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From: perg@panix.com (Margaret Lillard)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: (DOC PROJECT) Urine and the professor
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 14:35:28 GMT

The FAQ entry:

"Fb. Prof. demos test for diabetes by dipping finger in several flasks of urine and then licking it. Then asks students to do same. They do, after which he says he dipped with one finger and licked with the other."

We've had a couple of discussions over the past year or so in which participants thought they'd heard the story attributed to Arthur Conan Doyle, relating an anecdote about Dr. Joseph Bell, his (most famous) medical school professor and the acknowledged model for Sherlock Holmes.

I expressed doubt, having read several CD biographies without finding this story and also being unable to imagine a proper Victorian like CD telling a story about urine, especially about someone ingesting it.

There's a new biography of CD called _Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle_, by Daniel Stashower (ISBN 0-8050-5074-4, published by Henry Holt). On page 19, a version of the story is given, unfortunately without attribution or footnotes. It tells the story as it's written in the FAQ, but not with urine.

According to Stashower:

"Bell ... cleared his throat and began to speak. 'This, gentlemen, contains a most potent drug,' he said, holding the glass vial aloft. 'It is *extremely* bitter to the taste. Now, I wish to see how many of you have developed the powers of observation that God granted you.'

"He folded his arms and surveyed the room. '"But sair," you will say. "It can be analyzed chemically." ... Aye, aye, but I want you to taste it -- by smell and taste. ... As I don't ask anything of my students which I wouldn't do alone with myself, I will taste it before passing it around.'

"He brought his hand to his mouth and sucked his finger. Evidently the potion had a remarkably vile taste; Bell's features contored as though he had sampled poison. ..."

[The vial is passed, everyone tastes it and is repulsed.]

"When the vial had completed its rounds, Bell looked out over the rows of students and gave a sad shake of his head. 'Gentlemen,' he said, 'I am deeply grieved to find that not one of you has developed his power of perception, the faculty of observation which I speak so much of, for if you had truly observed me, you would have seen that, while I placed my *index* finger in the awful brew, it was my *middle* finger -- aye -- which somehow found its way into my mouth.'"

Margaret "You know my methods. Apply them!" Lillard