Royal Scottish Geographical Society

GENERAL

The World Food Problem 1950–1980. By David Grigg. 276pp, 87 tables, 18 maps, 19 figures, index, Blackwell, Oxford 1985.

CARTOGRAPHY

Keyguide to Information Sources in Cartography. By A. G. Hodgkiss and A. F. Tatham. 24 x 15.3, 253pp, Mansell Publishing Limited, London, 1986. £25.00.

Victorian Maps of the British Isles. By David Smith. 29.5 x 20.7, 176pp, 8 colour plates and numerous monochrome illustrations, index. B T Batsford., London, 1985. £30.00.

HISTORICAL

Down to Earth: one hundred and fifty years of the British Geological Survey. By H. E. Wilson. 24 x 15, 188 pp., Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1985. £9.75.

EDUCATIONAL

Volcanoes: By A. Scarth, 30x21, 17pp., Coursework Supplement No. 5, Department of Geography, University of Dundee, 1985. 50p.     

Royal Scottish Geographical Society April 1948

ABSTRACT

Land use in Scotland's countryside is currently an issue of major public concern, largely because of a sea-change in agricultural policy which seemslikely to lead to the withdrawal of some land from agricultural use. In addition, there has been concern about the scale of upland afforestation, about land availability for housebuilding, and about claims on land for conservation and for rural development. This article provides an overview of these current landuse issues in Scotland.     

Die Pansophie des Comenius und der Baconismus der Royal Society

The specific comprehension of the subject of the modern times in the 17th century articulates itself in the pretension to be the master of the world of nature and human beings. This pretension, however, was not longer legitimated in a theological or biblical argumentation, but with the philosophical hint on a special qualification of the human being: knowledge and science. In this view, the philosophical reflections of Francis Bacon of Verulam, which were culminating in the well-known judgement of the coincidence of knowledge and power, became the very important philosophy of science of the most prominent academy of sciences in the 17th century: The Royal Society of London. This “Baconism” distincted himself strictly from all questions belonging to religion, politics, social or moral problems. This distinction was the reason for its opposition to the “Pansophie” of Johann Amos Comenius, whose main intention was the general reformation of the whole world, including a reform of science, religion and politics. The insistence of Comenius for the social responsibility of science is still up-to-date.     

20世纪30年代的县政建设运动与乡村社会变迁--以五个县政建设实验县为基本分析样本

20世纪 30年代 ,南京国民政府与乡村建设派合作 ,掀起了一场县政建设运动。其中 ,五个实验县各有特点 ,但是 ,由于乡村社会结构的变动和国家政治结构变动并未出现地域性的根本差别 ,因而 ,尽管在具体的进程和操作方式上有所区别 ,甚至在参与力量和主体上也有所不同 ,县政建设运动整体上却有着共同的历史特征。它的运作模式、实验方式和实验内容都为中国乡村现代化留下了许多历史经验和教训     

The Royal Councils of Worcester

The possible existence of a Roman signal station at Whitby has a significant impact upon the study of the Roman defensive system of the North Yorkshire coast and our understanding of the Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical topography of the area. Whitby lies at the mouth of the River Esk and its associated harbour on the North Yorkshire coast, amidst an intervisible chain of five known signal stations, but is perhaps best known for its Anglo-Saxon monastery founded by the Northumbrian king Oswy in A.D. 657. No absolute archaeological evidence of a signal station at Whitby exists, but the toponym suggests that the site had an association with a signal station or watchtower. It is clear that the existing stations were designed to function as a cohesive system, given their similar form and contemporary dates: communication and intervisibility were therefore essential aspects of this defensive network. Despite this, the stations to the north and south of Whitby—those at Goldsborough and Ravenscar respectively—are not intervisible. A station positioned at Whitby would effectively close this gap in the system.

Attempting to reconcile the near complete absence of archaeological remains with the place-name and geographical evidence, this paper uses geologically determined erosion rates to examine the possibility that such a station existed on the more than three hundred metres of coastal land that has eroded since the Roman period. In doing so it addresses the extent to which archaeologists can reconstruct and work with an ancient coastline on a local scale. Having established the probability of a ‘lost’ station, the paper discusses the results of a GIS viewshed application which address the feasibility of such a station's intervisibility from its neighbouring station to the south. The concluding sections investigate the stations' possible form.