Review of George Eliot and Intoxication: Dangerous Drugs for the Condition of England

Famously insisting to her friend Barbara Bodichon that our \u27highest calling\u27 is \u27to do without opium\u27, George Eliot is not a writer whom one immediately associates with intoxication, although one of her earliest stories, \u27Janet\u27 s Repentance\u27 in Scenes of Cle rical Life, memorably dramatizes the addictive and destructive power of alcohol in the lives of Janet and her husband, the lawyer Dempster. Kathleen McCormack\u27s study casts its net wider than such straightforward representations of drink and drunkenness to explore the tissue of references to, and images of, intoxication, and the drugs that induce it, throughout the fiction. Intoxication, with its range of associations from poisoning to euphoria, becomes the centre of a nexus of issues relating not only to medicine and health, but also to politics, aesthetics, culture, gender, and writing itself. Drawing on Plato\u27s Phaedrus through the mediation of Derrida, Kathleen McCormack shows how George Eliot subtextually or metaphorically associates writing with drugs and exploits the kill-or-cure ambiguity of the Pharmakon metaphor. The principal object of the intended cure is the ailing body of English society itself, and this exploration of intoxication as theme and metaphor engages repeatedly with the Condition of England itself, particularly in Felix Halt, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. This study is admirably ambitious in its scope, and it is illuminating to observe how pervasively the allusions to, and metaphors of, intoxication colour the fiction. In Daniel Deronda, for instance, we are shown how the scenes of English life are shot through with images of drugs, disease, and intoxication, whilst the Jewish sections of the novel, with the exception of Lapidoth\u27s addiction to gambling, \u27detoxify\u27 the signifiers that are so poisonous in the English sphere and, indeed, in the earlier fiction. The earliest fiction, Scenes of Clerical Life, is helpfully contextualized by contemporary evidence from an anonymous Nuneaton diarist, whose testimony lends support to George Eliot\u27s contention, to John Blackwood, that the fictional Milby was a far pleasanter place than its heavy-drinking original. Where intoxication is explicitly an issue, as in Scenes or the election episodes in Felix Halt, the author is on firm ground, and the study is rich in illuminating details, like the association of Godfrey Cass\u27s name in Silas Mamer with Godfrey\u27s Cordial, a sweetened tincture of opium that nicely conveys his inclination for willful oblivion. But her argument becomes more speculative and less persuasive in novels like The Mill on the Floss. Where intoxication is not literally present, then the thesis demands that it must be implicitly so, and Mr. TuIliver\u27s litigiousness and Maggie\u27s love for Stephen are thus interpreted as instances of addiction, of intoxication transferred from the mimetic level to the metaphorical. Similarly, Silas Marner\u27s compulsive hoarding of money is seen as another form of addiction and brought into the orbit of intoxication. Here the central term becomes too attenuated to be useful: it is not clear how much is gained from reading these different kinds of behaviour as drug-related. On other occasions intoxication serves as a universal connective, having links in Adam Bede, for instance, with \u27disease, language, romantic love, squandered money, and diverted descent\u27 (77); and the juggling required to keep all these balls in the air at the same time creates a sense of strain, impeding the momentum of the argument and blurring its focus. Often the author seems to be trying to cast her net too wide and to connect intoxication with everything: relating opium understandably enough to Orientalism, she then interprets Molly Farren\u27s enslavement to \u27demon Opium\u27 in Si/as Mamer as metaphorically duplicating slavery in Britain\u27s colonies and argues that this English barmaid is figured as \u27Romantic, distant, diabolic and Oriental\u27 (147). Such straining for inclusiveness is the disadvantage of this study\u27s ambitious scope

Review of George Eliot\u27s Travels: Composite Characters and Coded Communications.

When we think of George Eliot, the word \u27travels\u27 is likely to suggest journeys to far-flung places in foreign lands, but considered in an English setting, she seems to be locked in either Warwickshire or London. Kathleen McCormack, however, shows how widely George Eliot travelled in her own country, so widely that she made over fifty visits to English places and only thirty to foreign destinations. Indeed, \u27widely\u27 is a word that stimulates Kathleen McCormack\u27s imagination as she has revealed in an earlier work, George Eliot and Intoxication (2000), in which the last word, \u27Intoxication\u27, is interpreted in its widest sense. Her article, \u27Widely Sundered Elements\u27 (George Eliot Review, 2000) prepares the reader for this more detailed and ambitious survey which should fascinate anyone interested in English settings and their relevance to the writings of George Eliot (or \u27Evans\u27 as she at first forbiddingly if fashionably calls her). After an exploration of well-known haunts in Warwickshire, chapter headings invite us to visit less familiar places: \u27Seasides\u27, \u27Islands\u27, \u27Country Shires\u27, \u27Spas\u27, \u27Whitby, Devon, Oxford, Surrey\u27 and \u27Country Houses\u27. The Leweses rarely travelled for pleasure alone; we are shown how they journeyed for other reasons too: for health, for research, for escape from gossip, for specimen-gathering on English beaches, for visits to museums, art galleries, cathedrals, for the refreshment of working in different places. Although the railway must have helped, they were prepared to endure all kinds of discomfort in England and on the Continent for the sake of fresh environments. The author of this interesting new book describes their travels as purposeful and productive unlike the dreamy, fruitless voyage of Maggie Tulliver down the river and unlike her subsequent \u27boarding a coach without checking its destination\u27

CALIBRATING DIVERGENCE TIMES ON SPECIES TREES VERSUS GENE TREES: IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIATION HISTORY OF APHELOCOMA JAYS

Estimates of the timing of divergence are central to testing the underlying causes of speciation. Relaxed molecular clocks and fossil calibration have improved these estimates; however, these advances are implemented in the context of gene trees, which can overestimate divergence times. Here we couple recent innovations for dating speciation events with the analytical power of species trees, where multilocus data are considered in a coalescent context. Divergence times are estimated in the bird genus Aphelocoma to test whether speciation in these jays coincided with mountain uplift or glacial cycles. Gene trees and species trees show general agreement that diversification began in the Miocene amid mountain uplift. However, dates from the multilocus species tree are more recent, occurring predominately in the Pleistocene, consistent with theory that divergence times can be significantly overestimated with gene-tree based approaches that do not correct for genetic divergence that predates speciation. In addition to coalescent stochasticity, Haldane's rule could account for some differences in timing estimates between mitochondrial DNA and nuclear genes. By incorporating a fossil calibration applied to the species tree, in addition to the process of gene lineage coalescence, the present approach provides a more biologically realistic framework for dating speciation events, and hence for testing the links between diversification and specific biogeographic and geologic events.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79292/1/j.1558-5646.2010.01097.x.pd

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

The Vehicle, 1966, Vol. 8

Vol. 8 Table of Contents CommentaryBill Moser & Avis Eaglestonpage 3 The Vengeance of the DeadStephen W. Gibbspage 5 Ode To A MeadowKathleen McCormackpage 12 Row OnDavid Helmpage 13 Sonnet 63R.L. Hudsonpage 14 UntitledKathleen McCormackpage 14 The Pure GoldDavid Helmpage 15 CommunionDavid Helmpage 15 PreludeMichael Baldwinpage 15 The AlbatrossKaren Cooleypage 16 The Albatross (photo)DeWittpage 17 Ruff and the VaseDavid Helmpage 18 LaBelleKathleen McCormackpage 19 Not Quite SoR.L. Hudsonpage 20 Feeling (no number)David Reifpage 21 Song at DuskDavid Helmpage 21 Arcadia RuminationsR.L. Hudsonpage 22 The BarWayne Johnsonpage 25 HelloWilliam Framepage 26 The ProcessJerry DeWittpage 27 The KillingAdrian Beardpage 30 The Amusement Park GameStephen W. Gibbspage 38 DamnMel Tylerpage 40 PainWilliam Framepage 40 UntitledSusan Champlinpage 41 Portrait of A Scholar As A Young ManStephen W. Gibbspage 42 The TimesW.D.Mpage 46 ParadoxW.D.M.page 46 MankindDavid Helmpage 47https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1014/thumbnail.jp

Prevention Research Centers: Contributions to Updating the Public Health Workforce Through Training

Because public health is a continually evolving field, it is essential to provide ample training opportunities for public health professionals. As a natural outgrowth of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u27s Prevention Research Centers Program, training courses of many types have been developed for public health practitioners working in the field. This article describes three of the Prevention Research Center training program offerings: Evidence-Based Public Health, Physical Activity and Public Health for Practitioners, and Social Marketing. These courses illustrate the commitment of the Prevention Research Centers Program to helping create a better trained public health workforce, thereby enhancing the likelihood of improving public health

Translating Medical Evidence to Promote Informed Health Care Decisions: Decision Making about PSA

To examine the effects of a community-based intervention on decisions about prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening using multiple measures of informed decision making (IDM)

The Vehicle, 1965, Vol. 7

Vol. 7 Table of Contents CommentaryElaine Lancepage 3 Lost Island and The Unseen SeaDaun Alan Leggpage 5 ElegyWilliam Mosierpage 6 AwayDavid Dixpage 7 DulceyRoberta Mathewspage 8 Alarum Tuam JonneDavid Walkerpage 11 Little BrotherSteve Gibbspage 13 River RunningDaun Alan Leggpage 15 PortraitRobert D. Thomaspage 16 The RockRoger Lewis Hudsonpage 17 Jarman HospitalElaine Lancepage 18 Of Domes and DiamondsDwight Ashbypage 19 Friday NightRoger J. Barrypage 20 MurderHelen Coxpage 23 Vigil SongDaun Alan Leggpage 24 Had You But Been the OneDavid Helmpage 25 To A Useless WeaponDarlene Brewerpage 25 Out of the NightPat Hartpage 26 La MortAdrian Beardpage 28 Mrs. Milton\u27s LamentBob Millerpage 30 Cockle CoveSusan McCabepage 31 Loss of VirtueJim Rinnertpage 32 The KeepsakeDwight Ashbypage 33 The RuinsRoger Lewis Hudsonpage 35 Ante Major OdysseyDaun Alan Leggpage 38 ReligionAnthony Barrettepage 39 All JoyJim Rinnertpage 40 SesameElaine Lancepage 40 CenterpieceDwight Ashbypage 41 A Great White WaveJohn Rhodespage 42 QueryElaine Lancepage 44 PistachioRita Salyerspage 45 FacadeKathleen McCormackpage 46 Winter Wisp AwaySteve Gibbspage 46 ScenarioDavid Dixpage 47 Damn-GodSteve Gibbspage 48 AccidentElaine Lancepage 48https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1013/thumbnail.jp