Some Notes On Holmes's Index

An expert in a given field must fill in the natural gaps and limitations to his knowledge with a reference library specialized to that field. For a doctor, a lawyer, a physicist, or a marine biologist, the task of building the needed library is not all that complex. But what if a man is the first in his field, and there are no reference books that contain all the various specific facts he might need? He has to make his own, of course.

Sherlock Holmes was just such a ground-breaking specialist. He was also very aware of the need for a source of reference. Being the world's first consulting detective, Holmes built his own system of commonplace books, his "good old index," as that lumber-room storehouse of data he could turn to for help in his work And he does turn to it, again and again, throughout the cases Watson recorded for us.

Of all the samples we are given of the index, there is perhaps none so revealing as that found in SUSS. After Watson has handed him the great volume containing information beginning with the letter "V", Holmes balances the tome on his knee and scans its contents "slowly and lovingly." "Voyage of the Gloria Scott," he reads, "Victor Lynch, the forger. Venomous lizard or gila . . . Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder . . . Vampirism in Hungary . . . Vampires in Transylvania."

Holmes's filing system has puzzled Sherlockians for years. But the out-of-place is usually that which is most illuminating, to paraphrase the Master. Looking for the information he needs, Holmes scans the pages "slowly and lovingly" we are told. Why? What was so special about the "V" volume of his index? The answer is simple. The "V" volume was his library's beginning.

During the doings of GLOR, young Holmes first came to realize just what kind of career was meant for him. As he considered the new direction that lay before him, the thought occurred to him that a record of criminal activity he encounterd or learned of might be of use to him later on in his career. Purchasing a large book of blank pages, he turned to the first page and wrote boldly: "Voyage of the Gloria Scott," following those words with the facts concerning the prison ship and her fate. As he pondered further on his career to come, the would-be detective realized that he would probably need much more than one volume to record all the facts he came across, as well as some system of organization. Alphabetical seemed a logical order, so he purchased some more blank books in which to record new data in groupings of common first letters. But what of the already inscribed "Voyage of the Gloria Scott"?

It was his first case, so to speak. It was special. And ripping that page out of an otherwise perfect book just would not do. So instead of putting it in the "G" volume under Gloria, Holmes indulged himself slightly and made that first volume the "V" volume. He would remember where his first case was filed. And who else was going to be using the index?

So "Voyage of the Gloria Scott" came to be filed under "V". But what of "Victor Lynch, the forger"? Because he is listed so early in the volume, we can surmise that Holmes met Lynch during his college days, when the index was first taking shape. Lynch was probably not a major criminal, but a schoolmate of Holmes whose academic forgeries proved informative to the student of criminology-enough so that Holmes wished to record them in his index. He was also very likely a friend of Sherlock Holmes. Thus, in order to keep anyone from looking up the forgery information on Lynch, Holmes filed the data under the name by which he knew his friend best -- Victor.

The rest of the segment of the "V" index we are shown follows quite naturally. Some of the entries are early cases of the Master ("Venomous Lizard or Gila"), and others are merely pieces of information from other sources ("Vampirism in Hungary"). It was all recorded in the order Holmes came across each item, and undoubtedly, the Master continued making entries in the index until he retired to Sussex.

Were Holmes's great index discovered today, one has to wonder if it would be of much use to modern-day detectives. Almost all the people listed in those volumes are now dead. And science has added so much knowledge since then. But to the Sherlockian, these volumes would be a gold mind. Like Watson's tin dispatch box, however, the index has yet to be discovered. Until that time, we must content ourselves with snippets of "V" -- V as in voyage, and in Victor, and in venomous lizard . . . .

(Printed in Plugs & Dottles, September 1984)