Ancient Egyptian water-clocks: A reappraisal

The Egyptian time system of dividing the night into 12 “hours” so that the length of the “hour” varied with the seasons made the perfection of any clock difficult. However, the flowerpot-shaped outflow water-clock possibly invented by a court official, Amenemhet, during the reign of Amenhotep I, had the potential of being accurate to within about 15 min. While there is good evidence that the decan star-clocks were used to indicate astronomical night (that is the hours between sunset and sunrise, excluding twilight) our analysis of the Karnak clock suggests that water-clocks of the Eighteenth Dynasty may have been used for timing civil night (sunset to sunrise). Our analysis of the later Ptolemaic water-clock fragments indicates that they were used in Lower Egypt and that they also timed civil night. The Ptolemaic outflow water-clocks were basically the same as the earliest known water-clock described in Amenemhet's epitaph, modified in height and monthly scales for use in Lower Egypt. Ktesibios' invention of a simpler and generally more accurate inflow water-clock, of which there is only one very late Egyptian example, probably quickly supplanted the outflow clock.     

Towards justice in planning: A reappraisal

The concept of justice is central to a political activity such as planning. This is reflected in the initial influence of consequentialism, particularly utilitarian conceptualizations, in planning thought and more recently in the application of Rawls' notion of “justice as fairness” and Habermas' “discourse ethics”. However, contemporary normative planning theory has been vigorously criticized by studies which take as their starting point the material realities of planning practices. In this paper it is argued that notwithstanding the crucial contributions of Habermas and Rawls to political philosophy their constitutional level conceptualizations were never intended to be applied to the task of situated judgement associated with the highly contested decisions at the heart of the planning activity. Consequently, the issue for the planning community is not so much can the concepts of justice embodied in Rawls' “justice as fairness” or Habermas' “discourse ethics” be found in practice but could they ever. More generally it has been argued that the inevitable abstraction in liberal theories of justice comes so close to idealization that their ability to help individuals and societies to address the question of “what is to be done?” is seriously called in to doubt. This in turn has led to concern that an adequate account of justice should be able to link abstract principles to context sensitive judgement of particular cases. The paper explores some implications of these debates for the future development of theory and practice in planning.     

A reappraisal of the controversy of Dax and Broca

Paul Broca is unanimously recognized as the founder of neuropsychology. Helis development of the scientific method to map mental functions onto brain topographpy has been enormously influential. Nevertheless, Dax's paper on the left hemisphere dominance for speech was written and published before Broca explicitely proposed the same theory. Probably, Broca was aware of the paper prior to 1865, but he never acknowledged Dax's original theoretical contribution. On the contrary, he always claimed to be the first to espouse the theory of left hemisphere dominance for language and never quoted Marc Dax (Broca, 1877 p 536), 'I do not like dealing with the questions of priority concerning myself. That is the reason why I did not mention the name of Dax in my paper'. In our opinion, the weight of evidence reported here suggests that the theory of the left hemisphere dominance for speech must be attributed equally to Dax and Broca, and henceforth should be called 'the theory of Dax-Broca'.     

A Technocratic Vision of Empire: Lord Montagu and the Origins of British Air Power

This article advances the existing literature on British imperial aeronautics by explaining how Lord John Montagu’s extensive collaboration with military and government officials during the first decades of powered flight expanded the global distribution of the air forces and anticipated their important later role in facilitating international communication and security. In reconsidering problems of conquest and governance through an aeronautical perspective, Montagu strengthened critical junctures between British civil and military affairs, while his innovative employment of the new technology also complicated divisions between the metropolis and periphery in ways that would intensify the destructiveness of modern warfare across the planet.     

Mountbatten,the royal family,and British influence in post-independence India and Burma

One of the unexplored themes in the career of Mountbatten is why more use was not made of his services in similar contexts in the years after his Indian viceroyalty and governor-generalship. This article examines his influence in private and unofficial capacities in his dealings with post-independence India and Burma in the 1960s and early 1970s. In India it considers Mountbatten's efforts on behalf of the Indian princes when Indira Gandhi's government threatened their privy purses and privileges. In Burma it discusses Mountbatten's attempts to persuade Burma to return to the Commonwealth and his influence over General Ne Win, Burma's military ruler. Mountbatten was unsuccessful in both cases. By contrast in Burma, Princess Alexandra was better placed to represent British interests, suggesting perhaps that we should look more closely at the role of members of the royal family in promoting Britain's foreign policy.     

The adoption of cattle pastoralism in the Arabian Peninsula: A reappraisal

The translocation of livestock into the Arabian Peninsula was underway by the sixth millennium BC. It remains unclear, however, whether nascent pastoralism in Arabia focused on specialised cattle herding, intensive caprine husbandry, or more extensive forms of sheep, goat and cattle management. Here, the role of Bos in Neolithic animal exploitation systems in the Arabian Peninsula is re-examined in the context of fisher-hunter-gatherer groups inhabiting the coasts of the Arabian Gulf, agro-pastoralist settlements located in the Jordanian highlands, and hunter-herder communities in adjacent Jordanian steppe (badia). By the late sixth millennium BC, cattle from southern Mesopotamia were imported to the Arabian littoral via Ubaid exchange networks but remained a relatively unimportant part of local hunter-gatherer-herder subsistence for at least a millennium. New zooarchaeological evidence indicating cattle herding in the Jordanian highlands by the late eighth millennium BC suggests a southern transmission route originating out of Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlements and the subsequent spread of cattle along the Sarawat mountains into the interior or down the relatively arid Red Sea coast via land or boat. Cattle eventually played a central role in the symbolic and ritual lives of herders in southern Arabia, but the use of the term ‘cattle pastoralism’ to describe early Neolithic subsistence systems in the region is premature.     

Edward III’s siege of Calais: A reappraisal

In September 1346, Edward III brought his victorious army to the gates of Calais to begin a siege that over 12 months developed into the largest military operation conducted by the English on French soil during the fourteenth century. It is also perhaps the least understood campaign of Edward III’s reign, because of the loss of the army pay records. We know from chronicles that the men of Calais conducted a heroic defence of their town, and we know too that the English created and maintained an enormous logistical operation first to besiege and then to capture the port. What is little understood, however, is the scale, scope and chronology of the siege. The role played by English naval forces has received little attention, yet there is a series of pay records relating to their service which can compensate for the loss of the vadia guerre accounts and which can enrich understanding of the campaign. Using this evidence, this article reappraises the whole expedition, highlights the numbers of ships and mariners involved in the siege, and draws attention to periods of intensive military activity. Edward III’s ultimate objective was to capture, hold and use the town as a safe port of disembarkation for future invasions.     

The pharmaceutical industry in the twentieth century: A reappraisal of the sources of innovation

Abstract

The authors use an historical case‐study of a single line of therapeutic development (in vaccines and serum antitoxins) to bring out salient aspects of the shifting sources of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry during the twentieth century. Their emphasis is on the complex relationships that have evolved between three companies ‐ Mulford, Sharp & Dohme, and Merck & Co., Inc. ‐ and the loosely integrated networks of public, profit‐making, and non‐profit institutions that have been central to the process of innovation in this science‐based industry. Galambos and Sturchio enumerate the characteristics of pharmaceutical organisations that have remained successful innovators over the long term.