Historical Literature (historical + literature)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century1

ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
TINE DE MOOR
Despite the wide application of the metaphor of ,the tragedy of the commons', there is little historical literature that points to the weaknesses of its historical basis. There is, however, sufficient qualitative and quantitative evidence to prove that commons were well regulated and organized in order to achieve a sustainable management, that also took into account the needs and wishes of its commoners. This case study of a common in Flanders looks at the evidence for this in the eighteenth century, examining bookkeeping and other archival sources. A model that incorporates the different functions of the commons (sustainability, efficiency, and utility) is explained and applied. [source]


German Academics in British Universities During the First World War: The Case of Karl Wichmann1

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 4 2007
Christopher T. Husbands
ABSTRACT Despite the scholarly attention given to the treatment of Germans in Great Britain during the First World War, there are only sparse details in this historical literature about how those of German origin working specifically in higher education were treated. This article considers Professors of German of German origin in British higher education, focusing on the hitherto little-reported case of Karl Wichmann (better known as a minor German/English lexicographer), who was employed as Professor of German at the University of Birmingham from 1907 to 1917. It considers the circumstances leading to Wichmann's resignation in March 1917 and discusses the known details of what happened to him thereafter. [source]


Familial multiple coagulation factor deficiencies , chance associations and distinct clinical disorders

HAEMOPHILIA, Issue 1 2009
P. J. ROBSON
Summary., The familial multiple coagulation factor deficiencies (FMCFDs) are a group of rare haemostatic disorders of genetic origin in which there is reduced plasma activity of more than one coagulation factor. FMCFDs may arise from co-incidental inheritance of separate coagulation factor deficiencies or from a single genetic or cytogenetic defect. All the FMCFDs present significant challenges in diagnosis and management yet there is little systematic evidence with which to guide clinical practice. This review summarizes the historical literature that describes the FMCFDs and introduces a refined classification of these disorders. The clinical and laboratory characteristics of the most common FMCFDs are considered in detail. [source]


The Historiography of the English State during ,the Long Eighteenth Century': Part I , Decentralized Perspectives

HISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2009
Simon Devereaux
This article reviews the four most prominent themes in the historiography of the modern English state during the last six decades, with a particular focus on ,the long eighteenth century' (1660,1837). The first is the vision of an expansive and centralized administrative state in Victorian England most famously set forth in the work of the late Oliver MacDonagh. Second is the notion of the state as an information-gathering entity that has recently been forcefully stated by Edward Higgs. Third is the vision of an unexpectedly powerful, substantially centralized ,fiscal-military' state during the eighteenth century, powerfully evoked in the work of John Brewer. Finally, a brief overview is given of the prodigious historical literature that has arisen in recent years surrounding the notion of the state as abstract entity capable of commanding the loyalties of those people over whom it rules. The article concludes by suggesting how a more fully integrated vision of the English state in history might be achieved through a deeper, more dynamic interrelation of changing political-administrative structures and shifting social-cultural forces. [source]


Scientific investigations of the Tokhung-Ri tomb mural paintings (408 A.D.) of the Koguryo era, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, Issue 10 2006
R. Mazzeo
Abstract In the framework of the UNESCO workshops on the Conservation and Preservation of the Koguryo mural paintings, which were held in Pyongyang in 2004 and 2005, paint samples were collected from the Tokhung-Ri tomb located in suburban Pyongyang and analyzed by optical, polarized and FTIR microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as Raman spectroscopy, in order to characterize the composition of pigments, the execution technique adopted and the state of conservation of the murals. The first scientific results seem to confirm the suggestion of local conservators about the adoption of a fresco technique, even though it is not yet clear whether this was intentionally achieved by the North Korean painters. As regards this, analyses of more samples as well as confirmations from a survey of the historical literature are needed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Does the historical literature on encephalitis lethargica support a simple (direct) relationship with postencephalitic Parkinsonism?,

MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 9 2010
Joel A. Vilensky PhD
Abstract This article and the subsequent one suggest that the currently accepted view of a simplistic (direct) relationship between encephalitis lethargica (EL) and postencephalitic Parkinsonism (PEP) is based on a incomplete evaluation of the epidemic period literature. In this article we provide a detailed analysis of the literature from the period that demonstrates that Parkinsonism was not initially part of acute EL symptomatology, that PEP was not typically the prevailing type of chronic EL and that oculogyric crises were never part of acute EL symptomatology and not initially associated with PEP. The second paper uses these finding, and also examines the clinical justifications for concluding that all patients with PEP had prior acute episodes of EL, to reevaluate the presumed direct etiologic relationship between EL and PEP. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society [source]


Former distribution and decline of the burbot (Lota lota) in the UK

AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 4 2010
T. Worthington
Abstract 1.Species reintroductions are an increasingly fashionable tool among conservation practitioners for restoring locally and nationally extinct populations. For a reintroduction programme to be successful, an understanding of the causes of the decline of a species is required. This, however, proves challenging when baseline data on the distribution and abundance of the species are limited. 2.This paper uses evidence from historical literature to map the former distribution of the burbot (Lota lota) within UK rivers before its extinction in the early 1970s. A scoring system was developed to model anecdotal descriptions of burbot abundance from the collected literature. 3.The former distribution was divided into four geographical areas based loosely on catchment boundaries. The literature identifies 42 rivers in eastern England in which the burbot was likely to have existed. The status of the species in the Thames catchment is still unclear as information from written sources is contradicted by evidence from the archaeological record. 4.The findings indicate that the year of source data was a significant predictor of burbot abundance across the former population as a whole and for three of the four geographical areas (the Trent catchment, the Fenland rivers and the Yorkshire rivers). The timing of the burbot's decline showed differences between the geographical regions, with the Trent catchment exhibiting an earlier decline than the Fenland and Yorkshire areas. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


UTOPIA LOST: ALLEGORY, RUINS AND PIETER BRUEGEL'S TOWERS OF BABEL

ART HISTORY, Issue 2 2007
JOANNE MORRA
Beginning with the ubiquity with which art history discusses Pieter Bruegel the Elder's work as allegorical , and the Tower of Babel paintings are no exception , I offer a reassessment of this by contributing to the ongoing debates within Breugel studies on methodology, and, until now, outside of them, on Walter Benjamin's theory of allegory. Through a close reading of the paintings, the art historical literature on the paintings, and a philosophical interpretation of the Tower of Babel narrative, I intervene in the methodological debates by proposing an alternative conception of the dialectical aspects of Bruegel's paintings. I then suggest how an understanding of the dialectical character of the paintings, and a necessarily overdetermined hermeneutics of them, can add to our knowledge of Bruegel's work, and put pressure on our comprehension of Benjamin's writings on allegory and ruins. [source]


Growth theory and industrial revolutions in Britain and America

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Issue 4 2003
Knick Harley
A perception of technological change as an economic process with externalities has motivated the development of aggregate models that generate different steady-state growth paths. Economic history has also long been interested in long-run economic growth. Here, a dialogue is presented between growth theory and the historical literature on the industrial revolution in Britain and America's surge to international economic leadership in the late nineteenth century. In conclusion, economists' recent thinking about the microeconomics of technological change has provided fruitful material for the economic historian of growth. Unfortunately, the models of endogenous growth, on the other hand, present too aggregated a view of the economy to prove helpful when confronted with the details of economic history. JEL Classification: N0, N1.1 Théorie de la croissance et révolutions industrielles en Grande Bretagne et en Amérique., La croissance économique à long terme est redevenue un point d'intérêt majeur pour la théorie économique. Une perception du changement technologique comme processus économique porteur d'externalités a engendré le développement de modèles agrégés qui génèrent différents sentiers de croissance en régime permanent. L'histoire économique s'intéresse depuis longtemps à la croissance économique à long terme. Ce texte engage le dialogue entre la théorie de la croissance et la littérature historique à propos de la révolution industrielle en Grande Bretagne et de l'émergence de l'Amérique au statut de leader international à la fin du dix-neuvième siècle. On en arrive à la conclusion que les récents développements dans la pensée économique à propos de la micro-économie du changement technologique ont produit des résultats utiles pour l'histoire économique de la croissance. Malheureusement, d'autre part, les modèles de croissance endogène présente une vue trop agrégée de l'économie pour s'avérer utile dans l'examen des détails de l'histoire économique. [source]