Note 43 — Chapter III · Psychological Analysis and Re-education.
Reading edition
In his account of the wonderful exploits of “Sherlock Holmes,” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was merely applying, with inimitable skill and literary resourcefulness, the methods of clinical diagnosis in medicine to the detection of imaginary crimes. The unusual phenomenon in medicine or in crime often affords the most obvious clue to the expert who can appreciate its significance, whereas a simple dyspepsia or a commonplace murder may present insoluble problems, because they reveal no distinctive signs to guide the investigator.