Sherlock Holmes and the Murders in the Rue Morgue

Last night, I read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" for the first time.  I remember reading somewhere that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" as an inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes stories, but now that I've read it, I can actually see how many similarities there are.  This is a brief account of a few of them.

1. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" is not narrated by Dupin in the same way that most of the Sherlock Holmes stories are not narrated by Holmes.  For both, this narrative distance allows the reader to feel more suspense and be more surprised when the solution to the mystery is revealed.
2. Early in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," Dupin traces the narrator's thoughts.  Holmes does the same thing to Watson at the beginning of "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box."  He even references Poe's work - "'You remember,' said he, 'that some little time ago when I read you the passage in one of Poe's sketches in which a close reasoner follows the unspoken thoughts of his companion, you were inclined to treat the matter as a mere tour-de-force of the author.'"
3. A direct quote from a newspaper article lasts for about six pages in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."  The inclusion of primary sources frequently occurs in the Sherlock Holmes stories too.
4. The mystery in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" revolves around two murders in a locked room, which is a situation that also occurs in a few Sherlock Holmes stories.
5. Like Dupin, Holmes has a relationship with the police that is not exactly official but that does provide more access than a regular citizen would have.
6. At the very end, Dupin places an advertisement in the newspaper, which is a tactic that Sherlock Holmes also uses rather frequently.

I also noticed a vague connection between the settings of the Sherlock Holmes stories and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."  In "A Study in Scarlet," Watson describes London as "that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained."  In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," the narrator explains that he became acquainted with Dupin after they were both searching for the same rare book.  In both cases, the setting is central.  London is the center of the British Empire, and "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" seems to describe Paris as the center of intellectuals.  Later in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," international shipping becomes an important factor, which illustrates Paris as an important world city, much like London.

Obviously, Doyle did come up with a lot of his own ideas for the Holmes stories and expanded upon the original influence of Poe, but there are a lot of similarities between the two.