Dedicated spirits: religious mediators and romantic ideas in the late nineteenth century

This article reconstructs a transatlantic community of discourse that used Romantic ideas to mediate between science and religion in order to create a framework for modern belief. The pragmatist William James, Scottish freelance intellectual Thomas Davidson, and ethical culturalist William Mackintire Salter in the United States, and the psychic researcher Frederic Myers and self‐published philosopher Shadworth Hollway Hodgson in England inherited a supreme concept of immanence from Romanticism, which they brought to their fight against dogmatism in religion and materialism in science. Emphasizing the freedom of the individual mind to believe on the basis of experience, these religious mediators oriented their new science of religions by the compass of democratic values. Their approach to modern belief contributes to the current revision of a strictly declensionist secularization by suggesting, in part, that religion among intellectuals was neither exclusively Christian in the late nineteenth century nor necessarily stifled by the impact of Darwinian evolution.     

Pietism and medicine in the first half of the 18th century

In the beginning of the 18th century Halle Pietists tried to establish a specific approach to sickness and healing. They constructed close links between physical illness on the one hand and the religious concept of individual piety, penance and rebirth on the other. This new' pietist medicine largely depended on Georg Ernst Stahl's medical theory, which was not pietist in itself, but was adopted and simplified by pietist physicians. Although conclusive and rhetorically present in programmatic texts, pietist medicine turned out to be less influential on medical practice than expected.     

Olmec archaeology: A half century of research and its accomplishments

The Olmec of Mexico's southern Gulf coast (3100-2450 B.P.) are the most famed of Formative period Mesoamerica's early complex cultures, and are particularly noted for their elaborate stone monuments. After five decades of research, scholars remain in sharp disagreement on what the archaeological record means with regard to the impact the Olmec had on social and political evolution in Mesoamerica. A discussion of interpretive problems and a review of 50 years of Olmec archaeology illustrates reasons for the disagreements, as well as the type, quantity, and quality of data that have been recovered from excavations. Those show that, until recently, knowledge of the Olmec has been based primarily on two limited pre-1970 data sets. New research is discussed, and topical issues in Olmec archaeology are treated in detail.     

Smoking and health in London's East End in the first half of the 19th century

Abstract

The harmful effects of smoking are now proven, but to what extent can tobacco use be identified in 19th-century skeletal remains? The full osteological analysis of 705 individuals from the cemetery of St Mary and St Michael (open 1843–54) in Whitechapel, London, revealed a high prevalence of pipe smoking amongst the male population. In addition to a lower life expectancy, the smokers were found to have increased levels of skeletal evidence for lung disease when compared to the remainder of the sample. This has implications for the health, social structure and cohesion of this Irish migrant population.     

Angli cum multis aliis alienigenis: crusade settlers in Tortosa (second half of the twelfth century)

In the spring of 1147 Anglo-Norman and Flemish crusaders set out from Dartmouth in the direction of the Holy Land to take part in the Second Crusade. On their way they participated in the siege of Lisbon (October 1147) and the campaign against Tortosa which finished with the surrender of the city on the last day of 1148. A significant number of crusaders from the British Isles settled in Tortosa and its environs after the successful campaign, appearing in the documents as Angli, Anglici and Angles. The article describes the archival information for the role of these Anglo-Norman crusaders in the settlement of the region. They received grants from Count Ramon Berenguer IV, transferred real property, entered into credit and loan agreements, and established patrimonies. Many of the English settlers became part of the ruling oligarchy in the early years of feudal Tortosa, entering into transactions with the leading ecclesiastical and lay powers.     

Lost primacy: crime in Italy at the end of the twentieth century

This article attempts to answer four questions. First: has Italy today, or has it had in the last thirty years, rates of theft, robbery and homicide that are higher than those in other western European countries? Second: have crime statistics in Italy followed the same pattern as in other European countries in the same period? Third: have crime statistics become more or less comparable in the western European countries in this period? Fourth: what factors have determined changes in crime rates in Italy in recent decades?     

胡适关于中国近代文化转型的几个重要观念

在令大多数中国人长期困惑的中西文化的关系问题上,胡适化与看来同自己的固有文化大不相同的现代世界新文化泰然相处,并怎样以最有效的方式吸收现代的新文化,使它能同我们的固有文化相一致、相协调和继续发展.胡适指出,各民族的文化本质上是有同一性的,是可以互相借鉴的.因此,不存在所谓东方文化是精神的,西方文化是物质的这种大分别.胡适又指出,历来各民族的文化交流的常态都是自由选择,各取所需.胡适还强调指出,任何文化都有其自身的"根本保守性",也就是所谓"文化本位".这个"文化本位"实际上就是那无数无数的人民.基于这样的认识,就能够以一种开放的文化观念来处理中国文化与世界新文化的关系,化解种种困惑,较好地解决近代文化转型中遇到的各种问题.     

The effect of ethnicity and economy upon intergenerational coresidence: northern Norway during the last part of the nineteenth century

During the last part of the nineteenth century, Finnmark province and the northern part of Troms experienced a decline in intergenerational coresidence. This article discusses what impact ethnic affiliation and economic activity had on the living arrangements of the elderly, and what contributed to the change. Logistic regression shows that ethnicity played a role but its effect disappears after controlling for economic activity. Intergenerational coresidence was positively associated with being a married Sámi male with an occupation in farming or combined fishing and farming. As such a person grew older, he was increasingly likely to live separately from an own adult child. This pattern changed toward the end of nineteenth century. By the close of the century, ethnic differences had disappeared, and headship position, irrespective of marital status, was strongly related to coresidence.     

Politics, diplomacy and the cult of relics in Venice and the northern Adriatic in the first half of the ninth century

In early medieval Europe the cult of the saints emerged as a prominent focus for the construction of political identity. Corporeal relics became objects of importance, conferring status on their possessor; and, like other precious commodities, they frequently served as prestigious diplomatic gifts, useful for the fostering of political affiliations between donor and recipient. This strategic use of saints' cults is here examined with special regard to the region of the northern Adriatic. In the first decade of the ninth century, Byzantine attempts to maintain the allegiance of Venice and urban centres along the Dalmatian coast may have prompted the translations to the region of the relics of saints such as Anastasia, Tryphon and Theodore, all of whom became important civic patrons. Later in the century, the Byzantine mission to Moravia was focused on the relics of St Clement, while archaeological and other evidence suggests that Frankish missions into the Balkans may have stressed the cult of St Martin, a native of Pannonia. Ultimately, Venetian independence from both powers was made possible by their adoption of a new patron saint, Mark, whose cult arrived from Alexandria unencumbered by implicit political debts.     

The Italian Left in search of ideas: the rediscovery of the political ideas of the Action Party

In the wake of the collapse of 'really-existing' socialism and against a background of the growing influence of neo-liberal political thought, European socialist parties - and especially the former communist parties - have found it crucially important to reassert their liberal credentials. This explains the interest displayed by the Italian Left in liberal socialism, Dahrendorf 's New Liberalism and American liberalism, and especially in what is now called the 'Third Way'. In Italy, these developments have resulted in a genuine example of 'history's revenge'. The political ideas associated with the Action Party (PdA), which long played a Cinderella role in Italian politics and culture, have moved back to centre stage. This article examines how Italian leftist parties like the Democrats of the Left (DS) have been realigned to take into account the ideas of liberal socialism proposed by thinkers like Carlo Rosselli. It also explores how,since 1989, parties of the Italian Left have tried to appropriate the Actionist past and its mission, and why,after a long period of deliberate neglect, the Actionist agenda has again become the subject of lively debate.