by arbitrary, ruthless, or violent means.” This word relates to some
of the policemen in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle.z In these stories, Holmes repeatedly complains that the policemen
he works alongside depend too much on their own expectations
and prejudices, rather than using deduction and analysis to
objectively solve a case. These policemen could be accused
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preconceived notions.z In The Sign of the Four, the second Holmes novel, one of the
characters, Bartholomew Sholto, is found murdered in a locked
room. The police detective, Athelney Jones, arrests all the usual
suspects—the victim’s brother and household staff—rather than
looking at the special circumstances of the case.z However, Holmes has a boldly original mind, one not tied down
by convention or preconceived notions. Holmes uses his astute
powers of observation and deduction to conclude that the usual
suspects are actually innocent. In fact, Holmes deduces that Sholto
was murdered by a one-legged man and a diminutive native of the
Andaman Islands.z Even Detective Jones eventually must admit that Sholto’s brother
and the other suspects could not have committed the murder. In short,
Detective Jones’s procrustean approach fails to solve the crime.z If Jones was procrustean, Holmes himself, the boldly inventive
master detective, might be described as Promethean. Given that he
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called phlegmatic; that is, he shows little emotion and is not easily
incited to action.An Ideal Husband
z In an earlier lecture, we learned the word misanthrope, someone
who hates other people. The classic misanthrope is Alceste, the title