Dr. Watson for Sherlock Holmes

 

"As usual, Watson, your help has been invaluable," he went on warmly.

"Though not yourself luminous, you are a conductor of light."

 

This singular sentence, though not from the Sherlock Holmes series written by Conan Doyle, does sum up the 'function' of Watson in Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning.

 

Dr. Watson was never really helpful to Sherlock Holmes in actually solving the cases. He was his companion, would do-as-directed and function as the record-keeper and chronicler of the cases. His presence was needed in the stories so that Sherlock had somebody to explain to. Sherlock would have to explain the clueless Watson how he deduced and solved the case … in effect telling the reader how he did it.

 

But while being a 'dumb observer', Watson often made comments which sparked some new line of thought in Sherlock's mind; often leading to the solution. That particular function of Watson gets highlighted in the comment above .. taken from a Sherlock Holmes story written by the youngest son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle