"Lingue di seripi", "serpents' tongues" and "glossopetrae". Highlights from the history of popular "cult" medicine in early modern times

In the 16th, 17th and 18th century "Glossopetrae", popularly known as "Lingue di Serpi", found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, were extensively used for medical purposes as antidotes. These fossil teeth, including specimens of the "Carcharodon Megalodon" (an extinct variant of the great white shark), were ground to powder or used as amulet pendants and "credence" and exported to pharmacies and shops in various cities of Europe. In antiquity, authors like Plinius or Solinus, excluding any religious connotations, had regarded "Glossopetrae" as objects "fallen from heaven on dark moonless nights". However, from the beginning of the 16th century the miraculous antidotic power of the specimens found at Malta was very strongly connected with the Pauline cult there. This cult owed ist origin to the excerpt of the shipwreck of the Apostle of the Gentiles on this island, as recorded in the New Testament. As in so many cases found in medieval and early modern medicine and pharmacy, the renown, collection, distribution and use of the antidote "Glossopetrae" or "Lingue di Serpi" was never limited to its real chemical and pharmaceutical properties. In the period of enlightenment and secular thinking mythic medicine as "Glossopetrae" had lost ist "magical" power. Consequently, with beginning of the late 18th century also the Maltese "Glossopetrae" featured in literature merely as exotic objects of curiosity or symbols of an age bound to medical superstition.     

Issues in comparative psychology at the dawn of the 20th century.

Comparative psychology emerged as part of the "new psychology" that took hold in the United States around 1900. Many of the issues that have occupied comparative psychologists throughout the 20th century were developed as research problems during this period. In some respects, comparative psychology was then an integral and widely respected part of psychology at large; in others, it was already marginalized. Issues emerging during this critical period set the program for the upcoming century and included those of methodology in the conduct of experiments and conceptual issues related to evolution, development, intelligence, and higher processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origin and evolution of the term "psychology."

Presents a historical review of the term "psychology." It is noted that while the word contains Greek elements, it does not have origins in Greek antiquity. This study suggests that the word originated in the 16th century "to refer to 1 aspect of spiritual being" and was 1st used as a title of academic lectures by Philipp Melanchton (1497-1560). Further development of the term through the mid-19th century is presented, including a table providing a chronology from Melanchton through Herbert Spencer's "Principles of Psychology" (1855). (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abuse of registry data 2. Thirteen surgeons work with statistical sections

A brief review of extremely important bio-bibliographic work of An-Nadim from the end of 10th century was made in this paper. "Index" encompass the list of all works written in Arabic, as well translated to Arabic until the end of 10th century. It consists of 10 chapters, and many sub-chapters. Finally, it was divided into parts consisting of certain authors. This work is not just a bio-bibliography-it is, due to numerous and voluminous commentaries of An-Nadim, a real cultural encyclopedia of all human knowledge. A purpose of this work was to let people know real features of certain works. Objectivity is an important and significant characteristic of author's approach. He often points out that he just transfers factography, but not a personal attitude. At the end of this paper, attitude that it is necessary to devote ourselves to further investigation of "Index" was pointed out, as to find out some still unknown facts from all fields of science, arts, religion etc. In that purpose, it is necessary to investigate the private libraries, as well as the libraries of religion institutions, because they do not publish their complete catalogues.     

Reared in adversity: institutional care of children in the 18th century

The earliest public pediatric care of the 18th century in this country took the form of "outdoor relief." Institutional care followed, first almshouses were built; then orphanages, hospitals, and dispensaries. Almshouses not only included workhouses but provided comprehensive medical services. Throughout the 18th century, people often referred to the almshouses as hospitals. As general hospitals, they rendered a variety of pediatric services to sick children, including the idiotic and hopelessly crippled, and the newborns delivered in the maternity wards; and they tendered services for well children, such as foundlings, abandoned children, and the children of destitute parents, placing infants in foster homes and indenturing older children for training in various trades and crafts. The voluntary hospitals, on the other hand, were for the "worthy" poor and limited their services to the insane and the curable sick. There were only two opened during the 18th century-the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1752 and the New York Hospital in 1791. The former excluded young children during the 18th century. Orphanages preceded the voluntary hospitals in point of time, offering many pediatric services to children, well and sick. Finally, at the end of the century, the independent dispensaries appeared, the first in Philadelphia in 1786. By the middle of this 20th century, practically all of them had been absorbed by hospitals. In these institutions, pediatric knowledge advanced and medical manpower developed even during the 18th century. By the end of that century, social movements began from which evolved the 19th-century concern for the welfare of children.     

Funtionalism, Darwinism, and the psychology of women.

Examines the psychology of women as it was studied from the middle of the 19th century to the 1st 3rd of the 20th century. During that period 3 topics received the most attention: sex differences in brain size and complexity and their implications for cognitive and affective behavior; the hypothesis of greater male variability (a corollary of evolutionary theory) and its social implications; and the expression of maternal instinct. Each topic is examined in relation to evolutionary theory and its influence on the conduct of 19th century science. The antecedents of each topic are traced as is the subsequent redefinition of each within the paradigm of behaviorism. It is proposed that each of these topics functioned as "scientific myth" which justified and explained contemporary cultural values. (71 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The good-provider role: Its rise and fall.

The general structure of the "traditional" American family, in which the husband-father is the provider and the wife-mother the housewife, began to take shape early in the 19th century. This structure lasted from the 1830s to 1980, when the US Census no longer automatically denominated the male as head of the household. As "providing" became increasingly mediated by cash derived from participation in the labor force or from commercial enterprises, the powers and prerogatives of the provider role augmented, and those of the housewife declined. Gender identity became associated with work site as well as with work. In the 20th century, more and more married women entered the labor force and assumed a share of the provider role. At the present time a process that R. Smith calls "the subtle revolution" is realigning family roles. Social-psychological obstacles related to gender identity have to be overcome before a new social-psychological structure can be achieved. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflicts and mixed signals in psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and Gestalt psychology.

At the turn of the 20th century, European psychologists found themselves in conflict situations with respect to the role that private mental states should play in a scientific psychology. Out of this conflict arose 3 of the best-known schools of the 20th century: psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and Gestalt psychology. Each of these schools is discussed with respect to two characteristics. First, the authors discuss the attitude of each school on the meaning of the word unconscious as it was understood around 1900. Second, the authors discuss the influence of each school on the reception accorded to books written around 1900 espousing viewpoints that did not cohere with the school's beliefs. Such books may be considered "missed signals" in the history of psychology. "Hits" associated with each school are also highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

William Osler's "The nervousness of American women."

Almost a century ago, William Osler, the foremost physician of his time, was approached by a leading periodical to write a series of articles on the health of the American woman. Osler, then the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, wrote an essay dealing with the psychological stresses affecting the "new woman" of the early 20th century at varying stages of her development and the "nervousness" that ensued. The article was never published as a result of his belated reservations on the propriety of a professional writing for a lay journal. Osler's thinking frequently reflected the spirit of his Victorian-Edwardian era, although at times he demonstrated advanced and prescient ideas about sexuality, not often the subject of discussion, even in circumspect form, in contemporary nonprofessional literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The best of consulting psychology 1900-2000: Insider perspectives.

A Society of Consulting Psychology (SCP), survey, The Best of the Century (BoC) found Freud, Lewin, Maslow, and Argyris to have the "strongest influence on consulting psychology" in the 20th century. Lewin, Kelly, and Levinson were identified as having the "most influence on my practice." Organizational Diagnosis (Levinson, 1972) was considered the most significant contribution to consulting psychology literature. Modeled on the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954), the BoC survey asked about: (1) influences on the practice of consulting psychology (CP); (2) influences on the respondent's consulting practice; (3) books and articles that influenced CP; (4) unfinished business that will impact the future; and, (5) notable achievements or blunders of the 20th century. Personality theories and intervention methods were considered the greatest achievement. "Overestimating, overselling, overemphasizing, and overdoing of behaviorism" received resounding endorsement as the blunder of the century. The pressing future need was seen as an identity issue: What differentiates consulting psychologists from other types of consultants? How can psychologists influence public perceptions of what consulting psychologists do, and can do? The caveat for the future: avoiding cookie-cutter approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

浅析日本教育与中国近代学制的颁行

19世纪末、20世纪初,日本的教育对中国产生了巨大影响.清政府通过派遣使臣、留学生和聘请日本教习等途径进行考察学习,推行教育改革,制定了中国教育史上第一个正式颁布并实行的学制--<癸卯学制>.对日本近代学校制度的学习和移植直接促进了中国现代学制的建立.     

A coherent phase diagram of the [(AuCu)0.86Ag0.14]1-XPtX pseudobinary section in Au-Cu-Ag-Pt quaternary system

Hephaestus (or Hephaistos) is an Olympian Greek god, the divine smith, famed for inventions, who taught men glorious crafts. The fixed epithet for Hephaestus, used from the eighth century B.C. by Homer, Hesiod, and other ancient authors until the fifth century A.D., is "Amphiguéeis," i.e., with both feet crooked. He is also called "Kullopodíou," i.e., clubfooted. His body and his gait were described by Homer: "He spake, and from the anvil rose, a huge, panting bulk, halting the while, but beneath him his slender legs moved nimbly ... and with a sponge wiped his face and his two hands withal, and his mighty neck and shaggy breast, ... and grasped a stout staff, and went forth halting; but there moved swiftly to support their lord handmaidens wrought of gold in the semblance of living maids." His anomaly was congenital, as we learn from Hephaestus himself ("I was born misshapen") and from his mother Hera ("But my son Hephaestus whom I bare was weakly among all the blessed gods and shrivelled of foot."). Vase paintings of the sixth century B.C. depict Hephaestus' lameness, but his lameness is not emphasized in the fifth century and thereafter. It is most likely that bilateral congenital clubfeet made Hephaestus lame. Two sons of Hephaestus, Palaemonius and Periphetes, were also reported as having deformed feet.     

Suggestibility of the child witness: a historical review and synthesis

The field of children's testimony is in turmoil, but a resolution to seemingly intractable debates now appears attainable. In this review, we place the current disagreement in historical context and describe psychological and legal views of child witnesses held by scholars since the turn of the 20th century. Although there has been consistent interest in children's suggestibility over the past century, the past 15 years have been the most active in terms of the number of published studies and novel theorizing about the causal mechanisms that underpin the observed findings. A synthesis of this research posits three "families" of factors--cognitive, social, and biological--that must be considered if one is to understand seemingly contradictory interpretations of the findings. We conclude that there are reliable age differences in suggestibility but that even very young children are capable of recalling much that is forensically relevant. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of expert witnesses.     

The misrepresentation of the human pelvis

A representative series of illustrations of the human bony pelvis dating from the sixteenth century to the present is used to demonstrate the persistent misrepresentation in the orientation of the pelvis and in the nomenclature. Early erroneous concepts were probably strongly reinforced by publications of the Belgian anatomist Vesalius in the sixteenth century. In mounting the vertebrae on a vertical iron rod, he erased much of the sacral curvature and, as a consequence, the orientation of the rest of the pelvis was distorted. True versions of the pelvis were executed by Leonardo da Vinci before the time of Vesalius but these drawings were apparently among those that were lost for many years. A relatively small number of similarly accurate depictions of the bony pelvis have appeared down through the centuries and some of these are also included. A persistent error in many anatomical textbooks used today presents a modified inferior view of the pelvis as the "front view" and a nearly accurate front view as a "view from above." No definitive conclusion can be reached concerning the reason(s) for the remarkably long persistence of this error. The figures referenced are presented in the Gallery immediately following this article.     

Shuttle vectors for hyperthermophilic archaea

BACKGROUND: The science of medicine is a constantly evolving process that builds on the experiences and observations of the past. We hypothesized that the issues of pediatric and adolescent gynecology were also of concern to physicians practicing in the 19th century. We sought to determine the extent to which our forebears of over 100 years ago considered, diagnosed, and treated these problems. METHODS: We conducted an exhaustive search through two English-language medical journals, The Obstetrical Journal of Great Britain and Ireland (vol. 1-7, 1873-1880) and The American Journal of Obstetrics (vol. 1-32, 1869-1895), for articles relating to pediatric and adolescent gynecology. RESULTS: The most frequently encountered subject was the surgical management of congenital absence or atresia of the vagina and associated anomalies of adjacent organs. By 1881, the opinion expressed by many investigators was that the method used by Thomas Addis Emmet to create an artificial vagina between the bladder and the rectum by a single-stage procedure of blunt dissection and the immediate placement of a glass vaginal dilator gave the best chance of a favorable outcome. The practice of making an artificial opening through the rectum was abandoned. In 1882, a review of published reports noted 43% postoperative mortality in children treated for benign and malignant ovarian tumors. A review article in 1891 reported a 10% mortality rate associated with treatment of the imperforate hymen. A research article in 1870 noted the mean age at menarche in England to be 14.96 years. Additional subjects in the literature included: "Acquired Venereal Disease in Children" warning of the need for "rigid ... scrutiny of the attendants and playmates of children" (1893), the enigmatic occurrence of "Vaginal Hemorrhage in an Infant Five-Days-Old" (1874), the brutal atrocities perpetrated against "The Child Wives of India" (1895), "Early Pregnancy" reviewing childbirth by young adolescents (1874), "Hermaphrodism" (1886), "The ... Hymen and Its Remains ..." (1871), a "Case of Fatal Hemorrhage from the Genital Organs" in which a 17-year-old exsanguinated from a vaginal laceration (1879), and "Primary Sarcoma of the Vagina ... in a Child Three-Years-Old" (1881). CONCLUSION: Modern pediatric and adolescent gynecology can trace its roots to well over a century ago.     

C.-E. A. Winslow: scientist, activist, and theoretician of the American public health movement throughout the first half of the twentieth century

C.-E. A. Winslow was the leading theoretician of the American public health movement during the entire first half of the twentieth century. An eminent bacteriologist, he subsequently made outstanding scientific contributions to occupational health and to the hygiene of housing. As activist, theoretician and historian, he played an important role in environmental health, epidemiology and disease prevention, public health administrative practice, health education, public health nursing, mental health, medical care, and the improvement of living standards. When he died in 1957, the American Journal of Public Health commented that "For a long half century Professor Winslow could be found always at the thick of the struggle for the people's health. In whatever area new gains appeared possible of achievement, there he would be--planning, inspiring, leading, or digging in to hold the advance."     

Some early measurements and ratings in psychology.

Major discussion headings are statistics, vision, memory, attention, thought, probability, and esthetics. "Quantitative data concerning vision may be found as early as the literature of the 18th century… .All early measurements of memory were concerned with cases of extraordinary memory.… In the very middle of the 18th century, a little work appeared which apparently represents the 1st attempt to measure the 'velocity of thought.'… The 1st reliably known psychological measurements and ratings made in the interests of science do not go back further than the beginning of the 18th century." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

创建清洁钢铁厂,可持续发展中国钢铁业

21世纪,人类必须改变传统工业发展模式,以“人与自然的和谐共存,协调发展”的新价值观,对现有工业体系进行革新,中国是发展中国家,面临的经济发展和环境保护与发达国家有不同之处,环境问题应该在经济发展,推进社会进步的过程中去解决。中国已经成为世界第一产钢大国,创建清洁钢铁厂是推进产业升级,提高市场竞争力和实施可持续发展战略的一项重要措施。     

Max Sandreczky: a pediatric surgeon in 19th-century Jerusalem

Until the mid-19th century, there had not been a single resident physician in the Holy Land. However, by the first World War in 1914, 19 hospitals had been established in Jerusalem. The reasons for this unusual phenomenon were religious, political, and sectarian. This does not apply to The Marienstift Kinderhospital, which was unique in 19th century Jerusalem. The hospital was founded and operated by Dr Max Sandreczky, a German pediatric surgeon. The standards of medical and surgical practice in the hospital not only compared favorably with those in western Europe, but, in certain aspects, they were more advanced. The Marienstift Kinderhospital was an "implant" of a western institution in a society that was medieval in character. The response of this society was studied as well as the natural history of this unique institution and its medical director, the pediatric surgeon, Dr Max Sandreczky.