Remarks on an Enamelled Tablet,Preserved in the Museum at Mans,and Supposed to Represent the Effigy of Geoffrey Plantagenet

Abstract

One of the most intriguing problems in the study of Gothic architecture in the Latin East concerns the network of interrelationships between the major architectural centres in the eastern Mediterranean, especially the Crusader states of the Levant, the kingdom of Cyprus and Hospitaller Rhodes. Although scholars have been aware of the artistic links between these areas for decades, the Cyprus-Rhodes connection remains to this day largely unexplored, despite the obvious interest it presents for the development of ecclesiastical architecture in the region. This article examines the architecture of the Carmelite church in Famagusta and its formal affinities with Rhodes cathedral, in order to identify the conditions and modes of transmission of architectural designs from Cyprus to Rhodes in the second quarter of the 14th century. It will also attempt to demonstrate that the same basic design had been employed for two buildings of radically different status and function, in a reflection of the circumstances, financial or ideological, surrounding their creation.     

The Cross-Legged Effigy at Horsted Keynes,Sussex, with Some Remarks on Early Effigies of Diminutive Dimensions

The Summer Meeting of the Institute in 1976 included a visit to Aydon Castle, and has provoked discussion of this important and well-preserved building. Here it is shown that the house was in single ownership at the time of its construction, and the implications of its lay-out and the sequence of development are considered.     

The Trencadis Mosaic on the Pinnacles of the Sagrada Familia Cathedral

The architect Antoni Gaudí developed a unique constructive solution for the pinnacles that crown his last work, the Sagrada Familia. It consisted of fashioning the finishing components from precast pieces of lightly reinforced concrete that was covered with a trencadis mosaic of Murano glass. With this solution, Gaudí invented a singular coating material that responded to the special ambient conditions of a construction at great height, keeping esthetic and decorative aspects in mind. Those who have continued his work up to this day still employ this constructive system to complete the new pinnacles and in the decoration of other parts of the cathedral. The main objective of this study is to explain the conception and the constructive logic of the Sagrada Familia pinnacles, as well as its evolution since the beginning of the 20th century. For that focus, a review of the way in which Gaudí applied the trencadis coating in his earlier works is presented. Likewise, the reasons that led the architect to select a unique glass imported from Italy for the trencadis on the temple pinnacles are revealed.     

Effigy of a Knight of the Fifteenth Century,Dug up in the Churchyard at Minster,Isle of Sheppey,in 1833, and now Preserved in the Church There

Twenty years after the R.C.H.M. volume Shielings and Bastles drew attention to the survival of many bastles, thick-walled defensible upper-floor houses of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, characteristic of the Anglo-Scottish Border. Recent fieldwork in Northumberland has shown that bastles (the earliest vernacular house type to survive in any numbers within the county) also exist in considerable numbers in some areas slightly further afield, and notably in Allendale, to the south of the Tyne. Seven Allendale bastles or bastle-derivative houses are described in detail, and another twenty-seven listed in a gazetteer. The origins of bastles are discussed, and some possible medieval antecedents suggested; the fabric and morphology of the buildings are then considered, and various groupings—such as ‘extended bastles’ and groups around a common yard—examined. The continuance of the bastle tradition is seen in bastle-derivative houses of the later seventeenth century; the date at which conventional ground-floor houses were re-established varies from valley to valley.     

Alcmaeon of Croton's Observations on Health,Brain, Mind,and Soul

Alcmaeon of Croton (sixth–fifth century BC), a pre-Socratic physician–philosopher, introduced the concept that mind and soul are located in the brain. Alcmaeon made observations about seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling and distinguished perception from understanding. Alcmaeon contributed two major ideas to natural sciences: (1) the brain is the seat of human intelligence, and (2) physicians should draw conclusions from empirical observations, an idea that implicitly rejects the alternative notion that science should depend on “divine revelation.” Two thousand and five-hundred years later, these two insights remain true and guarantee Alcmaeon a place in the history of neuroscience.     

Observations on Changes in Russia's Comparative Advantage, 1994-2005

A senior Japanese specialist on Russia's economy and its oil- and gas-producing sectors calculates that country's Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Revealed Comparative Disadvantage (RCD), and Trade Specialization Index (TSI) on the basis of foreign trade data compiled by Russia's Federal Customs Service. The focus is on changes in comparative advantage of Russia's major export and import commodities over the 1994-2005 period. The results of the analyses make it possible to test the assertion that the increasing competitiveness of oil and gas exports (and secondarily those of armaments, selected base metals, roundwood, and fertilizers) must compensate for declining competitiveness in (and increasing imports of) meat, plastics, and automobile production and stagnation in the machinery sectors. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F02, F14, 011. 4 figures, 8 tables, 11 references.     

Alcmaeon of Croton's Observations on Health, Brain, Mind, and Soul

Alcmaeon of Croton (sixth-fifth century BC), a pre-Socratic physician-philosopher, introduced the concept that mind and soul are located in the brain. Alcmaeon made observations about seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling and distinguished perception from understanding. Alcmaeon contributed two major ideas to natural sciences: (1) the brain is the seat of human intelligence, and (2) physicians should draw conclusions from empirical observations, an idea that implicitly rejects the alternative notion that science should depend on "divine revelation." Two thousand and five-hundred years later, these two insights remain true and guarantee Alcmaeon a place in the history of neuroscience.