Sherrington's legacy: evolution of the synapse concept, 1890s-1990s

The history of the synapse concept is traced from its inception in the 1890s to the present day. Three major periods are highlighted: the 1890s, the mid-twentieth century and modern times. The dependence of progress on the development of techniques is emphasised. The significance of the external context, the metaphors and general theory within which work proceeds, is also stressed. The development of the synapse concept can be seen to depend on a complex interplay between these internal and external factors. The reticularist/neuronist controversy provides a continuing leitmotiv.     

The Dynamics of Growth in a Regional Urban System: Southern Ontario, 1851–1971

This study has four objectives: (1) to describe the dynamics of growth in the urban system of southern Ontario over the period from 1851 to 1971; (2) to determine whether this system has evolved in accordance with the Gibrat process of growth; (3) to contribute to the debate on the relationship between city-size distributions and economic development; and (4) to offer some technical and definitional suggestions with regard to the rank-size rule, urban primacy, and the measurement of population concentration. Related Canadian studies covering similar time periods are those of Simmons (1974), who has analysed the growth of larger cities (10,000 and over) at the national scale, and Bannister (1975), who has described the extent of spatial autocorrelation in the growth rates of southern Ontario's incorporated centres. Like Simmons and Bannister we are less concerned with the fortunes of particular places than with the response of the urban system as a whole to expansionary forces. We are centrally concerned with the phenomenon of differential growth (Borchert, 1967; Ward, 1971, pp. 11–49; Muller, 1976, 1977). The fact that towns grow at different rates implies changes in the frequency distribution of city size and in the level of concentration of the urban population. These changes, in turn, have interesting consequences for urban systems theory.     

Locational decision-making on a Scottish estate prior to enclosure

Before the main burst of agricultural improvements, taking place in Scotland in the latter part of the eighteenth century, farming was carried out from fermtouns; these were groupings of farmsteadings and their fields. This paper seeks to determine the factors underlying the decisions that were taken in the location of the farmsteads and the different elements into which the agricultural land was divided. Isolated for examination are the distance-decay function and natural environmental factors, basically those of soil conditions. The importance of natural soil drainage conditions appears to decide the location of both intensively and extensively cultivated land while in many cases the farmsteadings also lie closest to the permanent arable land. Definite statements about the decision-making process cannot, however, be made due to our present rudimentary understanding of the stability of settlement sites and the true origins of the infield-outfield system.     

Book reviews

Harvest of the Palm: ecological change in Eastern Indonesia, by James J Fox. Cambridge, Mass. and London: Harvard University Press, 1977; xv, 290pp, 19 plates, 10 tables, 11 maps and figs. £10.25.

MAN AND ENVIRONMENT IN EASTERN TIMOR

Man and Environment in Eastern Timor: A Geoecological Analysis of the Baucau‐Viqueque Area as a possible basis for Regional Planning by Joachim K Metzner. Development Studies Centre Monograph No 8, The Australian National University, Canberra, 1977, pp 380, Illus.

DR JIGGINS REPLIES Iwan Simatupang, The Pilgrim, translated by Harry Aveling, Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd, Writing in Asia Series, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, 1975.

A SECOND OPINION

A SECOND OPINION

COMMENT ON DR JIGGINES’ REVIEW OF Man and Environment in the Eastern Timor

Iwan Simatupang, The Pilgrim, translated by Harry Aveling, Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd, Writing in Asia Series, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, 1975.