WHO IS THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES?

He was the inspiration for Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, Sherlock Holmes .And his name is Dr.Joseph Bell.

Considered by many to be the Father of Forensic Science, Dr.Bell was born in Scotland on 02 December,1837 and died in 1911. He was a lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. Conan Doyle met him in 1877 and he became Dr.Bell's clerk in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Here, Doyle was able to observe the good doctor in action, learning about his techniques and using it as the method by which Sherlock Holmes, his character, solved criminal mysteries.

Dr.Bell emphasized keen observation in arriving at his medical diagnosis. As an example, he would pick a stranger at random and by carefully observing him, come to know of his occupation and recent activities.

In addition to being a doctor, this sacred man was also an amatuer poet, a sportsman and a bird watcher.

The wise man that he was, he carefully instructed those who would teach medical students the following:

"In teaching the treatment of disease and accident," Dr. Bell stated, "all careful teachers have first to show the student how to recognize accurately the case. The recognition depends in great measure on the accurate and rapid appreciation of small points in which the diseased differs from the healthy state. In fact, the student must be taught to observe. To interest him in this kind of work we teachers find it useful to show the student how much a trained use of the observation can discover in ordinary matters such as the previous history, nationality and occupation of a patient."
(from: The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Conan Doyle made an excellent choice in giving Sherlock Holmes blood and veins through Dr.Joseph Bell.He couldnt have used a better inspiration.

Sherlock Holmes is not a fictitious character after all.