The farmer and mechanic., 1912-10-08
HISTORY OF THE
DETECTIVE STORY
It, Development and It's Present
Status-VOltAire, Poe, and It's
Other Makers,

tHe HuilDeI u writer's IS increasing.
The detective story is certainly preva-
lent and prolific. Owing partly to it's
popularity and partly to the literary
value Of the work Of Poe and Conan
Doyle, the detective In fiction has be-
come parsonage Of Importance and |
has been investigated and written |
about from various Viewpoints |
Thanks 10 the work Of previous inves- !
tgators his literary genealogy is rea- |
sonably we'll known
There are only three main steps in
the Development: Cd the famous old
eastern tale Of The Lost Camel. (2)
certain chapters and incidents in Vol
taires romance, Zadig. CD the full
fiedSed detective story as written by
Poe and continued by his successors
Following are the details Of these sue
Cessive stages:
l. The Lost Camel
The Lost Camel is one of the oldest
ard commonest Of the many stories
which Europe fell heir to from the
literature Of the East. Mr.. Leon Fra
ser, writing in Modern Language Notes
for December, 1906 on "a Study in
Literary Genealogy," is authority for
the statement that it is found in nearly
all the eastern NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Hebrew.
The earliest apparent source, he says,
MAN Talmud c.. 200). He has found
Variations of it in no fewer than eleven
Oriental tales. One of the common
es. versions is that given in the third
reader OF Silver, Burdett and Com
rany's Stepping Stones to Literature.
1t runs as follows:
\ dervish was travelling alone in
the deserts when he met two mer-
chants.
u ou have lost a camel" said he to
the merchants
Indeed we have" they replied
Was he not blind in his right eve.
and lame in his left Lego" asked the
derviSh.
lie was replied the mercha nts.
And was he not laden with honey
On one side, and corn on the othero'
Most certainly he was they re-
Joined. And as you have seen him
SO lately, you can Of course lead us to
him
My friends" the dervish said, 81
have never seen your camel, nor have
heard Of him, except through your
selves"
"A pretty story truly" cried the
merchants. You must have seer
him, And where are the jewels which
formed a part Of his burden?''
Il have never seen your camel nor
your Jewels" repeated he dervish.
Upon this they seized him and took
him to the cadi, to be judged; but, or
the strictest search nothing could be
found against him. Nothing wa:
found to prove him guilty, Of ethel
falsehOod or theft.
lie is a magician" exclaimed tn,
merchants But the dervsh calml.
said to the cadi:
Il see that you are surprised, ant
that YOU believe that I am deceivin;
you. Perhaps l have given you caus
for such belief. I have lived Ions
see and to think, even in a desert
knew that I had crossed tn
track Of camel that had straye'
from it's owner, because 1 saw it
footprints, but no trace Of a huma.
being. / knew the animal was BIND
in one eye. because it had cropped the
herbage on only one side of the path
And a knew that it was lame in on,
leg, because one foot had made but
faint impression upon the sand 1 al
so concluded that the animal had los
one tooth, because, whenever it ha(
grazed, q smtll tuft Of herbage in tn
center of it's bite was left untouched
l knew that which formed the burdel
of the beast, for the busy ants toll
me that it was corn on one side. an
side and the clustering flies that /
was honey on the other
The particular version Of this stor
which loltaire drew suggestions from
has been discovered by Mr.. Fraser an
pointed out in his article referred t
above. 1t occurs in Chevalier d
Mailiy's Voyage ct Aventures DIES tro
Princes de Sarendip. which appeare
in France in 1919 twenty eight year
before Zadig. De Mailly's versio
contains only two main variation
from the account as lust quoted.
is three princes that describe the los
camel, instead Of a dervish, and tn
camel's burden consists of butter an
honey instead of corn and honey.
III. EOltairc's Zadig.
Zadig was published in 1747. 1t
an Oriental romance of some ninet
pages. with a strong undercurrent {
satire on manners, morals, law, sc
Ciety. and religion It was written 6