Doctor Watson Knows Noses

by Bruce Harris

About the Author: Bruce Harris is the author of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DOCTOR WATSON: ABOUT TYPE. His Sherlockian articles have appeared in The Baker Street Journal, The Sherlock Holmes Journal, Mystery Magazine, and Canadian Holmes among others.

Excerpt

Hawk-Like

Among Sherlock Holmes’s characteristic deerstalker hat, curved pipe, and hawk-like nose, only the latter is specifically mentioned by Dr. Watson. It is mentioned in STUD and REDH. The physical characteristics of a hawk-like nose are quite specific. According to Eden Warwick, “[the] Hawk Nose is very convex, and preserves its convexity, like a bow, throughout the whole length from the eyes to the tip. It is thin and sharp.”[1] A hooked type of nose shape usually has sharp contours with a prominent bend in the middle making it look like the beak of a hawk.

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