Page 19 - 血字的研究·四签名(外研社双语读库) (福尔摩斯探案全集)

"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with
a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit.

"You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive."

“你好！”他热忱地说，一边使劲儿握着我的手，我简直不敢相信
他有这样大的力气。“我看得出来，你到过阿富汗。”

"How on earth did you know that?" I asked in
astonishment.

“你到底是怎么知道的？”我吃惊地问。

"Never mind," said he, chuckling to himself. "The
question now is about haemoglobin. No doubt you see the
significance of this discovery of mine?"

“没什么。”他说着，咯咯地笑了笑，“现在要谈的是血红蛋白的

问题。你肯定意识到我这个发现的重要性了吧？”

"It is interesting, chemically, no doubt," I answered, "but

practically—"

“从化学角度来讲，毫无疑问，这个很有意思，”我回答，“但
是，从实用角度来讲……”

"Why, man, it is the most practical medico-legal
discovery for years. Don't you see that it gives us an
infallible test for blood stains. Come over here now!" He

seized me by the coat-sleeve in his eagerness, and drew me
over to the table at which he had been working. "Let us
have some fresh blood," he said, digging a long bodkin into
his finger, and drawing off the resulting drop of blood in a
chemical pipette. "Now, I add this small quantity of blood to

a litre of water. You perceive that the resulting mixture has
the appearance of pure water. The proportion of blood
cannot be more than one in a million. I have no doubt,

however, that we shall be able to obtain the characteristic
reaction." As he spoke, he threw into the vessel a few white
crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid.