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Jordon, Miranda, Jesse and Orly

Harley Street and Baker Street on OS map of London from 1893-96 (Harley Street in blue)

“Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors’ quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street.. , and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is …which runs down into Holborn”.

Sherlock holmes and Watson in the story The Blue Carbuncle walk through the streets of London on their way to the Alpha Inn to follow up a lead into the case of the stolen blue carbuncles. Harley Street is parallel to Baker street (see on OS map above), and not far so the route, they walked through in the story, makes sense. However, when following this route on the map it does not match up. Harley Street does not meet with Wigmore on the way to Holborn, as can be seen on the OS map of London from 1869-80 below. 

 Red line- Baker Street, Yellow line- Wimpole Street, Green line- Harley Street, Blue line- Wigmore Street, Purple dotted line- the route Holmes took. The end of the blue line is where Wigmore Street ends, Cavendish Square begins. Harley flows into Cavendish Square.

In the story they walk from Harley Street to Wigmore Street which is possible only if they turn counter to their next destination Oxford Street towards Holborn. The point is that Conan Doyle wanted to include Harley and Wimpole streets in the story even if it doesn’t make sense for them to walk that way, especially when in a rush in a very cold night.

Harley Street is specified in the story as the doctors’ quarter. it was, and still is, regarded as the quarter of the best doctors:

 “White Mason gazed at my friend as the little village practitioner looks at the Harley Street specialist who by a word can solve the difficulties that perplex him” (the Valley of Fear Chapter 4 ).

Harley Street is also discussed in the story The Resident Patient:

” In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street … gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown.”

Here again a Harley Street doctor is mentioned as an indication to a high quality care given to Sherlock Holmes.

The map in Charles Booth Poverty map shows that Harley street residents were from Upper-middle and Upper classes, Wealthy.

Baker Street residents, according to Booth Poverty Map are designated in red-  middle class, Well-to-do . So Harley Street residents were considered of a higher class then those on Baker Street.

Walter Thornbury in his book Old and New London: Volume 2 supports the portrayal of Harley street: “The doctors now swarm in Cavendish Square, Harley Street, Wimpole Street….” referring to the migration of practitioners from Finsbury Park area to the Harley street area in mid 19th century. He continues: “When the doctors and surgeons thus swarmed in the Finsbury district, the City and its adjacent districts were largely inhabited by wealthy families, that have now also migrated westward, as their doctors naturally have.

Sherlock Holmes in his walks in upper class districts, and in him being treated by  upper class doctors maybe positioned as a close member to the upper classes. In the British class based society this position might be necessary to shape Holmes’ character as respected and trusted.

 

 

 

 

Oldest Trees in the World

Fusion Table link

And the tables analyzing oldest trees by age, type, dead or alive and location:

 

 

 

Location of the Oldest Trees in the World

 

 

My video essay  is all done just click  here 

 

Love, war and church, three banal words whose meaning did not change with time. War  is the same old war known to be in use from the 12^th century: “Hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers”

Love as we know it “A feeling or disposition of deep affection or fondness for someone” had, to my surprise, another meaning that was known during the 19^th century. ” Any one of a set of transverse beams supporting the spits in a smokehouse for curing herring” . However in the books Google scans it is mostly about love between people or the love of god.

The last word church “A building for public Christian worship or rites such as baptism, marriage, etc”  also kept its meaning.

I chose to write about those three words for two reasons: the first is the high frequency of their use in books between the years 1800 to 1900 compare to other words I checked like art, science, culture, etc. And the second reason is the interesting relationship between the graph lines of the words love and war.

When war (in red) is high love (in blue) is low and vice versa. The first peak of the word war  appears in 1805 at 0.03459977588%. 1805 is during the Napoleonic wars that lasted between the years 1803 and 1815. The second peak is indeed at the end of this wars 1815 at 0.0335997686%. At the same period the word love is at its low 0.0252718073% in 1803 and the second low in 1816. This interchanging relation is also happening in the 1870 when love is at its peak and war is low, historically this is just after the end of a few great wars that took place in Europe like the Crimean war that ended in 1856, the wars of the British Empire with other nations like Opium wars (ended in 1860) and the American civil war that ended in 1865. From 1877 until 1900 the two words are very close in frequency yet love is a little higher until the 20^th century when the story changes completely , see the graph below .

The frequency of the word church  behaves differently. It is very high,  even higher than the words war  and love words, until 1842 when it reaches its peak at 0.040051273380%.  A steady descend is taking place from this peak in 1842 until 1900 that gets me to conclude that the interest in church was apparently at its highest in the early 1800 . Looking at some of the titles Google scanned from the 1840’s, Christianity is represented on its various offshoot (Anglican, Russian Protestant, etc.). At the end of the century the word church, again on its various offshoots, appears less. The frequency of the word descends from the above 0.040051273380% to the low 0.0167875362% in 1894, and keeps descending into the 21^st century.

 

Sherlock Holmes Place exhibit is ready can be looked at in A Study in Holmsiana:

 

I included three items:

Sherlock Holmes flat plan

Baker Street 221b street façade

Sherlock Holmes living room

They all appear in the collection:

Holmes Place