1. How Sherlock Holmes Got His Start 1
1.1. Arthur Conan Doyle 1
1.2. The Influence of Edgar Allan Poe 5
1.3. The Influence of Dr. Joseph Bell 12
2. Meet the Main Characters 16
2.1. Sherlock Holmes 16
2.2. Dr. John H. Watson 25
2.3. Professor James Moriarty 33
2.4. Other Important Characters 38
3. Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science 48
3.1. The Methods of Bertillon 48
3.2. Fingerprints 50
3.3. Footprints 55
3.4. Handwritten Documents 61
3.5. Printed Documents 69
3.6. Cryptology 73
3.7. Dogs 82
3.8. Conclusion 87
4. Sherlock Holmes: Chemist 88
4.1. Introduction: Profound or Eccentric? 88
4.2. Coal-tar Derivatives and Dyes 92
4.3. Chemical Poisons 95
4.4. Asimov's View: Holmes the Blundering Chemist 104
4.5. Other Chemicals 111
4.6. Conclusion: Profound or Eccentric? 116
5. Sherlock Holmes: Other Sciences 121
5.1. Mathematics 121
5.2. Biology 129
5.3. Physics 135
5.4. Other Sciences 144
Conclusion 152
Appendix 157
References 161
Index 167