The Case of the Inventive Conscience
Monday, April 30th, 2007Sherlock Holmes had been bending for a long time over a low-power microscope. Now he straightened himself up and looked round at me in triumph.
“It is ash, Jones,” said he. “Unquestionably it is ash. Have a look at these scattered objects in the field!”
I stooped to the eyepiece and focussed for my vision.
“Those hairs are threads from a tweed coat. The irregular gray masses are dust. There are epithelial scales on the left. Those black smears in the centre are undoubtedly ash.”
“Well,” I said, laughing, “I am prepared to take your word for it. Does anything depend upon it?”
“It is a very fine demonstration,” he answered. “In the St. Pancras case you may remember that a cap was found beside the dead policeman. The accused man denies that it is his. But he is a poet of dubious cleanliness who habitually handles cigarettes.”
“Is it one of your cases?”
“No; my friend, Merivale, of the Yard, asked me to look into it. It is called: “The Case of the Inventive Conscience.”
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Holmes aside—though what a graaaand gentleman he was to tolerate a humble blogger in his private laboratory—I thought you’d want to know about this event:
The Committee on Social Thought
announces a public lecture in its John U. Nef Lecture Seriesby
Edward Mendelson
Columbia Universityon
“W.H. Auden and the Case of the Inventive Conscience”
Thursday, May 3, 2007 4:30 PM
Stuart Hall 101
5835 S. Greenwood
Chicago, Illinois
