Conan Doyle Creates Holmes for Science, Then Descends Into Pseudoscience

There’s a joy in reading the Sherlock Holmes stories that I’ll probably never lose. Even now, after having read the tales dozens of times, watched great/good/mediocre/awful film and television adaptations (and, I must admit to really enjoying last summer’s version), explored novels inspired by the Holmes universe, and so forth, there’s nothing lost with another reading of “The Yellow Face” or “The Dancing Men.”

Recently, a film interview with an older but still robust Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was posted online. In it, you can see not only how Sherlock Holmes personified scientific reporting in his creator’s mind, but also how Conan Doyle veered into the realm of psychic phenomena, a rather inexplicable turn in the tale. I feel that Holmes would have scoffed.

Happy Friday!