Forward Views Research Articles

CHANGING ECONOMIC THOUGHT IN POLAND 1

UNDER Communism history either races or stands still. In 1956, as we know, it raced. The quite normal delay in reaching (British) print has rendered these notes totally out of date. Mr. Gomulka's return to power has conferred on Polish academic economics a very Western look indeed. Opinions here said to be advanced are now commonplace, and their defenders have been joined by others indistinguishable from British economists, who put forward views still more 'advanced'. Nor is the situation yet stabilized. In what follows, the present tense refers to June 1956, the month of Poznan, the third year of slow thaw and the fourth month of quick thaw. Mr. Gomulka's return is still four months ahead. Pre-war Polish economics was a backward province of continental classical economics. Work tended to be derivative from foreign models; there was nothing self-generating and original like Polish logic. Marx was of course as well known as in any neighbouring country, and a few economists had a tincture of right-wing Marxism like the 'economism' of the Russian Tugan-Baranowsky. So there was some non-Communist intellectual Marxism-that phenomenon that Britons find so difficult to understand, and too readily confuse with simple dishonesty. Communism itself was also small. The marginal analysis was not much known, the Keynesian scarcely at all. After the war Communism was imposed. While generally Party members are 8-9 per cent. of academic teachers, in this theologically central field they are about 30 per cent. Pre-war economists have succeeded in subsisting, at the cost of public allegiance to the dogma. If they pay this price they lose prospects of promotion rather than present emolument. Actual loss of office has been attended by compensation, it is not clear to me in what proportion of cases. Young economists have all been brought up as good Communists since 1949 (which is the year when Poland was finally frozen over). But the effect of all this must not be exaggerated. For almost no member of the Polish Party was ever a true-believing Stalinist. Many are non-Communist Marxists, some are positively anti-Communist, very many are simple careerists, some of the young are genuine social idealists. And of the non-party teachers some again are careerists while the majority are, I presume, like the vast majority of all Poles-simple and uncomplicated anti-Communists. As to the students since 1949, the

The Gold Ornament from Mold, Flintshire North Wales

The ornamental piece of sheet-gold found near Mold, in the county of Flint, North Wales (fig. 1), is one of the largest and heaviest pieces of prehistoric gold-work so far discovered in Europe, and it has been one of the principal treasures in the collection of prehistoric antiquities in the British Museum for more than a century.Although the object has been frequently illustrated, no detailed study has been made of it since the original publication of its finding which appeared inArchaeologiain 1836.In the present study an endeavour is made to restate the circumstances of the discovery, to offer a detailed description of the object itself, and to put forward certain views as to its age and use.The gold ornament was discovered in 1833 during the destruction of a mound of stones and earth situated in a field named Bryn yr Ellyllon which lay about half a mile E.S.E. of the parish church of Mold, Flintshire. There are three early accounts of the discovery, but none of them are at first hand. They have been brought together by Canon Ellis Davies, and the fullest and most objective of these accounts is the second reproduced by him. In this, which was by the then Vicar of Mold, Rev. C. B. Clough, a fairly clear idea is obtained of the circumstances of the discovery, but it must be emphasized that the actual opening of the grave was not witnessed by him or by any of the other writers. The following reconstruction of, and commentary on, the discovery is, however, mainly based on the Vicar's account.

Growth-Cycle of Influenza Virus

HOYLE has recently published1 an account of some experiments which lead him to put forward certain revolutionary views. It is often assumed that the influenza virus, a particle of about 100 mµ diameter, gains entrance to a susceptible cell, and in the cytoplasm proceeds to multiply by binary fission. Hoyle believes that, once absorbed, the elementary body becomes broken up into particles of about 10 mµ, diameter and that these particles, which have been previously recognized as the soluble antigen, are the tissue forms of the influenza virus which multiply within the cell. He presumes that later these small particles recombine to form elementary bodies which are cast out of the cell and which are specifically adapted for absorption on to the receptor sites of other susceptible cells.

The Sources of Geoffrey of Monmouth. I. The ‘Pre-Roman’ King-List

The study of Geoffrey's book and of the allied Welsh texts is a subject of such complexity, and has produced such a mass of technical literature, that the intrusion of a newcomer into these jealously guarded preserves of recondite scholarship is naturally liable to direct at once the cold stare of disapproval, or at best the wan smile of tolerance upon one so rash. I am not unmindful that in a previous world-conflict Sir (Emeritus Professor) Flinders Petrie put forward views on the Historia from an outsider's standpoint which were instantly demolished in a few quietly incisive notes by Professor R. W. Chambers. But, despite the vast tangle of adherent commentary which now envelops Geoffrey's book to an extent that all too often dwarfs the actual text, it seems likely that certain basic questions—is it a work of fiction or of fact, or if both, in what proportions—should be answerable to some extent by enquiring whether certain passages read convincingly as sheer invention, and if not, what prevented the author from making them so. I hope to show that one can trace in the Historia a use of certain documentary sources which to the best of my knowledge have not been recognized in full before. I venture therefore to put forward these tentative ideas in the hope that they may be followed up or refuted by those more qualified for the task than myself, examining the problem for the first time and from the outside, and in those enforced circumstances in which the only really accessible works of reference are the King's Regulations and the Manual of Military Law. As a contrast it is a pleasure to record my thanks to those who have aided me, notably Professor Ifor Williams, who has given me invaluable advice and helped to eradicate the more egregious errors from my argument.

The electric fields of South African thunderstorms

The quantitative study of the electrical changes taking place in thunderstorms was initiated and has been developed by Prof. C. T. R. Wilson in two important papers. Measurements of the electric fields due to charged clouds and of the field changes associated with lightning discharges have led him to put forward certain views according to which the thunderstorm is an important factor in the production and maintenance of several electro-meteorological phenomena with which it has not previously been considered connected. Chief amongst these is the negative charge on the surface of the earth, for the replenishment of which the views of Wilson require a certain preponderance of thunderclouds of positive polarity, i.e ., positively charged above and negatively charged below, over clouds of negative polarity, the ionisation currents between the bases of the clouds of the former type and the ground serving to maintain the earth’s charge at a steady value in spite of the reverse current flowing in regions of fine weather. It is necessary, in order to test this theory, that observations be made in different parts of the world to examine whether the required preponderance of clouds of positive polarity exist. For this purpose South Africa, which contributes largely to the world’s supply of thunderstorms, is very suitable.

Biology of Man

IN referring to the reduction of eugenics to a minimum I was quoting Mr. Wells, not putting forward my own views. Later on, in criticising Mr. Wells, I expressly referred to the possibility of the “control of heredity” in man as well as in lower organisms.

The Central Groups of the Parthenon Pediments

There is probably no subject in Greek archaeology which has afforded material for so much discussion as the identification and arrangement of the sculptures of the Parthenon, and at first sight it may seem presumptuous at this time of day to bring forward new views. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that discussion cannot be wholly fruitless, even if it does no more than bring us closer into touch with the work of Pheidias; and even this well-worn path is not a mere wandering up and down, but sometimes leads us farther. If it is vouchsafed to us by taking thought only to add one small fragment to the Frieze, the labour is not in vain. And so I have the less hesitation in returning once more to the question of the central groups of the two Pediments of the Parthenon.Discussion on these two subjects has entered (as I shall hope to shew) on a new phase since the discovery was recently made that we must remove one of the figures commonly assigned to the East Pediment and place it in the West. It is now, I believe, generally admitted that the supposed Nike of the East Pediment does not belong to that Pediment at all, but is the figure shewn in Carrey's drawing as in the West Pediment, next behind the Poseidon.

On the Origin of Dry Chalk Valleys and of Coombe Rock

For many years the singular mass of angular flints and Chalk, known as the Brighton Elephant-bed, has been familiar to geologists. This deposit I had not seen till 1884, when I was instructed to examine, for the Geological Survey, the Pleistocene deposits of Sussex between the escarpment of the South Downs and the sea. Coming from eight years' work in strongly glaciated districts, I was at once struck by the appearance of the Elephant-bed—or, as it is called in the district, the “Coombe Rock.” It is a very different deposit from anything commonly seen in the Yorkshire or Lincolnshire Wolds, and different, though not so markedly different, from anything found in Norfolk. This occurrence in a non-glaciated district of a type of gravel unlike anything of ordinary occurrence in glaciated districts of similar configuration aroused my interest. After two years' study of the beds in the field, I venture to bring forward my views as to the mode of formation of Coombe Rock and as to the origin of dry Chalk Valleys—two subjects intimately connected. The configuration of the surface beneath the drift on the seaward side of the South Downs is identical with that found in the Chalk districts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. In each of these districts we have a dip-slope from the edge of the escarpment seaward. But this slope does not pass under the low-lying drift areas; it ends abruptly in a cliff, now much degraded, but still recognizable as a sea-cliff both by the marine

Physiological Selection and the Origin of Species

As I was unable to be present at the Linnean Society when Mr. Romanes read his paper on the above subject, I may take the opportunity furnished by the publication of the abstract in these columns to put forward certain views which I have long held with reference to the points raised by the author. I may remark that I am writing under the disadvantage of distance from notes or books of reference, and that I have not yet seen the complete paper. Moreover, my work of late years has run off biological tracks, and I can but regret that my remarks must, under the present circumstances, be of a more or less general character; but at any rate they may be of use as a contribution to the discussion which Mr. Romanes' carefully considered paper well merits at the hands of biologists.

Societies and Academies

Societies and Academies