“Let us have some fresh blood. Now, I add this small quantity of blood to a liter 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.”
—A Study in Scarlet
“The idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work.”
—The Adventure of the Speckled Band
“Men who die from heart disease, or any sudden natural cause, never by any chance exhibit agitation upon their features.”
—A Study in Scarlet
“Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.”
—A Study in Scarlet
“There is no part of the body which varies so much as the human ear. Each ear is as a rule quite distinctive and differs from all other ones. In last year’s Anthropological Journal you will find two short monographs from my pen upon the subject. I had, therefore, examined the ears in the box with the eyes of an expert and had carefully noted their anatomical peculiarities. Imagine my surprise, then, when on looking at Miss Cushing I perceived that her ear corresponded exactly with the female ear which I had just inspected. The matter was entirely beyond coincidence. There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear.”
—The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
“I’ve found it. I’ve found it. I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by hemoglobin, and by nothing else.”
—A Study in Scarlet
“If this paper remains blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a man’s life.”
—The Naval Treaty
“I presume, sir, that it is not merely for the purpose of examining my skull that you have done me the honor to call here last night and again to-day?”
—The Hound of the Baskervilles
“It is a curious thing that a typewriter has really quite as much individuality as a man’s handwriting. Unless they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one side.”
—A Case of Identity
