An unusual preparation of an eighteenth-century spider and its consequences

Investigation into an eighteenth-century spider in the collection of The Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, revealed an unusual and intriguing mounting method for a natural history specimen. This article discusses research into how and why the spider had been mounted using such a method, including attempts to replicate it to test the theories developed. The specimen exhibits interesting aspects of preservation linked to historical collecting practices of the period

Sustainable Web Access to the SUDOC CD-ROMs: Experiments in the Preservation of Digital Documents in Legacy Formats

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Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Bright Kuiper Belt Object 2000 EB173

We have obtained a near-infrared spectrum of the bright Kuiper Belt object 2000 EB173; the spectrum appears featureless. The spectrum has a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to rule out the 1.5 and 2.0 μm absorption from water ice even at the low level seen in the Centaur Chariklo. In addition, we can rule out a 2.3 μm absorption at the level seen in the Centaur Pholus

The organ music of Samuel Wesley

Like his elder brother Charles, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) was an infant prodigy who had an oratorio to his credit by the time he was eight. He was generally considered to be the greatest organist in England, being famed especially for his extemporisations. However, the organ held a minor place in his output as a composer until he became acquainted with the music of J.S. Bach, which he worked untiringly to introduce to the British public. In the early 1800s Wesley began to write a series of voluntaries, published as his Opus 6, which were conceived on a scale grander than had previously been attempted. Although he reversed the general trend towards increasing the number of movements in the voluntary, he enlarged the dimensions of those that remained, gave them a greater impression of serious purpose, and accorded the fugue a status greater even than that which it had enjoyed in the time of Handel and Stanley. In the last twenty years of his life, while continuing to write grand voluntaries in the manner of Opus 6, Wesley also wrote organ music in smaller forms. Prominent among these more varied works are the short pieces, as he called them, miniatures which show his genius quite as clearly as the larger works. In 1774 the eight-year-old Wesley presented his oratorio to William Boyce: in 1837, just before he died, he played to Mendelssohn. Thus Wesley's life encompassed great changes in musical taste. That he was able to steer a straighter stylistic course through these changes than many of his lesser contemporaries may be attributed to his tendency to stand back from the immediate developments of his day and draw inspiration from older sources, notably polyphony and J.S.Bach; but the latter source particularly was also to be an inspiration to many of the most progressive composers for the next hundred years and more

Cutaneous sensory mechanisms in the spinal cord

SECTION I: THE PREVIOUS LITERATURE. The literature relevant to the subject of the thesis is reviewed. The review is limited to reports on cutaneous receptors, their afferent nerve fibres and those spinal cord mechanisms which are of general importance for sensory mechanisms. For the most part, the literature reviewed is of experiments on cats, the species used most for neuronhysiological experiments. The importance of adequate stimulation of identified receptors is stressed.SECTION II: CUTANEOUS AFFERENT FIBRE COLLATERALS IN THE DORSAL COLUMNS. Microelectrode recordings were made from cutaneous afferent fibre collaterals, in the lumbar dorsal column, which were antidromically excited from C 2. The types of cutaneous afferent unit having axon collaterals which ascend the dorsal columns to the dorsal column nuclei were identified. All dorsal column collaterals had slower conduction velocities than corresponding peripheral axons and the degree of slowing was determined by the class of unit. The differential slowing was confirmed by recording compound action potentials from various parts of dorsal column - peripheral nerve pathways.SECTION III: THE SPINOCERVICAL TRACT: TYPES OF UNIT AND THEIR STIMULUS—RESPONSE PROPERTIES. Microelectrode recordings were made from axons of the spinocervical tract, In anaesthetized, unanaesthetized decerebrate and unanaesthetized spinal cats. The properties of the units depended on the type of preparation used. Differences between decerebrate and spinal cats were assumed to be due to a descending neuronal system active in the decerebrate animal. The Btimulus-response relationship to hair movement was described by a Power function, for those units sensitive to hair movement. All spinocervical tract units responded to high skin temperatures (above about 40°C) with an increased frequency of discharge. Several types of primary cutaneous afferent unit which excite the spinocervical tract were identified.SECTION IV: MODALITY CODING IN THE SPINOCERVICAL TRACT, Examination of individual spinocervical tract cell discharges evoked by different forms of natural stimulation revealed differences characteristic for the stimulus type. It was concluded that the modality of a stimulus, as well as its intensity, can be coded in the discharge of a single spinocervical tract cell.SECTION V: CONTROL OF THE 8PIN0CERVICAL TRACT IN DECEREBRATE 'REPARATIONS. By means of a reversible cold block of the spinal cord, individual spinocervical tract units were examined in the decerebrate and in the spinal state, and the actions of the descending neuronal system were studied. The equivalence of unit types in the two preparations was established. The descending system acts to inhibit certain of the excitatory inputs to individual spinocervical tract cells, while at the same time it prevents many inhibitory actions on the cells,SECTION VI: GENERAL DISCUSSI0N. The properties of the two ascending pathways studied are compared. Some problems raised by the present work, and the possible functions of the spinocervical system, are discussed

Concert and disconcertion: the music of relationality in the cinema of Claire Denis

This thesis argues that the interest which the films of Claire Denis display in the ever-shifting modes of relations between people is illustrated through analysis of how music is used throughout her corpus of feature films. Denis draws on an extremely eclectic palette of musical styles, and the thesis proposes that these varying musical modalities are central to her treatment of relational issues, as are the ways in which she deploys her chosen musical selections. In this thesis, I develop a number of analytical tools. I draw on the thinking of Jacques Rancière and Jean-Luc Nancy with regard to questions of relationality, community and the dissensual elements which inform both interpersonal relationships and artistic creativity. I adapt the work of Kathryn Lachman on concepts of polyphony and counterpoint in literature for application to the oeuvre of Denis, as I do the writings of Michel Chion on music in film, especially his conceptualization of empathetic modes of cinematic music. The thesis concludes that music in the work of Claire Denis operates in a mode which diverges significantly from the tenets of existing film music theory. Music in a Denis film is at the same time far more fragmentary and yet much more thoroughly integrated than allowed for by standard conceptualizations. It plays hand-in-hand with the challenges and invitations which are a feature of the cinema of Denis

Concert and disconcertion: the music of relationality in the cinema of Claire Denis

This thesis argues that the interest which the films of Claire Denis display in the ever-shifting modes of relations between people is illustrated through analysis of how music is used throughout her corpus of feature films. Denis draws on an extremely eclectic palette of musical styles, and the thesis proposes that these varying musical modalities are central to her treatment of relational issues, as are the ways in which she deploys her chosen musical selections. In this thesis, I develop a number of analytical tools. I draw on the thinking of Jacques Rancière and Jean-Luc Nancy with regard to questions of relationality, community and the dissensual elements which inform both interpersonal relationships and artistic creativity. I adapt the work of Kathryn Lachman on concepts of polyphony and counterpoint in literature for application to the oeuvre of Denis, as I do the writings of Michel Chion on music in film, especially his conceptualization of empathetic modes of cinematic music. The thesis concludes that music in the work of Claire Denis operates in a mode which diverges significantly from the tenets of existing film music theory. Music in a Denis film is at the same time far more fragmentary and yet much more thoroughly integrated than allowed for by standard conceptualizations. It plays hand-in-hand with the challenges and invitations which are a feature of the cinema of Denis