigenous people to paralyze animals and birds by coating their arrows and darts with it. Interestingly, those who consumed the poisoned animals were unharmed.

The first well-known form of curare, called tubocurarine, was shipped in bamboo tubes, hence its name. It was later adopted in anesthesia as a muscle relaxant to aid in surgery, used alongside drugs that induce unconsciousness. Today, synthetic muscle relaxants are used, which function similarly to tubocurarine but with fewer side effects.

An important point to note is that curare only works when injected into the bloodstream, not when ingested orally.

In A Study in Scarlet, Jefferson Hope, the avenging angel, claims to use a capsule of curare to kill his nemesis, Enoch Drebber, by forcing him to swallow it. However, this would not be effective, as curare is harmless when swallowed, a fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle seemingly overlooked.

Finally, I’ll discuss "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," in which Dr. Grimsby Roylott uses a poisonous snake to kill one stepdaughter and attempts to murder the other. Holmes quickly identifies the snake as a Swamp Adder, describing it as “the deadliest snake in India,” and notes that Dr. Roylott dies within 10 seconds after the snake turns on him.

Unfortunately, Holmes was wrong on both counts. The deadliest snake in India is the King Cobra, whose neurotoxic venom paralyzes muscles, including those responsible for breathing. However, even this venom takes at least 20 minutes or more to kill an adult human being, certainly not in 10 seconds.

The Swamp Adder belongs to the Viper family, and its venom is hemotoxic, meaning that it causes blood clotting and eventually starves the body of oxygen by clogging the Blood Vessels. Hemotoxic venoms generally act more slowly than neurotoxins.

I have more fascinating tidbits of canonical medicine to share, and I hope to do so at some other time. I welcome any questions or comments.

Thank you for the opportunity to present my small monograph to you all.