Отправлено: 19.06.08 15:54. Заголовок: Общественные события времен Холмса

Читая истории Холмса,иногда можно заметить отображения тех или иных важных общественных событий конца 19 века,отображенных в тексте.
Например, Первая мировая война...или даже сама история Джека Потрошителя так или иначе повлияла на творчества Дойля.
Или, скажем, Холмс упоминает "известного норвежского ученого Сигерсона" - а ведь это не иначе как Фритьоф Нансен, за путешествием которого на судне "ФРАМ" следила вся прогрессивная общественность Европы и Америки.
Может еще что то заметили?

 Отправлено: 20.06.08 15:13. Заголовок: да,например война &#..

да,например война "в наших восточных владениях"

 Отправлено: 20.06.08 15:38. Заголовок: В "Пенсне в золо..

В "Пенсне в золотой оправе" говорится об освободительном движении народовольцев в России. Правда, для Конан Дойла они всем скопом - "нигилисты".

 Отправлено: 20.06.08 15:43. Заголовок: Афганская война, Бур..

Афганская война, Бурская война

 Отправлено: 20.06.08 15:54. Заголовок: Ну и первая мировая ..

Ну и первая мировая до кучи.

 Отправлено: 23.06.08 09:51. Заголовок: maut пишет: Ну и пе..

maut пишет:

цитата:

Ну и первая мировая до кучи.

уже было...

 Отправлено: 23.06.08 11:15. Заголовок: МАКСИМ пишет: уже ..

МАКСИМ пишет:

цитата:

уже было...

Ваша правда....

 Отправлено: 18.01.09 04:42. Заголовок: Лоттик Баскервилей п..

Лоттик Баскервилей пишет:

цитата:

об освободительном движении народовольцев в России. Правда, для Конан Дойла они всем скопом - "нигилисты".

покушение на Трепова тоже упоминается
а нигилисты - они и есть нигилисты
так и Лесков писал

 Отправлено: 21.01.09 17:28. Заголовок: Михаил Гуревич пишет..

Михаил Гуревич пишет:

цитата:

покушение на Трепова тоже упоминается

Да?
А хде?

 Отправлено: 22.01.09 01:41. Заголовок: Сыщик пишет: А хде?..

Сыщик пишет:

цитата:

А хде?

вот
"Скандал в Богемии"
третий абзац
"Время от времени до меня доходили смутные слухи о его делах: о том, что его вызывали в Одессу в связи с убийством Трепова, о том, что ему удалось пролить свет на загадочную трагедию братьев Аткинсон в Тринкомали, и, наконец, о поручении голландского королевского дома, выполненном им исключительно тонко и удачно".
отметим, что реальный Трепов, к счастью, выжил
да и выстрел Засулич имел место в 1878 году - до знакомства Шерлока холмса и доктора Ватсона
и не в Одессе, а в Петербурге
короче - как в анекдоте: и не двадцать рублей, а сто, и не выиграл, а проиграл...

 Отправлено: 22.01.09 02:09. Заголовок: Михаил Гуревич пишет..

Михаил Гуревич пишет:

цитата:

отметим, что реальный Трепов, к счастью, выжил да и выстрел Засулич имел место в 1878 году - до знакомства Шерлока холмса и доктора Ватсона и не в Одессе, а в Петербурге короче - как в анекдоте: и не двадцать рублей, а сто, и не выиграл, а проиграл...

Вы забываете, кем был доктор Ватсон... Дезинформация это один из инструментов его работы

 Отправлено: 22.01.09 04:54. Заголовок: kalash пишет: Дезин..

kalash пишет:

цитата:

Дезинформация это один из инструментов его работы

"Понимаю! Сам рыбак." (с)

 Отправлено: 05.06.11 14:19. Заголовок: http://www.doyle.msf..

http://www.doyle.msfit.ru/holmes/chronology/
Любопытная таблица на этот счет

 Отправлено: 28.03.14 22:32. Заголовок: В дискуссионной груп..

В дискуссионной группе HOUNDS-L каждую неделю обсуждается один рассказ из Канона. Сейчас начинается обсуждение "Умирающего детектива". Первое письмо от администратора содержит краткие сведения о первой публикации, о датах событий, описанных в рассказе, и о возрасте Холмса и Ватсона в то время. Затем следуют ставшие известными цитаты из рассказа и неясные вопросы по рассказу, задаваемые автором письма. Оставшуюся, самую большую часть письма занимает перечень того, что еще произошло в год, описываемый в рассказе: в Империи, в Британии, в мире, в искусстве, в науке.

Может быть, что-то из этого можно было бы взять на вооружение?

An Inquiry Into *The Adventure of the Dying Detective.

*The Adventure of the Dying Detective* was first published in *The Strand Magazine,* on December 1913.

According to Baring-Gould's chronology, as set down in *The Annotated Sherlock Holmes,* Second Edition, 1974, the case takes place on Saturday, November 19, 1887. At the time Holmes is 38 years old and Watson 40.

Notable Quotes:

"But facts are facts, Watson, and after all you are only a general practitioner with very limited experience and mediocre qualifications."

"Can you ask, my dear Watson? Do you imagine that I have no respect for your medical talents? Could I fancy that your astute judgment would pass a dying man who, however weak, had not rise in pulse or temperature?

== The Mediocre Medico == Holmes tells Watson that he does not trust his medical acumen to keep him away from him and thus be able to preserve the illusion of his dire condition. While there is no direct indication in the Canon ("Gawd! Doctor Watson, you are wonderful! You saved my life!"), there are clues that Watson's professionalism was above average; for example, on more than one story we hear of a thriving medical practice. That aside, would any Barker care to hazard an opinion of just how good a physician was our biographer?

== A Matter of Dubious Obedience == While it is undeniable that "masterful" surely is an accurate description of Sherlock Holmes it would seem that, as a doctor, Watson should not have been so docile in following the Great Detective's instructions--consider that he thought that his friend was at the edge of death and also delirious! Nothing would have deterred him, regardless of the "sick" man's instructions, from seeking the presence of every specialist he could lay his hands on, without any further delay! In fact, his comment that Holmes had become so delirious that it seemed dangerous to leave him is contradictory, especially since he accepted that as a doctor he could do nothing for his "dying" friend and therefore his continued presence there was unnecessary. My thoughts on the matter? I believe that in reality Watson knew exactly what the situation was--being in Holmes' confidence from the start--and that this part of his tale was created solely for the
sake of enhancing suspense. Hounds?

== Schadenfreude == Whenever we discuss this case, I remember one of the Rathbone Holmes movies--somewhat based on The Final Problem--in which Lestrade is depicted as becoming somewhat emotional over Holmes' supposed death and begs Watson to let him have one of the detective's pipes.Then there is SIXN, in which Lestrade tells Holmes how proud Scotland Yard is of him. Here, however, both Inspector Morton and Smith appear delighted about Holmes' serious illness. In view of this, what say you, Hounds? What do you think would Scotland Yard's reaction be to Holmes' death?

== The Continuing Charade == Obviously, to a certain degree, we are bound to accept Holmes' explanation for not taking Watson into his confidence. Although his thinking that the Good Doctor was incapable of dissimulation and otherwise would not have been as earnest and urgent about getting Smith to 221B bears discussion--after all, he did trust his friend to lie though his teeth when he sent him to visit Baron Gruner in ILLU. In any case, the question arises as to why would Holmes maintain the deception after Watson returned from Smith's, when he asked him to hide behind the head of his bed?

What else happened in 1887:

EMPIRE

British East Africa Company charter awarded.

Zululand becomes protectorate.

First colonial conference.

Anglo-Russian treaty fixes Russo-Persian frontier along the Oxus River.

British Baluchistan, including Quetta, established.

BRITAIN

Victoria's Golden Jubilee, end of Windsor Retirement. On the 50th anniversary of her reign, the Queen rides in state from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey, where a Special Jubilee service is held. It is made the occasion of an impressive display of British Colonial resources and loyalty.

Britain annexes Zululand.

"People's Palace" first stage, the Queen's Hall, opens in East End.

Earls Court opens at entertainments ground.

Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill fails, and Irish affairs are brought into greater prominence. Charles Parnell’s bill for the diminution of Irish rents is defeated, A letter, ostensibly written by Parnell reveals him as being in favor of the Phoenix Park Murders (1882). Letter is proven to have been a forgery. Irish Coercion Act; Irish Land Act.

Charing Cross Road opens.

Allotments Act, Local authorities are empowered to acquire land compulsorily for allotments.

Coal Mines Regulation Act, boys under 13 not to work underground, and under 12 at the surface.

Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, opens after being bought by Metropolitan Board of Works.

Kilburn Park opens after being acquired by the City of London.

WORLD

United States begins free mail delivery to homes of any community with a population of 10,000 or more.

Four of the eight anarchists engaged in the Haymarket riot in Chicago are executed, two sentenced to life imprisonment, another for 15 years, and the other commits suicide.

China recognizes Portugal’s right to the island of Macao.

Franco-German crisis over actions of Boulanger in Schnaebele case. Boulanger fails to gain office.

German Reichstag dissolved; alliance of Imperialists, Conservatives, some National Liberals--the Kartel--give Bismarck majority in the new Reichstag;
military grants renewed.

Renewal of Russo-German 'Reinsurance' Treaty; and Triple Alliance.

Major uprising of slaves in Brazilian plantations. Troops are called out, but the slaves hide in the jungle. This accelerates the emancipation of
slaves across that vast kingdom.

Massacre of Italian troops at Dogali, Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), 23 officers, 430 soldiers killed, guns taken by Abyssinians. Designs on Tripoli
conditionally supported by Britain and Germany. Italian Cabinet crisis results.

Expiry of Dreikaiserbund.

Bismarck refuses permission for Russia to raise loans in Berlin.

France advances Russia 350 million francs.

Balkans in crisis as the throne of Bulgaria remains vacant. Russian agents stir dissatisfaction; uprisings take place at Silistria and Rustchuk.
Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg is unanimously elected by the Sobranje to be Prince of Bulgaria. Russia, Germany, and France withhold recognition of the Prince.

The Opera Comique at Paris is destroyed by fire during a performance of Mignon, many are burned to death.

Union of Indo-China formed by France.

Macao recognized as Portuguese by China.

The Comte de Paris, in England, issues a manifesto to representatives of the Monarchical Party in France, on the desirability of reestablishing the monarchy. Grévy resigns presidency of the French Republic. Rioting takes place in Paris as a result.

In the United States, Henry Ward Beecher dies. This revives a scandal that clouded his last years, when his disbelief in eternal punishment became known.

Another attempt on the life of the Tsar. Nihilist trials follows, several suspects are banished to Siberia. Students at the University of Moscow
riot, city put under martial law. Universities of KIazan, Odessa, Kharkov, and St. Petersburg also closed.

Yellow River floods in China, killing nearly a million people.

U.S. Interstate Commerce Act, federal control of interstate railways.

After a peaceful revolution, Hawaiian King Kalakua consents to dismiss his corrupt Ministry and to submit to a constitution that makes his power merely nominal.

Work begins on Kiel Canal.

ART

Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story, is published.

Sir Hall Caine publishes The Deemster, a novel about the Isle of Man.

H. Rider Haggard publishes She and Allan Quatermain.

Thomas Hardy publishes The Woodlanders, a novel.

Jenny Lind, “the Swedish Nightingale,” dies at her home in Malvern Hills, England.

Mallarmé publishes Poésies.

August Strindberg debuts The Father, a play.

Hermann Sudermann publishes Frau Sorge, a novel.

Emile Zola publishes La Terre, bitter novel about peasant life.

L.L. Zamenhof publishes first book in Esperanto.

Cézanne paints The Blue Vase.

Claude A. Debussy debuts Le Printemps.

Monet paints Fields in Spring.

Sir John Stainer debuts The Crucifixion, an oratorio.

Van Gogh paints Le Moulin de la Gallette and Boulevard de Clichy.

Verdi debuts Othello.

Richard Strauss debuts Aus Italien and Macbeth, tone poems.

Chabrier debuts his opera, Le Roi malgré lui.

SCIENCE

Radio waves discovered by Hertz.

Bauxite, source of aluminum, is discovered in Georgia.

Edison and Swan combine to produce 'Ediswan' electric lamps for domestic use.

Mach defines the Mach Number, now used in supersonic flight.

Michelson and Morley experiment on the relative velocity of light in perpendicular directions; no speed difference found, results later lead to
Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Daimler four-wheeled motor car produced.

Goodwin invents celluloid film.

Cyanide process used for the extraction of gold and silver proposed, ridiculed.

Svante A. Arrhenius proposes ion theory of electrolysis.

C.A. von Welsbach demonstrates practical incandescent gas mantle.

Construction of first British torpedo cruiser.

 Отправлено: 29.03.14 00:52. Заголовок: Alexander Orlov пише..

Alexander Orlov пишет:

цитата:

Edison and Swan combine to produce 'Ediswan' electric lamps for domestic use.

В 1000 свечей!

 Отправлено: 04.04.14 22:46. Заголовок: У HOUNDS-L начинаетс..

У HOUNDS-L начинается обсуждение "Долины страха", действие которой, как полагает Баринг-Гоулд, происходило 7-8 января 1888 года. Так как прошлый раз был некоторый интерес, привожу то, что еще случилось в 1888 году в Империи, в Англии, в мире, в искусстве и в науке.
[То, что и свет, и тепло являются формами электромагнитного излучения, неверно]

What else happened in 1888:

EMPIRE

Mashonaland and Matabeleland declared British sphere of influence.

Convention of Constantinople: Suez Canal declared open to ships of all nations and free from blockade.

Sarawak and Brunei placed under British protection.

British East Africa Company founded.

BRITAIN

County Councils formed.

Jack the Ripper has murder spree in Whitechapel.

Commission to examine charges against Parnell.

General Buller founds RASC (Royal Army Service Corps).

County Councils Act: elects councils to take over administrative duties of JPs.

Miners Federation of Great Britain formed; demand for minimum wage.

Foundation of Scottish Labour Party.

Final report on Commission on Elementary Education Acts in England.

English Priory of Knights Hospitalers authorized by Royal Charter.

Foundation of London General Omnibus Company.

WORLD

French Indochina formed.

Slavery ends in Brazil.

Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany dies; Frederick III becomes Emperor from March to June, dies, and is succeeded by Wilhelm II.

Benjamin Harrison elected President of United States; even though Cleveland received more popular votes, the electoral college gives the election to Harrison.

Unemployment demonstration in Rome suppressed by the military.

Agricultural depression causes Sweden to abandon free trade.

More liberal constitution granted to Serbia by Milan.

Use of Danish language forbidden in schools in German N. Schleswig.

Reconstructed free port of Hamburg opens.

New York State establishes electric chair for method of death penalty.

Boulanger supported by Monarchists in France; popularity threatens Third Republic.

Main portion of Bremen incorporated into German Customs Union; parts of Wesser estuary remain free port.

ART

Van Gogh in Arles, Holland, paints Sunflowers, Portriat of Armand Roulin, La Mousme, and Drawbridge at Arles.

Oscar Wilde publishes The Happy Prince and Other Tales.

Casey at the Bat is recited publicly for the first time.

John Phillip Sousa composes the military march Semper Fidelis for the U.S. Marine Corp.

Tchaikovsky performs Symphony No. 5 in E Minor at St. Petersburg.

George Moore publishes Confessions of a Young Man.

Cézanne paints Peasant in a Blue Smock.

Guilbert and Sullivan debut The Yeomen of the Guard.

Iannis Psichari, one of the creators of modern Greek literary language, publishes My Journey in demotic Greek.

Morris publishes Dream of John Bull, on a socialist commonwealth.

Fontane publishes Irrungen, Wirrungen.

Monet paints Cap d'Antibes.

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch publishes Troy Town, a novel about Corwall.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec paints Trace Horse of the Bus Line, Place Clichy.

Stevenson publishes The Black Arrow, a novel about the War of the Roses.

Rimsky-Korsakov composes Scheherazade.

Charles Doughty publishes travels in Arabia Deserta.

Seurat paints Fishing Fleet at Port-en-Bessin.

Thomas Hardy publishes Wessex Tales.

Kipling publishes Soldiers Three, and Plain Tales from the Hills; short stories of India.

SCIENCE

Dunlop's pneumatic tyre developed, principle still unproven.

Clinton Merriam establishes the National Geographical Society and they release their first magazine.

Drinking straws are invented.

George Eastman perfects the "Kodak" box camera, which uses photographic paper roll-film.

Emile Berliner improves the gramophone.

Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, crosses the Greenland icefield.

Hudson and Sclater publish Argentine Ornithology.

Mercerizing process introduced into cotton manufacture; facilitates later development of the artificial silk industry.

Nichola Tesla makes first AC motor.

Incubators are first used for premature infants.

Institut Pasteur founded.

Sir J. Dewar and Sir F. Abel invent cordite.

William Burroughs patents the adding machine.

Heinrich Hertz produces electromagnetic waves, proves light and heat are both forms of electromagnetic radiation. Sir Oliver Lodge makes same discovery independently. Hertz used an induction coil; Lodge Leyden jars.

 Отправлено: 05.04.14 00:31. Заголовок: Что-то нашего малова..

Что-то нашего маловато... Кабы не музыкальные гении - вообще швах был бы.

 Отправлено: 05.04.14 00:34. Заголовок: В прошлом рассказе б..

В прошлом рассказе было больше.

Вот заметный минус того, что мы не входили в Империю, а то бы и нас сейчас подробнее описывали, как Пакистан

 Отправлено: 25.04.14 21:45. Заголовок: HOUNDS-L перешли к р..

HOUNDS-L перешли к разбору "Загадки Торского моста". Поэтому списываю у них общественные события 1900 года. (Нашел 4 новости из России. Три - политические, а одна - физическая).

According to Baring-Gould's chronology, as set down in *The Annotated Sherlock Holmes,* Second Edition, 1974, the case takes place from October 4, to Friday, October 5, 1900. At the time Holmes is 46 years old and Watson 48.

What else happened in 1900:

EMPIRE

Tonga placed under British protection.

Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act; establishes federalism.

Roberts replaces Buller in South Africa; relief of Ladysmith, Mafeking, Kimberly; Boer leader Kronje surrenders at Paardeberg; Transvaal and Orange Free State annexed by Britain.

Royal Niger Company's territories are taken over by the British government.

Yangtze Convention: Britain and Germany guarantee freedom of trade to uphold Chinese integrity.

BRITAIN

Wallace collection displayed in current location in Manchester Square

Mount Pleasant postal sorting office opens.

Passmore Edwards Museum in Stratford opens.

Russell Hotel opens.

Central London Railway (Central Line) opens; London's tubes electrified.

Labour Representation Committee, beginning of the Labour Party.

National Brass Band contests instituted at the Crystal Palace.

School made obligatory until age 14.

Birmingham University founded.

Davis Cup presented for men's international lawn tennis.

WORLD

Boxer Rebellion ended by military relief of besieged foreign legations.

Franco-Italian Treaty concerning North African colonies.

Proportionate Representation in Belgium.

Tirpitz induces German Reichstag to pass Navy Act, to double the navy by 1920.

Germany receives Samoa in the Pacific.

Assassination of King Humberto of Italy, accessions of Victor Emmanuel III.

Socialist Revolutionary Party formed in Russia, advocates terrorism.

Russia occupies Manchuria, massacres 45,000 Chinese.

Working day in France is limited to 10 hours.

Since 1876, 2,000 km of new canals are completed in France.

Witte brings 60% of Russian railways under state control.

ART

Conrad publishes Lord Jim.

Theodore Dreiser publishes Sister Carrie.

Shaw debuts Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra, Captain Brassbound's Conversion.

Puccini debuts La Tosca.

SCIENCE

G. Ricci and T. Levi-Civita develop the absolute differential calculus from earlier concept of tensors.

Max Planck proposed quantum theory.

Piotr Lebedev demonstrates the existence of the pressure of light.

J.E. Brandenburger invents cellophane.

First Zeppelin is built.

Escalator, invented in the U.S.A., exhibited in Paris Exhibition.

Hugo de Vries publishes The Mutation Theory, leading to the modern evolution theory.

F.E. Dorn discovers radon, a heavy gas.

Benjamin Holt invents the caterpillar tractor.

Sigmund Freud publishes Traumdeutung, the interpretation of dreams.

 Отправлено: 10.05.14 00:58. Заголовок: По поводу "Вампи..

По поводу "Вампира из Суссекса", вот общественные события 1896 года:

EMPIRE

Jameson Raid in South Africa; British negotiations with Boers (to 1899) fail.

Kaiser's telegram to Kruger, congratulating him on the defeat of the Jameson Raid.

Matabele Revolt suppressed (1896 - 97).

Protectorate established in Sierra Leone and East Africa.

Start of Kitchener's campaign against the Madhi in the Sudan (1896 - 99).

Anglo-French treaty settles boundaries in Siam.

Sudanese railway extended to Wadi Haifa.

Widespread famine in India, to 1897.

BRITAIN

Hotel Cecil, the Strand, built.

National Portrait Gallery moves to present site in Trafalgar Square.

Beginning of period of rising prices and falling wages (until 1914).

Truck Act: regulates deductions from wages or fines for bad workmanship.

Conciliation Act: boards can settle industrial disputes if both sides are willing.

First all-steel English building erected at West Hartlepool.

Locomotives Act: repeal of "Red Flag" restriction; maximum speed raised to 14 mph.

Royal Victorian Order founded as Personal Order of Sovereign.

WORLD

First modern Olympic Games are held at Athens.

Utah admitted as state in the U.S.

France annexes Madagascar.

State visit of Tsar Nicholas to France (Paris).

Van Houten's Franchise Bill extends the Dutch franchise.

French Tunisian protectorate recognized by Italy.

Italians are defeated by Menelek of Abyssinia at Adowa, resulting in Treaty of Addis-Ababa and end of Italian protectorate.

Massacre of Armenians by Kurds and Circassians supported by the Sultan.

Insurrection in Crete against Turkish rule.

Beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush.

Foundation of Russo-Chinese Bank.

Cassini Treaty: China gives Russia the right to build a railway through Manchuria to Port Arthur.

Russian newspapers granted temporary licenses; imported books and newspapers are strictly censored.

First public film exhibition, in U.S.

ART

Wells publishes Island of Dr. Moreau.

Gilbert and Sullivan debut The Grand Duke.

Giacomo Puccini debuts La Bohème at Turin.

Toulouse-Lautrec paints Maxime Dethomas.

R. Strauss debuts Also Spracht Zararhustra.

SCIENCE

Antoine Henri Becquerel, observes radiation from uranium affects photographic plates; discovery of radioactivity.

Nobel Prizes started, for physics, physiology or medicine, chemistry, literature, furtherance of the cause of peace.

Guglielmo Marconi demonstrates on Salisbury Plain the practicability of wireless telegraphy.

Emile Achard first describes paratyphoid fever.

Samuel Langley (U.S.), successfully flies a steam-driven model aircraft.

Rehn, of Frankfort, sutures a heart wound; beginning of heart surgery.

Zeeman observes that light emitted by a substance placed in a magnetic field undergoes changes.

Earliest record of water chlorination, during typhoid outbreak in Italy.

 Отправлено: 20.06.14 22:44. Заголовок: Что еще произошло в ..

Что еще произошло в 1898 году (время действия "Москательщика на покое"):

Скрытый текст

What else happened in 1898: EMPIRE Battle of Omdurman in Sudan. Kitchner defeats the Mahdi and Dervishes, avenges General Gordon's death. Curzon becomes Viceroy of India. Britain secures lease of Wei-hei-wei from China. Franco-British tension following Fashoda Incident. Introduction of Imperial Penny Postage. British Goods given preferential tariff in Canada. Congo railway completed to Stanley Pools. BRITAIN Electrification of underground railway from Mansion House to Waterloo. First escalator at Harrods. University of London Act reorganizes it as a teaching university. Agitation against growth of ritualistic practices in the Church of England. WORLD USS Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, Spanish-American War begins, Spain defeated at Santiago and Manila. Treaty of Paris ends war, Cuba independent, U.S.A. acquires Philippines. Powers appoint Prince George of Greece as High Commissioner in Crete, under Turkish suzerainty. Workmen's Social Democratic Party formed in Russia. "Hundred Days of Reform" in China. Deposition of Kuang-Hsu and reinstatement of Dowager Empress, suppression of reform. U.S.A. annexes Hawaii. End of state of debtor nation for U.S.A., existing since 1783, $500 million foreign investments. Work begins on Aswan Dam. Germany's Tirpitz plan. Military draft introduced in Holland. German fleet seizes Kiachow, secures 99-year lease from China. Foundation of Flottverein (Navy League) in Germany, Reichstag passes first Navy Act. Swiss railways nationalized. Severe food riots in Italy. Russia secures 25-year lease of Port Arthur from China. ART Zola's J'Accuse. Wells' War of the Worlds. Wilde's Ballad of Reading Gaol. SCIENCE Curies discover radium and polonium. Pickering, using photography, discovers nine of Saturn's moons. First record of myxmatosis--rabbit disease. Ramsay discovers xenon, krypton, and neon, inert atmospheric gases. Rudolf Diesel demonstrates his engine, which requires no spark plugs. French quick-firing "75" gun produced. M.J. Owens, U.S.A., designs automatic bottle-making machine. Marconi establishes wireless communication between Bournemouth and the Isle of Wight. K. Shiga, Japan, discovers bacillus of dysentery. Konstantin Tsiolkovski states principles of rocket propulsion.