Mr Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle
(New Skylark)
Taking Flight
Have you read any detective fiction? Write the name of the work of fiction, its author and the name of the detective. Write a few words in the boxes to describe some outstanding characteristics in the detective.
=
Fiction - The Mystery of the Blue Train.
Author - Agatha Christie.
Detective - Hercule Poirot.
Characteristics of the detective :-
i) He has an egg-shaped head.
ii) He often tilts to one side.
iii) He dresses very precisely with pride.
iv) When he is excited, his eyes shine green.
v) He has brilliantined hair and a waxed moustache.
vi) He is an aging bachelor.
Understanding the Text
A. Answer the following questions in one word.
1. Name the detective in this story.
= Sherlock Holmes.
2. What is the name of the detective's friend?
= Watson.
3. What is the full name of Mortimer?
= Dr. James Mortimer.
4. What does C.C.H. stand for?
= Charing Cross Hospital.
5. Which breed of dog did Mortimer have?
= Spaniel.
B. Answer the following questions.
1. By looking at the stick, how did Watson judge Dr Mortimer's profession?
= By looking at the stick, Watson came to the conclusion that Dr Mortimer was a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who knew him gave him that mark of their appreciation. He also thought that Dr Mortimer was a country practitioner who did a great deal of his visiting on foot as the thick-iron ferrule was worn down. The stick was so knocked about that Watson concluded that it was used only in the country side.
2. On what grounds was Watson incorrect according to Holmes?
= According to Watson, the members of some local hunt whom Dr Mortimer had given some surgical assistance, had possibly presented him the stick. At this point, Holmes disagreed with Watson. As a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt. The H in C.C.H. stands for hospital but not for hunt.
3. What was the significance of C.C.H. and of the date?
= C.C.H. was Charing Cross Hospital where Dr Mortimer used to work. In 1884, Dr Mortimer got married and left the hospital leaving all hopes of a consulting practice.
4. According to the Medical Directory, what was Dr Mortimer's record entry?
= According to the Medical Directory, Dr Mortimer's record entry was - Mortimer, James, M.R.C.S., 1882, Grimpen, Dartmoor, Devon. House-surgeon, from 1882 to 1884, at Charing Cross Hospital...Medical Officer for the parishes of Grimpen, Thorsley, and High Barrow.
5. What inferences did Holmes make about an amiable, unambitious and in absent-minded man?
= According to Holmes, it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only a unambitious man who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded man who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in his room.
6. Describe the visitor at Holmes's house.
= The visitor at Holmes's house was a very tall, thin man, with long nose like a beak, which jutted out between two keen, grey eyes, set closely together and sparkling brightly from behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was clad in a professional but rather slovenly fashion, for his frock-coat was dingy and his trousers frayed. Though young, his long back was already bowed, and he walked with a forward thrust of his head and general air of peering benevolence.
C. Answer these questions with reference to the context.
1. 'And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.'...'
a. Name the speaker and the person spoken to.
= Watson is the speaker and Holmes is the person spoken to.
b. What deductions did the speaker make?
= The speaker guessed that C.C.H. to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members Dr Mortimer had possibly given some surgical assistance, and which had made him a small presentation in return.
c. On what were the letters 'C.C.H.' inscribed? Why?
= The letters 'C.C.H.' were inscribed on the wooden stick of Dr Mortimer to mark the appreciation of the presenters of the stick.
d. What probability did the speaker talk about?
= The speaker talked about Dr Mortimer's withdrawal from the service for the hospital in order to start a practice for himself.
e. What is 'Something Hunt' that the speaker refers to?
= 'Something Hunt' that the speaker refers to is some local club or charity organization who used to take surgical help from Dr Mortimer.
2. 'I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?'
a. Who does the speaker say these words to?
= The speaker says these words to Holmes.
b. What according to the listener has the speaker overlooked?
= According to the listener the speaker has overlooked the matter that a presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when the initials 'C.C.' are placed before that hospital the words 'Charing Cross' very naturally suggest themselves.
c. Who is the person being talked about in this context?
= Dr Mortimer is the person being talked about in this context.
d. Why did that person leave the hospital after five years?
= The person left the hospital after his marriage after five years. He wanted to make a home of his own.
e. Why is it that the person could not have been in the hospital staff?
= It is that the person could not have been in the hospital staff because only a man well-established in a London practice could hold such a position, and such a one would not drift into the country.
3. 'My dear fellow, how can you possibly be so sure of that?'
a. Name the speaker and the person spoken to.
= Watson is the speaker and Holmes is the person spoken to.
b. What is that in this statement?
= In this statement that is the dog of Dr Mortimer.
c. According to the speaker, who was Dr Mortimer?
= According to the speaker, Dr Mortimer was a country doctor.
d. What habit did Dr Mortimer have? Which kind of dog did he have? How was the listener so sure of it?
= Dr Mortimer had the habit of carrying the stick by his favourite dog. The dog used to hold the stick tightly by the middle of his teeth.
He had a spaniel.
The listener was so sure of it because the marks of the teeth of the dog are very plainly visible. The dog's jaw, as shown in the space between those marks, was too broad in his opinion for a terrier and not broad enough for a mastiff. So, it is a curly-haired spaniel.
e. Why was Holmes excited a little later? Who came in?
= Holmes was excited a little later because he had just seen the dog at the front door.
Dr Mortimer came in.
D. Think and answer.
1. In your opinion, were the deductions made by Watson correct? What mistakes did he make?
= I think Watson said it right that Dr Mortimer was a successful medical man because his admirer gifted him that special stick.
He did a mistake by saying him elderly. As he was not as much old to use a stick. His dog used to carry the stick holding the same tightly by the middle of its teeth.
About the Author :
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was a British writer, born on 22 may 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is best known for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. He died on 7 July 1930, in Crowborough, the United Kingdom.