From: yoko@research.nj.nec.com (Yoko Ozawa)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.holmes
Subject: Re: Shocked ...
Date: 9 Sep 92 18:30:18 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: NEC Research Institute
Originator: yoko@research.nj.nec.com

eric_gorr@coglab_psych.uoregon.edu (Eric Gorr) wrote:

> When you first started to read holmes, were you as shocked as I was
> that he was a drug user (cocane and morphine) in the novel The Sign Of
> Four?
>
> This t totally blew my whole conception of the man when I read it.

I started reading the Sherlock Holmes stories when quite young (in
Japan there are translations for children -- less complicated story
lines, heavy on the Holmes-as-the-hero/good vs. evil theme).  I don't
recall whether Holmes' use of drugs was mentioned in those books,
although I remember I had to look up the Japanese word for "opium" to
find out what that was.  In any case, when I grew older and read the
familiar stories in the English text (this was when I was about 14 or
15), my impression of his drug use was that the drugs really messed
him up, and Watson was rightly distressed/angry with him for allowing
his brilliant mind to be occluded by his nasty habits.  It's also
mentioned that Holmes DOESN'T use those heavy duty drugs while he's on
a case.  -- In other words, I don't think Sir Doyle promoted use of
drugs in any way.

What bothered me more back when I was a child was that Holmes seemed
to kill people a lot and not be too bothered about it.... There was
another popular mystery series translated for children -- this one
from France by Maurice LeBlanc about a gentleman burglar called Arsene
Lupin.  His trademark was that his stole from the rich, tyrannical
aristocrats and sneaky, bourgeois merchants using brilliant schemes and
deceptions, and he eschewed killing as lamebrained shortcuts.  LeBlanc
began publishing his stories slightly after Doyle, and there was some
French vs. British contention expressed by LeBlanc in his stories
in which Lupin denounced Holmes as a bloodthirsty murderer.

> Yes, I am aware that there is either very little or no mention of it
> in later novels and stories - allowing us to assume that he "kicked"
> the habit.  Thank goodness.  

Actually, Holmes' use of drugs are mentioned in quite a few places, he
went through fits of depression (usually, immediately after a great and
stimulating case was solved) when he would reach for his "stuff".
Also, he often crawled into opium dens to sleuth.

> Did Arthur Conan Doyle use drugs at one
> time?  What that the reason for the appearence in the novel?

I'm not one for historical accuracy, so someone correct me if I'm
wrong, but I believe Doyle was from the school of "artists" in the
19th century that was heavily into hallucinogetics of one kind or
another (including absynthe -- THE drink of the creative minded at
that time -- which was the source of Edgar Alan Poe's, um, visions,
etc., and which van Gough was supposed to have been high on when he
tore off his own ear).

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