Robert Weston,Medical consulting by letter in France, 1665-1789

This review investigates Robert Weston’'s Medical Consulting by Letter in France, 1665–1789. Weston uses correspondence between physicians and patients to explore perceptions of health and methods of treatments in early modern France. He also approaches the theme of how authority was expressed and perceived in epistolary communication. This book is important in its exploration of an underutilized source and its contribution to an understanding of how medical relationships were constructed in the past. With a rigorous structure and a high volume of information, Weston’'s work is an invaluable contribution to historical literature on early modern France.     

The spatial evolution of the Mid-western pork industry, 1835–1875

This article discusses the spatial evolution of Mid-western pork packing in the middle nineteenth century as an example of the way in which agricultural processing industries contributed to regional economic development. The changing transportation network provides an essential tool of analysis in understanding manufacturing trends in an area which was simultaneously experiencing extensive and intensive growth. A widespread dispersion of small centres catering to local demand persisted throughout the period, but declined in relative importance. Early concentration of packing was located in the Ohio River towns which were transhipment points for western farm produce on its way to external markets. The advent of railroads in the late 1840s and the 1850s initially widened the agricultural hinterland of the river ports by acting as feeder links. But as rails shipped an increasing proportion of hogs and pork products both within and beyond the region in the 1850s, rail termini became more important as processing centres. The interruption of the Civil War confirmed the ascendancy of the railroad. Then in the post-bellum decade, as settlement continued to move west, pork packing became more dependent on the rail network. A few large cities, drawing on their commercial and financial infrastructure, were able to control much of the industry through extending rails, building central stockyards and improving packing house organization. By the mid 1870s the industry stood on the verge of big business—a testimony to the economic growth of the region where it flourished.     

Burnt bones and teeth: an experimental study of color,morphology, crystal structure and shrinkage

Burnt osteological materials are one focus of interest in forensic, archaeological, and palaeontological studies. We document the effects of experimental, controlled heating on a sample of modern bones and teeth from sheep and goats. Four aspects of heating specimens to between 20 and 940°C were considered: color, microscopic morphology, crystalline structure and shrinkage. Our results show that changes in both color and microscopic morphology of burnt bones and teeth can be divided into five stages each of which is typical of a particular temperature range, although the stages based on color do not correlate exactly with those based on micromorphology. These stages can be used to determine (1) if specimens of unknown taphonomic history were burnt, and (2) the maximum temperature reached by those specimens. In addition, powder X-ray diffraction studies show that heating causes an increase in the crystal size of hydroxyapatite, the major inorganic component of bones and teeth. This fact in conjunction with the microscopic morphology can be used to confirm deduced heating to 645°C or more. The data on shrinkage are analyzed to yield a polynomial expression that summarizes percentage shrinkage as a function of the maximum temperature reached by bones. Thus, the original size of specimens can be reconstructed within limits since the maximum temperature reached by the bones can be deduced on the basis of color, microscopic morphology and/or powder X-ray diffraction patterns. Finally, because there is a discrepancy between the maximum heating device temperature and the maximum specimen temperature, caution must be exercised in distinguishing between the effects of man made and natural fires.