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.

如果认为这间小阁楼的墙壁富有弹性，可以任意伸缩，那就错了。请相信我的话，总有一天，当你增加新知识的时候，你就会把以前所熟习的东西忘了。所以最要紧的是，不要让一些无用的知识把有用的挤出去。

演绎法

福尔摩斯之所以有实力让一代又一代的侦探小说迷折服，主要是因为他的一套推理演绎法（the Science of Deduction）。

我们来看看他自己是怎样解释的。

From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it.

一个逻辑学家不需亲眼见到或者听说过大西洋或尼加拉瀑布，但他能从一滴水推测出它们有可能存在，所以整个生活就是一条巨大的链条，只要见到其中的一环，整个链条的情况就可推想出来了。

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

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