Chapter 2

第二章

THE SCIENCE OF DEDUCTION

推理の科学

WE MET next day as he had arranged, and inspected the rooms at No. 221B, Baker Street, of which he had spoken at our meeting. They consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms and a single large airy sitting-room, cheerfully furnished, and illuminated by two broad windows. So desirable in every way were the apartments, and so moderate did the terms seem when divided between us, that the bargain was concluded upon the spot, and we at once entered into possession. That very evening I moved my things round from the hotel, and on the following morning Sherlock Holmes followed me with several boxes and portmanteaus. For a day or two we were busily employed in unpacking and laying out our property to the best advantage. That done, we gradually began to settle down and to accommodate ourselves to our new surroundings.

我々は次の日彼の手筈どおりに会った / そしてベーカー街221Bの部屋を調べた / 彼が私と会った時に話していた◆そこは二つの居心地の良い寝室と / そして広い風通しの良い居間が一つ / 家具はなかなか立派で広々とした窓が二つついていて明るかった◆あらゆる点でこの貸室は申し分なく / 我々が二人で払うなら条件も手頃で / 交渉はその場で合意に達した / そして我々はすぐに引っ越すことになった◆その夕 / 私はホテルから荷物を移動した / そして次の日の朝 / ホームズが私に続いて幾つかの箱や旅行鞄を運び入れた◆一日二日 / 我々は忙しく荷物を解き / 一番好都合なように持ち物を並べたりした◆それが終わって / 我々は徐々に / 落ち着いて新しい環境に慣れ始めた

Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissecting-rooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the city. Nothing could exceed his energy when the working fit was upon him; but now and again a reaction would seize him, and for days on end he would lie upon the sofa in the sitting-room, hardly uttering a word or moving a muscle from morning to night. On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.

ホームズは確かに一緒に住むのに難しい人間ではなかった◆彼の生活態度は穏やかで / 彼の生活習慣は規則正しかった◆彼は夜十時以降に起きている事はほとんどなく / 私が朝起きる前にいつも朝食を終えて出かけていた◆時には彼は一日中科学実験室にいて / 時には解剖室に / そして時には長い散歩に / それはどうやらこの街の最下層地区に行っているようだった◆何も彼の活力をしのぐものは無かった / 仕事の発作がやって来た時は / しかし時々その反動が起きがちだった / そして何日間も連続して / 彼は居間のソファの上に寝そべり / 朝から晩までほとんど一言もしゃべらず体も動かさず◆こうした折 / 彼の目の夢見るような虚ろな表情に気付いた / 私は彼が何か薬物の使用に耽っていると疑ったかもしれなかった / 彼の生活全体の節度と清潔さがそうした考えを禁じていなければ

As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawk-like nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments.

数週間が過ぎ / 彼に対する関心と / 彼の人生の目標に対する好奇心は / 徐々に深まり増大して来た◆彼の個性と風貌は / 最も無頓着な観察者でも関心を引くようなものだ◆身長は6フィートをちょっと越えているが / 極端に痩せているので彼はそれよりずっと高く見えた◆彼の目は鋭く射抜くようだった / 私が述べたような無気力な休止期間を除き / そして彼の細い鷹のような鼻は / 表情全体に機敏さと決断力の雰囲気を漂わせている◆彼の顎は / 突き出て角張っており / それも決断力がある男を表している◆彼の手はいつもインクの染みがあり、化学薬品で汚れていた / しかし彼は非常に繊細な触覚を持っていた / 私はしばしば目にする機会があった / 彼が壊れやすい化学器具を扱うのをじっと見ている時

The reader may set me down as a hopeless busybody, when I confess how much this man stimulated my curiosity, and how often I endeavoured to break through the reticence which he showed on all that concerned himself. Before pronouncing judgment, however, be it remembered how objectless was my life, and how little there was to engage my attention. My health forbade me from venturing out unless the weather was exceptionally genial, and I had no friends who would call upon me and break the monotony of my daily existence. Under these circumstances, I eagerly hailed the little mystery which hung around my companion, and spent much of my time in endeavouring to unravel it.

読者は私のことをどうしようもないお節介焼きと見なすかもしれない / 私がどれくらいこの男に好奇心を刺激されたかを告白すれば / そしてどれほどしばしば打ち破ろうとしたか / 彼自身に関係する全ての事を明らかにする事に対する寡黙さを◆しかし、判決を言い渡す前に / 私の生活がいかに無目的だったかを思い出して欲しい / そして私の注意をひきつけるものがどれほど少なかったかを◆私の健康状態はあえて外出することを阻んでいた / 天候がことに穏やかな場合を除いては / そして私は尋ねてくる友人もいなかった / 私の日常生活の単調さを破る◆このような状況下で / 私は同居人を取り巻くちょっとした謎を心の底から歓迎した / そしてそれを解こうとして非常に多くの時間を費やした

He was not studying medicine. He had himself, in reply to a question, confirmed Stamford’s opinion upon that point. Neither did he appear to have pursued any course of reading which might fit him for a degree in science or any other recognized portal which would give him an entrance into the learned world. Yet his zeal for certain studies was remarkable, and within eccentric limits his knowledge was so extraordinarily ample and minute that his observations have fairly astounded me. Surely no man would work so hard or attain such precise information unless he had some definite end in view. Desultory readers are seldom remarkable for the exactness of their learning. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so.

彼は医学の研究はしていなかった◆彼は自分で / 私の質問に答えて / その点でスタンフォードの見解を立証した◆彼は何らかの学識の過程を追い求めてもいないようだ / それが科学の学位をとるのに適しているかもしれない / またはそれ以外の認められた門戸に / それが彼を学問の世界に引き入れるであろう◆しかし彼のある種の研究は並外れており / そして奇妙な範囲の中では / 彼の知識はとてつもなく膨大かつ正確であり / 彼の観察本当に私を驚かせた◆間違いなくどんな男もそんなに一生懸命に働いたりそんなに正確な情報を身につけたりはしない / 何か明確な目標が視野に無い限り◆漫然と本を読むものは / 学んだものの正確さにかけて目を見張るようなことはまずない◆どんな男も小さなことに気を煩わせたりしない / 何かそうするもっともな理由を持っていない限り

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached 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 this 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.

彼の無知は彼の知識と同様にとんでもないものだった◆現代文学、哲学、政治に関して / 彼はほとんど何も知らないようだった◆トーマス・カーライルに関して私が言及すると / 彼は非常に素朴に尋ねた / 彼が誰で何をしたかを◆しかし私の驚きは最高潮に達した / 私が偶然見つけた時 / 彼はコペルニクスの地動説を知らず / 太陽系の構成も知らない事を◆この十九世紀の文明人の誰かが / 地球が太陽の周りを回っていると知らないというのは / 私にはとんでもない事実に思えたので / 私はほとんど現実の事に思えなかった

“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.”

「驚いているようだが」 / 彼は言った / 私が驚いた表情をしているのに笑いかけて◆「今、僕はそれを知ったが / それを忘れようと全力を尽くすだろう」

“To forget it!”

「忘れる！」

“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 skilful 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.”

「いいか」 / 彼は説明した / 「僕は人間の頭脳は元々小さな空の屋根裏部屋のようなものだと見なしている / そこに自分が選んだ家具を備え付けなければならない◆馬鹿者は出会ったものはどんな種類のがらくたでも全部詰め込む / それで自分にとって役に立つかもしれない知識が押し出される / 最善でも他の色々な事とごちゃ混ぜになる / その結果知識を掴むのが難しくなる◆腕のいい職人は / 脳の屋根裏部屋に何を持ち込むかについて非常に慎重だ◆彼はほかならぬ道具のみを入手する / 彼の仕事に役立つ可能性がある / しかしこれに関して / 彼は非常に大きな品揃えを持っており / そしてそれら全てをほとんど完璧な順序に並べている◆これは間違った考えだ / この小さな部屋が弾力性のある壁で出来ていて、幾らかでも拡張できると考えるのは◆間違いなく / そういう時が来る / あらゆる付け足しの知識で / 知っていた何かを忘れる時が◆したがって、これが最も重要な事だ / 使い道の無い事実が有用な物を押しのけないようにする事が」

“But the Solar System!” I protested.

「しかし、太陽系だぞ！」 / 私は抗議した

“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 to my work.”

「それが僕にとって何になる？」 / 彼は苛立って割り込んだ / 「君は我々が太陽の周りを回ると言った◆もし我々が月の回りを回っても / それは僕にも僕の仕事にもわずかな違いもないだろう」