The enigma of Sir William Robert Wills Wilde (1815–1876)

2021 ◽  
pp. 096777202110465
Author(s):  
Patrick Boland ◽  
Sean P Hughes

William Wilde, father of Oscar Wilde, made a significant contribution to ophthalmology and otology. Qualified as a surgeon. educated in statistics and showing sympathy for the Irish population, Wilde was appointed a Commissioner for the 1851 Census, which covered the time of the Irish Famine (1845–1852). Wilde, steeped in Irish mythology, used his knowledge to develop a close rapport with the Irish peasantry. However, his life was a paradox; he supported the British Government's approach to the Famine and at the same time he showed humanity to the Irish peasantry. In his personal life he was implicated in an abortive libel case involving a young female patient who had accused him of rape. Wilde lived as though he had two separate lives : on the one hand the successful surgeon, famine Commissioner and cataloguer of Irish antiquities, and the other a countryman and disciple of Irish mythology. Wilde was highly preceptive especially in his views on the recording of medical data and outcomes in clinical practice. We argue that Wilde was probably unmatched in the variety of his talents but was also perplexing in the various actions he took during his life and that indeed Wilde was an enigma.

Author(s):  
Helin Alagöz Gessler

This chapter analyses the effects of social media on political communication and the role they play in government-citizen relations by focusing on the Twitter ban phenomenon in Turkey in March 2014. The chapter asks the reasons of government intervention in social media, particularly Twitter. It argues that Twitter makes, on the one hand, a significant contribution to the evolution of political participation as it diversifies the process and methods of political communication. On the other hand, it introduces a new type of security dilemma which encourages governments to consider taking measures against social media to protect their authority.


2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Weimer

Reality is complex, and often does not lend itself to generalization or simplifying explanations. Yet at the same time, explaining reality often requires the shaping of notions and concepts of it through generalization and the reduction of complexity. This tension between complexity and particularity on the one hand and generalization and the search for abstracting explanatory patterns on the other is beautifully illustrated by two recently released publications on precaution and risk regulation in the United States and Europe, namely “The Politics of Precaution” by David Vogel1 and “The Reality of Precaution” edited by Jonathan Wiener, Michael Rogers, James Hammitt, and Peter Sand.Both books together can be seen as the latest significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the role of the precautionary principle in risk regulation in a comparative EU-US perspective. Both contributions are significant in that they consolidate the trend towards an empirically informed analysis of the actual practice of the application of precaution in risk regulation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-311
Author(s):  
Giorgio (Georg) Orlandi

Abstract The book under review serves as a significant contribution to the field of Trans-Himalayan linguistics. Designed as a vade mecum for readers with little linguistic background in these three languages, Nathan W. Hill’s work attempts, on the one hand, a systematic exploration of the shared history of Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese, and, on the other, a general introduction to the reader interested in obtaining an overall understanding of the state of the art of the historical phonology of these three languages. Whilst it is acknowledged that the book in question has the potential to be a solid contribution to the field, it is also felt that few minor issues can be also addressed.


This present paper deals with the SocioPolitical changes and the clash of values encountered after independent India represented in Nayantara Sahgal’s novel, This Time of Mornig. On the one hand, the study explores the conflicting attitude of idealism and pragmatism, humanism and non-humanism, and Gandhian Philosophy and Ganghian syndrome. The novel deals with the idealism of Kailas Virund, Prakash Sukla and Abdual Rahman is juxtaposed to the corrupt political system of Somnath, Hari Mohan and Kalyan. On the other hand, it deals with the problem of communication among the secluded elite of Delhi in term of artistic construct. The core theme of the novel is stated from the point of Rakesh who is himself uncertain vacillating anxious and hesitant at the beginning. Nita is another character who becomes susceptible to Kalyan’s influence. In her we find a young woman whose desires …both spiritual and sexual life have not been understood by her parents. Freedom is seen to be an indispensable prerequisite for human development. Every characters in this novel endeavour towards realization of freedom as basic human value. Sahgal’s prime interest in this novel is perfect and proper relationship between in public life as well as personal life and she ardently shows the problems caused by a changing order


Literator ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
L. Viljoen

This article explores the way in which the construction of Africa interacts with the construction of identity in the poetry written by Breyten Breytenbach. On the one hand, Breytenbach’s use of the name Jan Afrika, his attempts to emphasise the African-ness of the language Afrikaans as well as the construct Afrikaner indicate a desire to locate his origins in Africa and fix his identity in relation to Africa; on the other hand, it is clear that he constantly problematises the idea of a stable identity. Imposing a narrative on Breytenbach’s poetic oeuvre, it becomes clear that the ‘story’ of his poetry coincides with the order of events in his personal life and that his construction of Africa interacts with and determines the construction of his own identity. In conclusion it becomes clear that Breytenbach locates himself against the background of Africa from which he derives his sense of self, but at the same time takes the position of the nomad, exile, migrant or outsider because it provides him with a unique perspective and the possibilities of transgression and renewal.


Author(s):  
Pascal Roman ◽  
Mathilde Dublineau ◽  
Camila Saboia

This article highlights, on the one hand, the relevance of the Projective Kit for Early Childhood – a projective play test – in the dual prospect of research practice, and of clinical practice, on the other hand, considering a form of continuity between both these processes, as stressed by C. Chabert (1995 ). First, a brief introduction to this unique test in the field of psychopathology in young children serves to assess the relevance of this projective device in clinical practice and research. Then we successively present the test’s implications in actual clinical research, involving an evaluation of the psychoaffective dynamics of children with West syndrome (a form of epilepsy occurring in infants from the early stages of life, which impairs their development and frequently leads to psychopathological pictures in the autism spectrum) and as part of a clinical consultation process focused on the problem of depression.


1987 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lobban

Blackstone's Commentaries have traditionally evoked two responses. On the one hand, from Bentham on, the work has been seen as confused and contradictory, based on theoretical foundations which were either irrelevant to his task, or ignored in practice in the book. On the other hand, although his achievement and in particular his theorising have been criticised, the Commentaries have also been seen as the first attempt to systematise English law and to ground it on solid principles, thereby creating a new ‘science of English law’. Both Lord Mansfield and Bentham himself praised Blackstone on this score, while Sir William Jones enthused that ‘his Commentaries are the most correct and beautiful outline that was ever exhibited of any human science’ Modern writers have agreed that Blackstone made a significant contribution to the development of law as a science.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 692-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Margraf ◽  
Claudia Nussbaum ◽  
Markus Sperandio

AbstractAlthough the hemostatic potential of adult platelets has been investigated extensively, regulation of platelet function during fetal life is less clear. Recent studies have provided increasing evidence for a developmental control of platelet function during fetal ontogeny. Fetal platelets feature distinct differences in reactive properties compared with adults. These differences very likely reflect a modified hemostatic and homeostatic environment in which platelet hyporeactivity contributes to prevent pathological clot formation on the one hand but still ensures sufficient hemostasis on the other hand. In this review, recent findings on the ontogeny of platelet function and reactivity are summarized, and implications for clinical practice are critically discussed. This includes current platelet-transfusion practice and its potential risk in premature infants and neonates.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 664-664
Author(s):  
T. E. C.

Sir William Wilde (1815-1876) is remembered today, if at all, as the father of Oscar Wilde. Largely forgotten is that he was not only a distinguished archeologist and statistician but also the dominant figure in otology and ophthalmology of the Dublin School of Medicine, which was at its peak during his lifetime.1 Like most of his ophthalmologic contemporaries he believed that eyestrain led to visual impairment. He wrote2: In these days of forced education on the one hand, when unhappy children are compelled, both by parents and teachers, to pore over books, often of very small type, for hours and hours together, with the head bent, the shoulders stooped, the abdomen compressed, and the legs often dangling in the air, in crowded, badly illuminated, and illventilated apartments;— when young ladies in the upper circles, and those girls in the middle ranks who are preparing to be governesses and teachers, are obliged to "practice" and read music for five and six hours a day;—when young gentlemen are induced, either by threats or emulation, to read for eight and ten hours a day, and in addition several hours of the night, under the glare of a strong gas light, in order to uphold the character of a school or master at the risk—often at the expense of sight and life—when on the other hand, unfortunate tradesmen are compelled by low wages, the high price of provisions, and scarcity of work, to support their almost starving families by working in dark, damp cellars and garrets for fourteen or sixteen hours a day;—and when poor seamstresses and milliners are necessitated by the fashionable luxuries of the upper classes to work for no less than eighteen hours out of the twenty-four;—and when we add to this the various factories and private trades which require the continuous application of the eye to minute objects, we wonder not that near-sightedness and impaired or altered vision should be now so common amongst us.


2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eli Zaretsky

Situating psychoanalysis in the context of Jewish history, this paper takes up Freud's famous 1930 question: what is left in Judaism after one has abandoned faith in God, the Hebrew language and nationalism, and his answer: a great deal, perhaps the very essence, but an essence that we do not know. On the one hand, it argues that ‘not knowing’ connects psychoanalysis to Judaism's ancestral preoccupation with God, a preoccupation different from that of the more philosophical Greek, Latin and Christian traditions of theology. On the other hand, ‘not knowing‘ connects psychoanalysis to a post-Enlightenment conception of the person (i.e. of personal life), as opposed to the more abstract notion of the subject associated with Kant.


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