How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
"How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head."
"I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me," said he. (1.2-5)
Holmes is awesome and Watson is confused. Or at least, that's what these first sentences from The Hound of the Baskervilles establish: Holmes can make use of any tool at hand—even something as ordinary as a silver coffee pot—to make observations about the people around him. Watson's role in these conversations is to be the one to ask Holmes, "How did you know?" Without Watson, there'd be no way for Holmes to show off his reasoning. And without Holmes, Watson would not have a fascinating subject to explore in all his stories. The two of them are perfect complements.
Quote #2
"No mention of that local hunt, Watson," said Holmes with a mischievous smile, "but a country doctor, as you very astutely observed. I think that I am fairly justified in my inferences. As to the adjectives, I said, if I remember right, amiable, unambitious, and absent-minded. It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room." (1.34)
Holmes isn't just good at figuring out what happened or who did what; he's also an excellent reader of character. Holmes often gives us direct assessments of the different characters in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and we can't think of a single instance where he gets it wrong. In fact, he's so spot-on that we discuss Holmes' explanations as one of the narrative tools that Conan Doyle uses to portray character in our section on "Character Clues."
Quote #3
"If he were in a hurry it opens up the interesting question why he should be in a hurry, since any letter posted up to early morning would reach Sir Henry before he would leave his hotel. Did the composer fear an interruption—and from whom?"
"We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork," said Dr. Mortimer.
"Say, rather, into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation." (4.40-2)
The line that Holmes proposes here between imagination and science seems pretty thin, especially since Holmes' "genius" is all taking place against the backdrop of a fictional narrative. Do you believe that Holmes' deductions are scientific? Considering that material observation is considered the basis for the scientific method, Shmoop votes "yes" with reservations. Reservations because he's got a cheat sheet—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.