牛鬼蛇神、牛棚及其他

1.1 中国民俗所谓牛鬼蛇神,本为传说中的神怪。牛鬼又称牛头,在佛教中是看守地狱的鬼卒,牛头人手,两脚牛蹄,名曰阿傍。该鬼卒常与另一马面鬼合称“牛头马面”。蛇神是佛教护法神“天龙八部”之一的大蟒神,名曰摩睺罗迦,其形象为人身蛇首。中国古代神话传说中也有自己的蛇神。《山海经》中就有好多位“人首(面)蛇身”的神,汉高诱注《淮南子》谓天神共工“蛇身人面”,《列子·黄帝》谓庖牺(伏羲)、     

论龙门石窟路洞降魔变地神图像

路洞石窟降魔变是龙门石窟唯一的一铺.它创造性地引入地神图像.和古代印度中亚地区的降魔变相比,其地神图像没有完全遵循佛传经典,而是依照<金光明经>的记载,借用了早期呈托举姿势男性化的地神造型.其创作的背景是:一是当时翻译出的佛传经典没有关于地神形象的具体描写;二是强调地神图像的降魔变粉本没有传到云冈和洛阳等地.     

圣经中的魔鬼及其社会伦理意义

圣经中所刻画的魔鬼 ,具有淫欲、傲慢和诱惑等特性 ,它是美好事物的异化。按伦理标准来衡量 ,基督教的魔鬼是一种比人还要低劣的生物 ,这一点使它们有别于希腊罗马世界的魔鬼。尽管基督教称得上是严格意义上的一神教 ,但在早期基督教社会里 ,魔鬼与基督无疑是伦理价值上的两端 ,分别代表着邪恶与正义 ,人们必须在这二者之间作出最终的选择 ,这是对人类良知的一种考验。因此 ,魔鬼既是基督教发展的自然结果 ,又是一种社会现实需要的产物 ,它的出现实际上是从威慑和警醒的角度为世人的道德水平设置一根杠杆 ,它在维护社会正义和防止人性堕落方面是不可或缺的。     

The Mannhardtian Theories about the Last Sheaf and the Fertility Demons from a Modern Critical Point of View

ANIMAL LEGENDS. Retold and pictured by K. NIXON. F. Warne. 15s. Reviewed by E. F. Coote Lake.

RELIGION IN AN AFRICAN SOCIETY. By ROBERT T. PARSONS. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1964.Pp. 245. Reviewed by E. O. James

THE PROSE EDDA OF SNORRI STURLUSON: TALES FROM NORSE MYTHOLOGY. Selected and Translated by JEAN I. YOUNG. Introduction by Sigurður Nordal. University of California Press and Cambridge University Press, 1966. 28s.; paperback 12s. 6d. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

THE MAGICAL ARTS A SHORT HISTORY. By C. A. BURLAND. Arthur Barker Ltd. 42. Reviewed by K. M. Briggs.

MAGIC PEOPLE. By BARBARA SOFTLY. Illustrated by Gunvor Edwards, Published by Oliver and Boyd (‘The Open Gate Library’ No. 8). 106. 6d. Reviewed by Roger Lancelyn Green.

AYERS ROCK, ITS PEOPLE, THEIR BELIEFS, AND THEIR ART. By CHARLES P. MOUNTFORD. Sydney, Angus and Robertson, 1965. 65s. Pp. xiv, 208; 5 coloured plates, 106 in black and white, 43 figures. Reviewed by J. S. Ryan.

THE ROCK PAINTINGS OF THE CHUMASH. By CAMPBELL GRANT. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1965. 80s. Pp. xviii, 163. Frontispiece and 31 colour plates, 120 figures. Reviewed by J. S. Ryan.

THE TRADITIONAL AND NATIONAL MUSIC OF SCOTLAND. By FRANCIS COLLINSON. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964. Pp. xvii + 294. Price 63s. Reviewed by Douglas Kennedy.

JAHRBUCH FüR OSTDEUTSCHE VOLKSKUNDE. Edited by A. PERLICK. Vol. ix. Marburg, N. G. Elwert, 1965. Pp. 238; 16 photographs. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

OESTERREICHISCHER VOLKSKUNDEATLAS. Edited by RICHARD WOLFRAM Vienna, 1965. Commentary, pp. 278; 2 text ills.; maps 14–32. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

THE NUNAMIUT ESKIMOS: HUNTERS OF CARIBOU. By NICHOLAS J. GUBSER, Yale University Press, 1965. Reviewed by W. R. Mead.

ESP: BEYOND TIME AND DISTANCE. By T. C. LETHBRIDGE, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965. Pp. x, 148. Illustrated by the Author. 25s. Reviewed by Theo Brown.

SIXTY YEARS A FENMAN. By ARTHUR R. RANDELL. Edited by ENID PORTER. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. Pp. ix, 126; illustrated. 13 Plates. 25s. Reviewed by Theo Brown.

HEBREW AMULETS, THEIR DECIPHERMENT AND INTERPRETATION. By THEODORE SCHRIRE. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. Pp. xii, 180.50s. Reviewed by A. A. Barb.

NEDERLANDSE INCANTATIELITERATUUR. Een gecommentarieerd compendium van Nederlandse bezweringsformules. Door Dr JOZEF VAN HAVER. Gent, Kon. Vlaamse Academie voor Taal- en Letter-kunde (Reeks VI, Nr. 94), 1964. Pp. 506. Reviewed by A. A. Barb.

AMULETT UND TALISMAN, Erscheinungsform und Geschichte. By L. HANSMANN AND L. KRISS-RETTENBECK. Munich, G. D. W. Callwey, 1966. Pp. 270, 844 illustrations. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

FOLKTALES OF GERMANY. Edited by K. RANKE. Translated by L. BAUMANN. Folktales of the World. General Editor: R. M. Dorson. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. Pp. xxxiii, 257. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

FOLKTALES: The Peoples' Meeting-Place. Unpublished Sources. Vol. ii. Denmark-Germany. Edited by L. BØDKER and G. HÜLLEN. Schloss Bentlage (Gesellschaft zur Pflege des Märchengutes der europäischen Völker) Jahresgabe 1966. Pp. 199. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

TALES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. Selected and Annotated by STITH THOMPSON. Indiana University Press. Bloomington and London. Reprint 1966. Reviewed by K. M. Briggs.

BEITRÄGE ZUR LEHRE AND FORSCHUNG DER LEIBESERZIEHUNG: Band 13: Der Ursprung der olympischen Spiele, by Ludwig Drees; Band 14: Über die menschliche Bewegung als Einheit von Natur und Geist. by Frederik J. J. Buytendijk, Paul Christian, and Herbert Plügge. Schorndorf bei Stuttgart, Karl Hofmann. 1963. Pp. 144 and 80. Reviewed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen.

BELMONTE DE LOS CABALLEROS, a Sociological Study of a Spanish Town. By CARMELO LISON-TOLOSANA. Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1966. 75s. Reviewed by Barbara Aitken.     

Espace,temps et cognition

Revue de Synthèse - La cognition humaine paraît étroitement liée à la structure de l'espace et du temps relativement auxquels le corps, le geste,...     

Recovery of a lost wall painting at the Etruscan Tomb of the Blue Demons in Tarquinia (Viterbo,Italy) by multispectral reflectometry and UV fluorescence imaging

This paper presents the results of a multispectral reflectometry and ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence study on the entrance wall of the Tomb of the Blue Demons in the Necropolis of Monterozzi (450–430 bc ) in Tarquinia (Viterbo, Italy), which is a UNESCO site. The technique is based on the acquisition of a multispectral set ranging from 10 to 25 images, acquired at wavelengths between 370 and 1120 nm, with a spectral width of 50 nm per image, using both halogen lamps for visible and infrared images and high‐purity UV diodes for fluorescence. Blind‐source separation algorithms were then applied to the whole image set to extract from the resulting images the details not otherwise visible in the single spectral images. The multispectral technique presented was tested and improved upon over the last decade on ancient Etruscan and Roman wall paintings and, because of its quickness and cost‐effectiveness, it can now be proposed as a powerful tool for the study of poorly conserved archaeological wall paintings and a preliminary diagnostic survey before any future conservation intervention on them.     

Stahl, Leibniz, Hoffmann et la respiration

At the beginning of the XVIII th century, Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz and Friedrich Hoffmann criticize Georg Ernst Stahl's medical theory. They differenciate between unsound and true reasonings. Namely, they validate Stahl's definition of breath but extracting it from its animist basis and placing it in an epistemology obeying to the principle of sufficient reason and to the mechanical model. The stahlian discovery consists in understanding breath as a calorific ventilation against the ancient conception; the iatromechanists recognize its accuracy, but they try then to transpose it to a mechanical model of ventilation. Using it in a different epistemological context implies that they analyze the idea of discovery "true" in its contents, but "wrong" in its hypothesis. It impels to examine the epistemology of medical knowledge, as science and therapeutics, and in its links with the other scientific theories. Thus, if Leibniz as philosopher and Hoffmann as doctor consider Stahl's animism so important, it is because its discoveries question the fundamental principles of medicine.