Arthur Conan Doyle study of such a character [viz., Bell] I used and amplified his methods when in later life I tried to build up a scientific detective who solved cases on his own merits and not through the folly of the criminal." Robert Louis Stevenson was able, even in faraway Samoa, to recognise the strong similarity between Joseph Bell and Sherlock Holmes: "My compliments on your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. ... can this be my old friend Joe Bell?" Other authors sometimes suggest additional influences—for instance, the famous Edgar Allan Poe character C. Auguste Dupin. Dr. (John)
Louis Ellies Dupin Louis Ellies Dupin Louis Ellies du Pin, or Dupin (17 June 1657 – 6 June 1719) was a French ecclesiastical historian, who was responsible for the "Nouvelle bibliothèque des auteurs ecclésiastiques " Dupin was born at Paris, coming from a noble family of Normandy. His mother, a Vitart, was the niece of Marie des Moulins, grandmother of the poet Jean Racine. When ten years old he entered the college of Harcourt, where he graduated M.A. in 1672. At the age of twenty Dupin accompanied Racine, who made a visit to Nicole for the purpose of becoming reconciled to the gentlemen