Was All Irish Politics Local? The Portarlington Election of 1832 and the Structure of Politics in 19th‐Century Ireland

Historians have often characterised 19th‐century Irish elections as insular, inward‐looking affairs. This article, however, offers a reconsideration of the role played by national and imperial events in Irish elections through a close analysis of the Portarlington contest of 1832. While acknowledging the importance of local concerns in the campaign, it argues that the Portarlington election cannot be understood in exclusively parochial terms. Candidates, voters, and opinion‐makers all situated the contest in national and imperial, as well as provincial, contexts, and they behaved as if larger political issues might affect the ultimate outcome of the campaign. An examination of the election suggests that the dichotomy between the local and the national, while analytically useful, can also be misleading: the Portarlington contest exhibited a complex interplay between local, national, and imperial affairs. This article concludes, consequently, that national and imperial issues were integrated into the structure of Irish politics after the Reform Act of 1832.     

Fascism 2

This guest editorial implores anthropologists to take a stance against the strengthening of fascism in Europe.     

New specimens of Mourasuchus (Alligatoroidea,Caimaninae) from the Miocene of Brazil and Bolivia and their taxonomic and morphological implications

Cidade, G.M., Souza-Filho, J.P., Hsiou, A.S., Brochu, C.A., & Riff, D., 18 March 2019. New specimens of Mourasuchus (Alligatoroidea, Caimaninae) from the Miocene of Brazil and Bolivia and their taxonomic and anatomic implications. Alcheringa 43, 261–278. ISSN 0311-5518.

Mourasuchus is one of the most peculiar crocodylians of all time, showing an unusual ‘duck-faced’ rostrum with thin, gracile mandibles. It includes four species restricted to the South American Miocene. Here, we describe ten late Miocene specimens of Mourasuchus, nine from the Solimões Formation of Brazil and one from Bolivia. All specimens are assigned to M. arendsi, but this assignment may change as the diversity and relationships within Mourasuchus are better understood. We also discuss several issues pertinent to the morphology of Mourasuchus: the presence of a braincase neomorph (the laterocaudal bridge), hypotheses about sexual dimorphism, the function of the squamosal ‘horns’ the presence of possible thermoregulatory functions in the genus. Additionally, the paleogeographic distribution of Mourasuchus in the Miocene of South America is also discussed.

Giovanne M. Cidade* [giovannecidade@hotmail.com], Universidade de São Paulo Campus de Ribeirao Preto, Biologia, Avenida Bandeirantes 3900, Ribeirao Preto, 14040-900, Brazil; Jonas P. Souza-filho [jpdesouzafilho@hotmail.com], Universidade Federal do Acre, Departamento de Ciências da Natureza, Campus Universitário, UFAC, BR 364, Km 4, Distrito industrial, CEP 69915-900, Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil; Annie Schmaltz Hsiou [anniehsiou@ffclrp.usp.br], Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Departamento de Biologia, Avenida dos Bandeirantes, 3900, Ribeirão Preto, 14040-901, Brazil; Christopher A. Brochu [chris-brochu@uiowa.edu], University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA; Douglas Riff [driff2@gmail.com], Universidade Federal de Uberlandia, Uberlandia, 38400902, Brazil.     

The development and evolution of “cerebral thermometry”: The physiology underlying a nineteenth-century approach to cerebral localization and neurological diagnosis

ABSTRACT

Surface thermometers were developed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. From the 1850s through the 1880s, collaborations between physicians, research scientists, and instrument makers produced clear improvements in the technology to measure cranial surface temperatures, with development of self-registering mercury surface thermometers resistant to pressure and little influenced by ambient temperature, apparatus for recording cranial surface temperatures from multiple stations simultaneously, and development of thermoelectric apparatus. Physiologic studies of cranial surface thermometry were conducted over a quarter century from 1861 to 1886. Beginning in the 1860s Albers in Bonn, Germany, and Lombard at Harvard and later in England systematically investigated surface temperatures on the head using surface thermometers and thermoelectric apparatus; they demonstrated that head temperatures were variable over time and across individuals and were not clearly influenced by thinking or muscular contraction but were influenced by ambient air temperature. In 1880 Amidon in the United States claimed that cranial surface thermometry during exertion produced localized increases in surface temperature on the contralateral scalp in a specific pattern (“external motive areas”) indicating underlying brain areas responsible for each movement. Amidon’s results were not reproduced by experienced physiologists in England or France. Contemporaries recognized that significant technical and practical problems limited the accuracy and reliability of cranial surface thermometry. Physiological studies of cranial surface thermometry ended in the mid 1880s, although some clinicians who were early advocates promoted its use in clinical contexts into the early twentieth century.