The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes: Essays on Victorian England, Volume Three

By Liese Sherwood-Fabre

"Slop shops," "scissorizing," "agony aunts," and "foolscap"

These and other Victorian references appear throughout the original Sherlock Holmes tales.  Everyday words and phrases to the Victorian may have modern day readers running to references books. These twenty-four short ess

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little Elm Press
• Release date: Nov 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781952408076

Liese Sherwood-Fabre

Liese Sherwood-Fabre, a native of Texas, knew she was destined to write when she got an A+ in the second grade for her story about Dick, Jane, and Sally's ruined picnic. After obtaining her PhD from Indiana University, she joined the federal government and had the opportunity to work and live internationally for more than fifteen years-in Africa, Latin America, and Russia. Returning to the states, she seriously pursued her writing career and has published several pieces. Her debut novel Saving Hope, a thriller set in Russia was based, in part, from her observations while in that country. She has published a variety of fiction and non-fiction pieces, winning such awards as a nomination for the Pushcart Prize, first place in Chanticleer Book Reviews' Mystery/Thriller novel category, and a finalist for Silver Falchion Award for Best 2017 Non-Fiction Book.

Book preview

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

What They Are Saying About The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes

Anyone entranced by Sherlock Holmes from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, prepare to delve into a charming set of illustrated guidebooks to Holmes and his 1895 London. These essays are gems of fascinating research and insight on the culture that produced Sir Arthur's most notable character. They are beautifully compact and illustrated and will lure the reader into revisiting the stories for fuller comprehension of the period and Conan Doyle's life and interests. Author Liese Sherwood-Fabre has ferreted out many sources and footnotes them thoroughly. So settle in and prepare to be enlightened and entertained.

Carole Nelson Douglas, Bestselling Author

To all Sherlockians, past, present, and future.

It will always be 1895.

Title Page

Copyright © 2020 by Little Elm Press LLC

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The essay Evil Women: The Villainesses in the Canon originally appeared in The Baker Street Journal, Spring 2018 volume under the title Villainesses: The Female Antagonists in the Canon.

Cover Design: The Killion Group, Inc.

Contents

Sherlock’s Sound of Music

Shedding Some Light on the Subject

Supplementing the Brain Attic

For the Love of Agony

The Many Agra Treasures

Cardboard’s Adventure

A Tale of Two Watsons

A Lion’s Sting

A Goal and Two Tries

For Medicinal Purposes

Sherlock’s Night at the Opera

A Tin of Diamonds

A Deadly Import

Slithering Assassins

An Italian-American Import

Taking it to the Bank

A Case of Sugar Sickness

Time in Your Hands

Read it in the Paper

Keeper of the Pleas

Three Gilt Orbs

Where Did You Get That Dress?

It’s all in the Cards

His Master’s Music

Evil Women: The Villainesses of the Canon

Acknowledgments

About Liese Sherwood-Fabre, PhD

Also by Liese Sherwood-Fabre, PhD

Sherlock’s Sound of Music

In The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, Sherlock shares with Dr. Watson he recently purchased a Stradivarius violin worth 500 guineas (the equivalent of 10,500 shillings) for 55 shillings on Tottenham Court Road—a true find. His knowledge of this instrument and its maker was also shown during a discussion comparing it with those crafted by the Amati family in A Study in Scarlet.

Antonio Stradivari had passed away 150 years before this mention in A Study in Scarlet, but his fame and those of his creations were well-established shortly after he set up his business in 1680. (1) He had learned the craft from the master Nicolo Amati, whose family had lived and worked in Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. (2)

Stradivari soon passed his teachers, however, improving upon Amati’s design by changing the arching, ensuring more exact wood thickness, and altering the scroll and varnish. The result was an instrument of such a superior design; it has yet to be surpassed. The true value of his creations was not fully recognized until the 1800s when more concerts occurred in great halls demanding a stronger sound. Experts contend these instruments produce music of greater brilliance (a clean, high-frequency sound), depth, and character produced by any others. (3)

The science behind the sound has been something of a mystery. Stradivari could barely read and had no scientific training, yet was able to craft an instrument that has yet to be replicated. Throughout the years, focus has shifted to various aspects of the design process. Attention had been first directed at the varnish, which was more highly colored than previous designs, but it was found not to have any special properties. (4)

The wood used became the next focus. In 2003, Dr. Grissino-Mayer and two colleagues published their results of an examination of the tree-rings in the wood used in The Messiah violin (the most well-preserved Stradivarius) to determine its origins. The team determined the wood was from spruce trees growing during the Maunder Minimum, a period known for lower temperatures that reduced tree growth rates and produced better sounding boards. (5) Unfortunately, how this produced superior instruments was unclear.

Just recently, attention has turned to another property in the wood. A very common problem at the time was deterioration by worms and other elements. Forest workers were known to have used some chemicals to protect the wood before it was sold. (7) In 2016, scientists published a paper describing a chemical analysis of the wood from some Stradivarius violins and from contemporary items. The results indicate a greater concentration of aluminum, calcium, copper, sodium, potassium, and zinc than typically found in such wood. (8) In addition, the wood’s density is unique. Greater detachment has occurred between the wood fibers, allowing for greater vibrations and, thus, a violinist’s greater expression of a range of emotions. (9)

Watson described Sherlock’s skill on the violin as remarkable. Given his instrument’s special properties, he surely did justice to his unique find.

Should you wish to hear music played on Stradivarius instruments (Stradivari produced more than just violins), the Smithsonian has recordings available at http://smithsonianchambermusic.org.

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(1) http://www.theviolinsite.com/violin_making/stradivarius.html

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amati

(3) https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-so-special-about-stradivarius-violins

(4) Ibid.

(5) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222575547_

Stradivari_violins_tree_rings_and_the_Maunder_Minimum_A_hypothesis

(6) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/science/stradivari-violin-wood.html

(7) http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/ 2016/12/13/1611253114.full.pdf

(8) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/20/science/stradivari-violin-wood.html

Shedding Some Light on the Subject

In numerous stories in the Canon, gaslight and gaslamps provide illumination on darkened streets and houses. In The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, tallow stains indicate Henry Baker has no gas in his house and still uses candles. By the time Sir Henry Baskerville inherits his title in  The Hound of the Baskervilles , he proposes installing electric lights to brighten his inheritance, with a special Swan and Edison bulb at the front.

This shift from gaslights to electric ones reflects a historical competition between two forms of illumination, complete with patent wars and races to spread into new markets. While coal gas had been known to provide both heat and light, William Murdoch was the first to install pipes to carry the gas and light lamps throughout his house in 1792 in Cornwall. (1)  A natural gas, coal gas was manufactured by heating coal in a sealed oven to keep out the oxygen, filtering it for purification, pressurizing it, and piping to a fixture where it was ignited. (2) Additional experimentation and pipe-laying led to the first industrial use of gaslights inside the Soho Foundry where he worked in