In the novel 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' by English author Arthur Conan Doyle, the walking stick is an important prop. It is able to 'tell' the detective quite a lot about its owner. It first appears in the morning - it was not there the night before so must have been left by an unseen night visitor. Their guest did not wait to say hello or goodbye - so Holmes and Watson must do the best they can with a guess. They must examine it in minute detail. This is what they can safely surmise:
It is inscribed 'To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S from his friends of the C.C.H.' Holmes must deduce certain things. as the C.C.H. is a hospital, (Charing Cross London)he guesses that the night visitor was a doctor (he was right - it turned out the doctor's marriage had meant a move to the country. The teeth marks on the stick were small - which suggested a small dog. It turns out to be a spaniel.
The medical connection is significant as Doyle's bio shows he was influenced his lecturer Dr Joseph Bell at medical school.
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