scholarly journals XXX. A letter from Mr. Lane, Apothecary, in Aldersgate-Street, to the Honourable Henry Cavendish, F. R. S. on the solubility of iron in simple water, by the intervention of fixed air

1769 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 216-227 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Mineral Waters ◽  
The Subject

Sir, The various impregnations of mineral waters have always been very difficult to explain: and whoever has read the divers, and often contradictory reasonings upon the subject, must clearly perceive, that there is still room for discoveries in this part of natural history.

scholarly journals I. The Croonian Lecture.—On the theory of the vertebrate skull

1859 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 381-457 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Biological Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Small Space ◽  
Half Century ◽  
Organic Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The Mind

The necessity of discussing so great a subject as the Theory of the Vertebrate Skull in the small space of time allotted by custom to a lecture, has its advantages as well as its drawbacks. As, on the present occasion, I shall suffer greatly from the disadvantages of the limitation, I will, with your permission, avail myself to the uttermost of its benefits. It will be necessary for me to assume much that I would rather demonstrate, to suppose known much that I would rather set forth and explain at length; but on the other hand, I may consider myself excused from entering largely either into the history of the subject, or into lengthy and controversial criticisms upon the views which are, or have been, held by others. The biological science of the last half-century is honourably distinguished from that of preceding epochs, by the constantly increasing prominence of the idea, that a community of plan is discernible amidst the manifold diversities of organic structure. That there is nothing really aberrant in nature; that the most widely different organisms are connected by a hidden bond; that an apparently new and isolated structure will prove, when its characters are thoroughly sifted, to be only a modification of something which existed before,—are propositions which are gradually assuming the position of articles of faith in the mind of the investigators of animated nature, and are directly, or by implication, admitted among the axioms of natural history.

scholarly journals VIII.—On the calcification of the vertebral centra in sharks and rays

1921 ◽  
Vol 210 (372-381) ◽  
pp. 311-407 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Research Laboratory ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Imperial College ◽  
Vertebral Centra ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Elasmobranch Fishes ◽  
Fossil State

In this paper are recorded the results of an investigation undertaken at the instance of Dr. A. Smith Woodward for the purpose of ascertaining to what extent the pattern presented by the calcified laminæ of the centrum is of value as an aid to the classification of Elasmobranch fishes, and to the identification of vertebræ found in the fossil state. The subject was dealt with exhaustively in 1879-1885 by Hasse, who, in his monograph ‘Das natürliche System der Elasmobranchier,’ claimed that the differences in the disposition of the calcified laminæ in the various genera and families of Elasmobranchs occur with such constancy and regularity that they may be accepted with confidence as an important factor in taxonomy. During the years, however, that have passed since the publication of this monograph the thesis has come to be looked upon with suspicion, and vertebrate morphologists at the present time do not, as a whole, regard Hasse’s definitions of the Cyclospondyli, Tectospondyli, and Asterospondyli as consistently applicable to the genera and species included by him within those groups. The material studied in the course of the investigation was to a large extent accumulated several years ago (see p. 313), and it was only the superior attraction of Cephalodiscus as a subject of research that prevented the work from being brought to an earlier conclusion. The examination of this accumulated material, and of that more recently acquired, was carried on in the Huxley Research Laboratory of the Imperial College of Science during the winter of 1917 and from May, 1919, to May, 1920, and I hereby acknowledge my great indebtedness to Prof. E. W. MacBride and the administrative officers of the College for the facilities offered there for the prosecution of the work. I have further to thank Prof. MacBride for frequent advice and for valuable suggestions made during the progress of the research. My thanks are also due, and are hereby tendered, to Dr. A. Smith Woodward and Mr. C. Tate Began, of the British Museum (Natural History), for many helpful hints and suggestions. Acknowledgments and thanks for material kindly furnished by various donors are recorded on p. 313.

Roman Climate Awareness in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-282
Author(s):  
Jane Millar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Agricultural Labor ◽  
Agricultural Communities ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Untapped Resource

This article examines the past and potential contributions of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (NH) on the subject of Roman perceptions and experiences of environmental change. It asks in particular how classicists, archaeologists, and environmental historians can responsibly use the NH as a source on ancient climate. First, it briefly reviews relevant topics in the paleoclimatology of the Roman world, a rapidly advancing discipline enabling the identification of ancient climate changes with increasing precision and confidence (I). The article then turns to the reliability of Pliny as an authority on ancient climate by examining his accuracy, objectivity, and use of source material in literary and historical context, including his rhetorical goals, which have gone understudied until quite recently (II). A close reading of passages on environmental and climate change follows, highlighting areas in which Pliny’s observations are at odds with his source material. The examples discussed demonstrate the importance of phenology (III) and meteorology (IV) in Pliny’s encyclopedic account of the natural world, one characterized by anthropocentrism, pragmatism, and an emphasis on local knowledge. The evidence for ancient climate change is plentiful but not conclusive on the details and timing, and further studies will continue to refine local records. Rather than presenting a synthetic reconstruction based on Pliny’s observations, I argue that his encyclopedia offers an untapped resource on ancient climate and weather, not only by providing evidence of climate change, but also by recommending increased attention to seasonality, agricultural communities, and the lived experience of agricultural labor in order to better understand the effects of climate change on ancient populations.

Gessner’s fossil crab

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-430
Author(s):  
Walter Etter ◽  
Olivier Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Natural History Museum ◽  
History Museum ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
The World ◽  
Reference Collection ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Modern Sense

Abstract Nearly 450 years ago, the Swiss polymath Conrad Gessner was the first to use illustrations in a systematic manner in a book devoted to the subject of fossils. In his treatise De rerum fossilium . . . liber (1565), around 200 single objects are illustrated, of which almost fifty are fossils in the modern sense. Most of the figures were illustrations of pieces from Gessner’s private collection. Against all odds, some of these have survived to the present day in the Natural History Museum in Basel, Switzerland. These remains form the oldest palaeontological reference collection in the world. Among them is the crab that figured prominently in Gessner’s book and became an icon of the early palaeontological literature.

Allegations of child sexual abuse: delayed reporting and false memory

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Byrne ◽  
Noel Sheppard
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
False Memory Syndrome ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Eleven Case

AbstractEleven case histories, including diagnoses and outcome, are presented of patients who made, or were the subject of, allegations of sexual abuse, but where these allegations were subsequently withdrawn or disproved. How such situations come about is discussed, with special reference to the false memory syndrome, a term made popular by recent media coverage. Given the complexity of this ‘syndrome’, an argument is put forward that diagnostic guidelines be established so that direct studies of its natural history and treatments may be undertaken.

scholarly journals La literatura médica clásica y la arquitectura de las termas medicinales

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Mora
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Waters ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

En este artículo se analiza la relación entre la arquitectura de las termas medicinales, caracterizada por la presencia de la cámara denominada laconicum, y los tratamiemtos basados en las virtudes terapéuticas de las aguas minero-medicinales prescritos por la medicina experimental de origen griego. Para ello se han estudiado los textos clásicos referentes al tema, tanto el Tratado de Arquitectura de Vitruvio como los escritos sobre medicina de Celso, Galeno, Plinio y otros autores.This article analyses the relationship between the architecture of medicinal spas, such as those with a laconicum, and treatments based on the therapeutical vlrtues of medicinal mineral waters as prescribed by Greek doctors. The analysis is based on the study of classical texts on the subject, both the ten books on architecture by Vitruvius and the medicinal treatises of Celsus, Galenos, Pliny and other authors.

Schweigger’s (1812) chelonian types from the extinct eighteenth century Portuguese “Royal cabinet of natural history of Ajuda”: some contributions for their identification and nomenclatural implications

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3395 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUIS M. P. CERÍACO ◽  
ROGER BOUR
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Zoological Nomenclature ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Intense Debate

The work Prodromus Monographiae Cheloniorum, published by Schweigger in 1812, has recently been the subject ofseveral studies. One result of these studies—the rediscovery of the Testudo gigantea Schweigger, 1812holotype—triggered an intense debate in The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, where, among other issues in dispute,the identity and nature of the specimen indicated as the holotype for the species is put in question. Using historical sources,mostly unpublished, and analysis and comparison of taxidermic characteristics of the specimen with other specimens ofthe same nature, we can clearly trace its origin to the extinct Royal Cabinet of Natural History of Ajuda in Lisbon, fromthe “philosophical journey” of Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira to the specimens transported to Paris by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1808, thus helping dispel any doubts regarding the identity and nature of what is being identified as the Testudogigantea holotype, along with other chelonian specimens. This information is of great importance in the current taxonomicdebate as well as in recognizing the historic importance of the Royal Cabinet of Natural History of Ajuda and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s 1808 mission to Lisbon.

George Perry’s molluscan taxa and notes on the editions of his Conchology of 1811

Zootaxa ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 377 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD E. PETIT
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Current Usage ◽  
Nomina Dubia ◽  
The Subject ◽  
First Time

The molluscan taxa named by George Perry in his two publications, the Arcana; or the museum of natural history:, etc., published in 1810–1811, and the Conchology of 1811 are listed with notations on their current status, some figures being identified to the species level for the first time, some being placed in the synonymy of earlier names and others declared nomina dubia. Five species that are identified as previously unused senior subjective synonyms of names in current usage and one unused senior primary homonym are declared nomina oblita. Those declared herein to be nomina oblita are: Triplex cornuta Perry, 1811; Buccinella quadrata Perry, 1811; Cassis rotundata Perry, 1811; Aranea tentacula Perry, 1811; Buccinella tuberculata Perry, 1811; and Solen viride [sic; correctly viridis]. The names conserved are, respectively: Murex brevifrons Lamarck, 1822; Cancellaria spengleriana Deshayes, 1830; Cassis madagascariensis Lamarck, 1822; Murex cabritii Bernardi, 1859; Turbinella [now Vasum] globulus Lamarck, 1816; and Solen viridis Say, 1822.Three Perry species are shown to be senior synonyms of names in current use but do not qualify for nomen oblitum status under the Code. They are: Tellina aurea Perry, 1811; Triplex rosaria Perry, 1811; and Voluta pattersonia Perry, 1811. Junior subjective synonyms affected by these three are, respectively: Tellina vulsella Hanley, 1845; Chicoreus palmarosae (Lamarck, 1822); and Lyria nucleus (Lamarck, 1811). Type species designations for Perry’s genera are listed and type species are designated for Columna and Strigula. The treatment of Perry’s Conchology by other authors is discussed. Three distinct editions of the Conchology are identified. Perry’s Arcana is the subject of another paper now in preparation but its mollusks are treated herein.

II. Description of fossil remains of two species of a Megalanian genus ( Meiolania , Ow.), from Lord Howe’s Island

1886 ◽  
Vol 40 (242-245) ◽  
pp. 315-316 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Fossil Remains ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Differential Characters ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Scientific Survey

In a scientific survey by the Department of Mines, New South Wales, of Lord Howe’s Island, fossil remains were obtained which were transmitted to the British Museum of Natural History, and were confided to the author for determination and description. These fossils, referable to the extinct family of horned Saurians described in former volumes of the “Philosophical Transactions" under the generic name Megalania , form the subject of the present paper. They represent species smaller in size than Megalania prisca , Ow., and with other differential characters on which an allied genus Meiolania is founded.

Beyond “No food and drink in the gallery”: Writing a best practices document for food management in museums

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 111-117
Author(s):  
Rebecca Newberry ◽  
Bethany Palumbo ◽  
Fran Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Step Process ◽  
The Third ◽  
Preservation Methods ◽  
Food Management ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Food And Drink

Abstract In 2015, the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) Conservation Committee created a best practices document for food management in collection-holding institutions. This paper discusses the three-step process, devised by the committee, through which this was achieved. The first step was to research existing literature on the subject. Scant results showed that a best practices document on the subject would be of great benefit to the field. The second step was to survey collection professionals. This provided the committee a stronger understanding of current food management challenges and successes, as well as topics to address in the best practices document. The third step was to gain consensus from these professionals. A draft of the document was presented at three international conferences, and feedback was incorporated into the final recommendations. The best practices document is available on the SPNHC wiki and may be updated. It is possible to write a best practice on any subject by replicating this three-step process. The Conservation Committee believes this process can be applied to other areas that are in need of new or revised preservation methods.

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