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The Speckled Band

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“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is one of fifty-six Sherlock Holmes shorts written by Arthur Conan Doyle. This short story follows Holmes and his assistant, Dr. John Watson, on their journey to solve a case for their client Helen Stoner. Helen’s case revolves around the mysterious death of her twin sister which inevitably caused Helen to fear for the safety of her own life. In this story, Holmes’ believed that “doctors make the greatest criminals.” Holmes’ statement is entirely conclusive, Holmes himself stated: “When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.” Doctors make the greatest criminals for many reasons. Doctors are highly intelligent and very knowledgeable of the human anatomy. In …show more content…

Doctors would know the ins and outs of all vital organs. This would open pathways to causing instant death if they ever decided to stab or shoot someone. The deadliest weapon, after all, would have to be the human brain. It was suspected that Jack the Ripper, an unidentified serial killer in 1888, had some form of medical training. This was strictly based off the precision and attention to detail with which some of the organs were removed from his victims. In addition, doctors know a lot about medications and poisons that could inflict harm or even death, while still remaining undetectable back in the day. However, doctors would not have such advantages in modern society due to forensics being able to detect poison; but in Sherlock Holmes’ time, poison was a commonly used for murder and still remained unidentifiable on a corpse. Lastly, simply having such extensive knowledge of the human anatomy can defend the statement that doctors make the greatest criminals. A doctor’s simple knowledge of what is good and bad for the human body is one of the defenders to why doctors make the greatest criminals, but it is not the only …show more content…

Being notoriously known as perfectionists, doctors make it a priority to ensure that every little detail is ideal because a small mix up can cause a matter of life or death. In addition, their obsessive attention to detail would assist in the scheme of many murder cases. Lastly, criminals are known for slip ups, especially during Sherlock Holmes’ era. Many criminals were not very smart and would often clues behind. However, doctors are discrete and when mix them with actions of criminals, doctors would never leave behind any clues that would cause suspicion. This would easily make a doctor the perfect

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