Sherlock Holmes Group at eNotes

How holmes pay for his fault or never mistakes

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 06:28:15 PST

How holmes pay for his fault or never mistakes

Eureka! There is a two-in-one example in The Hound of the Baskervilles....

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:13:49 PST

Eureka! There is a two-in-one example in The Hound of the Baskervilles. When a guest leaves his walking stick behind, Holmes (with Watson, this time!) makes several conjectures about its owner; here both deductive and inductive methods of reasoning are used:Inductive: Watson notices the quality of the stick and its evident wear. He speculates that it might belong to an elderly revered gentleman, possibly of his own professsion (a doctor)....

"Elementary, my dear Watson"

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:27:39 PST

I have been told that Sherlock Holmes is never actually quoted saying his famous phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson." However, all of his detective stories focus on the "simplicity" of mysteries once they have been explained. Does the famous Baker Street detective rely more on deductive reasoning than inductive, or are both processes of reasoning equally important? Can you give a couple examples of each?