History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons^™

The Evolution Of Eugenics: The Birth Of A Movement, Caroline Tvardy

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This paper addresses the topic of the intellectual and academic foundations of the eugenics movement in England and the United States. It addresses how this basis formed in the highest levels of the academy and then permeated the rest of society in turn. Through this lens, it explores the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century British and American spheres of scientific and pseudoscientific thought, and how many of these unsavory ideas began in the academy and percolated into the masses. This paper argues the work of prominent biologists, mathematicians, and genetic researchers of the time created and pushed the narrative of racial and …

"Founding Its Empire On Spells Of Pleasure": Brunonian Excitability, The Invigorated English Opium-Eater, And De Quincey's "China Question", Menglu Gao

English and Literary Arts: Faculty Scholarship

What light can De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821) shed on its author's later advocacy of the First Opium War? To what degree did De Quincey's and other contemporaneous accounts of opium use in Britain influence metaphorical connections between bodily energy and national power in the 1830s and 1840s? Placing Confessions alongside John Brown's 1780 treatise, Elements of Medicine, this essay argues that De Quincey "nationalized" opium-eating by transforming mental exceptionality in British Romanticism into a medical body's connection with internal energies and external stimuli from China and "the Orient." The essay concludes that opium serves in …

The Corvus, The Roman Boarding Device, Jacob Stickel

Classics Ancient Science Fair

The Roman's made many technological advancements, many of which were of a military nature. This presentation discusses the creation, use and other aspects of the Corvus, a Roman invention for naval warfare.

The Woman's Role In Human Reproduction And Generation According To Ancient Greek And Roman Philosophers, Olivia Miller

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

From the Greek archaic period to the end of the Roman Empire, theories of reproduction and inheritance developed as new philosophers and medical practitioners tackled fundamental issues of generation and sex. Without tools to help them see the complex chemical and cellular processes of the body, ancient thinkers relied on their own observations and commonly-held beliefs about sex and gender to understand the human body. Until the Roman Empire, dissections and similar forms of clinical study were strictly taboo, with the result that the Greek philosophers could not conduct close investigations into human anatomy. Instead, they relied on their own …

Ensuring Accountability To Affected Populations In Humanitarian Settings: "Holding Humanitarian Organizations Accountable To People.", Jazmin Williamson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Aim: This research aims to examine what guidelines and regulations help ensure that humanitarian organizations are held accountable to their beneficiary populations.

Background: Although people have always been the focus of humanitarian aid, their voice and participation didn't become a centralized part of the conversation until the 1990s and later gained real traction in the early 2000s. During these times, many new foundational documents were created to highlight the "centrality of local participation in aid." Among the documents that enshrined this new principle of population participation included the 1992 Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent …

The 'Spanish Flu': A True Global Pandemic, Erin H. Keener

Student Publications

This paper examines the portrayal of the 'Spanish Flu' in the press as it was emerging on the scene in 1918. Using contemporaneous newspaper articles, it shows the evolution from denial, to blame, and eventually to a call to action that developed as it spread around the country. This piece also provides some insight into the parallels between this pandemic and the current Covid 19 pandemic in regard to how both were handled, and what can be learned from when this devastating occurrence repeats itself.

Ada News - 03/16/2020, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.

A New Kind Of Loom In Early Roman Egypt? How Iconography Could Explain (Or Not) Papyrological Evidence, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

The question of the different kinds of loom used in ancient Egypt is one of the most crucial issues to understanding the evolution of textile production and its technological development in the Nile Valley. However, sources concerning looms (archaeological, iconographic and written) from the Pharaonic era until the Arab medieval period are meagre, and many research questions remain open. This article is an attempt at a new interpretation of some evidence, particularly iconographic and papyrological, which could add new data to the study of weaving looms used in Egypt of the early Roman period (1st–2nd century AD).

Frontmatter For Egyptian Textiles And Their Production: ‘Word’ And ‘Object’. (Hellenistic, Roman And Byzantine Periods), Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

Covers

Dedication

Contents

Introduction by Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert

Contributors

Tackling The Technical History Of The Textiles Of El-Deir, Kharga Oasis, The Western Desert Of Egypt, Fleur Letellier-Willemin

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

The site of El-Deir is situated north of Kharga in the “Great Oasis” of the Egyptian Western Desert (fig. 1). The site was occupied between the 6th century BC and the 6th century AD. A complex history emerged with the influence of many cultures: Persian, Greek, Roman and early Christian. Archaeological finds in both El-Deir and the oasis itself (the site of Dush and the temple of Darius in Hibis, a city north of Kharga) confirm that the Great Oasis was a wealthy region. This is also substantiated by texts from Ain Manawir and Dakhleh. The presence of an artesian …

What Flaws Can Tell: A Case Study On Weaving Faults In Late Roman And Early Medieval Weft-Faced Compound Fabrics From Egypt, Barbara Köstner

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

Silk samites from Late Roman and Early Medieval Egypt are well-known objects in museum collections all over the world. One group of fragments, the so-called Akhmim silks, show a mechanically repeated floral pattern. More than 100 examples with this design are known; the fragments bear striking similarities in design and technique. Were they woven in the same workshop? If all or at least a large number of pieces could be traced back to several batches of production, this would lead to further insights concerning the economics of early silk weaving. A detailed analysis of two exemplary pieces reveals features that …

Ancient Greek Dyeing: A Terminological Approach, Peder Flemestad

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

The Oxford English Dictionary defines dyeing as: “to impregnate (any tissue or the like) with a colour, to fix a colour in the substance of, or to change the hue of by a colouring matter”. In ancient Greek this operation is in general expressed by the verb βάπτειν, but the process of dyeing could be designated by a multitude of other terms. The following contribution provides an overview of the extensive ancient Greek terminology for the action of dyeing. The focus therefore lies primarily on the verbs designating the dyeing process itself, while wider dye terminology is only occasionally touched …

Dyeing In Texts And Textiles: Words Expressing Ancient Technology, Ines Bogensperger, Helgo Rösel-Mautendorfer

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

The complex chaîne opératoire of ancient textile production in various stages has been frequently discussed by textile scholars. According to documentary papyri, textile manufacturing represented the highest taxed industry after agriculture. This emphasises its importance as a significant sector in the ancient economy. A highly specialised branch within the chaîne opératoire is the dyeing industry. Ancient dyers used natural and animal dyestuffs, as well as different dyeing techniques to achieve their colourful results. They were also aware of the specific properties of the different textile fibres. In ancient times, wool and linen were the characteristic materials for manufacturing textiles, but …

How (Not) To Organise Roman Textile Production. Some Considerations On Merchant-Entrepreneurs In Roman Egypt And The Ἱστωνάρχης, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

For almost the last 100 years, various ancient historians have suggested that organisations comparable to the “putting- out” system existed in the Roman Imperial period. They are most commonly believed to have occurred in textile production. As early as 1913, Theodor Reil assumed that the production of textiles in Roman Egypt was organised through the putting-out system. This idea can subsequently be traced through more than a century to recent publications. However, as this assumption is rarely based on genuine source material, it seems appropriate to get to the bottom of this hypothesis. In this context, special attention will also …

Textile Production In The Papyri: The Case Of Private Request Letters, Aikaterini Koroli

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

Throughout the “papyrological millennium”, that is from the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD, both administrative and private life in Egypt were largely based on letters. Apart from oral communication, letter writing, mostly on papyri and ostraca, was the only available form of communication for the inhabitants of the land of Nile when they needed to get in touch and exchange information with people who did not live in their immediate surroundings. Papyrus letters, written by and sent to private, ordinary people and not to the authorities, composed in the Greek vernacular and intended to fulfill a wide …

Domestic Textile Production In Dakhleh Oasis In The Fourth Century Ad, Jennifer Cromwell

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

Ancient Kellis, modern Ismant el-Kharab is located in Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert. The main occupation of the village was from the early to late Roman period (late 1st century to the beginning of the 5th century AD). Excavated as part of the Dakhleh Oasis Project, the site has revealed textual and archaeological evidence from which a detailed picture of life can be painted. To date, the main publications of the village’s finds have focussed on the textual remains, of literary and documentary texts in Coptic, Greek, and Syriac.1 A comparable publication of the archaeological evidence from the site …

Egyptian Pit-Looms From The Late First Millennium Ad — Attempts In Reconstruction From The Archaeological Evidence, Johanna Sigl

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

In discussions on the development of weaving technology, specifically treadle looms in the Mediterranean area, Egypt is often referred to as one of the earliest countries in which people used foot-powered looms for producing cloth. It is thought to have been in regular use in the production of cloth as early as the second half of the 1st millennium AD. This belief is built on results from excavations undertaken during the early 20th century by the Egypt Exploration Fund at the hill of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna in Luxor, as well as on textile studies. Unfortunately, none of the postulated looms …

Conclusion: Egyptian Textiles And Their Production, Dominique Cardon

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

This book, “Egyptian textiles and their production: ‘word’ and ‘object’ (Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods)” is both very useful and… frustrating. Indeed, all volumes of transactions of a scientific symposium are bound to be so, since research is a never-ending story. However, this is particularly true of textile research, which involves so many different approaches. Most of the relevant scientific domains are represented in this volume. There is a good combination of several reports on new research – recently studied archaeological textiles and iconographic documents on weaving – with attempts at syntheses of available evidence, both archaeological and textual, alongside …

Reconstruction Of A Deconstructed Tunic, Anne Kwaspen

Egyptian Textiles and Their Production: ‘Word’ and ‘Object’

Tunics of the 1st millennium AD can be classified into two main groups according to the direction of the warp in the finished tunic. The first group of tunics has horizontal warp threads in the finished tunic. This means that the cloth as it is worn is rotated 90° from the weave direction on the loom. In the second group of tunics the warp runs vertically in the finished tunic. Each group of tunics has their typical technological features and finishing methods, with additional distinctions between wool and linen tunics. This article focuses on the study of a tunic belonging …

Ada News - 03/02/2020, American Dental Association, Publishing Division

ADA News

Established in 1970 as the official newspaper of the American Dental Association, the ADA News serves practicing dentists and others allied to the dental profession in the U.S. and internationally. It is the No. 1 source of news and information about the many benefits and services the ADA delivers to members daily as well as timely information on scientific, social, political and economic developments affecting dentistry and health care.