Getting started: objectives and justifications in the history of neurology

Contemporary historiographical ideas have the potential to enrich the history written by practicing neurologists. Neurology is a science, and historians of neurology might profit from considering the experiences of historians of other sciences. An explicit consideration of the range of possible objectives, justifications, sources and methods of historical research may open new and exciting avenues of inquiry. Any plausible answer to the question, "What does a historian do when he or she sits down to write history" helps an historian to develop the structure of his or her project. The selection of sources for a historical study is improved, if also expanded, by understanding its aims.     

Neurobiographies: writing lives in the history of neurology and the neurosciences

This essay surveys the present state of biographical writing in the history of neurology and neuroscience. Individual lives play a significant role in practitioner-historians' narratives, whereas academic historians tend to be more nonindividualistic and a-biographical. Autobiographies by neurologists and neuroscientists, and particularly autobiographical collections, are problematic as an historical genre. Neurobiographies proper are published with several aims in mind: some are written as literary entertainment, others as contributions to a cultural and social history of the neurosciences. Eulogy, panegyrics and commemoration play a great role in neurobiographical writing. Some biographies, finally, are written to provide role-models for young neuroscientists, thus reviving the classical, Plutarchian biographical tradition. Finally, a recent cooperative biography of Charcot is mentioned as an example of how the biographical genre can help overcome the alleged dichotomy between the historiographies of practitioner-historians and academic historians.     

The history of neurology in St. Petersburg

This article expounds the history of the formation and development of neurology in St. Petersburg and emphasizes the original character of St. Petersburg school of neurology. The authors state that many prominent neurologists of St. Petersburg dedicated their work to the development of neurological concepts and have made an important contribution to different areas of neurology, including vascular and demyelinating diseases, diseases of the peripheral nervous system, neuroinfections, epilepsy, etc.     

Reimagining nursing's place in the history of clinical practice

This work posits how medical history might be conceptualized if nurses and nursing history was used as the analytical lens. Nursing is seen not as a separate part or subsection of medical history, but rather one that is deeply embedded in the relationships and social order of clinical practice. Nursing is an analytical category in and of itself. By approaching nursing as such a category, we enlarge "new notions of historical significance" to encompass personal, political, public, and private activities that constitute medical experiences.     

An early illustrated comparative anatomy of the brain: Samuel Collins' A Systeme of Anatomy (1685) and the emergence of comparative neurology in 17th century England

The concept of comparing of the brains of various animals and of individual human brains was launched in the last half of the 17th century in England and was much influenced by the formation of the European scientific societies and their attempts to guide naturalist observations into a new systematics. An ambitious attempt to document this trend in an extensively illustrated work of encyclopedic pretensions was the singular publication of Samuel Collins (1618-1710), an energetic anatomist and president of the Royal College of Physicians. His little known tow-volume folio presentation, written in teh vernacular for broad acceptance, contains the seeds of a science of comparative neurology with the largest collection of brain illustrations (as well as of other organ systems) attempted in his era. Although lacking the conceptual insight that might derive from a true "comparative" anatomy and an understanding of the relations of different animals, the handsome engravings exemplified the new direction of the 'enlightenment' of the scientific revolution and are discussed in teh context of relevant events of this period.     

让中国地方志走向世界--参与地方志整理、研究的亲身经历

首先,谈一谈自己是怎么喜爱上方志的.方志是比较枯燥的一种作,一般很少有人像读小说那样,从头到尾认真地去读方志.研究利用方志多为一时所需,去查找他需要的资料,目的达到后,不太可能再深入阅读.     

Putting geopolitics in its place: Gibraltar and the emergence of strategic locations

Gibraltar has long been understood as a strategic location. In this paper I examine the historical emergence of this seemingly common-sense fact, turning to the rise of relational geography and assemblage thinking to re-theorise the idea of ‘strategic locations.’ I argue that the ‘unchanging truth’ of geography as asserted by (neo)classical geopolitical authors is always in fact becoming-otherwise, as shifts in the compositional assemblages (e.g., military-technological systems, logistical networks, domestic politics) can ripple through the place in question, very quickly making strategic places un-strategic again, or vice-versa. People and ideas are central to this emergence, as are place-based materialities such as terrain, technologies, and even micro-climates. Empirically I examine first the emergence of Gibraltar within an English/British cartographic and visual apparatus in the 17th century. I then turn to the materiality of the Strait of Gibraltar and the specific agency of the eponymous Rock, as they both interact with various shifts in military technology and the organisation of empire. I conclude with a call for an assemblage approach to place in geopolitics, highlighting the advantages of such an approach.     

新疆史若干问题研究综述（1989—1998）

1989—1998年的10年间,随着我国史学研究的繁荣,西域史地的研究也得到蓬勃发展,并取得了一批有较高水平的研究成果,涉及新疆疆域史、民族史、开发史、对外关系史等诸多方面,尤其是对历史上新疆与祖国内地的关系以及历代中央政府对新疆的治理与开发的研究方面,更是硕果累累、成就斐然。     

Athanaric the Visigoth: monarchy or judgeship. A study in comparative history

The decision to risk an attempt at functional comparison between two historical figures over a period of more than four hundred years proceded from etymological considerations of various types, but was first suggested by the contrast between Athanaric and Armimus as they are portrayed in modern historical literature. As in the case of the institutional analogy of the judge of the Goths with the vergobretos of the Celts, there exists no historical relationship between the life histories of the two Germanic chieftains, in the sense that Athanaric cannot have been influenced to act as he did by the story of Arminius, nor can we assume a direct dependence of the later institution on the earlier one, any more than we can accept the possibility of arriving at the name for the Gothic judge from Celtic, in a way in which this is possible for reiks. Such an observation, otherwise trivial in itself, serves to characterize the methods and limits of the functional comparison. This yields historical insights which apply to the individual case in question: along with new considerations concerning rex-reiks, an argument is developed against the opinion that Athanaric's judgeship was one of a lower rank than genuine kingship, before which the Gothic chief — for whatever reason — was supposed to have drawn back in fear. This makes his judgeship look more like an ‘institutionalized magistracy’, exercising royal power for a set term, than a mere ethnic dignity. Further, the comparison establishes that the Celtic, as well as the Gothic, judgeship was possibly held in dual fashion, or could be held that way, before the period under observation; however, the pairs to be dealt with here do not represent any ‘Dioscurian’ double chiefdom but rather pairs of chieftains rivalling each other. The archaic experience may serve in this instance only as a model for shaping the tradition.Finally, it is recognized — and this could well be our most important finding — that the judgeship is limited, not only in time but also in territory: it had valid jurisdiction only inside the tribal territory itself. It follows from this that the judge's duties comprised defense of the fatherland as well as the execution of judgments.Along with the ‘external’ comparison among Goths, Celts, and Cheruscans, an ‘internal’ functional comparison is drawn within fourth-century Gothic constitutional history. In so doing, the possibility is opened for reconstructing the family leadership of the Balts three generations before Alaric. Then, within Gothic tradition, we are able to arrive of the ruling and institutional function of the ‘wisdom’, which both the Gothicized Decaeneus and Theoderic, as well as Athanaric     

Athanaric the Visigoth: monarchy or judgeship. A study in comparative history

The decision to risk an attempt at functional comparison between two historical figures over a period of more than four hundred years proceded from etymological considerations of various types, but was first suggested by the contrast between Athanaric and Armimus as they are portrayed in modern historical literature. As in the case of the institutional analogy of the judge of the Goths with the vergobretos of the Celts, there exists no historical relationship between the life histories of the two Germanic chieftains, in the sense that Athanaric cannot have been influenced to act as he did by the story of Arminius, nor can we assume a direct dependence of the later institution on the earlier one, any more than we can accept the possibility of arriving at the name for the Gothic judge from Celtic, in a way in which this is possible for reiks. Such an observation, otherwise trivial in itself, serves to characterize the methods and limits of the functional comparison. This yields historical insights which apply to the individual case in question: along with new considerations concerning rex-reiks, an argument is developed against the opinion that Athanaric's judgeship was one of a lower rank than genuine kingship, before which the Gothic chief — for whatever reason — was supposed to have drawn back in fear. This makes his judgeship look more like an ‘institutionalized magistracy’, exercising royal power for a set term, than a mere ethnic dignity. Further, the comparison establishes that the Celtic, as well as the Gothic, judgeship was possibly held in dual fashion, or could be held that way, before the period under observation; however, the pairs to be dealt with here do not represent any ‘Dioscurian’ double chiefdom but rather pairs of chieftains rivalling each other. The archaic experience may serve in this instance only as a model for shaping the tradition.Finally, it is recognized — and this could well be our most important finding — that the judgeship is limited, not only in time but also in territory: it had valid jurisdiction only inside the tribal territory itself. It follows from this that the judge's duties comprised defense of the fatherland as well as the execution of judgments.Along with the ‘external’ comparison among Goths, Celts, and Cheruscans, an ‘internal’ functional comparison is drawn within fourth-century Gothic constitutional history. In so doing, the possibility is opened for reconstructing the family leadership of the Balts three generations before Alaric. Then, within Gothic tradition, we are able to arrive of the ruling and institutional function of the ‘wisdom’, which both the Gothicized Decaeneus and Theoderic, as well as Athanaric     

Edward Abramowski's concept of stateless socialism and its impact on progressive social movements in Poland in the twentieth century

The author traces the impact of Abramowski's ideas on the recent history of Poland. His concepts were not only popular in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and the syndicalist movement in the interwar period (1918–1939), but they also exerted a profound influence on the cooperative movement and democratic left-wing opposition in the 1970s and 1980s. The leaders of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) were much influenced by Abramowski's ideas and, according to some researchers, the Solidarity movement from 1980 to 1981 in Poland was the culmination of his concepts. Today's anti-systemic movements in Poland (anarchists, syndicalists, alter-globalists) are also inspired by Abramowski. The author also draws attention to certain similarities between Abramowski's ideas, Kropotkin's idea, Gramsci's concept of civil society and the thought of the young Marx. The author also outlines Abramowski's social ideas in the context of ideas promoted by the main theoreticians of the Polish left in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.     

On making noise: Hokkolorob and its place in Indian student movements

This article focuses on the 2014 Hokkolorob (‘Let there be noise’) movement at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in the state of West Bengal, a student agitation that ultimately led to the forced resignation of a vice-chancellor after intervention by the Chief Minister of the state. This movement has passed into campus folklore, with a Wikipedia entry devoted to it signposting its distinctive cultural features, including public art and hashtag activism. However, in many ways Hokkolorob did not entirely fit the pattern of student protests at other Indian universities, not only because it achieved short-term success, drawing the wider public into openly expressed sympathy with the agitating students, but also because it eschewed party politics and opened the way for new expressions of dissent. Moreover, it drew attention to the problem of providing safe spaces on campuses to students across genders and orientations. Unique among the many upheavals in the Indian higher education landscape over the past few years, Hokkolorob needs to be understood in the context of a crisis that affects both the public university and the Indian polity.