Dubbed the "Black Dahlia" case, the 1947 murder and mutilation of Elizabeth Short, would-be Hollywood actress, has had a following of its own ever since the story broke. A new book, Black Dahlia Avenger has apparantly solved this case. But wait and see who is identified as the killer... and by whom! Take a look here.
His ignorance was as remakrabke as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naievest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise hit a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the solar system. That any civilized human being in the nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to me to be such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
"You appear to be astonished," he said, smiling at my surprise. "Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it."
"To forget it!"
"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 any sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes in to 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 add, you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."
"But the solar system!" I protested.
"What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently. "You say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or my work."
Being a Reprint From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M. D.,
Late of the Army Medical Department. London, 1888.
Either way, I do hope you will find some amusement -- even fascination -- here. Any questions, comments, etc, please use the email link at the bottom to let me know.
Into the Attic!
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