29 MAY 1953, Page 16

Case of the Missing CliChe

SIR,—II is always a pleasant experience to a novice when he is able to correct an expert. Shortly before reading Mr. John Home's letter In your issue of May 15th, I had been reading The Hound of the Baskervilles to my children. I felt sure that the word -"elementary " occurred in the book and on referring to it I found near the beginning of the first chapter that Holmes, who had been testing Dr. Watson's powers of deduction in _ order apparently to demonstrate his own superior powers, says: "Interesting, though elementary."—Yours faithfully. L. F. EGGLEDEN. 25 Moneyhill Road, Rickmansworth, Herts.