“By a man's finger nails” [STUD]
Have you ever known anyone afflicted with onychophagia? We're almost certain you have.
Onychophagia is the medical term for nail biting. It's a common habit, as there is usually about 20-30% of the population that does it regularly. It can range from occasional to compulsive, and is sometimes linked to stress, anxiety, or other mental health conditions.
Turning our attention toward the Canon, can we think of any nail biters? There's one client story that stands out: John Scott Eccles, in "Wisteria Lodge" tells us about his host, Mr. Garcia, who during dinner
“continually drummed his fingers on the table, gnawed his nails, and gave other signs of nervous impatience.”
But there was one other we should take note of. Do you know who it was?
That's right. Watson tells us it was Sherlock Holmes himself. In "The Stock-Broker's Clerk," Hall Pycroft promised to bring Holmes and Watson around to see his managing director, and Watson gives us this little scene:
“I should like to have a look at the gentleman, and see if I can make anything of his little game. What qualities have you, my friend, which would make your services so valuable? Or is it possible that—” He began biting his nails and staring blankly out of the window, and we hardly drew another word from him until we were in New Street.
In the opening scene of "The Bruce-Partington Plans," we find Holmes and Watson, cooped up in Baker Street, with dense fog blotting out the scenery outside when Holmes's “impatient and active nature” was straining:
“He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.”
It sounds as if Holmes's nail-biting was one of anxiety rather than of compulsion.
Perhaps Watson was covering up for a compulsion of his own — perhaps a compulsion that began at Baker Street Elementary...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at the Baker Street Elementary website.
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