["there are. there -are- obviously going to be differences", he thinks, silently ... and then he's thinking of J, and that makes him sniffle slightly as he leans on the handle of the ice pick. he figures Holmes will ask for it when it is needed]

As I recall, Arthur C. Clarke once remarked that magic is simply unexplained science. I'm paraphrasing, of course. ... And once you've gauged the difference, what then? Is this simply a matter of collecting data, or are you forming a hypothesis in order to ... facilitate some other, greater and potentially dangerous course of action?

[because science, like all truly worthwhile things, is always dangerous]