Sherlock Holmes Off His Game

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge.

— Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlett (1887)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, must have been turning in his grave Thursday night when the latest episode of Elementary aired on CBS.

The character of Watson, played by Lucy Liu, remarks: I was thinking sushi tonight.

The modern-day Sherlock Holmes, played by Jonny Lee Miller, answers: Salmonella, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, mercury poisoning, Anisakis simplex: all illnesses contractible from eating raw fish.

Huh? It seems Mr. Holmes knowledge of homicides is as remarkable as his ignorance of sushi particularly when it comes to mercury.

Mr. Holmes should have known that no peer-reviewed medical journal has ever reported a case of mercury toxicity in the U.S. attributed to the normal consumption of commercial seafood.

Rather than mumbling gibberish about sushi, Mr. Holmes would have been wiser to answer: Sushi? Great idea, Watson. A recent Harvard study showed that some 84,000 cardiac-related deaths could be prevented each year if Americans ate more seafood. In fact, the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish lower the risks of cardiovascular and eye diseases, and are essential to the healthy neurological and cognitive development of children in utero.

Youll want to order extra, Watson. Its elementary.