Basic information:

The above information graciously gleened from http://www.sherlockian.net/canon/stories/dyin.html Many Thanks go to Christopher Redmond!

Published:              # 46 OF THE 60 STORIES

The Strand Magazine, December, 1913         
                                    Collier’s Weekly, November 22, 1913

Part of His Last Bow collection
                                    John Murray, London, 1917
                                    George H. Doran, New York, 1927

                                    BRIT ILLUS – Walter Paget
                                    U.S. ILLUS – Lee Conrey

ABBREVIATED AS DYIN

From the Wandering Gipsies of Grimpen Mire of Decatur, Alabama
This case is cone of 23 lassified as a MURDER where the perpetrator was either killed, arrested, or otherwise satisfactorily handled.

Baring-Goulds Chronlolgy - - Sat, Nov 19, 1887
Brad Keefauver (Sherlock in Peoria) Chronology - -  Sun., Nov. 8, 1903
D Martin Dakin (A Sherlock Holmes Commentary) – Nov. 29, 1890
John Hall (I Remember the Date Very Well) –  Nov., 1889
Les Kilinger’s Consensus Dating - 1890

ANNOTATED SHERLOCK (how many annotations they made) . .

William Barring-Gould          15      High:  Novels – 184   Shorts – 58     Low:  15
Les Klinger                            29      High:  Novels – 280   Shorts – 86     Low:  13

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

MR. CULVERTON SMITH, a planter from Sumatra
VICTOR SAVAGE, nephew of Culverton Smith
STAPLES, Culverton Smith's butler
INSPECTOR MORTON
SIR JASPER MEEKS    \  
PENROSE FISHER        }  -- 3 physicians Watson suggests to Holmes
AINSTREE                     /

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY

Holmes pretense that he was dying of a fatal and rare disease, the “black Formosa corruption,” was a notable piece of acting and make lifelike (or deathlike) with theatrical effects.  It deceived both Mrs. Hudson and the anxious Watson; why the performance was necessary is for the reader to learn.  After three days of fasting Holmes was eager for a liberal meal at Simpson’s famous chophouse.

PREVIEW by Sonia Fetherston – Fri, 16 Jan 1998

Is there a doctor in the house? General practitioners with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications -- like Watson's -- need not apply! This weekend we turn to the next story, The Adventure of the Dying Detective. A few questions and comments on my prescription pad:

• "I have no doubt that the house might have been purchased at the price Holmes paid for his rooms during the years I was with him." By estimating rent payments and the number of years Sherlock Holmes lived there, at what price might the house have been purchased?
• Who are some of the celebrated criminals whose portraits Holmes kept on his bedroom wall?
• About those microscopic bugs Culverton Smith kept.......which were they? Are there now cures for the most deadly diseases of the Victorian/Edwardian years?
• Victor Savage is already dead, and there isn't anybody (like a Violet Westbury) to tell us about his personality and character. We really don't know him. Does that make him less compelling than, say, Arthur Cadogan West?
• Most grocery or pharmacy products mentioned in the canon, like tinned tongue, are not found in my own cupboards. In DYIN, however, there's an item I use nearly every day, and you probably do, too, in one form or another. It's good old Vaseline! Vaseline is the trade name for petroleum jelly, or petrolatum. It's virtually insoluable in water, with a melting point higher than the human body's temperature, and almost no smell or taste -- all of which make it a useful ingredient in a surprising number of lotions, cosmetics, medicines and other goods. It's a great product. Pity poor Mrs. Hudson, though. To remove the inevitable Vaseline stains from Holmes's sheets, Mrs. Hudson would need to go to her neighborhood chemist for a cleaning solvent -- in those days probably something along the lines of carbon tetrachloride. Cleaning solvents used in Victorian and Edwardian times were often carcinogenic. Sadly, the "dying" detective's landlady may have been slowly dying herself.

Synopsis

Dr. Watson is called to 221B Baker Street to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare Asian disease contracted while he was on a case at Rotherhithe. Watson is shocked, having heard nothing about his friend’s illness. Mrs. Hudson says that he has neither eaten nor drunk in three days.

Upon arriving, Watson finds Holmes in his bed looking very ill and gaunt indeed, and Holmes proceeds to make several odd demands of Watson. He is not to come near Holmes, for the illness is highly contagious. He will seek no help save from the man whom Holmes names. He will wait until six o’clock before Holmes names him. When Watson objects and tries to leave for help, Holmes musters enough strength to leap out of bed, and lock the door, taking the key. So, Watson is forced to wait. Holmes seems delirious at times.

Watson examines several objects in Holmes’s room while he waits. Holmes has a fit when Watson touches one item, a little black and white ivory box with a sliding lid. Holmes orders him to put it down, explaining that he does not like his things touched.

At six o’clock, Holmes tells Watson to turn the gaslight on, but only half-full. He then tells him to fetch Mr. Culverton Smith of 13 Lower Burke Street. Oddly, he also tells Watson to be sure that he and Smith return to Baker Street separately. Smith is not a doctor, but is supposedly an expert on the illness that ails Holmes. Also, Holmes explains that Smith does not particularly like him, for Holmes once cast the suspicion for Smith's nephew’s murder on him.

Outside Holmes’s door, Watson meets Inspector Morton. Upon hearing of Holmes’s illness, the inspector’s expression somewhat suggests exultation to Watson.

Watson goes to the address, and at first Smith refuses to see him. Watson forces his way in and once he makes it clear to an angry Culverton Smith that Sherlock Holmes is dying and wants to see him, his attitude changes drastically. He seems quite concerned, although for a moment, it seems to Watson that he is pleased. Smith agrees to come, and so Watson excuses himself by saying that he has another appointment. He arrives back at Baker Street before Smith gets there.

Holmes is pleased to hear that Smith is coming, and orders Watson to hide behind a decorative screen next to the bed. He does so, and presently, Culverton Smith arrives. His bedside manner seems more taunting than soothing.

Believing that they are alone, Smith is quite frank, and it soon emerges, to the hiding Watson’s horror, that Holmes has been sickened by the same illness that killed Smith’s nephew Victor. Believing that Holmes is at death’s door and will never get to repeat what he hears, Smith is also frank enough to admit that he murdered his nephew with this disease, which he had been studying. He sees the little ivory box, which Smith sent by post, and which contains a sharp spring infected with the illness. He pockets it, removing the evidence of his crime. He then resolves to stay there and watch Holmes die.

Holmes asks him to turn the gas up full, which he does. He also asks for some water and a cigarette. No sooner have these requests been fulfilled than Inspector Morton comes in — the gaslight was the signal to move in, it turns out. Holmes tells him to arrest Culverton Smith for his nephew’s murder. Smith, still as arrogant as ever, points out that his word is as good as Holmes’s in court, but then, of course, Watson emerges from behind the screen to present himself as a witness to the conversation.

Holmes is not really dying, of course. This has all been a ruse to get Culverton Smith to confess to his nephew’s murder. Holmes was not infected by the little box; he has enough enemies to know that he must always examine his mail carefully before he opens it. Starving himself for three days, and a little vaseline, belladonna, rouge, and beeswax made him a convincing malingerer and the claim of the "disease's" infectious nature was to keep Watson from examining him and discovering the ruse.

Commentary

The setting date may be inferred from Watson's mention of it being "the second year of my marriage", the first having been 1889. The Granada TV version with Jeremy Brett was reasonably faithful to the original short story, except that it was greatly expanded (with much more detail on Smith's nephew) and has Holmes stopping Smith from committing suicide by cutting himself with the infected spring.

It has been speculated that there is connection between the story and that of the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.

Tropical disease specialist William A. Sodeman identified 'Tapanuli fever' as melioidosis, a conclusion supported by physician Setu K. Vora.

Sherlockian.Net: The View Halloa

by Rosemary Michaud (rmmichaud@earthlink.net)

The Dying Detective

I never read this story without thinking of the Play-Within-a-Play from Hamlet. With his own little drama, Holmes demonstrated what had happened to Victor Savage, how it happened, who was responsible - and how monstrously cruel a death it was that the young man had suffered. Holmes may have shown little sympathy for Mrs. Hudson's and Dr. Watson's feelings in the course of this case, but his portrayal of the dead man's sufferings reveals a great deal of compassion towards the victim of this horrible crime. Through Holmes's oddly transparent performance, I think we get a glimpse into the depths of his passion to see justice done. Please join the Hounds as we discuss this week's story: the bit of theatrical business known as "The Dying Detective."

The Player King: Holmes's play-acting apparently fooled Mrs. Hudson, Dr. Watson and Culverton Smith, but I doubt that it fooled many readers. Can anyone recall their first reading of this story, and whether or not it gave them even the briefest of worries about Holmes's health or his sanity?

Did Holmes see Victor Savage during Savage's illness? Would he have dared to mimic the symptoms without having seen them at first-hand?

Holmes apparently confided in Inspector Morton. Wasn't it unusual for Holmes to trust the police before his case was complete? Why did he choose to involve one of them in this particular case?

Doctor Watson could have chosen many alternative ways to present this tale. For instance, he could have told us first of the death of Victor Savage and Holmes's investigation into the affairs of Culverton Smith. Would the "dying detective" scenes have been more convincing and frightening to the reader if we first knew of Savage's death and then saw Holmes apparently became ill? Or is the story more effective because we see and learn everything on the same time line along which Dr. Watson experienced it, even though perhaps we do so with a little more understanding of what was really going on?

Would you have liked the story better if Holmes had somehow tricked Smith into being infected with his own microbes?

Random questions: Why did Holmes have pictures of criminals pasted up all around him where he slept? Didn't their faces trouble him? Did Holmes ever truly relax?

Why did Watson have to help Holmes with his coat at the story's end?

Would the combined testimony of Holmes and Watson, along with the tangible ivory box, have been sufficient evidence to produce a conviction if the case came up for trial?

Questions by request: Mr. Culverton Smith is described as being "a planter" (Doubleday 935). What was he growing on his plantation?

Since Watson had to hide behind the head of the bed, we can assume that there was no closet and no other large piece of furniture in the room. Was this common in Victorian England in what we think of as a middle-class residence? How small was this bedroom likely to have been?

REVIEW by Steve Clarkson - Fri, 19 Mar 1999

Mrs. Hudson was distraught. Sherlock Holmes was dying, she told Watson. Three days earlier he had taken to his bed and had eaten nothing, drunk nothing, since that time. He was wasting away, she said, and it was possible that Watson might find him dead by the time he could get to Baker Street.

Watson hurried to Holmes's bedside, of course -- or at least as close to his bedside as Holmes would permit. Holmes told Watson that the problem was caused by a deadly disease, contagious by touch and invariably fatal, that he had contracted while pursuing an investigation among coolie laborers in London's riverside dock area. When Holmes finally relented to Watson's insistence that expert medical advice be sought, he sent the good Doctor to fetch, not one of the specialists Watson recommended, but rather an obscure Sumatran planter named Culverton Smith. He explained to Watson that Smith was personally familiar with this particular disease, and had researched it, thereby gaining the knowledge needed to reverse the course of the illness.

In a few minutes the Mâitre de Chasse will loose the Hounds on the trail of a killer microbe which had found its way from Southeast Asia to the confines of 221B Baker Street. At the conclusion of the trail they will find a case of murder, as well as the attempted murder of Sherlock Holmes.

Good old Watson! Dissimulation was not among his many attributes, and so on occasion Holmes saw fit to deceive him, lest his honesty bring all Holmes's efforts to naught. This is not the first case in which we see such deception; there was the long interval between FINA and EMPT, when Holmes made sure that Watson thought him to be dead lest a kind impulse might cause Holmes's escape from Reichenbach to become known. There was HOUN, in which Holmes preferred that Watson thought of him as being in London, and there is DYIN. "At four yards I could deceive you," said Holmes. Whether there was four yards of free space in Holmes's bedroom is a matter for conjecture, however.

Watson writes of Holmes's "incredible untidiness," which doubtless was a continuing trial to Mrs. Hudson. Yet I wonder what efforts she made to clean up after him? Picture her dilemma: A lodger who often remains in his rooms for days, sometimes weeks, on end, and who is prone to taking umbrage if disturbed for so menial a reason as housecleaning. If she deferred her tidying up until those times when Holmes was away from his quarters, she never knew at what moment he might return and demand a meal, or to be left alone. And how as the poor woman to know what to straighten up and what to let alone? Small wonder we seldom hear of Mrs. Hudson's presence in 221B save to announce a visitor or to serve meals.

Remember that Watson was not a small person. "Middle size, strongly built" was how he was described in CHAS. Would there really be room for him behind the head of Holmes's bed? Wouldn't that have resulted in rather peculiar placement of the bed in the room, thus arousing Smith's suspicions? Smith might already have been a bit suspicious because Watson declined to accompany him from Lower Burke Street back to Baker Street, on the grounds that he "had another appointment." Despite a desperately ill patient he "had another appointment?"

There is no indication in the story that Smith's nephew, Victor Savage, had been in circumstances where he might have contracted the lethal disease without "assistance." No doubt Smith used some device, perhaps the same ivory box he sent to Holmes, to infect Savage. But shouldn't the circumstances of Savage's death have raised some suspicions among the authorities in light of the facts that (1) Smith stood to gain financially from Savage's death, and (2) Savage died of a very rare - indeed, practically unknown -- disease not seen before in London, but known to be epidemic in the part of the world from which Smith hailed?

When Inspector Morton arrested Culverton Smith, there was this sequence of sounds Watson heard from his sequestered position behind the bed: A rush; a scuffle; a clash of iron; a cry of pain; andthen the click of handcuffs. What was the clash of iron?

Redmond's Delicate Question:  Fri, 18 Oct 1996

If this story were unknown to the Canon, and were published today as a pastiche, would it be admired, or would knowledgeable readers scorn it because its plot depends on putting Sherlock Holmes into an unfamiliar situation and taking liberties with his personal life?

HOLMES’S PUBLISHED & PROJECTED WORKS

Monograph on malingering  -  Projected

From Steve Clarkson's Canonical Compendium:

'What do you know, pray, of Tapanuli fever? What do you know of the Black Formosa
corruption?'
— Mr Sherlock Holmes to
John H. Watson, M.D.

This Adventure gives us an excellent insight into two things: one famous; the other usually obscured in shadows.
All Sherlockians are aware of Holmes's marvellous powers of disguise and simulation. But ah! The other insight!
Rarely do we have so much as a peek into the privacy of Holmes's bedroom, but in this Adventure we see it revealed
in all its incredible clutter. Bed, coverlet, pillow, correspondence, syringes—they are all there. One could easily
reconstruct the bedroom's appearance on the basis of this Adventure alone, adding only the tin box alluded to in
MUSG (but not the one mentioned by Watson in CREE).

It is interesting to note the recurrence of the Notting Hill district of London, made infamously immortal in
HOUN by Selden, escaped lunatic, murderer, and brother of Mrs Barrymore, the housekeeper of Baskerville Hall. It
is rather curious that denizens of this district seem to come to no good end—witness the fates of Selden and of
Culverton Smith.

We are denied another look at the remarkable deductive powers of Holmes in this Adventure; all of that had
taken place by the time Watson brings us on the scene. However, it is with no small relief that we learn that Holmes
has escaped a weapon more bizarre than the Von Herder/Straubenzee air gun but surely as lethal: the deadly,
invisible microbes of the Sumatran Coolie Disease.

The Adventure of The Dying Detective—Story Index

For more background information on this story please go HERE

To read the story online please go HERE