The truth can be elusive..........................

 Says Sherlock Holmes:

     "That process," said I, "starts upon the supposition that when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.  It may well be that several explanations remain, in which case one tries test after test until one or other of them has a convincing amount of support.  We will now apply this principle to the case in point. . . ."  

    "There remained the third possibility, into which, rare and unlikely as it was every thing seemed to fit.  Leprosy is not uncommon in South Africa.  By some extraordinary chance this youth might have contracted it. . . ."

Enters the "great dermatologist", Sir James Saunders, who says:

    "It is often my lot to bring ill-tidings and seldom good," said he.  "This occasion is the more welcome.  It is not leprosy"

     "What?"

     "A well-marked case of pseudo-leprosy or ichthyosis, a scale-like affection of the skin, unsightly, obstinate, but possibly curable, and certainly noninfective.  Yes, Mr. Holmes, the coincidence is a remarkable one.  But is it coincidence?  Are there not subtle forces at work of which we know little? . . ."

-Arthur Conan Doyle, The Blanched Soldier

Ed. Note:  In this story, the narrative is told by Holmes himself, for "The good Watson, had at that time deserted me for a wife, the only selfish action which i can recall in our association."

Cleaning out the attic...................

“You see,"  he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilled workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.” 

-Arthur Conan Doyle, channeling Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet