This work discusses the growth of a 'Galtonian tradition' in Science, notably as developed by Karl Pearson and his colleagues. It traces the development from Galton's ideas,in Britain, of the disciplines of Statistics,Biometrical Genetics and the Psychology of individual differences. These developments were linked with a number of philosophical and ideological commitments on the parts of the scientists concerned, and the work examines the interplay between these commitments and the theorising of the scientists.It looks also at the relations that may have held between these commitments and the social milieux of the scientists. Particular attention is given to the role of the strong and influential Eugenics movement which flourished in Britain at the time of these developments.

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The history of semiconductors began in 1833 when Faraday noted that the conductivity of silver sulphide increased with temperature. This study ends in 1919 when Pohl went to Göttingen. Five periods are identified: 1833-1895; ^ 1895-1919; 1919-1931; 1931-1948; 1948-present. Only towards the close of the second period was the semiconductor 'class' recognised; until then researches on selenium did not interact with those on other materials. Faraday's discovery excited little interest, but photoconductivity in selenium, 1873, engendered considerable activity during which rectification and photovoltaicity were noted, Allotropic and electrolytic theories were suggested, (by 1877), with the latter being extensively developed. Theories of electricity were insufficiently agreed to form other than a qualitative base for conduction in solids; until the electron theory and Arrhenius's picture, electrolysis was not an unsatisfactory basis on which to construct an account of the properties of selenium. The understanding of electrolysis and the electron theory made an alternative description of the action of selenium desirable and attractive. Initially, to cl912, an allotropic theory was developed to be replaced, by 1914, by an electron theory for there was no direct empirical evidence in support of the former. With the adoption of an electron theory selenium was no longer unique and its properties were compared with those of other non-metallic, non-electrolytic conductors, (cl915). With the electron at the root of all electrical properties a new class of materials was defined, the halbleiter, but at the same time the shortcomings of the 'electron gas' theory were highlighted. By 1919 work on polycrystalline aelenium and naturally occurring materials had extended electrical knowledge; but Pohl's work on single crystals and the development of the quantum theory paved the way for the modern understanding; an understanding whose theoretical beginning was Wilson's theory of 1931.

Thomas Graham (1805-1869) was taught Chemistry at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh by the students of Joseph Black: Thomas Thomson and Thomas Charles Hope. Graham devoted himself to Chemistry, despite opposition from his father, and became one of the foremost British chemists of his age. Essentially inductive in his research work, Graham investigated molecular movements in gases and liquids and the role of water in the constitution of acids and salts. Graham made use of analogy in directing his researches. Thus, he believed that there was a partial analogy between gaseous and liquid diffusion; both processes depended ultimately on inherent molecular motions. The chemical affinity of water for different substances connected his studies of acids and salts with the liquid state. His first chemical investigations of 1825 were concerned with the absorption of gases by liquids. Inspired by Faraday's liquefaction experiments, Graham emphasised the continuity of the states of matter and suggested an analogy between liquefaction and gaseous absorption. Heat was an important consideration in these changes of state. Graham was cautious in drawing conclusions from his experiments although he speculated imaginatively. It is possible that Graham's belief in atoms of primary matter, endowed with different, unalterable motions for each element, was conceived at the time of his first studies of gaseous diffusion. However, he slid not express this view openly until 1863. In this thesis, I have traced the development of Graham's chemical work by exploiting: unpublished manuscript material and the views of Graham and his contemporaries. Graham responded to criticisms of his work. When Berzelius dismissed the polybasic nature of the phosphoric acids, Graham countered by rejecting inorganic isomerism and he subsequently investigated polymerism. Bunsen's denial of the diffusion law and the rejection of Graham's first explanation of osmosis were spurs to further creative experimental investigations.

Mary Breckinridge established the Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) in a poor, rural, underdeveloped area of the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Kentucky in 1925 and in so doing, marked the first effort to professionalize midwifery in the United States (US). Since its inception in 1925, the FNS has survived many challenges and still exists today. This historical analysis of the FNS' s 'early years' (1925-1960) yields valuable insights into not only on how such a remarkable feat was achieved but also on how these insights could benefit nurses today. The contemporary nursing profession is struggling with many of the same internal and external environmental forces that challenged those 'early nurses.' In keeping with the fragmentation approach to cultural analysis, the FNS' s culture is explored in this thesis and its formation as a community/people-focused organization at a time in history when the nation was moving toward a corporate/consumer-focused society is examined. The political implications for the FNS and its founder as the Service negotiated its place in both Appalachian and wider-society; the lack of clarity and disruptions that developed within the organization with regard to its move from a decentralized to centralized power structure and resultant relational transformation within its community; its work environment, nurse-physician relationships, educational environments, nurse recruitment and retention practices and public image are then examined. The oral history narratives ofFNS nurses and non-FNS nurses currently in practice as well as nurse and non-nurse FNS staff and community members have been employed in the study to build as complete a picture as possible of the FNS, the nurses who worked within it and the culture of nursing. The critical threads which emerged in relation to nursing's chronic recurrent recruitment problems include: retention, work environment and public image. These 'crisis issues' are woven throughout the wider socio-economic, political and health care agendas of US national culture. This cultural change has gradually intruded into Eastern Appalachia and is still reflected in the narratives of nurses in practice today as reported here. A morecomprehensive, albeit complex, set of insights to nursing's ongoing crisis includes consideration that the profession has inherited a culture that has proven to be selfdefeating as it has perpetuated many of the corporate cultural traits that can be seen to be incongruent with its professional identity and goals. The continual crisis issues commonly cited as causes of 'nursing shortages' are not created solely by those barriers which exist external to the profession, such as a lack of political power, funding or even the institutionalization of health care. They are also being perpetuated by the profession's inability to deal with the barriers inside the existing culture. The question emerging from this analysis of the FNS and which needs to be posed to the profession as a whole is: "Has the embracing of institutional identity (namely, the business and medical models) within the nursing profession, its higher education and practice settings impeded the discipline's ability to impact more successfully for sustained, positive change within these environments?" In order for sustained positive change to occur nurses must be willing to unveil those barriers within the profession itself that deal with the very basic question of professional identity. This historical analysis supported by the oral history testimony offered within this thesis offers some insights into how this question might be further explored

The Lubrication Engineering (Education and Research) Working Group coined the word 'tribology' to facilitate a new approach to the study of friction, lubrication and wear, and in order to promote an awareness of applying tribological principles in industry. The working group, chaired by H. Peter Jost, published its report (known as the Jost Report) in 1966, entitled Lubrication (Tribology): Education and Research.;The Thesis is concerned mainly with the activities of the Committee on Tribology which was set up as a result of this report. The author concentrates on three problem areas: firstly, an examination of the complicated web of interests in friction, lubrication and wear pre-dating the Jost Report, thus isolating the factors which finally prompted the then Labour Government to start the Committee on Tribology and promote the new subject, 'tribology'. Secondly, the diversity of the social structure of the tribology community is shown both to contribute to the difficulty of incorporating it within a conceptual framework in the sociology of science, and to inhibit a unified approach to the scientific study of friction, lubrication and wear. Tribology differs from most other subjects studied within the sociology of science in a number of important aspects: firstly, it is a multi-disciplinary subject, drawing upon almost all of the major scientific disciplines, secondly, despite being a new subject its earliest laws date back to Leonardo de Vinci; and thirdly, it has emerged as a result of the interest, not only from academics and learned societies, but also from industrialists and politicians. These differences have allowed the study to isolate factors not normally considered in the sociological study of scientific specialities. The Thesis finally examines the extent to which a government campaign can influence both the study and the application of tribology.

I first review a number of foundational mathematical models from three branches of evolutionary biology – population genetics, evolutionary game theory and social evolution theory – and discuss the relation between them. This discussion yields a list of 9 requirements on evolutionary scenarios for language, and highlights the assumptions implicit in the various formalisms. I then look in more details at one specific step-by-step scenario, proposed by Ray Jackendoff, and consider the linguistic formalisms that could be used to characterise the evolutionary transitions from one stage to the next. I conclude from this review that the main challenges in evolutionary linguistic are to explain how three major linguistic innovations – combinatorial phonology, compositional semantics and hierarchical phrase-structure – could have spread through a population where they are initially rare. In the second part of the thesis, I critically evaluate some existing formal models of each of these <i>major transitions </i>and present three novel alternatives. In an abstract model of the evolution of speech sounds (viewed as trajectories through an acoustic space), I show that combinatorial phonology is a solution for robustness against noise and the only evolutionary stable strategy (ESS). In a model of the evolution of simple lexicons in a noisy environment, I show that the optimal lexicon uses a structural mapping from meanings to sounds, providing a rudimentary compositional semantics. Lexicons with this property are also ESS’s. Finally, in a model of the evolution and acquisition of context-free grammars, I evaluate the conditions under which hierarchical phrase-structure will be favoured by natural selection, or will be the outcome of a process of cultural evolution. In the third and final part of the thesis, I discuss the implications of these models for the debates in linguistics on innateness and learnability, and on the nature of language universals. A mainly negative point to make is that formal learnability results cannot be used as evidence for an innate, language-specific specialisation for language. A positive point is that with the evolutionary models of language, we can begin to understand how universal properties and tendencies in natural languages can result from the intricate interaction between innate learning biases and a process of cultural evolution over many generations.

Today, Petty is most widely remembered as a founder of modern economics. thus his brilliant analysis of the labour theory of value, the role of monopolies, the velocity of circulation and other like concepts helped guide the development of classic economic thought over the ensuing centuries. His second substantial acheivement, at least in the popular mind, depends on the outstanding success of the Down Survey, the first in English history to be organsised along scientific lines, utilising the principle of division of labour. Beyond this, details of his life and his other intellectual pursuits have attracted only marginal interest. His extrodinary career, prolific writing on education, technology medicine and society and his relationship with the broad intellectual movements of the day have often seemed mere curiosities. At best they have been regarded as peripheral adjuncts to that select group of theories which guarantee his status among more orthodox historians. The thesis shows that such judgements are narrow, misleading and unhistorical. Petty's more celebrated ideas become intelligible only when their evolution and context receive detailed attention. This process would itself be misleading if wider historical considerations were excluded. Pre-eminent among such issues is the remarkable efflorescence of natural philosophy between 1640 and l680. These chronological points loosely denote an outstanding period of growth with which Petty was intimately concerned. When closely scrutinised, the relationship between this figure and his environment emerges as one of complex cause and effect. Only by attracting and encouraging two or three remarkable generactions could English natural philosophy gain momentum. In its turn the training of these recruits gave them the motivation and capacity to devise fresh modes of enquiry. It is a paradox of history that, while this movement's dynamic was shortlived, it thereafter survived and eventually grew into a radical force that changed man's understanding of society and the natural world. The main purpose of this work is to describe Petty's experience of this revolution in ideas. Another significant aspect is the light which is cast on current historiographical debate. While it hopefully avoids slavish discussion of such issues, the thesis has been written with these more immediate concerns in mind. For example Petty's utilitarianism , his debt to 'continental' and 'puritan' science, his view of the Royal Society, his role in pro-Restoration natural philosophy, his method and his scientific originality are all examined so as to illuminate contingent historical problems. While not rejecting other modes of research it would seem that Petty's intellectual biography provides an ideal case for testing some general interpretations with the litmus of the particular. The results indicate a more complex picture than many historians have hitherto portrayed. This approach has necessarily dictated the shape of the present monograph. In consequence its detailed biographical account acts as a preface for three chapters of specialised intellectual analysis. Pre-examination of Petty's early life, using fresh manuscript sources, has produced, a wealth of information that fully documents his experience during these vital years. The later achievements and failures are shown to be products of this training which, while not a determinant of fortune, helped him profit from those dynamic situations for which he instinctively sought. Petty's well-known ideas are shown as natural, if not inevitable., consequences of this background and they are joined by others which warrant greater attention and acclaim. Overall, the first chapter gives a new and integrated account of his career stressing its continuity and debt to English and Continetal natural philosophy. Chapter two presents a brief analysis of Petty's views on economic improvement, education, Medicine and technology. This is linked with his early acceptance of Bacon and is shown to be part of a contemporary genre which called for economic renewal, enhanceed productivity and Social regeneration. Perhaps at his most 'puritan' , if not pietistic, over these issues, Petty regarded them as integral parts of a broad plan for social reform. Correct education was essential for every child. Without popular training in applied science and mathematics, self-sustainiing technologies capable of fuelling economic improvement would not spontaneously develop throughout the country. Co-equal with educational reform came the provision of medical facilities for the whole population. Petty saw the need for painstaking research into nosological, aetiological and nutritional factors. Since the value of a skilled worker was already substantial and since this would increase as the economy becane more sophisticated, it was in the nation's best interest to keep him healthy. With this as the cutting edge of his medical views, Petty also expressed genuine concern for his fellow man. The Most important point was that humanitarianism was also a practical necessity. Research into disease would only process through empirical means, and universal health care was the sole means of providing a sufficient number of cases from which to gather data. This research would be carried out in a new type of teaching hospital which Petty described with meticulous care. In addition, the national requirement for doctors would be controlled by the government to ensure a rational distribution of skills throughout the realm. Petty therefore believed that a medical policy based on sound statistics, monitored by the government and supported by effective clinical treatment would eradicate the worst effects of epidemics and malnutrition. The last constituent of his general policy called for systematic development of new machines and techniques. Throughout his life Petty tried to encourage invention for reasons of personal profit and social gain. Brief attention is paid to two of his unsuccessful projects; double-writing and the twin-hulled ship. In eacn case Petty proved himself an original and determined innovator. His comparative failure provides an excellent example of those factors which restricted invention and discouraged the spread of new technology during this period. Chapter three illustrates the link between Petty's career, his belief in improvement and reform and his response to important elements in contemporary natural philosophy. By analysing the genesis and structure of his Discourse of Duplicate Proportion an unusually detailed picture of one seventeenth century work is also obtained. This essay was a synoptic, but unpolished statement of Petty's approach to science and philosophy. Occasioned by an institutional crisis it became a vehicle for defending the Royal Society against vehement criticism. In showing that its research was both scientific and useful, Petty hoped to quell the Society's misguided opponents. The result was an idiosyncratic blend of applied mathematics, utilitarianism, Galilean mechanics and atomistic philosophy. Petty's defensive and didactic purpose limited the works scope in 1674 but now provides the reader with an unparalleled insight into his later attitudes, It also gives an appropriate introduction to his econometric and statistical exercises. The final chapter investigates Petty's empiricism and his mathematical approach to economic and demographic theory. This does not minimise those few outstanding theoretical achievements which have already received widespread acclaim from modern historians. Instead it explores other ideas which were of equal importance to Petty's methodology. By establishing that this was a product of his 'Baconian' philosophy, practical experience and more abstract analytical approach (ultimately derived from Cartesian and continental models) a more judicious assessment of Petty's socio-economic thought is reached. This exposes his careless extrapolation from unreliable data, but shows that such errors were consonant with his deep understanding of the need for accurate social and economic surveys. Fresh evidence proves that Petty tried time and again to gain government support for a national bureau of statistics and that when these efforts failed he gathered statistical information from every available source. Further evidence shows that he understood how to use this data to reorganise vital elements within the English economy. As always, his projects were constructed with great care and attention to detail. Although at variance with the prevailing political climate they were, without doubt, both farsighted and inherently practical.

Early attempts to formulate a science of the sea were stimulated by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, but were far ahead of the technical capabilities and achieved little as instruments produced were unsuited to use within all but the shallowest waters. During the first half of the 19th century impetus was given by the Navy's specific demand for oceanographic information as part of their search for a Northwest Passage through Arctic waters. Despite the provision of ships and crews together with many newly-devised instruments the observations were recognised to be unsatisfactory. In the second half of the 19th century telegraph companies commenced laying submarine cables across the seas. Under commercial pressure they drew on newly -developed materials and techniques and the steam engine in order to construct and use the first efficient deep-sea sounders and samplers. Later in the same century marine zoologists obtained the backing of scientific societies and the Admiralty, which enabled them to develop waterbottles and thermometers suitable for deep sea work. They were thereby enabled to elucidate the structure of various water-masses within the body of the ocean. This work culminated in a series of long transoceanic research cruises. Commercial demands came to the fore again in the attempt to halt the decline in the fisheries of the North Atlantic and adjacent seas. Thermometers, waterbottles and current meters were designed to record the fine detail of water quality and movement so that the slight but important variations occurring seasonally and annually could be accurately registered. International cooperation and standardization of instruments was recognised as an important factor. Details of apparatus are scattered throughout a wide range of literature, often not that in which the scientific results are discussed.

Using the twelve Medical and Surgical Casebooks and ten Midwifery Casebooks as central source material evidence, this thesis seeks to provide an analysis of the Georgian provincial medical practice of William Hey F. R. S. (1736-1819). Hey was both typical of many medical practitioners emerging from British medical training in the middle of the eighteenth century, yet untypical in that he was one of the select few who held an appointment over half a century as a senior surgeon in one of the century's twenty-seven newly founded hospitals and infirmaries. I begin by charting the rise of the special skills of human anatomy, surgery and midwifery in the first part of the century, and consider how the previous lack of detailed evidence about the actual day-to-day working lives of Georgian practitioners has restricted recent scholarship. In order to fully evaluate Hey's successful career I then provide detail of his early life, schooldays, apothecary apprenticeship and clinical London training. This is followed by a review of his whole career from his initial relations with the existing medical practitioners, to his domination of the medical stage in Leeds over six decades. Built into this review are some other aspects of his life that nevertheless had an impact upon the progress of his career, not least the significance of his permanent handicaps. The vast quantity of case histories within the Casebooks can only be selectively treated. My selection provides evidence of the medical variety, surgical innovation and some of the finer and more unusual features of his skilful midwifery technique. Elements of his patient- practitioner relationships, the development of his clinical approach, and the indistinct area between his private and charitable patients become evident as the discussion of his work proceeds. The thesis concludes with an overview of Hey's life and the ways in which his Casebooks provide vital new insight for the better understanding of Georgian provincial medical, surgical and midwifery practice.