"Inferring the Possibilities"

I suppose it had to happen one day. Just as Irene finally got her fill of adventuressing, my co-columnist on "Alias James and Agatha" has decided to retire. There will be the usual ugly rumors. Some may say that Kathy was demanding top billing, or that her bitter feuds with our editor brought on the breakup. You may even hear gossip that she liked Mr. Spock better than Sherlock Holmes, but pay heed to none-of it (even if there does seem a grain of truth in the last one). Other obligations to work, home, and,clipping excerpts from the agonized columns of our local Times finally filled Kathy's time to the point where the leisure-!. ly musings that spawn a monthly column were too hard to come by. Loath as we are to see her go, however, Kathy's retirement from column-writing does come at the perfect time.

As of the last issue, PLUGS & DOTTLES had printed its fiftieth column under the heading "Alias James and Agatha.11 Ending that series with such a round figure has a certain tidiness about it that appeals to the more orderly among us, and in Sherlockiana there are certainly quite a few such orderly people. Also in the last issue of P&D were two incursions of the centerspread column that are better handled without a lady present. As sexist as that may sound, there is a certain truth to the thought, that without Kathy's tempering influence there may be more verbal violence on these pages now than ever before. Editor Burr will undoubdedly do his best to keep this a family publication as usual, and I wish him luck.

Now, however, it's time to pick up the gauntlet that Bob threw down last issue. His was the first incursion of the column mentioned above, and even though 'tis foolhardy to argue with a man who can footnote you, here goes ...

Last issue, you may recall a remark being made in the column about winter being that time when our hemisphere is most distant from the sun. Editor Burr (or "Ed." as he is known in his footnote commentaries) responded with: "It would appear that the Phillimores have the same feeling toward the science of astronomy as did the Master. Strange as it may seem, the earth is actually closer to the sun in winter."

While any comparison to the Master is welcome (and I am tempted to simply respond, "What the deuce is it to me? If we were furthest from the sun in autumn it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or my column."), there does seem a need for clarification. What we meant in last month's P&D was not that the earth was furthest from the sun in winter, but that the northern hemisphere is further from the sun in winter than the southern hemisphere is at that time. At that point, we are the furthest from the sun of the two hemispheres.* But let's end this discussion here and now-bef6re anyone notices how far we've fallen from the day when Holmes and Watson casually conversed about "the obliquity of the ecliptic," as they did in GREE.

The second incursion of the column last month was an all-out attack in the Jack-Knife Pinnings section by that most Bohemian Sherlockian, Kendall Pagan. In his letter, Pagan not only spewed the worst criticism we've ever received, he also volunteered to replace us.- I've casually followed this man's Sherlockian writings over the years, and must admit that he does have his moments. He also has some major failings, foremost among which is the fact that he's never been able to put out his scion journal on a regular schedule for even two issues in a row (how many issues of that thing Reichenbachian Cliff-Notes are there anyway?). How could he ever produce a monthly column for the likes of a strict editor such as "Tempestive Edimus" Burr? Kendall, if you really want to attempt it, I'm sure Bob would welcome a bimonthly column to alternate with Joe Eckrich's informative "Sherlockian Byways." But then again, as Bob answered your letter: "Don't call us......

One final note before this month's column mercifully comes to a close. The column's new title comes from STUD, wherein we are told Holmes wrote: "From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it." The Sherlockian Canon is one of the best single links we could hope for in the great chain of life. What possibilities does it let us infer?

Next month, we'll start to find out. The housecleaning is over, and the real column begins again.

(Printed in Plugs & Dottles, September 1987)