柯南道爾筆下的福爾摩斯從“降生”之日起，已過去一百多年，但他塑造的這個身材瘦削頎長，長著鷹鉤鼻，頭戴軟布帽，身披長風衣，托著大煙鬥，手持放大鏡的傳奇人物形像，已成為*廣為接受的大偵探形像。福爾摩斯知識淵博，包括化學、植物學、地理學、解剖學、犯罪學、法律、拳術、音樂等諸多學科，他都頗有造詣。他甚至還諳熟化妝和易容術！為了取證，他把自己裝扮成步履蹣跚的老太太、骨瘦如柴的大煙鬼、酩酊大醉的馬車夫、樸素耐心的好牧師、瀕臨死亡的重病號……值得一提的是，柯南道爾的所有作品中，並沒有幾乎所有小說中都少不了的男歡女愛、情意綿綿。相反，按照他的伙伴華生的說法，辦案時，對於這位表情冷靜刻板、頭腦縝密、鎮定自若的神探來說，“一切情感都是格格不入的”。可以說，在福爾摩斯的探案集裡，從未出現他與女性有關的任何緋聞。這位神探之所以贏得讀者的喜愛，全靠其機智、敏銳、細致、果敢、膽識、理性、正義、執著、冒險精神和多纔多藝。當然，如果大作家塑造一個形像太過完美的話，也就沒有屬於他自己的獨特人格魅力了。在在柯南道爾的筆下，福爾摩斯的缺點也不少，比如好吹牛，自命不凡，不把人放在眼裡，即使對*忠實的朋友華生，也常常譏諷嘲笑；常表現出冷漠神情；在無事可做時，經常注射可卡因，靠毒品消除身心疲勞；在推理時，對人愛理不理，如被打斷思路，會立馬大發脾氣；在對待女人的問題上，既不近女色、不信任女人，也不交女友，不成家；不注意休息，是個典型的工作狂；素來沉默寡言，有些不近人情。有了這些缺點，反倒讓福爾摩斯這個神探得以走下神壇，可信度更高，成為有血有肉的鮮活英雄。這也就是為什麼直到今天，福爾摩斯仍然這麼受追捧，甚至連這位神探居住的倫敦貝克大街221號B座，也成了福爾摩斯迷們務必朝拜的名勝，可見福爾摩斯的魅力之大！

CHAPTER 1MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES
r. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth- rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. "To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.," was engraved upon it, with the date "1884." It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family    practitionerused to carry—dignified, solid, and reassuring."Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation."How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head.I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor's stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.I think," said I, following as far as I could the
methods of my companion, "that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.Good!" said Holmes. "Excellent!I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot.Why so?Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it.Perfectly sound!" said Holmes."And then again, there is the 'friends of the C.C.H.' I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return.Really, Watson, you excel yourself," said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt."He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods. I was proud, too, to think that I had so far mastered his system as to apply it in a way which earned his approval. He now took the stick from my hands and examined it  for a  few minutes with   his
naked eyes. Then with an expression of interest he laid down his cigarette, and carrying the cane to the window, he looked over it again with a convex lens."Interesting, though elementary," said he as he returned to his favourite corner of the settee. "There are certainly one or two indications upon the stick. It gives us the basis for several deductions.Has anything escaped me?" I asked with some self-importance. "I trust that there is nothing of consequence which I have overlooked?I am afraid, my dear Watson, that most of your conclusions were erroneous. When I said that you stimulated me I meant, to be frank, that in noting your fallacies I was occasionally guided towards the truth. Not that you are entirely wrong in this instance. The man is certainly a country practitioner. And he walks a good deal.Then I was right." "To that extent." "But that was all.No, no, my dear Watson, not all—by no means  all. I would suggest, for  example, that a  presentation to a doctor is more likely to come from a hospital than from a hunt, and that when the initials 'C.C.' are placed before that hospital the words 'Charing Cross' very naturally suggest themselves.You may be right.The probability lies in that direction. And if we take this as a working hypothesis we have a fresh basis from which to start our construction of this unknown visitor.Well, then, supposing that 'C.C.H.' does stand for 'Charing Cross Hospital,' what further inferences may we draw?Do none suggest themselves? You know my methods. Apply them!I can only think of the obvious conclusion that the man has practised in  town before going to    the
country.I think that we might venture a little farther than this. Look at it in this light. On what occasion   would it be most probable that such a presentation would be made? When would his friends unite to give him a pledge of their good will? Obviously at the moment when Dr. Mortimer withdrew from the service of the hospital in order to start a practice for himself. We know there has been a presentation. We believe there has been a change from a town hospital to a country practice. Is it, then, stretching our inference too far to say that the presentation was on the occasion of the change?"