For Immediate Release

Contact: John M. Martino
Phone Number:  (215) 895-1186
Date: 10/30/03

USP Hosts Sherlock Holmes Society

Sherlock Holmes’ reference to a mysterious poison in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Devil’s-Foot was a topic of discussion at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia on October 25. Members of the Mycroft League, a Philadelphia society of Sherlock Holmes, converged on campus to converse about a poison Watson, Holmes’ trusty sidekick, called radix pedis diaboli or the Devil’s Foot root. Unknown to science, the Devil’s Foot root has baffled and fascinated toxicologists since The Strand Magazine published the short story in 1910.

Ara DerMarderosian, Ph.D., professor of pharmacognosy at USP, was one of three panel members who offered an opinion about the puzzling substance Holmes and Watson experienced. After the panel discussion, Dr. DerMarderosian led the group to a tour of the Marvin Samson Center for the History of Pharmacy, where he displayed some alleged Devil’s Foot root species, as well as other hallucinogenic and poisonous plants.

“The mystery involves the multiple disciplines of botany, chemistry, pharmacology and toxicology,” said Dr. DerMarderosian, “and applying these to suggested candidates for the real identification of the Devil’s Foot root in the Sherlock Holmes story. Was it real or a figment of the author’s imagination? Whether it is or isn’t, it makes for an interesting research project which may yield a new poison or drug yet undiscovered from nature.”

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