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med_cat: (H&W gray)
med_cat: (H&W gray)

"And now a word about Watson"

med_cat: (H&W gray)
(Cross-posted to [livejournal.com profile] jwatsonmd )

And now a word about Watson. Dr. Watson is often represented as "bumbling" or "obtuse" and portrayed as staring open-mouthed at Holmes' remarkable deductions. But, lest we forget, it was Watson who was the biographer of Holmes, and we all know how engagingly those memoirs were written. Not only do they possess masterly touches of character study, but in each case, we seem to share in the adventures. The prose style is always impressive and, at times rises to heights of sonorous, descriptive beauty. This brief passage from "The Final Problem", in which Watson tells his thoughts as he looks down into the tumultuous waters of Reichenbach Falls (into which Holmes and Moriarty, locked in deadly embrace, were presumed to have tumbled and been lost forever) is a notable example of the vivid imagery often contained in these pages.

 It is, indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by  the  melting
snow, plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up  like
the smoke from a burning house. The  shaft  into  which  the  river  hurls
itself is an immense chasm,  lined  by  glistening  coal-black  rock,  and
narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which  brims
over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip. The long  sweep  of
green water roaring forever down, and  the  thick  flickering  curtain  of
spray hissing forever upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl
and clamour. We stood near the edge peering  down  at  the  gleam  of  the
breaking water far below us against the black rocks, and listening to  the
half-human shout which came booming up with the spray out of the abyss.


We, too, should have marveled at Holmes' amazing powers had we, like Watson, had the opportunity of moving in the company of the great sleuth. After all, the man had made a lifelong study of the science of crime detection and was something of a prodigy in the field. Doubtless the average man of any age would have soon found himself beyond his depth in his company; small wonder that Holmes was often vain about his accomplishments.

(From "Elementary, My Dear Watson: A Series of Articles on the Great Detective, and Some Others" by Irving L. Jaffee)
 

Comments

Apr. 8th, 2011 01:08 am (UTC)
I enjoyed reading this, thanks for sharing with us, Cat! Perfectly sums up my own feelings for our dear doctor.
med_cat: (dog and book)
Apr. 8th, 2011 08:47 am (UTC)
Yes, others too have made similar remarks, so I was amused to find this passage ;)
Apr. 8th, 2011 02:50 am (UTC)
Preaching to the choir, Cat!
med_cat: (Default)
Apr. 8th, 2011 08:47 am (UTC)
Yes.