The Isle of Devils (57 page)


        
The exact timetable of Watson’s time on the Indian subcontinent is a bit muddled. At first, he appears to suggest that he spent almost no time in India before proceeding to Afghanistan (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
), but he later refers to his service in India (
The Cardboard Box &
The Problem of Thor Bridge
), implying that some adventures must have taken place there as well. The issue may never be made clear, unless we are so fortunate as to discover another preserved manuscript from Watson’s early days.


        
Watson eventually was persuaded of Lucy’s views upon the ridiculousness of war, for he later mirrors her sentiment (
The Cardboard Box
). Unfortunately, this view was not popular and Watson would live to see at least one more war of the greatest horrors (1914 – 1918).


        
Some disreputable commentators have slandered Dr. Watson’s medical skills, partly due to his apparent belief that a dash of brandy solved most problems (see notes to Chapter IX). And yet he remained current with the most recent medical journals (
The Stock-Broker’s Clerk
) and surgery treatises (
The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez
). He is also to diagnose both Jefferson Hope’s aortic aneurism (Chapter VI,
A Study in Scarlet
) and Thaddeus Sholto’s normal mitral valve (Chapter IV,
The Sign of the Four
).
He displays the full prowess of his medical skills multiple times in the Canon, such as when he treated the thumb wound of Victor Hatherl
e
y (
The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
), the neck wound of Professor Presbury (
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
), and the acid burn of Baron Gruner (
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
), though he strangely refuses to do much for the “horribly mangled” neck of Jephro Rucastle (
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
), perhaps because he was so despicable?
Watson also resuscitated the overly-chloroformed Lady Frances Carfax (
The
Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
), the hanged Beddington (
The Stock-Broker’s Clerk
) and the suffocated Mr. Melas (
The Greek Interpreter
). Perhaps Watson was right about the brandy too!


        
Watson must have learned his lesson on that afternoon, and would always be prepared in the future with a stethoscope secreted in his top hat (
A Scandal in Bohemia
), even when he was not actively in practice (Chapter IV,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
Although considered by Holmes to be an expert on the ways of women (
The Adventure of the Second Stain
), when around a women to whom he is significantly attracted, Watson had a funny tendency to get extremely nervous and reverse objects in his sentences (Chapters III & IV,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
Some herpetologists have made the unequivocal statement that there is no such snake as a “swamp adder.” However, in an age when new species are still being discovered in the far corners of the world over one hundred and forty years after Holmes and Watson first embarked on their adventures together, this seems like an overly bold statement. These herpetologists may simply have not spent as much time in India as Watson and Dr. Grimesby Roylott (
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
).


        
Watson often enjoyed a Beune wine with lunch (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
) and was clearly fond of taking an afternoon nap (Chapter V,
A Study in Scarlet
).


        
A reader might suspect Watson of boasting about his experience with women, as he makes such a claim again (Chapter II,
The Sign of the Four
). However, since eight years have passed, we will be generous and assume that the doctor has forgotten. Much has been made of which three continents exactly Watson was referring. Clearly Europe must be one, likely with an unrecorded sweetheart of his days at the University of London. Asia is certainly the second, with the aforementioned Miss Violet Devere finally being revealed as the source of his knowledge. While some scholars have assumed Australia, it seems likely that Watson was sent back to England for boarding school at far too young of an age to have acquired any significant “experience of women.” Now we realize that he must have been referring to the Americas, further strengthening the plausibility of the Bermuda Manuscript.

CHAPTER VII: PIERCING THE VEIL


        
Watson was clearly fond of the phrase that he used for the title of this chapter, for he concluded his final novel with it (Epilogue,
The Valley of Fear
).


        
Sherlock Holmes was a fan of curaçao, as he mixes it with his coffee while dining at Goldini’s Restaurant (
The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans
). It is possible that he was introduced to it by Watson.


        
Watson was fond of spoiling dogs with lumps of sugar, having also done so with Toby (Chapter VII,
The Sign of the Four
). For more on Gladstone, see the notes to the Epilogue.


        
We now know exactly how Watson was acquainted with Mr. Hilton Soames, and he would renew this association when in 1895 when Soames is forced to consult with Holmes (
The Adventure of the Three Students
). There is of course, no College of St. Luke’s at either Oxford or Cambridge Universities, so Watson is concealing something here.


        
One wonders if the Thurston family estate borders on that of Mr. Elias Openshaw? (
The Five Orange Pips
).


        
Watson tells his tale of the tiger-cub and the double-barreled musket again, in a terser and much more jumbled fashion, to entertain Miss Mary Morstan on their four-wheeler ride across London to the home of Thaddeus Sholto (Chapter III,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
Watson would not record partaking of Tokay again for many years until he and Holmes drank some to celebrate their defeat of the spy Von Bork (
His Last Bow
). He and Holmes turned down a proffered glass from Sholto (Chapter IV,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
In 1881, Watson still smoked ‘ships’ tobacco (Chapter I,
A Study in Scarlet
). However, by 1888, he had reverted to the Arcadia mixture of his ‘bachelor days’ (
The Crooked Man
).


        
Unfortunately, Watson would eventually inherit their father’s watch after Henry’s dissolute end (Chapter I,
The Sign of the Four
).


        
Watson and Thurston would remain friends for at least another eighteen years. Billiards was a popular pastime of the Victorian Era, with Justice Trevor even having a billiard-room at his estate (
The ‘Gloria Scott’
). However, Watson generally did not play, excepting only when he visited Thurston at his club, perhaps getting together to remember their deceased brother / comrade, Henry (
The Adventure of the Dancing Men
).


        
Wax vestas were short matches with thin wax shanks their name derived from Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth. They were made and peddled by a low class of individuals, such as Hugh Boone (
The Man with the Twisted Lip
).


        
Watson continued to indulge his taste for port for many years. We know that he drank a bumper of port at least twice in the recorded cases of the Canon. The first time was when he, Holmes, and Athelney Jones fortify themselves before the river chase (Chapter X,
The Sign of the Four
), and later he and Homes enjoy a much quieter bottle at the Chequers Inn (
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
).


        
Prussic acid was the common name for hydrogen cyanide. It was a common poison of the Victorian era and beyond, used both for murderous purposes as well as a preferred method of suicide, such as the fortunately averted case of Mrs. Ronder (
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger
).
Its
antidote, inhalation of nitrate of amyl was also used by Dr. Percy
Trev
e
ly
a
n
to treat catalepsy (
The Adventure of the Resident Patient
). 
Aqua tofana
was an arsenic-based poison that originated from southern Italy, of which Holmes was quite familiar (Chapter VI,
A Study in Scarlet
). Fowler’s solution was a tonic of potassium arsenite invented by Dr. Thomas Fowler of Stafford, England in 1786 for treating a wide range of ailments, including malaria and syphilis. It was still in use until the 1950’s.

CHAPTER VIII: A DARKENING SKY


        
Either a great coincidence, or during the span of fourteen years Watson clearly forgot that he used “the Darkening Sky” as a chapter title in this manuscript, as he later claimed that Holmes says it while describing his remarkable escape from Reichenbach Falls (
The Adventure of the Empty House)
.