“I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I am

unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that this man was

intellectual?”


For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over the

forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. “It is a question of

cubic capacity,” said he; “a man with so large a brain must have

something in it.”


“The decline of his fortunes, then?”


“This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge came in

then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the band of ribbed silk and

the excellent lining. If this man could afford to buy so expensive a hat three

years ago, and has had no hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the

world.”


“Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight and

the moral retrogression?”


Sherlock Holmes laughed. “Here is the foresight,” said he putting

his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. “They are

never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign of a certain amount

of foresight, since he went out of his way to take this precaution against the

wind. But since we see that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to

replace it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, which

is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other hand, he has

endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with

ink, which is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect.”


“Your reasoning is certainly plausible.”


“The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is grizzled,

that it has been recently cut, and that he uses lime-cream, are all to be

gathered from a close examination of the lower part of the lining. The lens

discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber.

They all appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream.