Sherlock Holmes: Trifles

"researches which have a medico-criminal aspect" [DYIN] This month, the Morley-Montgomery Award brings us up to the year 2006, when Harold Billings pulled out some serious research originating in Edinburgh. His article "The Materia Medica of Sherlock Holmes" in Vol. 56, No. 3 of The Baker Street Journal helps us understand the sources Holmes may have used for his non-traditional education in the medical field. It may be more than just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is "for those with ears attuned to catch the distant "view-halloo!" This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Harold Billings The Elements Song The Morley-Montgomery Award All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty" [FINA] As a student and practitioner of the latest forensic sciences as they pertained to the world of crime, Sherlock Holmes was on the cutting edge. He even wrote a number of monographs on topics related to crime. One might think that among them we might find "on the use of fingerprints to identify criminals." This is not the case. Why, we even had trouble finding trifling details about fingerprints in the entire Canon. Yet it's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Get A Clue: A Brief History of Fingerprints in the 19th Century (Criminal Element) Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science (Encyclopedia Britannica) A History of Fingerprints (Crime Scene Investigator) Francies Galton (Wikipedia) Pudd'nhead Wilson (Wikipedia) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"through the courtesy of Mr. Moriarty" [FINA] Each month, we look at a bit of Sherlockian scholarship that deserves to be unearthed and explored. Together, we consider the trifling matter is concerns. This month, we look at A.G. Macdonell's chapter "Mr. Moriarty" in the 1934 landmark publication Baker Street Studies, edited by H.W. Bell. And it's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Baker Street Studies by H.W. Bell (Abebooks) A.G. Macdonell (Wikipedia) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"I can't stand his lordship" [MAZA] For hapless Americans, the titles used by peers in the Sherlock Holmes stories can be vexing indeed. One would think that Sherlock Holmes would be able to keep things straight. Between his devil-may-care attitude toward the upper class and Conan Doyle's own lack of breeding, Damian Thompson found a decided gap in the way certain members of the peerage are titled. And it's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Solecism (Merriam-Webster) The Baker Street Journal All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"It confirms my diagnosis, as you doctors express it." [SIGN] Our latest Morley-Montgomery award episode features another dive into the medical world of Sherlock Holmes. But this time, it's about a diagnosis made by Dr. Watson. In 2004, Costa Rossakis, MD, BSI ("St. Bartholomew's Hospital"), a trained cardiologist, investigated exactly what was going on with the nervous Thaddeus Sholto. His article (but not his diagnosis) is just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links The Morley-Montgomery Award All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"we have had a close shave" [SIGN] Holmes was always clean-shaven, Watson always had a mustache. This is the way of the world of Sherlock Holmes as we know it. But they didn't arrive at that state naturally. Like any good Victorian gentleman who eschewed whiskers, they had to shave. As did others in the Canon. We explore a bit of the history of shaving and its applications. It's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links The Ultimate History of Shaving (History Cooperative) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"a bit of professional business between two gentlemen" [3GAR] In this month's Mr. Sherlock Holmes the theorist, we turn again to a bit of British scholarship from the 1950s. James Edward Holroyd's chapter "Dr. Watson and Mr. Wilde" in Baker Street By-Ways does an exemplary job of comparing the timelines of the great detective and the great wit, who each had a connection to a certain dinner with J.M. Stoddart of Lippincott's. It's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links Baker Street By-Ways Legends of the BSJ: James Montgomery Some details about the Lippincott's dinner Remembering Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson (Patreon | Substack) All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

"a methodical revenge" [STUD] They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But what about when it's just threatened? In this episode, we do a sweep of figures in the Sherlock Holmes stories who promised or exacted revenge. Did we catch them all? It's just a Trifle. If you have a question for us, please email us at [email protected]. If you use your inquiry on the show, we'll send you a thank you gift. There's a new "Trifling Trifles" episode out — short-form content that doesn't warrant a full episode. We release these at the beginning of every month. The latest episode is about the questionable judgment of the head of the Baker Street irregulars. This is a benefit exclusively for our paying subscribers. Check it out (Patreon | Substack). Our Merch Store is now open: Trifles mugs, notepads, and oval stickers can be yours (or someone else's, if you'd like to make it a gift). Start shopping today. Leave Trifles a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and Spotify; listen to this episode here or wherever you get podcasts Links All of our social links: https://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock Email us at trifles @ ihearofsherlock.com Music credits Performers: Uncredited violinist, US Marine Chamber Orchestra Publisher Info.: Washington, DC: United States Marine Band. Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0