Metropolitan Scurvy in the Shadow of the Cook Voyages

Recent scholarship on scurvy in 18th-century Britain has focused on the disease in the context of voyages of exploration, especially those bound for the Pacific Ocean. Using materials from quack physicians, print culture and popular song, this essay contends that the problem of scurvy was just as acute in metropolitan London and elsewhere in Britain. By studying representations of the disease and its markets at home in Britain, it aims to shed new light on the treatment and perception of the disease at sea, particularly during the voyages of James Cook (1768?79).     

The Discovery of Motor Cortex and its Background

In 1870 Gustav Fritsch and Edvard Hitzig showed that electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex of a dog produced movements. This was a crucial event in the development of modern neuroscience because it was the first good experimental evidence for a) cerebral cortex involvement in motor function, b) the electrical excitability of the cortex, c) topographic representation in the brain, and d) localization of function in different regions of the cerebral cortex. This paper discusses their experiment and some developments in the previous two centuries that led to it including the ideas of Thomas Willis and Emanuel Swedenborg, the widespread interest in electricity and the localizations of function of Franz Joseph Gall, John Hughlings Jackson, and Paul Broca. We also consider the subsequent study of the motor cortex by David Ferrier and others.     

杰弗里·巴勒克拉夫对全球史理论与方法的探索

作为20世纪中期全球史观的首倡者,杰弗里.巴勒克拉夫对全球史研究涉及的理论与方法问题进行了探索。他在实践过程中采取了破立结合的做法,在批判"欧洲中心论"的同时倡导树立全球史观,从宏观的角度对当代史和世界历史发展进程做出新解读。本文梳理了巴勒克拉夫对全球史理论与方法的研究,并对其学术价值和历史局限进行了客观评价,进而指出巴勒克拉夫全球史研究对中国世界史研究的意义。     

楚金币的发现与研究

本文概述了楚国金币的发现情况,对楚金币的种类、形制、印记、重量与刻文诸问题加以探讨,对楚金币出土情况进行剖析,认为,楚金币是流通中的秤量货币,它与铜贝是主币与辅币的关系;并对楚金币的币材产地、冶炼技术与铸造年代等进行研究。     

Scurvy as a factor in the loss of the 1845 Franklin expedition to the Arctic: a reconsideration

In 1845, an expedition, commanded by Sir John Franklin, set out to discover the Northwest Passage. The ships entered the Canadian Arctic, and from September 1846 were beset in ice off King William Island. A note left by the expedition in May 1847 reported all was well, but by April 1848, 24 of the 129 men had died. The ice‐locked ships were deserted in April 1848, but the 105 survivors were so weakened that all perished before they could reach safety. The causes of the morbidity and mortality aboard the ships have long been debated, and many commentators have argued that scurvy was an important factor. This study evaluates the historical evidence for the likely effectiveness of anti‐scorbutic precautions taken on polar voyages at that time, and investigates whether the skeletal remains associated with the expedition provide evidence for scurvy. Skeletal remains available for study were carefully examined for pathological changes, and lesions potentially consistent with scurvy were subject to histological analysis. Where remains were no longer accessible, use was made of published osteological work. It is argued that the anti‐scorbutic measures customarily taken on mid 19^th century British naval polar voyages were such that there is no a priori reason to suppose that scurvy should have been a problem prior to the desertion of the ships. The analysis of the skeletal evidence provided little in the way of bony lesions consistent with the disease, and cannot therefore be used to support the presence of scurvy. Factors other than scurvy may been the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the 11 months prior to the desertion of the ships. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

溧阳学宫遗址发现《平定青海告成太学碑》

《平定青海告成太学碑》是清初四大平定御碑之一,其内容为:追述清圣祖仁皇帝康熙为统一多民族国家下诏征讨朔漠的杰出贡献;次述青海之战中抚远大将军年羹尧等人的平叛战绩;后述战争胜利后举行的献俘仪式。     

The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland

Dhambalin, a sandstone rock shelter, was discovered in autumn 2007. The unique site holds polychrome paintings including the first sheep paintings in Somali archaeology. There is an extraordinary originality in the paintings, particularly those of the sheep and goats. There are unusual quality images and styles of humpless cows of which some are headless. The fauna depicted include antelopes, dogs, giraffes, snakes and a turtle, some of which are associated with human figures wearing what appear to be headgears and holding bow and arrows in hunting scenes. Relative dating is possible perhaps through the superimposition of various styles of paintings. Also the site shares some similarities with the Neolithic or protohistoric Arabian–Ethiopian Style in the Horn of Africa. Hence, there is a need for a multidisciplinary approach to the ritual landscapes, religion and identity in the Horn of Africa. With its richness of fauna, including unambiguous depictions of sheep and various styles of depiction of bovine, the new site of Dhambalin will no doubt play a major role in shedding light on pastoral cultures and pre-historic symbolism in the rock art of the Horn of Africa.     

叙事型构·文本界限·叙事界域:传统指涉性的发现

在诺苏彝族的本土口头传统中,史诗“勒俄”的源文本是极其丰富和多元的,同时也有着极其强固的文本性属观念与口头叙事法则。在田野研究的逐步推进中,我们意识到必须认真检视自己的研究对象到底是什么,其内部的叙事机制是什么?那么,我们需要回答的相关问题是:1)史诗“勒俄”的源文本形态及其叙事结构的民间记忆方式是什么?2)在有关“勒俄”的民间话语中为什么会出现“公勒俄”/“母勒俄”和“黑勒俄”/“白勒俄”两套语汇,其间的传统涵义是什么?3)书面化的史诗本事与口头演述的史诗叙事有怎样的内在关联与区别,民间叙事的传统规定性是什么?一…     

Illusions of Discovery

Abstract

It is now more than two years since a comprehensive review article with the same title as this note was published as a special supplementary issue of the Review of Modern Physics (Rev. Mod. Phys. 59, S1–S201, 1987). This report had been written by a special study panel, convened under the auspices of the American Physical Society. The present author served as co-chairman of this study panel, together with Dr Kumar Patel. The purpose of this contribution is to review the background leading to the study, its scope and method, and its main conclusions, as well as the public reaction to it since its publication.