You see, but you do not observe.

***A Scandal in Bohemia ##本案則是仿自愛倫·坡筆下的《失竊的信》一案。 《新世紀福爾摩斯》第二季第一集貝爾戈維亞醜聞 ###影片欣賞 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaDfTP7zohQ ###Sherlock Holmes A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA synchronized text audiobook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S63dxXpB6mI

許久不見，Watson和Holmes一見面的寒暄，還是一個偵探遊戲，Holmes輕而易舉猜出Watson又重操舊業，從Watson一身打扮和味道，還可推論Watson家中有個笨手笨腳的女僕。

Watson說出我們心裡的話，我的眼睛沒瞎啊！沒錯，和Watson一樣，我們都看到了，但是我們不像Holmes觀察到細節—You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.

     這兩種看(see/observe)的差別在那兒？

“It is simplicity itself,” said he; “my eyes tell me that on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession.” I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. “When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.” “Quite so,” he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into an armchair. “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.”

     先別急著給答案，下面的案件會示範see和observe的差別！　第一件事要避免致命的錯誤：It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

     沒有足夠資料之前不要下結論（理論）！切記！仔細閱讀這個案件，或許你也會發現，Holmes也犯同樣的錯誤。

“This is indeed a mystery,” I remarked. “What do you imagine that it means?” “I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. What do you deduce from it?”

國王戴面具，自以為別人無法辨識，但是這面具似乎成為另一種很好辨識的符號。Holmes也是易容術高手　（his amazing powers in the use of disguises)，而案件中的女主角Irene Adler本身曾是名伶，對她而言，「假裝」是件雕蟲小技，有一點她還贏過Holmes，她不會拆穿別人的面具，至少不必當面拆穿。戴面具，是種符號、是一層保護、是工具、是給別人面子.....，最有趣的是，面具也是偵探遊戲的重要道具！　別忘了，從古希臘悲劇開始，演員就使用面具！

圖片:　a black vizard mask

Scandal in Bohemia (Trafalgar Sq., Sherlock Holmes Museum, Hyde Park, London).

___

儘管冷靜、客觀、能力強，Holmes十分依賴Watson，他的肺腑之言:

I am lost without my Boswell.

註：Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)是英國知名的詩人，文學評論家及傳記家等．James Boswell (1740-1795)幫他寫了傳記．華生有在記錄福爾摩斯辦的案子，所以他把華生比喻為 James Boswell.