A Grave Situation: An Examination of the Legal Issues Raised by the Life and Death of Charles Byrne, the “Irish Giant”

2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Muinzer
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Common Ancestry ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Local Site ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Folk Tradition

AbstractCharles Byrne was an eighteenth-century celebrity “Irish giant” who requested burial upon nearing death, but whose corpse was procured against his wishes by the surgeon John Hunter. Hunter reduced Byrne's corpse to its skeleton and exhibited it as the centerpiece of his vast anatomical collection. It has since remained on display in the Hunterian Museum, London. In 2011 it was announced that research conducted on the skeleton's DNA has revealed that several Northern Irish families share a common ancestry with Byrne. This article considers the legal issues raised by Byrne's story. The results of fieldwork undertaken by the author in Byrne's native townland are also discussed, where folk tradition suggests that Byrne wished to be buried foremost at a local site remembered today as “the Giant's Grave.”

J. E. Gray, Charles Darwin, and the Cirripedes , 1846-1851

1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-63 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Goose Barnacle ◽  
The Common

The exchanges, correspondence or other, between John Edward Gray (1800-1875), Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum from 1840, and Charles Darwin (1809-1882), are so few that the little there is assumes unusual significance. It is however, a fortunate circumstance that their one and only working collaboration reflected favourably on the character and generosity of both men. This concerned an investigation into a sub-class of the Crustacea, the Cirripedia , comprising the barnacles (the acorn shells and forms related to them). The common goose-barnacle, Lepas anatifera , had long drawn attention to itself by adhering to the bottoms of ships, and so acquired a high nuisance value which prompted further study. The first naturalists associated with investigations of its structure and classification from the eighteenth century onwards include several famous European names: among the French, Cuvier, Blainville and Lamarck who removed it from the mollusca into the Crustacea; and among the English, John Hunter, Everard Home and W. E. Leach. It was Leach (1790-1836) who, having a large collection at his disposal in the British Museum, at Montagu House, provided the Encyclopaedia Britannica , Supplement of 1819, with the first English classification. It was this collection that gave both Gray and Darwin much of the material for their work, and since this paper is concerned with the relations between them rather than with the specimens, a word needs be said of the different course of their early careers.

Young's Night Thoughts in Relation to Contemporary Christian Apologetics

PMLA ◽  
1934 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-70
Author(s):  
Isabel St. John Bliss
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Outstanding Feature ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
Christian Apologetics ◽  
Personal Element

An Understanding of the purposes and the popularity of Young's Night Thoughts is possible only through a realization of their relation to contemporary currents of thought. For the most part critics have confined their attention to the so-called personal element and the treatment of the theme of death, and have neglected perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Night Thoughts, the interest in Christian apologetics. Though the nine poems reveal a shift in emphasis and purpose—the first five, of 459, 694, 536, 842, and 1068 lines respectively, chiefly concerned with moral reflections on life and death, and the last four, of 819, 1480, 1417, and 2434 lines, almost wholly devoted to apologetics—there is throughout a fairly definite effort to defend one phase or other of religion. This rationalistic defence of religion places the poems in the current of apologetic literature so outstanding in the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth century. Analysis of Young's aims and arguments will show to what extent he is following those of the outstanding defenders of religion and demonstrate that the Night Thoughts are to be considered as largely an expression of contemporary apologetics.

scholarly journals XI. An appendix to a paper on the nervous ganglia of the uterus, with a further account of the nervous structures of that organ

1842 ◽  
Vol 132 ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Gravid Uterus ◽  
Human Uterus ◽  
Hypogastric Nerve ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Sacral Nerves ◽  
The Brain ◽  
William Hunter

From the functions of the human uterus, Galen inferred that it must be supplied with nerves, but there is no evidence to prove that Galen, or any of the celebrated anatomists who flourished before the middle of the eighteenth century, ever traced the great sympathetic and sacral nerves into the uterus, or discovered that its nerves enlarge during pregnancy. This was first done by Dr. W. Hunter, who describes the hypogastric nerve on each side as passing to the gravid uterus, behind the hypogastric vessels, and spreading out in branches like the portio dura of the seventh pair, or like the sticks of a fan, with many communications over the whole side of the uterus and vagina. As Dr. Hunter never examined the nerves of the unimpregnated uterus, and saw the nerves of the gravid uterus dissected only in one subject, he did not certainly know that they increased after conception. “I cannot,” he observes, “take upon me to say what change happens to the system of uterine nerves from utero-gestation, but I suspect them to be enlarged in proportion as the vessels.” Mr. John Hunter denied that the nerves of the uterus ever enlarged during pregnancy. “The uterus in the time of pregnancy,” he says, “increases in substance and size, probably fifty times beyond what it naturally is, and yet we find that the nerves of this part are not in the smallest degree increased. This shows that the brain and nerves have nothing to do with the actions of a part, while the vessels which are evident increase in proportion to the increased size; if the same had taken place with the nerves, we should have reasoned from analogy.” Dr. William Hunter left no preparations of the nerves of the uterus, nor did Mr. J. Hunter, in support of their conflicting statements, and at the beginning of the year 1838 I believe there were no preparations in this country, showing the nerves of the uterus dissected, either in the unimpregnated or gravid state. Sir Astley Cooper then maintained, that it was impossible for the nerves of the uterus, or the nerves of any other organ, to increase under any circumstances.

Mărul, funcții și valențe simbolice

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 76-92
Author(s):  
Marius Ciprian Pop ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Culture ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Folk Tradition ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Axis Mundi

In the universal beliefs, there are over twenty species of sacred trees considered as the center of the universe, ‘axis mundi’, and the apple is among the trees of these species. In our traditional culture, the apple has a bivalent symbolism magically and Christian religiously, representing the aspect of interdiction and only of reward. As a reflection of the influence of the Greek mythology, one also could find it as a symbol of love, ecstasy, fertility and abundance. According to the belief that each man has a correspondent in the vegetal world, the apple becomes “tree of destiny” accompanying the terrestrial existence in the following stages: birth, marriage, death. From birth the baby accompanies his life with its planting tree in the farmstead yard, and it will support the good way of his life, the one of passing to the world beyond. The multitude and the diversity of the customs and of the passage rituals clearly support the showed statements. It is also necessary to mention the symbolic, juridical valence that apple has in understanding the ancient mythology found in the dispute on the theme of beauty of the Gods Hera, Aphrodite and Athens, known as ‘the marriage of discord’, which defines this aspect. The complementarity of the apple with the fir tree, which is always seconded, is specific to our folk tradition in the context in which both trees have important roles in the mythology of life and death. The space of carols is often marked by the existence of a cosmic tree, the apple of the fir tree, which sums up much of the spiritual activities of our people. Like the fir tree, which is evergreen, the apple, which is preserved as a fruit over the winter, it becomes a symbol of the eternal longing seen in the wishes of passing between years, and as a symbol of fertility, one can find the apple ‘in the breast’ or in the incantation ‘White Apple Flowers’. Therefore, as a reflection of the solar cult, the apple is a landmark in the millennial existence of our nation.

The Life and Death of BITs: Legal Issues Concerning Survival Clauses and the Termination of Investment Treaties

2012 ◽  
pp. 928-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Harrison
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Investment Treaty ◽  
Unilateral Termination ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Investment Treaties

This article considers a number of legal issues that arise when states decide to terminate treaties providing protection to foreign investors. This is an area that is governed both by specific provisions in investment treaties, as well as by principles of general international law. The article considers two particular mechanisms that seek to promote legal certainty for investors by limiting the ability of states to peremptorily revoke the protection offered by investment treaties. Firstly, it considers minimum periods of application. Secondly, it analyzes so-called survival clauses, which serve to extend the application of a treaty to established investors for a particular period of time after its unilateral termination. The article compares the scope of these provisions under a variety of investment treaties in order to identify differences in state practice. It also discusses the limits of these mechanisms against the backdrop of general international law. Finally, the article considers whether protection is also available for established investors when both parties to an investment treaty mutually agree to terminate the treaty. In this context, the article looks at the theory of third party rights and its application in the context of investment treaties.

Natural sex reversal in vertebrates

1970 ◽  
Vol 259 (828) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Sea Bass ◽  
Sex Reversal ◽  
Human History ◽  
Common Occurrence ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Early Human ◽  
Royal Society Of London

The phenomenon of sex reversal and hermaphroditism in vertebrates has been observed since early human history dating back to Aristotle, who also recorded that the , a sea-bass, reproduced without copulation. Despite their common occurrence and early discoveries, hermaphroditic animals, with or without sex reversal, aroused fear rather than interest before the eighteenth century; the laying ‘cock’ and the crowing ‘hen’ were usually put to death in accordance with the medieval laws (Evans 1906). The first experimental approach to intersexuality and sex reversal in vertebrates commenced with the work on birds and domestic mammals by John Hunter, who once gave an account to the Royal Society of London in 1780 on a most extraordinary pheasant, which ‘ after having produced several broods, moulted, and the succeeding feathers were those of a cock. This animal was never afterwards impregnated . . .’ (Marshall 1964).

Studies in Turkish History and Folk-Legend

1913 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 198-220
Author(s):  
F. W. Hasluck
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Family Solidarity ◽  
The Family ◽  
Turkish Family ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
Rare Advantage ◽  
Folk Tradition ◽  
Compare And Contrast

The Karaosmanoglou dynasty, which during the eighteenth century and part of the nineteenth ruled the province of Saroukhan (Magnesia) in Asia Minor, stands almost alone in Turkish history as an example of a family which not only won and retained a wide local supremacy, but was conspicuous for family solidarity and wise administration throughout its tenure of power. Of the numerous pretenders to independence who disputed the Sultans' sway during the centuries in question few were able to make their claims hereditary and none could justly boast as could the Karaosmanoglou that their administration had raised their dominions from poverty and disorder to a degree of prosperity unknown probably since the Roman empire.The history, real and mythical, of this great Turkish family affords an interesting illustration of the growth of folk-tradition and its relation to historical fact, since we have here the rare advantage of being able to compare and contrast fact and fiction, and even to trace the growth of the myth. Less than a hundred and fifty years from the rise of the family, which is not extinct at the present day, its real origin is completely obscured; its actual history is supplanted by a purely legendary set of incidents and associations by which the family gains in prestige no less than in antiquity.

scholarly journals “My Palate Hung With Starlight” – A Gastrocritical Reading of Seamus Heaney’s Poetry

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-39
Author(s):  
Anke Klitzing
Keyword(s):  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Food Studies ◽  
Seamus Heaney ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Nobel-prize winning poet Seamus Heaney is celebrated for his rich verses recalling his home in the Northern Irish countryside of County Derry. Yet while the imaginative links to nature in his poetry have already been critically explored, little attention has been paid so far to his rendering of local food and foodways. From ploughing, digging potatoes and butter-churning to picking blackberries, Heaney sketches not only the everyday activities of mid-20th century rural Ireland, but also the social dynamics of community and identity and the socio-natural symbiosis embedded in those practices. Larger questions of love, life and death also infiltrate the scenes, as they might in life, through hints of sectarian divisions and memories of famine. This essay proposes a gastrocritical reading of Heaney’s poetry to study these topics in particularly meaningful ways. Gastrocriticism is a nascent critical approach to literature that applies the insights gained in Food Studies to literary writings, investigating the relationship of humans to each other and to nature as played out through the prism of food, or as Heaney wrote: “Things looming large and at the same time [...] pinned down in the smallest detail.”

scholarly journals ‘Spoken from the Impulse of the Moment’: Epistolarity, Sensibility, and Breath in Frances Burney’s Evelina

2021 ◽  
pp. 241-259
Author(s):  
Gillian Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Moral Discernment ◽  
Moral Conduct ◽  
Epistolary Fiction ◽  
The Moment

AbstractSkinner explores the neglected role of breath in the mapping and understanding of eighteenth-century sensibility. Thematically rich in their associations with body and spirit, life and death, breath and breathlessness are also woven into the stylistic particularities of both sentimental and epistolary fiction. Examination of the epistolarity of Evelina, and the dramatic use of dialogue Burney became known for, reveals breathlessness as the signifier of intense and instinctive moral discernment of the kind described by eighteenth-century philosophers such as Frances Hutcheson, complicating the view that the heroine of epistolary fiction more generally, and Evelina in particular, is purely passive. Instead, she emerges as actively involved in numerous scenarios that at once challenge her capacity for moral conduct and allow her to demonstrate her power to act.

scholarly journals Tumour Angiogenesis: A Growth Area—From John Hunter to Judah Folkman and Beyond

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Stephenson ◽  
J. C. Goddard ◽  
O. Al-Taan ◽  
A. R. Dennison ◽  
B. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Angiogenesis Inhibitors ◽  
The Body ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Tumour Angiogenesis ◽  
Everyday Clinical Practice ◽  
Growth Area ◽  
Great Hope ◽  
John Hunter ◽  
Year 2000

Angiogenesis is the growth of new blood vessels in the body. Abnormal angiogenesis is recognised as a “common denominator” in many disease processes, and the development of angiogenesis inhibitors holds great hope in the ongoing battle against cancer. The field of angiogenesis has roots in the Hunterian era of the late eighteenth century but did not begin to blossom until the early 1970s when the then controversial findings and conclusions of Judah Folkman, the “father of angiogenesis,” were first published. There were only 65 publications with angiogenesis in the title in the 10 years after Folkman first proposed the idea of tumour angiogenesis, compared to over 9,000 publications from the year 2000 to 2010. In this review we will explore the voyage of discovery from the first observations of John Hunter in the eighteenth century, via the struggle faced by Folkman to prove the importance of angiogenesis, and finally how his determination has led to modern angiogenesis inhibitors being used in everyday clinical practice.

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