Seventeenth century concepts of "apoplexy" as reflected in Bonet's "Sepulchretum"

The term "apoplexy," which has been in use since antiquity, referred to a catastrophic illness with an abrupt loss of consciousness and a frequently fatal outcome. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries scholastic approaches that relied on authorities were merging with an observational approach to medicine and Galen's speculation that apoplexy was due to an accumulation of phlegm or black bile in the cerebral ventricles began to be seriously challenged. The most extensive collection of case reports with autopsies published in the seventeenth century was Theophile Bonet's Sepulchretum sive Anatomia Practica. Section 2 of Book I of the Sepulchretum contains 70 case reports of patients that died with the diagnosis of apoplexy. The scholia in this section provide an idea for the modern reader of the notions physicians had of apoplexy in the seventeenth century. The Sepulchretum was an important book for physicians of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It played an important role in the development of modern medicine and it was an important foundation for Morgagni's De Sedibus et Causis Morborum. This essay reviews the pathological findings reported in victims of apoplexy and examines the views concerning the symptomatology, pathogenesis, etiology, and treatment of this condition that were prevalent at that time.     

Developing Complex Societies in Southeast Asia: Using Archaeological and Historical Evidence

A number of archaeologists are making significant advances in the historical archaeology of Southeast Asia. The papers presented in this issue, and the one that preceded it, provide new insights and exciting directions for future research.     

VALUING AMENITIES AND DISAMENITIES OF URBAN SCALE: CAN BIGGER BE BETTER?*

ABSTRACT. Considerable effort has been devoted within the recent literature to the valuation of urban amenities and disamenities, as well as to econometric procedures required for the estimation of their implicit market “prices.” This study questions the equilibrium conditions invoked within this literature to derive estimates of marginal willingness to pay, conditions premised upon “perfect” labor mobility among cities. It is shown that such assumptions need not be invoked if one considers the amenity price-mobility relationship directly. This is accomplished by appending a binary migration model to a first-stage wage equation, a procrdure that provides estimates of willingness to pay that can diverge from market-determined implicit prices. Comparison of such values yields important information on the adequacy of market compensation for disamenities (amenities) throughout metropolitan areas.     

Reviews and book notes

Henderson, Paul, Parliament and Politics in Australia, Heinemann Educational Australia, Melbourne, 1978, pp. 260 + vii. $5.95.

Charles P. Ridley, China's Scientific Policies: Implications for International Cooperation, AEI—Hoover Policy Studies 1976, pp. 92. US$3.00.

Peter Wilenski, The Delivery of Health Services in the: People's Republic of China, International Development Research Centre, published ANU Press 1977, pp. 59. $4.50.

Stephen Andors, China's Industrial Revolution, New York, Pantheon Books; London, Martin Robertson & Co., 1977.

Taketsugu Tsurutani, Political Change in Japan, New York, Longman (aDavid McKay), 1977. £12.50 cloth, $6.95 paper.

P. R. Chippendale and Paula V. Wilkes, Accountability in Education, University of Queensland Press, 1977, pp. 205. $13.50.

G. Duncan (ed.), Critical Essays in Australian Politics, Melbourne, Edward Arnold, 1978, pp. 252. $11.50.

P. J. Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation, Croom Helm Ltd., August, 1978. $32.95.

Theodore Zeldin, France 1848–1945, Vol. II, Intellect, Taste and Anxiety, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1977.

David Kemp, Society and Electoral Behaviour in Australia, St Lucia, Queensland University Press, 1978.

Colin Tatz, Race Politics in Australia; Aborigines Politics and Law, Armidale, The University of New England Publishing Unit, 1979, pp. vi + 118. $1.75 paper.     

Petrographic and geochemical characterization of chert artifacts from Middle,Upper, and Epi-Paleolithic assemblages in the Jebel Qalkha area,southern Jordan

This study conducted petrographic and geochemical analyses of chert artifacts from the Late Middle Paleolithic, the Initial Upper Paleolithic, the Early Upper Paleolithic, and the Epi-Paleolithic assemblages in the Jebel Qalkha area, southern Jordan, to examine their correlations with the visual attributes and diachronic variability. The results revealed two different aspects of the petrographic and geochemical signatures. The first aspect showed some correlations with the visual chert types that were characterized by the abundance/preservation of fossils, the enrichment of several elements (i.e., Ca, Sr, and Ba), and the quartz crystallite size. The second aspect of geochemical signatures, such as Fe, Mn, Ni, Cr, and Co, showed no correlation with the visual types but was correlated with the chrono-cultural groups. Given the chert occurrences and variability in and around the study area, the first aspect of the chert variability likely represents the variations of different chert outcrops as well as the internal variations within the same sources. Whether the second aspect represents chrono-cultural changes in the use of chert sources needs to be clarified in future by our ongoing examination of geological chert samples in the study area.     

Industry Characteristics Linked to Establishment Concentrations in Nonmetropolitan Areas

In this paper we investigate industry characteristics associated with the clustering of establishments in three-digit SIC manufacturing industries in nonmetropolitan areas. The dispersion parameter k of the negative binomial distribution is selected as the measure of industry spatial concentration. Associations between industry characteristics and spatial concentration are investigated using OLS regression analysis. Our findings indicate that the spatial clustering of establishments is positively related to industry average establishment size, reliance on natural resource inputs, labor intensity, cost shares of professional and technical employees, and cost shares of low-skilled workers. Agglomeration is negatively related to multiplant structure, employment in precision production, and reliance on local product and input markets.