La forme est le fond la structuration des appareils statistiques nationaux (1800–1945)

The present paper surveys the discussions conducted by official statisticians regarding the ideal structure according to which a national data collection system should have been designed if it was to meet the challenges put up by the various transformation Western countries have undergone since the beginning of the 19th century. Arguments in favour of coordination, centralization, or decentralization have emerged for the first time in 1832 Britain, when the Statistical Bureau of the Board of Trade was created. Up to 1945, this debate went on, the industrial take-off, the economic crises, and the world wars all being occasions for its protagonists to put forward their preferred view. The perspective we take here is original in two respects: on the one hand, instead of confining ourselves to the major statistical systems (those of France, Britain, and the USA), we intend to evoke a large number of cases and, from this comparative standpoint, propose a general account of the drive towards centralization; on the other hand, instead of restraining our-selves to the 19th century, we cover the entire time-frame extending from 1800 to 1945.     

AIDS in Africa: a perspective on the epidemic

Issues surrounding the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Africa are summarized. Subjects considered include the disease's origins, proportion of the population infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS, the problems in caring for children orphaned by the disease, innovations in drug treatments discovered by African scientists, the spread among women, and the difficulties inherent in incorporating Western-based policy and aid provisions into the African context.     

HOW MANY POTS MAKE FIVE?—AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF POTTERY QUANTIFICATION

This paper reviews the ways in which assemblages of pottery have been quantified throughout the twentieth century, and the use to which such data have been put. The values of various ways of quantifying pottery are compared, and a theoretical basis for the comparison of assemblages is described. Finally, the practical steps that need to be taken to make best use of the theory are set out.     

Notes de vieux perse III

Sans résumé     

ALPHA-RECOIL TRACKS IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL CERAMIC DATING

Among the manifestations of radioactive decay which can be etched to optical visibility on the surface of mica are tracks from nuclei recoiling from alpha emission, called ‘alpha-recoil tracks’. If, beforeetching, the mica is heated to temperatures of the order of 600°C, all evidence of these tracks is annealed from muscovite mica in a few minutes. Alpha activity observed on mica from pot sherds, from stones surrounding fire places, from fire pits, and fired daub may constitute an alpha-recoil track clock which started at the moment of the last firing of the artifacts.