Diaphyseal growth in a nineteenth century skeletal sample of subadults from St Thomas' church,Belleville, Ontario

This study presents skeletal growth data for a nineteenth century church cemetery sample from Belleville, Ontario. Skeletal growth profiles (SGPs), plotting measurements of growth against age estimated by tooth formation, were constructed for the sample. Means and confidence intervals for 1-year cohorts up to 12 years of age are presented for each of the long bones, the ilium and scapula. Comparison of the SGPs created for this sample with modern and archaeological samples demonstrates that the nineteenth century Belleville children followed a growth pattern similar to their modern counterparts, at least until 12 years of age. It is recommended that these data can be used by other investigators as a comparative sample of nineteenth century children; they can also be used as standards of growth for the purpose of estimating age from diaphyseal lengths for other archaeological samples of similar temporal context and population affinities. It is argued that confidence intervals rather than standard deviations be used to report variation, as the former controls for sample size as well as variance.     

Natural and supernatural virtues in the thirteenth century: the case of Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls

This article argues that Marguerite Porete’s seemingly unorthodox presentation of the virtues in the Mirror of Simple Souls is not a critique of scholastic learning, but in fact reflects the thirteenth-century university discourse on this topic. The rediscovery of Aristotelian thought in this period led to the redefinition of the standard Augustinian definition of virtue as being divinely infused. Philip the Chancellor’s discussion of cardinal virtues in particular prompted thinkers to distinguish between natural and supernatural virtues. It is contended that the Soul’s abandonment of the virtues should not be read as a rejection of the virtues, but rather as the affirmation that only supernatural virtues lead to God. A consideration of how Godfrey of Fontaines, theologian and reader of the Mirror, understands the virtues confirms the basic orthodoxy of Marguerite Porete’s position, lending further support to the argument that the Mirror echoes sophisticated scholastic ideas.     

The knighthood in and around late medieval Brussels

This article focuses on the social and political features of the knighthood in one of the most densely populated areas of the Low Countries, the administrative district of Brussels, known as the ammanie, in the fifteenth century. A systematic identification of all knights (rather than a selection) enables us to correct Huizinga’s picture and that of other, more recent, historians of the late medieval nobility as a social group in decay. Moreover, this case study contributes to ongoing debates on the position and status of late medieval knighthood. First, the data make it possible to assess the impact of Burgundian policies on the social, political and military relevance of the knighthood of Brabant. Second, special attention is given to their feudal possessions, in particular lordships and fortified residences, in order to establish stratification within the knighthood. Finally, the status and position of bannerets within the Brabantine knighthood is highlighted since they played a crucial role as intermediaries between the duke of Brabant and the urban elites of Brussels.     

A Social History of Trans-Imperial Diplomacy in a Crisis Context: Herbert von Rathkeal's Circles of Belonging in Pera, 1779–1802

ABSTRACT

This article explores the multiple circles of diplomatic agents and their social belonging in the context of the international crisis in late eighteenth-century Istanbul, drawing upon the private papers of the imperial internuncio at Pera between 1779 and 1802. The son of an Irish Jacobite supporter who became a Jesuit and then a radical reformer in Vienna, Peter Herbert von Rathkeal was also a member of the Pera society in which he was born and raised. An agent of one of the most influential trans-imperial households established in Friuli, and a member of the Austrian and British nobilities, Herbert sought to become an eminent actor of the Ottoman diplomatic scene while remaining the patron of a cosmopolitan commercial-cum-political clientele. To study Herbert's actions is to question the model of diplomatie de type ancien in a cross-cultural and fast-changing context of crisis. Despite the collapse of the old diplomatic order with the breakdown of the French Revolution, and despite rising tensions generated by the increasingly sensitive ‘Eastern Question’, this article reveals how Herbert von Rathkeal managed to maintain a certain stability in Istanbul due to the economic and social resources, which his different circles of belonging opened up for him.     

The Seventeenth-Century Terrestrial Globe by Morden,Berry and Lea

Throughout the early modern period, the intellectual and symbolic value of globes ensured these objects enjoyed a broad cultural appeal. Consequently, their design was subject to a wide range of social, commercial and intellectual pressures. The ways in which the intellectual and cultural concerns of seventeenth-century England became manifest in the cartographic design, resulting in a culturally specific product with broad appeal to an English audience, are highlighted in the case of a terrestrial globe constructed by Robert Morden, William Berry and Philip Lea, c.1683?1690, now in the Whipple Museum, Cambridge. Since this particular globe was produced at an early stage in the history of English globe making, light is shed on the emergence of a national globe-making tradition.     

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.     

Regionalism and Nationalism in the Railway Cartography of Mid-Nineteenth Century Germany

This article concerns German railway cartography in the mid-nineteenth century and its effects on spatio-political perceptions. The evolution of a railway system in Germany, from isolated single routes into national and ultimately international networks, has been customarily linked to the political issue of unification in 1871. The infrastructural changes triggered the introduction of new maps and map signs, which overshadowed other national and political signs and should not be seen as a simple means to a nationalist end. By examining the developing iconography of railways and railway networks, I argue that railways were a cause of deterritorialization for regions and states and for the vision of a unified Germany.     

Characterization and Joining of an Historical Ferrous Tie-Rod

A ferrous tie rod, which was retrieved from a 17^th century masonry building, has been examined. The chemical composition and the microstructure of the tie-rod are consistent with the technology of the time.

The tie-rod was successfully welded to modern steel profiles, by means of gas metal arc welding, in order to verify if this method could be applied for restoration works. Threading tests were also successfully performed, for the same purpose.

Both the original tie-rod, and the welded specimens were thoroughly characterized with both metallurgical and mechanical methods; moreover, full-scale tensile tests were performed on both welded and threaded samples.     

‘Enlightenment takes hold of our lands’: translating and publishing in Volhynia and Podolia in the 1800s–50s

ABSTRACT

This article uncovers the role of self-employed translators in one of the distinctive regions of Eastern Europe – the Volhynian and Podolian provinces. These lands belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until they became governorates of the Russian Empire in the 1790s. By exploring the memoirs of the landed nobility and cultural elite from this geographically and intellectually contested area, this article discusses the importance of translation during the crucial period of search for national and cultural identity, and debates the cultural transfer of ideas in the homes of local petty nobility in the 1800s–50s. The article also analyses the problem of reading, discusses the book’s importance and the variety of ways it could be read in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By tackling these problems, the article attempts to decode the meaning of Enlightenment for the provincial szlachta in the 1800s–50s.