Sherlock Holmes: The Baker Street Legacy by Mark Mower

Author:Mark Mower
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: short story collection, Darlington, fashion, France, Siamese cat, dressmaker, diamond, Grand larceny, Coutts Co, attempted robbery, butcher, sleepwalking, hypnosis, Whitechapel, laudanum, Montpellier, château, poison, Antifebrin, cyanosis, aniline, defibrillation, electrical influence machines, electrostatic generator, Clapham, inventor, fossils, British Museum, poisons, hallucinations
ISBN: 9781787054332
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2019-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

The Influence Machine

The early part of 1895 had already proved to be one of the busiest periods that Holmes and I had experienced in taking on the many cases and conundrums that presented themselves from week to week. And it was in June of that year that we were thrown unexpectedly into a short but ultimately unique affair which now deserves public attention.

I had returned to Baker Street that particular afternoon to present Holmes with a gift. Knowing his fondness for rare manuscripts on obscure topics, I had managed to purchase, at no great expense, a first-edition of Francis Hauksbee’s 1715 lecture notes on A Course of Mechanical, Optical, Hydrostatical and Pneumatical Experiments. My colleague was immediately enraptured by the tome, flicking eagerly through its delicate pages and taking in the exquisitely printed diagrams which accompanied the text. It was a good twenty minutes before he re-engaged me in conversation.

“A most curious feature, Watson!”

I looked up from The Times and cast him a glance. I could see by his intense concentration that something inside the leather covering of the front cover had caught his attention. Slipping his bony fingers under an exposed section of the binding, he had withdrawn a small folded letter which he then began to scrutinise.

“This is most unexpected. You might remember that Hauksbee was the son of a draper. He ran a business off Fleet Street specialising in air-pumps, hydrostatic devices and reflecting telescopes. But as a scientist he is known principally for inventing an early electrostatic generator which he demonstrated at meetings of the Royal Society.”

I had to confess, that beyond the name, I had little knowledge of Hauksbee or his work. “So what did this electrostatic generator do?” I asked, placing the newspaper down on the arm of my chair.

“The contraption consisted of a sealed glass globe which could be rotated rapidly by a hand-cranked wheel. While spinning the wheel with one hand, Hauksbee would use his other hand to place a light cotton cloth on the top of the rotating glass. The electrical charge he created would produce a light which stunned everyone in his packed lecture theatres.”

“Most fascinating. And was the note that you now hold in your hand written by Mr. Hauksbee?”

He smirked mischievously. “No, that is the curious feature!” He was in a state of some excitement and rose from his chair to retrieve a magnifying glass from the mantelpiece. He then sat at the table before the window and began to examine the document through the lens. “A short, personal note, written on cheap paper. The high concentration of cotton fibres suggests it was manufactured close to one of the Northern mill towns. The watermark is crude but reveals the words ‘Lewden Mill.’ My supposition is thus confirmed – the paper mill is in Worsbrough, Yorkshire.”

I was, as ever, stunned by his ability to retrieve such trivia from the depths of his memory. “What else can you discern, Holmes?”

“This is a non-standard paper size and the residue of gum along the top is most suggestive.

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