How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #1
The only other kinsman whom we have been able to trace was Rodger Baskerville, the youngest of three brothers of whom poor Sir Charles was the elder. The second brother, who died young, is the father of this lad Henry. The third, Rodger, was the black sheep of the family. He came of the old masterful Baskerville strain and was the very image, they tell me, of the family picture of old Hugo. He made England too hot to hold him, fled to Central America, and died there in 1876 of yellow fever. Henry is the last of the Baskervilles. (3.72)
In spite of all of these glamorous details about ghost dogs from hell and old family curses, The Hound of the Baskervilles is about boring old property law. There's a lot of money involved in this inheritance, and it's bringing out some bad characters from the family tree. The gloomy setting and Gothic details dress up what's, in fact, a pretty straightforward murder motive.
Quote #2
Our clients were punctual to their appointment, for the clock had just struck ten when Dr. Mortimer was shown up, followed by the young baronet. The latter was a small, alert, dark-eyed man about thirty years of age, very sturdily built, with thick black eyebrows and a strong, pugnacious face. He wore a ruddy-tinted tweed suit and had the weather-beaten appearance of one who has spent most of his time in the open air, and yet there was something in his steady eye and the quiet assurance of his bearing which indicated the gentleman. (4.1)
There are also lots of social class judgments in this book. There are almost no working- or middle-class characters in Sir Henry's social circle. Sir Henry himself, in spite of his "weather-beaten appearance" (don't get us started on those Canadian winters) still has "the quiet assurance of his bearing which indicated the gentleman." Being a "gentleman" is in his blood, the same way that Stapleton's bad character is a matter of inheritance from his wicked ancestor Hugo Baskerville.
Quote #3
Sherlock Holmes had, in a very remarkable degree, the power of detaching his mind at will. For two hours the strange business in which we had been involved appeared to be forgotten, and he was entirely absorbed in the pictures of the modern Belgian masters. He would talk of nothing but art, of which he had the crudest ideas, from our leaving the gallery until we found ourselves at the Northumberland Hotel. (5.1)
All of Holmes' judgment seems to be dedicated to solving crime. Watson claims that he has "the crudest ideas" about art, which implies that Holmes isn't all that great in more aesthetic, less scientific areas of study. Why do you think there's this long-standing assumption that being good at art and being good at science are mutually exclusive—the left brain/right brain thing? Do you know people who are equally talented in both areas? What different kinds of skills do these two areas demand?