Laudanum was a widely used medicine in the Victoria Era which contained opium and alcohol and was very addictive. The terms laudanum and tincture of opium are generally interchangeable. Laudanum is mentioned once in the Canon in The Man With The Twisted Lip: Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble ... Read More >
The Large Airy Sitting Room
Every reader of Sherlock Holmes forms in his or her imagination an image of the sitting room at 221B, where almost every story begins. The Canon provides many details of what was in the rooms rented by Holmes and Watson, but relatively few clues about the design or layout of the building at 221B Baker Street. This article reviews previous suggestions for the architectural design of 221B and explains why they simply to not conform with architectural reality or the clues provided by Dr. Watson in his writings. I suggest this possible lay out of the First Floor of 221B based on what is known about the terraced houses in Marylebone in the 1880’s and the information to be gleaned or deduced from the Canon. (Note to Americans: our first floor is the ground floor in London and our second floor is what the British call the "first floor.") These are the primary clues we can derive from Watson’s reminiscences: Dr. Watson in A Study in Scarlet described a, “single large ... Read More >
The Bath and Water Closet at 221B Baker Street
The Sherlock Holmes stories published under the purported authorship of Conan Doyle provide frequent (and often contradictory) descriptions of the rooms at 221B Baker Street rented by Holmes and Watson. No story ever directly mentions either a bathtub or a water closet (toilet). In The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, Holmes deduces that Watson has enjoyed the Turkish baths and asks him,“Why the relaxing and expensive Turkish rather than the invigorating home-made article?” In The Sign of the Four, Watson returns to Baker Street after a long day of sleuthing and Watson was,“limp and weary, befogged in mind and fatigued in body.” But then Watson writes,"[a] bath at Baker Street and a complete change freshened me up wonderfully. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Holmes pouring out the coffee.” This passage makes clear that Watson’s bedroom was upstairs from the sitting room and states the obvious, that the renters were able to take a bath in their ... Read More >
The Baker Street Bazaar
The Baker Street Bazaar was an early shopping center taking up most of the block bounded by Baker Street and Gloucester Place, Dorset Street to the south and King Street to the North. The business began as a horse bazaar and was owned, prior to his bankruptcy in 1832, by John Maberly, MP. The firm continued, and extended into carriages and other goods, notably ladies' requirements, and furnishings. The upper floors of the building were occupied for a number of years by Madame Tussauds' famous waxworks until they moved to their own building in 1884. This area was subsequently converted into function rooms (known as the Portland Rooms) which were used for balls, bazaars and similar activities. The Metropolitan Board of Works (London's governing body at the time) required an additional exit to be constructed as a result of this change of use. Originally the Bazaar featured horses and cattle and carriages but eventually it became focus on consumer goods and entertainment. An ... Read More >