The diary of Robert John Mullins (1833-1913)

Summary of Content: This volume offers its readers extracts from the diary and the correspondence of Robert John Mullins, Anglican missionary, priest and in due time principal of what was called the Kafir Institution in Grahamstown and as such a pioneer in the field of western education to black South Africans. After his marriage to Jennie Roe he was assisted in all that he undertook by a loyal and devoted wife. The editors have made use of the earlier diaries and manuscripts because of the light they shed on the conditions in the eastern Cape frontier in the crucial years before and after the cattle-killing. While Mullins' own observations are those of a young missionary his remarks and the record of his experiences are themselves to be viewed in the light of the recent scholarship in regard to the cattle-killing which reveals the multisidedness of an appalling social tragedy. What Mullins wrote records, for better or for worse, episodes which show how South Africans of different origins have in the past regarded one another. Mullins was a committed Christian eager to offer to all whom he could reach the salvation of Christ in which he so fervently believed.He was often intolerant of Xhosa customs he could not understand as well as often perplexed and discouraged. But the overwhelming impact of this record is what it took to be a missionary: courage, commitment, humour, resilience, a capacity to endure physical hardship and enjoy physical activity. All these were qualities which Robert John Mullins possessed in abundance. As his diary shows they were the qualities the frontier demanded. Working over a long period of time Nancy Charton and Brenda Nicholls (who became a coeditor in 1991) have transcribed the diary entries and the correspondence working with the help of the sites of some of the missionary activity. The help of members of the Mullins family (notably Judy Sturrock and her husband) is gratefully acknowledged. Earlier generous contributions made it possible to obtain a typescript from which the editors could work. Every effort has been made to identify the individuals (Xhosa, Tembu and white) and events (both in South Africa and abroad) which are alluded to in the diary. This was a time consuming task and the editors are grateful to all who helped them with it. The book consists of an introduction and eleven chapters. The introduction describes the material and the methods of the editors, discusses the religious and social conditions of the time, addresses the problems of interpartition presented by the cattle-killings, turns attention to the dilemmas of missionaries and then focusses the attention of readers on the diarist Robert John Mullins (with Jennie as later stand-in) as well as the value of the diary. There is much to interest the educationist, the theologian, the economist, and the historian. Chapter 1 deals with Mullins' voyage to the Cape in 1854 and the extracts record the experiences of an exuberant as well as a dedicated lad of sixteen. Chapter 2 deals with the arrival at the Cape in 1854. Chapter 3 gives us a picture of Mullins' experience of Graham's Town in 1854. Chapter 4 deals with Mullins' experience at St Luke's Mission. Chapter 5 covers the period of 1856-57 when Mullins was at Balotwa and the cattle-killing frenzy developed. Chapter 6 describes the hunger and turmoil which followed in the wake of the cattle-killing. Chapter 7 describes the founding of a new station, St Peter's Gwytyu. Chapter 8 is concerned with life at St Peter's in the early months of 1858. Chapter 9 covers the last months at St Peter's and his journey to the Bashee. Chapters 10 and 11 cover the early years in the married life of Robert John Mullins and his wife Jennie. The Mullins' delight in family life is strongly evident in their joy in each other's company and their anxious joy over their first-born baby. Chapter 11 gives the reader the texts of letters written by Robert John and his wife Jennie in the years which marked the end of Mullins' career as a frontier missionary, and the opening to him of the opportunity to become Principal of the Kafir Institution. A map carefully prepared by Mr Oakley West of the Geography Department, with the assistance of Deby Brody, enables the reader to trace the frontier journeys of Robert John Mullins and his wife Jennie who were among the pioneers of frontier societies who did their best to make available to others what they believed to be the eternal benefits of the Christian faith, and the accompanying mores of the 'western' culture of their day

Quotas regulation is necessary but not sufficient to mitigate the impact of SCUBA diving in a highly visited marine protected area

When effectively managed, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can produce wide ecosystem benefits that can foster, directly and indirectly, local economies. Tourism is one of the sectors mainly benefited by the effect of conservation. SCUBA diving represents an important tourism activity, especially in the context of MPAs, where it is one of the few activities often fostered rather than limited, for its capacity to integrate environmental and socio-economic sustainability. However, SCUBA diving can also produce negative impacts on the environment when tourism frequentation exceeds a sustainable threshold, these potentially generating negative effects on the sector itself. In this study, we (1) investigated the impact of SCUBA diving in one of the most frequented diving areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Cabo de Palos - Islas Hormigas marine reserve), and (2) assessed the potential benefits over time related to the adoption of a regulation change for the diving activity (i.e., formally adoption of diving quotas). Specifically, we compared demographic (density of alive and dead colonies) and morphometric (height, width and complexity) characteristics of the false coral (Myriapora truncata) between dived and fully protected (non-dived) locations over four diving seasons (one before and three after the change in diving quotas). The density of alive colonies of the false coral was, on average, six times lower in dived locations compared to controls, highlighting a clear impact of SCUBA diving (consistent over time). Colonies were also significantly smaller in dived locations. The diving quotas produced a significant reduction of the ratio dead/total colonies in the dived locations soon after their adoption, but these benefits disappeared over the following years, possibly due to a gradual decline in operators' and divers' observance and concern, rather than an increasing number of dives. This suggests that the adoption of effective regulations is crucial for the environmental sustainability of diving tourism in protected areas and can provide positive effects, but an effort is needed to ensure that compliance is consistent over time, and that low-impact diving practices are adopted by this important recreational sector

A probable giant planet imaged in the Beta Pictoris disk

Since the discovery of its dusty disk in 1984, Beta Pictoris has become the prototype of young early-type planetary systems, and there are now various indications that a massive Jovian planet is orbiting the star at ~ 10 AU. However, no planets have been detected around this star so far. Our goal was to investigate the close environment of Beta Pic, searching for planetary companion(s). Deep adaptive-optics L'-band images of Beta Pic were recorded using the NaCo instrument at the Very Large Telescope. A faint point-like signal is detected at a projected distance of ~ 8 AU from the star, within the North-East side of the dust disk. Various tests were made to rule out with a good confidence level possible instrumental or atmospheric artifacts. The probability of a foreground or background contaminant is extremely low, based in addition on the analysis of previous deep Hubble Space Telescope images. The object L'=11.2 apparent magnitude would indicate a typical temperature of ~1500 K and a mass of ~ 8 Jovian masses. If confirmed, it could explain the main morphological and dynamical peculiarities of the Beta Pic system. The present detection is unique among A-stars by the proximity of the resolved planet to its parent star. Its closeness and location inside the Beta Pic disk suggest a formation process by core accretion or disk instabilities rather than a binary-like formation process.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. A&A Letters, in pres

Cétonémie physiologique de la brebis gestante

Charton André, Faye P., Hervy A., Bernard C., Gueslin M. Cétonémie physiologique de la Brebis gestante. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 118 n°10, 1965. pp. 489-496

Taux moyen du cholestérol sanguin et rapport cholestérol estérifié-cholestérol total chez la brebis adulte

Les taux sériques moyens du cholestérol total (0,61 g/l. 000 ml) du cholestérol estérifîé (0,26 g/l. 000 ml ± 0,1), le rapport choles térol estéri fié/cholestérol total (0,42 ± 0,16) chez la brebis sont faibles par rapport aux taux moyens mesurés chez la plupart des autres espèces. Les variations, nycthém érales, normales, sont importantes. Aucune différence n'apparaît entre les taux moyens calculés, d’après les mêmes femelles, selon qu’elles sont en gestation ou en lactation. Avec la méthode d’analyse utilisée, un taux de cholestérol total dépassant 0,80 g/l. 000 définit une hypercholestérolémie, un taux inférieur à 0,40 une hypocholestérolémie. Le rapport cholestérol estéri fié/cholestérol total est extrêmement variable : des chiffres extrêmes inférieurs à 0,1 ou supérieurs à 0,95 sont compatibles avec un état de santé normal

Lipémie (lipides totaux et indice d’iode) chez la brebis : limites des variations physiologiques

Charton André, Faye P., Hervy A., Bernard C., Gueslin M. Lipémie (Lipides totaux et indice d’iode), chez la brebis : limites des variations physiologiques. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 121 n°8, 1968. pp. 333-336

Acoustic telemetry and accelerometers: a field comparison of different proxies for activity in the marine environment

Different proxies for activity are used in the field of acoustic telemetry, a leading technology for the study of behaviour in the aquatic environment. Acoustic telemetry poses some shortcomings that may condition data interpretation. Here, we assessed some approaches commonly used to infer activity from acoustic telemetry data using acceleration biologgers as a benchmark. Specifically, we assessed (1) the performance of internal acceleration transmitters, (2) the consequences of averaging acceleration data into increasing time bins, (3) the occurrence of sampling bias in telemetry data acquisition, and (4) the performance of the number of detections and the depth range as proxies for activity. Despite some constraints of acoustic telemetry, acceleration transmitters had a good performance. Conversely, the number of detections and the depth range did not match well the activity estimates provided by acceleration biologgers. Besides, our results pointed to some issues in models concerning the predictive power of acceleration transmitters (linear predictor) over acceleration biologgers, warned about potential sampling bias associated with data acquisition with acoustic telemetry, and highlighted the relevance of considering inter-individual differences in behavioural studies. Finally, we provided some methodological perspectives that should be considered to plan fieldwork, analyse data, and interpret results on animal activity obtained with acoustic telemetry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Réserve alcaline du sang des Ovins

Charton André, Faye P., Hervy A., Bernard C., Gueslin M. Réserve alcaline du sang des Ovins. In: Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France tome 116 n°10, 1963. pp. 445-446