Sherlock Holmes - is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Known as a "consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with
observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs
when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
First appearing in print in 1887 (in A Study in Scarlet), the character's popularity became widespread
with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia"
in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually totaling four novels and 56 short
stories. All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras, between about 1880 and 1914. Most
are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and biographer Dr. Watson, who usually
accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often shares quarters with him at the address
of 221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories begin.

In the first novel, A Study in Scarlet, Holmes' background is presented. In early 1881, he is
a chemistry student with a number of eccentric interests, almost all of which make him adept at
solving crimes. Shortly after meeting Holmes, Watson assesses the detective's abilities:

1. Knowledge of Literature – nil.

2. Knowledge of Philosophy – nil.
3. Knowledge of Astronomy – nil.
4. Knowledge of Politics – Feeble.
5. Knowledge of Botany – Variable. Well up in belladonna, opium and poisons generally. Knows
nothing of practical gardening.
6. Knowledge of Geology – Practical, but limited. Tells at a glance different soils from each
other. After walks, has shown me splashes upon his trousers, and told me by their colour
and consistence in what part of London he had received them.
7. Knowledge of Chemistry – Profound.
8. Knowledge of Anatomy – Accurate, but unsystematic.
9. Knowledge of Sensational Literature – Immense. He appears to know every detail of every
horror perpetrated in the century.
10. Plays the violin well.
11. Is an expert singlestick player, boxer and swordsman.
12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.

Arthur Conan Doyle, a Study in Scarlet

Subsequent stories reveal that Watson's early assessment was incomplete in places and inaccurate
in others. At the end of A Study in Scarlet, Holmes demonstrates a knowledge of Latin. Despite
Holmes's supposed ignorance of politics, in "A Scandal in Bohemia" he immediately recognises the
true identity of "Count von Kramm". His speech is peppered with references to the
Bible, Shakespeare, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the detective quotes a letter
from Gustave Flaubert to George Sand in the original French. At the end of "A Case of Identity",
Holmes quotes Hafez. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, the detective recognises works by Martin
Knoller and Joshua Reynolds: "Excuse the admiration of a connoisseur .... Watson won't allow that I
know anything of art, but that is mere jealousy since our views upon the subject differ". In "The
Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", Watson says that in November 1895, "Holmes lost himself
in a monograph which he had undertaken upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus", considered "the
last word" on the subject.[46]Holmes is also a cryptanalyst, telling Watson in "The Adventure of the
Dancing Men": "I am fairly familiar with all forms of secret writing, and am myself the author of a
trifling monograph upon the subject, in which I analyse one hundred and sixty separate ciphers". [47]
In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes claims to be unaware that the earth revolves around the sun since
such information is irrelevant to his work; after hearing that fact from Watson, he says he will
immediately try to forget it. The detective believes that the mind has a finite capacity for information
storage, and learning useless things reduces one's ability to learn useful things. The later stories
move away from this notion: in the second chapter of The Valley of Fear, he says, "All knowledge
comes useful to the detective", and near the end of "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", the
detective calls himself "an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles".
The detective is particularly skilled in the analysis of physical evidence, including latent prints (such
as footprints, hoof prints, and bicycle tracks) to identify actions at a crime scene (A Study in Scarlet,
"The Adventure of Silver Blaze", "The Adventure of the Priory School", The Hound of the
Baskervilles, "The Boscombe Valley Mystery"); using tobacco ashes and cigarette butts to identify
criminals ("The Adventure of the Resident Patient", The Hound of the Baskervilles); comparing
typewritten letters to expose a fraud ("A Case of Identity"); using gunpowder residue to expose two
murderers ("The Adventure of the Reigate Squire"); comparing bullets from two crime scenes ("The
Adventure of the Empty House"); analyzing small pieces of human remains to expose two murders
("The Adventure of the Cardboard Box"), and an early use of fingerprints ("The Norwood Builder").
Holmes demonstrates a knowledge of psychology in "A Scandal in Bohemia", luring Irene Adler into
betraying where she hid a photograph based on the premise that an unmarried woman will save her
most valued possession from a fire. Another example is in "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle",
where Holmes obtains information from a salesman with a wager: "When you see a man with
whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a
bet .... I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of him, that man would not have given me
such complete information as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager".

Holmesian deduction
Poster for the 1900 play Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle and actor William Gillette
Holmes's primary intellectual detection method is abductive reasoning.[48][49] Holmesian deduction
consists primarily of observation-based inferences, such as his study of cigar ashes.[48][50][51] "From a
drop of water", he writes, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without
having seen or heard of one or the other".[52]
In "A Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes deduces that Watson had gotten wet lately and had "a most
clumsy and careless servant girl". When Watson asks how Holmes knows this, the detective
answers:
It is simplicity itself ... my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight
strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by
someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted
mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that
you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey.
In the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson compares Holmes to C. Auguste Dupin,
Edgar Allan Poe's fictional detective, who employed a similar methodology. To this Holmes replies:
"No doubt you think you are complimenting me ... In my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow...
He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe
appears to imagine". Alluding to an episode in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", where Dupin
deduces what his friend is thinking despite their having walked together in silence for a quarter of an
hour, Holmes remarks: "That trick of his breaking in on his friend's thoughts with an apropos
remark... is really very showy and superficial".[52] Nevertheless, Holmes later performs the same 'trick'
on Watson in "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box".
Deductive reasoning allows Holmes to learn a stranger's occupation, such as the retired Marine
sergeant in A Study in Scarlet; the ship's-carpenter-turned-pawnbroker in "The Red-Headed
League", and the billiard-marker and retired artillery non-commissioned officer in "The Adventure of
the Greek Interpreter". By studying inanimate objects, he makes deductions about their owners
(Watson's pocket watch in The Sign of the Four and a hat,[53] pipe,[54] and walking stick[55] in other
stories). The detective's guiding principle, as he says in The Sign of the Four and elsewhere in the
stories, is: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must
be the truth".[56]
Conan Doyle does paint Holmes as fallible (this being a central theme of "The Adventure of the
Yellow Face").[54]

Disguises
Holmes displays a strong aptitude for acting and disguise. In several stories ("The Adventure of
Charles Augustus Milverton", "The Man with the Twisted Lip", "The Adventure of the Empty House"
and "A Scandal in Bohemia"), to gather evidence undercover he uses disguises so convincing that
Watson fails to recognise him. In others ("The Adventure of the Dying Detective" and, again, "A
Scandal in Bohemia"), Holmes feigns injury or illness to incriminate the guilty. In the latter story,
Watson says, "The stage lost a fine actor ... when [Holmes] became a specialist in crime".[57]

Agents
Until Watson's arrival at Baker Street Holmes largely worked alone, only occasionally employing
agents from the city's underclass; these agents included a host of informants, such as Langdale
Pike, a “human book of reference upon all matters of social scandal”, [58] and Shinwell Johnson, aka
“Porky” Johnson, who acted as Holmes’ “agent in the huge criminal underworld of London...”. [59] The
most well-known of Holmes' agents are a group of street children he called "the Baker Street
Irregulars". The Irregulars appear in three stories: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, and "The
Adventure of the Crooked Man".
Combat

British Army (Adams) Mark III, which differed from the Mark II in its ejector-rod design

Webley Bulldog

1868 Webley RIC

Pistols
Holmes and Watson carry pistols with them—in Watson's case, his old service weapon (probably a
Mark III Adams revolver, issued to British troops during the 1870s). In the stories, the pistols are
used (or displayed) on a number of occasions. In "The Musgrave Ritual" Holmes is described as
decorating the wall of his flat with a patriotic VR (Victoria Regina) of bullet holes. Holmes and
Watson shoot the eponymous hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and in "The Adventure of the
Empty House" Holmes pistol-whipsColonel Sebastian Moran. In "The Adventure of the Solitary
Cyclist", "The Adventure of Black Peter", and "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", Holmes or
Watson use a pistol to capture the criminals, and the detective uses Watson's revolver to reconstruct
a crime in "The Problem of Thor Bridge". A Webley Bulldog (carried by Holmes), Webley RIC,
and Webley-Government ("WG") army revolver have been associated with Holmes and Watson. [60]
Cane and sword
As a gentleman, Holmes often carries a stick or cane. He is described by Watson as an expert
at singlestick and uses his cane twice as a weapon.[61] In A Study in Scarlet, Watson describes
Holmes as an expert swordsman, and in "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" the detective
practises fencing.
Riding crop
In several stories, Holmes carries a riding crop, threatening to thrash a swindler with it in "A Case of
Identity". With a "hunting crop", Holmes knocks a pistol from John Clay's hand in "The Red-Headed
League" and drives off the adder in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band". In "The Six Napoleons",
he uses his crop (described as his favourite weapon) to break open one of the plaster busts.
Boxing
Holmes is an adept bare-knuckle fighter; in The Sign of the Four, he introduces himself to McMurdo,
a prize fighter, as "the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of
your benefit four years back." McMurdo remembers: "Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you
have! You might have aimed high if you had joined the fancy." "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott"
mentions that Holmes trained as a boxer, and in "The Yellow Face", Watson says: "He was
undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen".
The detective occasionally engages in hand-to-hand combat with his adversaries (in "The Adventure
of the Solitary Cyclist" and "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty") and is always victorious.
Martial arts
In "The Adventure of the Empty House", Holmes tells Watson that he used martial arts to fling
Moriarty to his death in the Reichenbach Falls: "I have some knowledge ... of baritsu, or
the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me". "Baritsu" is
Conan Doyle's version of bartitsu, which combined jujitsu with boxing and cane fencing.[62]
Physical strength
The detective is described (or demonstrated) as possessing above-average physical strength. In
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band", Dr. Roylott demonstrates his strength by bending a fire poker
in half. Watson describes Holmes as laughing, "'I am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I
might have shown him that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.' As he spoke he picked
up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened it out again." In "The Yellow Face",
Holmes's chronicler says, "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort."

The detective story

Although Holmes is not the original fictional detective (he was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's C.
Auguste Dupin and Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq), his name has become synonymous with the
role. The investigating detective (such as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Dorothy L.
Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey) became a popular character for a number of authors.

Scientific literature
John Radford (1999) speculated on Holmes's intelligence. Using Conan Doyle's stories as data, he
applied three methods to estimate the detective's intelligence quotient and concluded that his IQ was
about 190. Snyder (2004) examined Holmes's methods in the context of mid- to late-19th-century
criminology, and Kempster (2006) compared neurologists' skills with those demonstrated by the
detective. Didierjean and Gobet (2008) reviewed the literature on the psychology of expertise, using
Holmes as a model.[67]