Pineal gland,perennial puzzle

Abstract

Since antiquity this tiny intracranial appendicular organ has aroused sexual connotations and denials. Controversial and enigmatic, it played a significant part in the development of endocrinology and even neurosurgery. What was its histology, what was its role as a gland so intimately attached to the brain? What did comparative anatomists make of it in the light of its function as a ‘third eye?’ Mysticism and the famous Cartesian apothegm placed it in the center of Eastern and Western approaches to the mind‐body problem and to mental disorders. The latter were connected with the common calcifications, so helpful in the radiological diagnosis of brain shifts due to mass lesions. Undefeated, even spurred by continuing uncertainties, researchers keep looking into this ‘photo‐neuro‐endocrine transducer.’     

Fritz Lewy and His Bodies

Attention is drawn to the neuronal inclusion bodies in Parkinsonism and the dementia described by F. Lewy in 1910, resulting in his eponym, as well as to his academic career and participation in two world wars on opposite sides.     

The diary of William MacEwan: Part II

This instalment of the Diary describes the first stage of the journey from Quilimane to the interior, then the most convenient and practicable way to the British territory of Nyasaland, and the way by which both people and goods entered and left that country. This is all changed ; the route has been abandoned by the African Lakes Corporation, and Maruru, the first place where the Diarist saw African village life, probably no longer exists. When the Diary is completed, it is hoped to publish an article describing the country MacEwan saw as it is at the present day. Much has been done to improve the condition of the natives under British rule since then, but it is more difficult to ascertain their condition under the Portuguese ; much more, however, remains to be done. Transport, of course, has been improved out of all comparison, and it will be interesting to compare it with the means by which MacEwan entered the then Darkest Africa—improvement which has taken place well within a single lifetime.     

The Trelleborg House Reconsidered

THE RECONSTRUCTED Viking-age house erected at Trelleborg in 1942 (FIG. 20) has, as a result of recent archaeological investigation,¹ proved to be wrongly designed. The theory that it had an outside gallery is impossible to sustain, since on further examination the posts proved to be inclined towards the house and they must, therefore, be explained as buttresses. Further, since the height of the walls had been deduced basically from the fact that the gallery must allow of free passage, the whole structure of the house must be reconsidered. Despite these errors the Trelleborg reconstruction has produced an extended discussion of Viking-age house structure and provides a reasonable starting point for a new study.     

Anthropology and education: History,method and applications to American schooling

Joan I. Roberts and Sherrie K. Akinsanya, eds. Educational Patterns and Cultural Configurations: The Anthropology of Education. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1976. xiv + 412 pp. Bibliography, biographical notes, and references. $7.95 paper.

Joan I. Roberts and Sherrie K. Akinsanya, eds. Schooling in the Cultural Context: Anthropological Studies of Education. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1976. xiv + 499 pp. Biographical notes and references. $8.95 paper.

Nobou Kenneth Shimahara and Adam Scrupski, eds. Social Forces and Schooling: An Anthropological and Sociological Perspective. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., 1975. xiv + 358 pp. Biographical notes and references. $6.95 paper.     

Heat treatment in the South African Middle Stone Age: temperature induced transformations of silcrete and their technological implications

It was recently found that silcrete raw material was heat-treated during the South African Middle Stone Age (MSA) for altering its flaking properties. This finding led to hypotheses about the implications for the MSA hunter-gatherers such as the cost of thermal treatment in terms of investment and firewood. To date, these hypotheses lack a solid basis, for data on the thermal transformations of South African silcrete and, hence, the necessary heating procedure and heating environment, is missing. In order to produce such data, we conducted an experimental study within the framework of the Diepkloof project. This work is based on the petrographic, mineralogical and structural analysis of South African silcrete from the West Coast and its thermal transformations. Our results shed light on the nature of these transformations, the ideal heating temperatures and the tolerated heating speed. The processes occurring in silcrete are comparable to flint, i.e. the loss of chemically bound ‘water’ and the formation of new Si–O–Si bonds, but their intensity is less pronounced. Effective heating temperatures are significantly higher than for flint and the heating speed tolerated by South African silcrete is relatively fast. These findings imply that silcrete heat treatment cannot be directly compared with flint heat treatment. Unlike flint, heating silcrete does not require the setup of a dedicated heating environment and may have been performed in the same time as other fire related activities. This would represent only a minor supplementary investment in time and firewood. These results have broad implications for the discussion about technological evolution and the acquisition of specialised knowledge in the MSA.