The famous Sherlock Holmes ´s monograph discovered, The Influence a Trade upon the Form of the Hands
Real fiction
" Here, too is a curious little work upon the influence of a trade upon the form of the hands of slaters, sailors, cork-cutters, compositors, weawers, and diamond-polishers. "
In The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes so presents to Watson the monograph the autor of which he is : The Influence a trade upon the Form of the Hand.
He adds :
" François le Villard, who has come rather to the front lately in the French detective service is now translating my small works into French. "
This work, in French, we found it. It´s the Judicial Photography by Alphonse Bertillon, hidden under the name of François le Villard.
Who is Bertillon ?...
Simple clerk in the Police headquarters of Paris, he invents in the 1880s the judicial anthropology, the technique to identify ex-convicts. That is one series of codified physical measures. Indeed, until the invention, there was no means to identify formally the individuals (Louis XVI was recognized during his flight in Varennes by his profile on a coin). The recidivists declared themselves then under false identities, not to be condemned heavily. Afterward, the photographie of the face will be added to these measures.
The Sign of Four takes place at the end of 1888. Bertillon published his book in 1890, without mentioning that it was about a translation of Sherlock Holmes ´s monograph. But Sherlock has never looked for the glory, either the celebrity, or the medals. How many times he gave up the official congratulations to inspector Lestrade...
Text the prior is proved, Sherlock Holmes specifies :
" That is a matter of great practical interest to the scientific detective - especially in the cases of unclaimed bodies, or in discovering the antecedents of criminals. "
It is exactly to this end that Bertillon studies and photography the workers ´s hands.
But why François le Villard´s pen name ?
Bertillon had acquired an international reputation, his books were translated all over the world. Doyle ´s Mother was subscribed to French reviews. Conan Doyle was besides an amateurish photographer who published in specialized journals. The Bertillon ´s books and photographs were not certainly unknown him. As a writer he was interested in the editors.
The Parisian editor of the Judicial Photography of Bertillon is Gauthier-Villars.
Certainly first cousins of François le Villard...
How do you know ?
My dear Watson, it´s all a matter of deduction.
(google translation)
