“very curious phraseology” [WIST]      Here's an interesting little subject that ought to intrigue many Sherlock Holmes fans: words. We are a literate bunch, and when we get to learn more about words — especially words with which we're unfamiliar —  that makes us happy.  This topic was...

“kept as a secret among them” [DEVI]      When Dr. Leon Sterndale said there was only one known specimen of radix pedis dioaboli – devil's foot root – in a laboratory in Buda, it was clear that it was a poison unknown to science.   Just what was it that was "used as an ordeal poison by...

“His collaboration may be very necessary” [ILLU]      There's a curious phrase in the beginning of A Study in Scarlet that requires a little more consideration. Do you know what it is? John Ball, Jr. did.  And his theory about what that phrase signified is an intelligent and plausible...