One aspect of Sherlock Holmes that appeals to the scholar and avid reader is provided by Watson in “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Watson has deserted Holmes for a wife, and from time-to-time he pays Holmes a visit — perhaps in hopes of being invited to take part in another exciting adventure. So much has been written about the phrase “alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition,” that it was apparently the only point in the Canon the writers of the television series
Elementary saw in the 60 narratives of Dr. Watson. If they had read further, they could not have spent a boring two years focused on this fact. Perhaps a more careful reading would reveal that this occurs when Holmes is left alone in 221b. I cannot accept that Dr. Joan Watson staying with Holmes could be constituted his being left alone, not to mention the parade of strumpets that were a part of his research. Furthermore, Joan Watson is exceedingly attractive and intellectually, Holmes’s equal — if not down right his superior to this television based upon Holmes’s actions in the series. Thus, one is left to ponder why it took him so long to clean up his act? But I digress . . . !
One would think that the members of this scion might well focus on the rest of the statement. Watson’s complete statement includes a description concerning Holmes’s hermit-like penchant for remaining “in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old books.” Over the span of 37 years, the Camden House Occupants have demonstrated that our “drug of choice” is books of every variety. One needs to only peruse the pages of the existing 442 issues of our monthly journal for evidence. The range of references span almost every variety of published works.
Therefore, when one observes Watson’s words regarding Sherlock Holmes’s alternation between cocaine and ambition, it is shocking that no scholar has suggested that Watson is using these words as a metaphor, suggesting that Holmes’s ambition to read and collect old books was like an addiction to cocaine (which is a simile). Our record of publication, and the 423 consecutive monthly meetings attest to our avid addiction to the written word.
Still keeping the Holmes fires burning
