Book reviews

Local Development — Restructuring, Locality and Economic Initiative in Portugal. Stephen Syrett. Aldershot, Avebury, 1996, US$75.95, ISBN 1 856 28 4840.

Geographic Information Systems: Socioeconomic Applications. David Martin. New York, Routledge, 1996, XXII + 210 pp., £45.00 hb, £14.99 pb, ISBN 0 415 12571 5 hb, 0 415 12572 3 pb.

Town and Country Planning in Britain (11th edition). J. B. Cullingworth and V. Nadin. London, Routledge, 1994, XX + 343 pp., £14.99pb, ISBN 0 415 10708 3.

Towards Visitor Impact Management. Visitor Impacts, Carrying Capacity and Management Responses in Europe's Historic Towns and Cities. J. Glasson, K. Godfrey and B. Goodey (with H. Absalom and J. Van der Borg). Aldershot, Avebury, Urban and Regional Planning and Development Series, 1995, XII + 189 pp., £35.00 hb, ISBN 1 85972 054 4.     

Book reviews

The Geography of Europe's Futures. Ian Masser, Ove Sviden and Michael Wegener, London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 225 pp., £12.99, ISBN 1 85293 231/2 7/5.

Cities and Regions in the New Europe. Mick Dunford and Grigoris Kafkalas (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 339 pp., £42.00, ISBN: 1 85293 221 X.

Regional Development and Contemporary Industrial Response: Extending Flexible Specialisation. Huib Ernste and Verena Meier (Eds), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 256 pp., £35.00, ISBN: 1 85293 214 7.

Understanding Information: Business, Technology and Geography. K. Robins (Ed.), London, Belhaven Press, 1992, 207 pp., £37.50, ISBN: 1 85293 109 4.

Humanising the City? Social Contexts of Urban life at the Turn of the Millennium. Anthony P. Cohen and Katsuyoshi Fukui (Eds), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 228 pp., £29.50 hb., ISBN 0 7486 0388 3.     

An 18th century boat in Lake Padarn, North Wales

The Llyn Padarn wreck is a bateau style vessel of the late 18th century. Assuming that it is one of the boats built by the quarry company it was constructed between February 1788 and February 1789. If it was built by one of the independent boatmen its date of construction is uncertain, however its excellent state of preservation suggests that it was still relatively new when it sank, and this also would point towards it being one of the company boats. Whatever the date of building, the boat certainly sank between 1788 and 1824, but the quality of the cargo suggests that it was towards the beginning rather than the end of that period. It is of historic interest as one of the few surviving examples of the bateau style of boat building. and it is also one of the best preserved examples of its kind. It also throws some light on the early history of the North Wales slate industry, on the history of travel and transport on Llyn Padarn, and on the lake settlements at Cwm y Glo and Penllyn. The Padarn boat is now being put into E'EG conservation by the National Museum of Wales, and will subsequently be exhibited in the North Wales Quarry Museum at Llanberis. It would be interesting to know what happened to all the other boats which were evidently working on the lakes in the 18th and early 19th centuries. No doubt most were destroyed when their usefulness came to an end, but if one sank there may well be others, and in due course the Welsh Institute of Maritime Archaeology hopes to carry out a remote sensing survey of Padarn using side-scan sonar and low light television. In addition, the upper lake, Llyn Peris, is to be drained in connection with the massive Pump Storate Generating Scheme which has once again turned the derelict quarries into one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe. It is certain that these two lakes still have secrets to reveal. I would like to thank the staff of the North Wales Quarry Museum for their patient assistance and advice in the preparation of this article; Mr Brian Buckle of North Wales Divers Ltd, Colwyn Bay, for providing me with a copy of his survey of the wreck site; Mr Derwyn Jones, the Welsh Librarian in the University Library, Bangor for bringing to my attention various references to Margaret ferch Evans, and my colleague Mr Emlyn Sherrington for translating certain passages from the Welsh.     

Otosclerosis and stapedial footplate fixation in archaeological material

A total of 1164 temporal bones from various cemetery sites in England were examined using a fibre optic endoscope. Eight bones were found to have evidence of otosclerosis in which proliferative new bone fixes the footplate of the stapes into the oval window, causing deafness. A prevalence of 0.9 per cent in this study is comparable with the incidence found in modern white populations and with that found in a study of 2760 Lithuanian temporal bones of various periods.     

Septic bone changes in leprosy: A clinical,radiological and palaeopathological review

Infective lesions of bone in leprosy are of two types. In the rhinomaxillary syndrome, superficial infective changes in the bones of the maxilla are due to the presence of Mycobacterium leprae. Lytic foci in the medulla or the outer cortical surface may be due to Mycobacterium leprae at the site as granulomatous lesions. The most frequent infective bone changes in leprosy are, however, sequelae of regional anaesthesia and soft tissue ulceration. The bone lesions are due to pyogenic bacteria and the nature of these infective lesions is similar to that in non-leprous conditions. The pyogenic lesions in leprosy are restricted to the bones of the hands, feet and lower legs.