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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In pre-industrial England river navigations were subject to improvement by canalisation, the introduction of artificial navigation cuts and pound locks. Along the Lea this did not happen until 1767. Before that the navigation, except for one short period, relied upon a less efficient technology, the provision of flashes from fishing weirs, turnpikes and mills. Yet the river was still an important transport route, particularly for the supply of grain, meal and malt to London. It had been this during the mediaeval period, but not by the middle of the sixteenth century. Then in 1571 the City of London sponsored legislation to construct a canal from the Lea to London. Parliamentary opposition thwarted the original ambitious scheme, so two cheaper, shorter canals were considered, but never built. Instead an ambitious and unique river improvement scheme was successfully implemented. This experimental navigation (reducing reliance on flashes to a minimum) survived 20 years, before persistent and violent opposition from land carriers closed it. A Star Chamber case upheld the rights of the bargemen, but the experimental navigation was not restored. Instead the traditional flash-lock navigation re-appeared, and was to last, with only minor improvementg until 1767. In the intervening years the navigation continued to expand and prosper., This despite the admitted problems of relying on flashes and tides, and despite a series of major disputes with the New River Companyq the millers, fishermen and riparian land-owners. Conflict there certainly was, but also compromise. Ultimately all parties were prepared to accept the conflicting rights of other users, provided they could defend their own. commissions of Sewers provided an effective administrative forum to effect and authorise such compromise, even after the appointment of a body of Trustees in 1739. That the Lea was an adequate navigation before canalisation, despite a 'second-best' technology and an unpaid part-time administrative structure means' that a valid comparison with the concept of Appropiate Technology, discussed in modern-day development theory, is possible.

The thesis is a historical case-study in which I.Lakatos's Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes is applied to 19th. Century classical electrodynamics. Two research programmes are appraised. One, the Action-at-a-distance programme, had as its hard core the theory that electromagnetic phenomena were the outcome of sources acting at a distance across empty space on each other. Its rival, the Field programme, had the hard core that electromagnetic phenomena were the outcome of behaviour by the space between the apparent sources. It is argued that the Action-at-a-distance programme was always the superior one of the two. This revision in the standard historical appraisal results from the use of Lakatos's methodology. The Action-at-a-distance programme developed progressively, through the theories of Ampere, Weber, and their successors, to a satisfactory and fairly complete account of the phenomena of electrodynamics. In contrast, the Field programme degenerated as it consisted of a sequence of ad hoc or heuristically ad hoc theories. Faraday, Maxwell, and Helmholtz vigorously criticised the Action-at-a-distance programme. These criticisms were extremely influential and some historians regard them as persuasive today. It is shown that these criticisms are entirely without merit and further that they could easily have been seen to be without merit at the time of their proposal. Finally, many subsidiary theses, advocated by writers in the history and philosophy of the development of classical electrodynamics, are critically assessed.

Giulio Camillo (1480-1544) was a poet, a scientist and an image-maker. He saw the birth of printing in his home-town of Venice, the fruit of the Renaissance in Rome, Paris and Padua and he witnessed the seeds of the Reformation. Renowned throughout Europe, he was acquainted with, amongst others, Erasmus, Titian, King Francis 1st and Pope Julius II. Three months before he died, Camillo dictated the text of his most important and secret, work to his agent, Girolamo Muzio. Muzio's transcription of L'idea del Theatro was eventually published in Florence in 1550. Camillo's secret, revealed in L'idea, is about man's relationship to the heavens. Camillo envisaged a living, tangible network of relationships that holds the cosmos in being. Heavenly influences, in the form of 'celestial streams', rain down on the earth. Man is as much a part of the earth as he is made up of the stars. Rocks and stones, earth, flowers and trees are alive and sentient of their holy origin. The very skin and hair of man is receptive to the flows of heavenly love. But this is not all that is contained in L'idea del Theatro. For Camillo believed that it is the sun, and not the earth, which has pride of place in the universe. He knew that the sun is the centre. Camillo dictated L'idea del Theatro a matter of months after Copernicus's Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. Unlike Copernicus, however, Camillo did not use mathematics to prove his theories. Instead, Giulio Camillo's conception of the universe is made of a vast array of images. The pantheon - or Theatre - of the earth and heavens is described, by Camillo, in terms of the visual sign. Arising out of a dialogue with contemporary conceptual art, the aim of this work is to look at the connection between language and the art of science in the sixteenth century that was able to produce such a man as Giulio Camillo. His ideas are explored through the lens of some of his contemporaries. His letters through Erasmus; his imagery through Francesco Colonna; and his science through Copernicus. Using Camillo's images as a guide, a Virtual Reality Model of the Theatre forms the final part of the work.

This dissertation examines the level of social and cultural interaction between the Greek and Turkish communities of İzmir and the impact of the centralizing Ottoman reforms on the society of İzmir during the age of the Ottoman modernization. It focuses on the years between 1826 and 1864 that marked a turning point in the administrative history of the Ottoman Empire. Analyzing this subject requires understanding the social-cultural and economic dynamics of İzmir that played a crucial role in the formation of the social fabric of the city. Ottoman-Turkish archival material and to some extent Greek newspapers of the time are used as primary sources. The sources discussed in this dissertation demonstrate that the central authority attempted to re-integrate İzmir into its administrative and political structure in accordance with the centralizing or repressive Tanzimat reforms. However, Tanzimat reforms did not disturb the social cohesion of İzmir, which the city produced over the centuries with its local character and some peculiar dynamics. The evidence also indicates that the Empire did not aim to mold social relations in İzmir, instead benefited from city’s already existing social-cultural and economic situation, which was well suited to its modernization program. This study attempts to write a social and cultural history of İzmir, by considering the ethno-religious policies of the Ottoman state in the given period and questioning Ottoman modernity through the prism of the Greek-Turkish communal relations. Much of the conventional Turkish and Greek historiography of the post WWI years has analyzed 19th century İzmir's history in terms of two “conflicting nations.” While Turkish historiography has focused on the ethnic homogeneity of Turks and its history, modern Greek historiography has stressed the suppression of the Ottoman Greeks under the Ottoman rule. Such approaches have engendered the commonly used categories of Greek versus Turkish or Muslim versus non-Muslim. Approaching İzmir as an organic whole, instead of dividing the city according to ethno-religious criterion, this dissertation tries to uncover the dynamics of coexistence and communal relations, which marked the life of the city for centuries, but was brought to an abrupt end as a result of the modern nation state formations.

This dissertation examines the level of social and cultural interaction between the Greek and Turkish communities of İzmir and the impact of the centralizing Ottoman reforms on the society of İzmir during the age of the Ottoman modernization. It focuses on the years between 1826 and 1864 that marked a turning point in the administrative history of the Ottoman Empire. Analyzing this subject requires understanding the social-cultural and economic dynamics of İzmir that played a crucial role in the formation of the social fabric of the city. Ottoman-Turkish archival material and to some extent Greek newspapers of the time are used as primary sources. The sources discussed in this dissertation demonstrate that the central authority attempted to re-integrate İzmir into its administrative and political structure in accordance with the centralizing or repressive Tanzimat reforms. However, Tanzimat reforms did not disturb the social cohesion of İzmir, which the city produced over the centuries with its local character and some peculiar dynamics. The evidence also indicates that the Empire did not aim to mold social relations in İzmir, instead benefited from city’s already existing social-cultural and economic situation, which was well suited to its modernization program. This study attempts to write a social and cultural history of İzmir, by considering the ethno-religious policies of the Ottoman state in the given period and questioning Ottoman modernity through the prism of the Greek-Turkish communal relations. Much of the conventional Turkish and Greek historiography of the post WWI years has analyzed 19th century İzmir's history in terms of two “conflicting nations.” While Turkish historiography has focused on the ethnic homogeneity of Turks and its history, modern Greek historiography has stressed the suppression of the Ottoman Greeks under the Ottoman rule. Such approaches have engendered the commonly used categories of Greek versus Turkish or Muslim versus non-Muslim. Approaching İzmir as an organic whole, instead of dividing the city according to ethno-religious criterion, this dissertation tries to uncover the dynamics of coexistence and communal relations, which marked the life of the city for centuries, but was brought to an abrupt end as a result of the modern nation state formations.

Edited with introd. and commentary by Maurice P. Crosland. With extracts from other contemporary works. / Translation of Reise til Paris i aarene 1798 og 1799, first published in Copenhagen, 1799-1800. / Bibliography: p. [215]-223.