Natural History

Spectral properties such as duration of signal and frequency range were studied in Common Iora Aegi-thina tiphia vocalizations. Bird calls were sampled from different locations of the study area at different times to capture variability of their vocal signals in space and time. Along with call recordings, behaviour parameters such as presence of male or female con-specific members and their activities were recorded. From 48 bird call data, a total of 240 min of recordings was analysed. The most commonly uttered 15 syllables were identified, of which 14 were produced by males and the remaining one by females. Basic statistics of the spectral characteristics along with the observed behavioural parameters explain the natural history of Common Iora. The duration of syllable and frequency parameters such as low and high frequencies varied significantly across the 15 syllables. Common Iora males were recorded as using high frequency syllables with shorter duration as 'contact calls' with the nearby conspecific members, while low frequency 'long distance' calls were used by solitary males. Though these context preferences are not conclusive in nature based on this brief study, it suggests existence of context specificity of spectral characteristics in bird vocalizations.

Universidad de La Laguna calayon@ull.es RESUMEN La obra de José Agustín Álvarez Rixo (1796-1884) se enmarca en los principios de la Ilus-tración, entre los que destacan de modo particular las ideas del progreso, el desarrollo del cono-cimiento, la educación, la responsabilidad y la sensatez. Este autor se dedica con verdadera pasión al estudio de todo aquello relacionado con el mundo insular: el pasado y el presente, lo material y lo moral, las personalidades singulares y la colectividad. De ahí vienen sus nume-rosos estudios históricos, lingüísticos y etnográficos. Del conjunto de su obra forma parte una serie de trabajos sobre la agricultura y la historia natural, campos que revelan de forma especial sus puntos de vista en relación con el progreso, el conocimiento y el desarrollo de la economía canaria. En esta ocasión, se da a conocer y se comenta un texto inédito del autor portuense en el que da noticia de varias plantas introducidas en Canarias en el siglo XIX, y con él nos acerca a la historia local, a las personalidades que conoció y a las particularida-des de su lengua literaria. ABSTRACT «Regarding an Unpublished Text by Álvarez Rixo». The writings of José Agustín Álvarez Rixo (1796-1884) clearly belong to the main ideas of the Enlightenment and, among them, the concepts of progress, development of knowledge, education, responsibility and wisdom. He devoted much of his lifetime to the compilation of information and to the analysis of everything related to the world of the Canaries: the past and the present, the material fields and moral aspects, the unique personalities and the collectives. From there come his numerous historical, linguistic and ethnographic studies. Within the body of his works there is a series of writings on agriculture and natural history, two fields that reveal his views regarding progress, knowledge and the development of the Canary economy. This paper edits and comments on an unpublished text of this author of Puerto de la Cruz in which he gives a catalogue of several plants introduced in the Canary Islands in the nineteenth century, and which brings us closer to the local history, the people he met and the particularities of his literary language.

Carnitine transporter deficiency (CTD) and holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency (HLCSD) are frequent in The Faroe Islands compared to other areas, and treatment is available for both disorders. In order to evaluate the feasibility of neonatal screening in The Faroe Islands we studied detection in the neonatal period by tandem mass spectrometry, carrier frequencies, clinical manifestations, and effect of treatment of CTD and HLCSD. We found 11 patients with CTD from five families and 8 patients with HLCSD from five families. The natural history of both disorders varied extensively among patients, ranging from patients who presumably had died from their disease to asymptomatic individuals. All symptomatic patients responded favourably to supplementation with L: -carnitine (in case of CTD) or biotin (in case of HLCSD), but only if treated early. Estimates of carrier frequency of about 1:20 for both disorders indicate that some enzyme-deficient individuals remain undiagnosed. Prospective and retrospective tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analyses of carnitines from neonatally obtained filter-paper dried blood-spot samples (DBSS) uncovered 8 of 10 individuals with CTD when using both C(0) and C(2) as markers (current algorithm) and 10 of 10 when using only C(0) as marker. MS/MS analysis uncovered 5 of 6 patient with HLCSD. This is the first study to report successful neonatal MS/MS analysis for the diagnosis of HLCSD. We conclude that CTD and HLCSD are relatively frequent in The Faroe Islands and are associated with variable clinical manifestations, and that diagnosis by neonatal screening followed by early therapy will secure a good outcome.

Miniföreläsning för Kungliga Konsthögskolan: Om vatten, flytande identiteter och om hur guden i den abstrakta tankevärlden byts ut mot marken, maskarna, oceanerna och drömmen om ett annat jag.

Bibliografi: Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the Modern World; Gunnar Broberg, Mannen som ordnade naturen; R.S. Thomas, "Via negativa"

Türkiye’de 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısında kurulmuş olan yabancı okullarda yerel doğa tarihi müzeleri kurma girişimleri olmuş; İstanbul çevresinden, Anadolu’dan ve dünyanın farklı bölgelerinden örnekler, arazi çalışmaları, takas ve satın alma yoluyla toplanarak zengin koleksiyonlar oluşturulmuştur. Bu koleksiyonlardan biri 1886’da Merzifon’da kurulan Anadolu Amerikan Koleji’nde bulunmakta idi. Özel bir müze binasına yerleşmiş olan doğa müzesinin küratörlüğünü botanik araştırmaları ile tanınan Prof. Ohannes Agop Manisacıyan, MSc (J.J. Manissadjian, Niksar/Tokat 1862 – Detroit MI/ABD 1942) yapmıştır. Anadolu Koleji’nin 1938 yılında kapanışından sonra, bu koleksiyon Tarsus Amerikan Koleji’ne gönderilmiştir. Daha sonra koleksiyonun bazı kaya-mineral ve fosil örnekleri sergilenmek üzere Robert Kolej’e verilmiştir. Aynı koleksiyondan örnekler halen İstanbul’da Saint Joseph Lisesi Doğa Bilimleri Merkezi’nde de bulunmaktadır. Anadolu Koleji Doğa Tarihi Müzesi’nin Prof. Manisacıyan tarafından toplanan botanik örnekleri ise, Ankara Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi Herbaryum’unda (Herbarium Turcica – ANK, J.J. Manissadjian) korunmaktadır. Anadolu Koleji koleksiyonunun Tarsus’ta kalan örnekleri, Tarsus Amerikan Koleji’nin mezunları tarafından, ilgili dalların uzmanlarının danışmanlığında yeniden düzenlenerek 2018 yılında kurulan TAC Doğa Bilimleri Araştırma Merkezi’ne kazandırılmıştır. Anadolu Koleji’ndeki doğa tarihi müzesinin original vitrinleri içinde sergilenen koleksiyon, restorasyonu tamamlanan Sadık Paşa Konağı’na yerleşmiştir. Bildiri kapsamında Merzifon Anadolu Koleji Müzesinin bitki, böcek, kelebek, fosil, kaya ve mineral örneklerin genel özellikleri, koleksiyonun oluşturulma yöntemi ve aşamaları, Türkiye’deki doğa tarihi koleksiyonları içindeki önemi, Müzenin 1918’de küratörü tarafından hazırlanan kataloğunun ışığında değerlendirilecektir. Ayrıca, Tarsus Amerikan Koleji’nin Doğa Bilimleri Araştırma Merkezi’ndeki tarihsel koleksiyonundan bilimsel çalışmalarda kaynak olarak yararlanılması, yörede yapılacak yeni araştırmalarla zenginleştirilmesi ve doğa bilimleri merkezleri arasında ağ kurulması konusundaki projelere değinilecektir.

Die medizinhistorische Forschung hat sich der Frage nach der Stellung der Frau beziehungsweise nach dem Verhaeltnis von Mann und Frau im Diskurs der anato- mischen Hirnforschung zwischen Aufklaerung und Aufstieg der Naturwissenschaften kaum zugewandt.  Eine naehere Durchsicht der verfuegbaren historiographischen Arbeiten enthuellt die starke Betonung des Einflusses der pathologischen Anatomie Frankreichs, wobei dem Pariser Pathologen und Chirurgen Pierre Paul Broca (1824-1880) der Zentralplatz im Programm einer quantitativen und qualitativen Bestimmung der Geschlechterdifferenz auf der Basis hirnanatomischer Erkenntnisse zugewiesen worden ist. Des weiteren wurden seine Forschungsbemuehungen irn theoretischen Kontext der anatomischen und pathophysiologischen Quantifizierung und Normierung des menschlichen Koerpers verortet und dadurch mit einem lebenswissenschaftlichen Großprojekt des 19. Jahrhunderts verknuepft.

Die Bedeutung des Naturphilosophen, Botanikers und Wissenschaftspolitikers Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858) ist im Schatten seiner Zeitgenossen Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (1776 1837), Lorenz Oken (1779-1851) oder Carl Gustav Carus (1789-1869) fast in Vergessenheit geraten. Umso erfreulicher ist es, dass Johanna Bohley, wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin an der Deutschen Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Halle/Saale), eine neue Biografie dieses Gelehrten und XI. Präsidenten der Leopoldina vorgelegt hat. Diese entstand im Rahmen des Akademievorhabens II. B. 22 „Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858): Briefedition“ – unter der Betreuung von Professor Horst Denkler – und wurde als Dissertation an der Freien Universität Berlin 2001 angenommen.
Die Autorin, die schon den „Ausgewählten Briefwechsel mit Schriftstellern und Verlegern“ (AHL 41) Nees von Esenbecks bearbeitete und damit ein zeittypisches wissenschaftliches Kommunikationsmedium erschloss, hat in ihrer Biografie auf vielfältiges Quellenmaterial aus Archiven, Nachlässen und Handschriftensammlungen zurückgegriffen. Auf den Spuren „der ideellen Einheit von Brief, Werk und Wirken“ (S. 14), des am 
14. Februar 1776 auf Schloss Reichenberg im Odenwald geborenen Nees, zeichnet sie ein eindrucksvolles Bild vom Aufstieg und Fall dieses Gelehrten, dessen nachhaltige Wirkung in der Überführung der Leopoldina unter preussisches Protektorat – 1819 – besteht.

Die Entwicklung der Klinischen Chemie ist eng an die Entstehung der naturwissenschaftlich orientierten Medizin im 19. Jh. geknüpft. Als einer ihrer Väter gilt der Wiener Chemiker Johann Florian Heller (1813-1871), der im Jahre 1850 mit ministerialem Stipendium versehen eine Studienreise durch Mittel- und Zentraleuropa unternahm. Alois Kernbauer, Professor für Österreichische Geschichte am Historischen Institut der Universität Graz, präsentiert mit seiner textkritischen Edition des im österreichischen Staatsarchiv aufgefundenen Reiseberichts von Heller ein interessantes Quellendokument. Der vorliegenden Ausgabe ist ein Geleitwort von Johannes Büttner, Prof. em. am Institut für Klinische Chemie der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, vorangestellt. Hellers Bericht über seine Pèlerinage zu den wissenschaftlichen Hochburgen der Zeit läßt nicht allein den Stand der Klinischen Chemie vor Augen treten. Vielmehr gewährt er einen tiefen Einblick in die medizinische Universitätslandschaft, die Forschungsstätten sowie die Lebenswirklichkeit von Professoren und Studenten an medizinischen Fakultäten zur Mitte des 19. Jh. In fast buchhalterischer Weise charakterisiert Heller den Zustand der medizinisch relevanten Forschungseinrichtungen an den von ihm besuchten Orten und richtet sein Augenmerk auch auf die Lage der Krankenversorgung und der medizinischen Vereine. Sein Reisebericht bietet damit nicht allein eine besondere Momentaufnahme der Situation in den grundlagenmedizinischen Fächern, sondern kann auch als eine heuristische Quelle für Fragen nach der Binnendifferenzierung zeitgenössischer Forschungslaboratorien herangezogen werden.

Native Megalobulimus paranaguensis was identified on Brazil’s Ilha Porchat promontory, an area that Achatina fulica commonly populates. The population structures of these species were investigated for interactions. Spatial distribution, niche overlap and mark–recapture analysis were conducted. The outer lip of M. paranaguensis and environmental variables were measured. One and two abundance
peaks were observed for A. fulica and M. paranaguensis, respectively.
Survivorship was higher in A. fulica. Distribution was aggregate for M. paranaguensis, whereas for A. fulica it varied from random to aggregate. Both species aggregate as abundance increases. The lifespan of M. paranaguensis in this location is shorter than its lifespan in a nearby location. Achatina fulica was affected by soil temperature and humidity; M. paranaguensis was influenced by humidity. Niche overlap was random. The results show that M. paranaguensis can keep its natural activity and abundance in the presence of A. fulica, but environmental
degradation impacts M. paranaguensis and should be evaluated.

Alexander Russell, M.D. (1715?-1768), with the Levant Company in Aleppo between 1740 and 1753, wrote The Natural History of Aleppo (1756); the 1794 edition was edited by his half-brother, Patrick Russell, M.D. (1726-1805). In the two editions these Scottish doctors enthusiastically describe Aleppo's opulent and orderly world. An abbreviated version, A Description of Aleppo and the Adjacent Parts (c. 1757), presumably for popular consumption, presents some of Alexander's observations. By exploring this description, traditionally placed within the Natural Scientific tradition of the eighteenth century, the aim of the essay is to explore concepts across the academic divide between history and anthropology.
... Alexander acquired influence with the Governor (or Pasha) of Aleppoiv and people of all ethnic groups and classes through his medical practice. The Pasha of Aleppo granted Patrick the rare privilege of wearing a turban, an honour rarely given to Europeans. ...

Breves consideraciones sobre la estrechez en la relación entre arte, técnica y tecnología Por: Sergio Alberto Tarazona Cristancho 2 de abril de 2020 Resumen El objetivo del presente texto intenta exponer las relaciones fundamentales que llevaron, principalmente, al desarrollo de la técnica, y luego, posterior tecnología, tomando como esenciales y primarias las conductas fabricadoras y creadoras en el sentido de entenderlas que son la base del desarrollo y conservación de la especie humana en el planeta. Asimismo señalar varias conjeturas interesantes postuladas por varios pensadores y estudiosos del tema que nos ayudan a ampliar el conocimiento sobre dicha cuestión, generar nuevo conocimiento y por consiguiente, de la misma manera, proponer entre líneas una posición crítica independiente que lleve a exhortar a sus participantes: a los participantes del estudio de la filosofía del arte, de la técnica y de la tecnología: profesores y alumnos y abocados en las ciencias del saber, a la práctica rigurosa que motive la indagación filosófica pura, esto es, que el inquirir de la razón se desenvuelva a partir de sí misma (Kant, p. 44) para evitar su degradación mezclándola con los asuntos de orden ético- sociales y políticos morales específicos topográficos que son fuente de la génesis de los conceptos morales determinados de los individuos, que si bien son de naturaleza importante para el transcurrir filosófico y una parte esencial de su actividad, también son diferentes de las condiciones políticas y sociales naturales del hombre.

Este constituye el primer libro dedicado exclusivamente a los
caracoles terrestres de Puerto Rico y sus islas adyacentes,
incluyendo observaciones sobre otras especies que viven en los ríos,
lagunas y el litoral.
      De forma simple y amena se caracteriza la fauna de moluscos,
dándose a conocer aspectos de su morfología, comportamiento,
ecología y distribución, así como se muestra la diversidad de tamaños,
formas y colores que pueblan estas islas, para de esta manera
incentivar su conocimiento y conservación.
      Los caracoles terrestres conforman un grupo zoológico
extremadamente frágil a los cambios ambientales y a la reducción
y/o pérdida de hábitats. La distribución limitada de las especies, en
muchas ocasiones, las vuelve muy propensas a la extinción, donde
ni la concha protectora los puede salvar.
    Sirva esta obra para remarcar la existencia de un grupo de
organismos fabricantes de conchas, atributo adquirido durante el
proceso evolutivo, a través de la divulgación de la generalmente
ignota presencia ante el ojo no especializado.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Inquisition was the institution most invested in the censorship of printed books in the Portuguese empire. Besides publishing the Indices of Forbidden Books, the Holy Office was also responsible for overseeing their implementation and ensuring their efficacy in preventing the importation, reading, and circulation of banned books. Overall, the sixteenth-century Indices condemned 785 authors and 1081 titles, including 52 authors and 85 titles of medicine, natural history, natural philosophy, astronomy, chronology, cosmography, astrology, and divinatory arts. By looking at the largest collection of early modern scientific books in Portugal, I will argue that a closer inspection of marginalia and ownership, and the establishment of a typology of expurgations is essential for the comprehension of the actual practices and the mechanisms of censorship. By examining the material evidence of censorship, in order to reconstruct expurgation practices, this paper reveals the processes and effectiveness of ecclesiastical control in the Portuguese Inquisition and highlights the differences between what inquisitors wrote in the Indices and what others put into practice.

Free eprints of my article on Putting the Indices into Practice can be accessed here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RNKIZJQTHNRCX5B7XQXY/full?target=10.1080/00033790.2020.1714295