Great Seal Research Articles

Upholding Indigenous Freedoms of Religion and Medicine: Peyotists at the 1906–1908 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and First Legislature

Upholding Indigenous Freedoms of Religion and MedicinePeyotists at the 1906–1908 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention and First Legislature Dennis Wiedman (bio) In February 1908 newspapers throughout Oklahoma reported that the hotel lobbies of Guthrie, the capital of the new state of Oklahoma, were crowded with Indian men, women, and children. At the thirty-sixth day of the first Oklahoma legislature, just sixty days after the state was established by merging Indian and Oklahoma Territories, more than a hundred prominent representatives of the Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Osage, Ponca, Arapaho, Iowa, and Sac and Fox tribes filled the legislative hall. On four occasions, twice during the constitutional convention and twice at the first Oklahoma legislature six months later, Indian leaders assertively voiced their concerns about laws that restricted their rights to practice their medicine and religion. At the Senate legislative hearings, Chessie McIntosh, a member of the Creek Nation, a lawyer, and a delegate at the earlier constitutional convention for the unsuccessfully proposed state of Sequoyah, expressed the importance of the moment: Ladies and Gentlemen, in conclusion, I thank the people of the great State of Oklahoma for the consideration given the Indian in the late Constitutional Convention; I thank you for what I have never seen in any Legislature before, and I have been to the assembling of more than one state legislature—I have never seen where the Indians were invited into the Legislative Chamber and asked to present his wants. I thank you for that, and for the perpetuation of the souls of the different Nations to agree to come as you have done in the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma, and I hope and trust that the Indian will make one of the best citizens of this State.1 [End Page 215] These debates and discourses at the juncture of state formation structured the chartering of the Native American Church (NAC) in Oklahoma ten years later in 1918, creating the legal foundation for the practice of Peyotism throughout the United States and Canada, where it is now the largest intertribal Indigenous religion in North America. In the five hundred years of European and American globalization of the world, seldom have Indigenous peoples been invited to a constitutional convention and first legislature to express their perspectives and concerns. The use of peyote by the Indigenous peoples of the southern plains and northern Mexico is ancient, dating back thousands of years to at least 5200 BP.2 Indigenous peoples expressing their desires to practice their traditional medicines and religions directly to lawmakers at the formation of a state is a rare occasion in the United States or elsewhere in the world. Rarely in the five-hundred-year history of the European and American colonization of the world were the rights of the Indigenous peoples considered at the juncture when new political entities established their constitutions and first laws. Typically, nation-states attempt to extinguish Indigenous rights to land and resources, refuse to grant their political legitimacy, and severely persecute traditional healing and religious practices. Not until 1978 did the United States grant religious freedom to Native Americans.3 Peyotists were not protected by federal law until 1994, when President Clinton signed the amendments to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.4 Not until September 2007 did the United Nations declare that nations recognize Indigenous rights to their spiritual and religious traditions as well as their traditional medicines and health practices.5 This article portrays this critical juncture in 1907 when the American nation-state imposed its full legal, economic, political, and value system upon more than forty Indigenous nations by merging Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory into the state of Oklahoma. This critical political and cultural event, where Indigenous peoples expressed their rights for religion and medicine, is not documented nor analyzed in the literature. Even though Sidney Slotkin in his 1956 book, The Peyote Religion, details many of the legal and political events in defense of Peyotism, there is no mention of these hearings at the formation of the state of Oklahoma.6 A photograph and six paragraphs in the 1987 book Peyote Religion by Omer Stewart briefly mention this historic event in the chapter on how...

A New Order of the Ages: Eschatological Vision in Virgil and Beyond

Abstract Proceeding from the Latin mottoes for the Great Seal of the United States, this paper explores the use and repercussions of eschatological themes in Virgil’s poetry. A hitherto unnoticed datum in the history of the Great Seal’s final design exemplifies how comparatively recent readings of the myth of Aeneas and the Cumaean Sibyl could inform our understanding of how the same myth was conceived in the Augustan Age. The discussion revolves around topics such as ekphrasis, the conflation of memoir and myth, and the eschatological significance of spatial and temporal transmission. The final part of the paper introduces some new thoughts concerning the ludi tarentini and the centennial life span.

Mahāmudrā: Natural Mind in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism

AbstractMahāmudrā, usually translated as ‘the great seal’, is a vital term in the tantric traditions of Buddhist India and most schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In early Indian Buddhist tantras, it refers primarily to a hand‐gesture (mudrā) accompanying visualization meditation. In the later and more esoteric Indian Mahāyoga and Yoginī tantras, it denotes, inter alia, one of a sequence of experiential ‘seals’ to meditation; a ‘consort’ in sexual yoga practices; and a non‐dual gnosis in which great bliss and awareness of emptiness (śūnyatā) are inseparably conjoined. In the songs and treatises of the Indian great adepts (mahāsiddhas), Mahāmudrā is an index of ultimacy, regarded as the luminous, empty nature of mind, i.e. our buddha‐nature; a type of meditation for realizing mind’s nature; a set of unconventional practices that express that realization; and the final fruit of meditation, buddhahood. In Tibet, Mahāmudrā was known during the imperial period, but gained prominence only during the Tibetan ‘renaissance’ that began in the 11th century. Although a topic of analysis in nearly every Tibetan tradition, it is most central to the Kagyü, or ‘oral lineage’. Introduced to the Kagyü by Marpa and Milarepa, Mahāmudrā was popularized by Gampopa, who analyzed it from many angles, and suggested it was as much a practice rooted in the sūtras as in the tantras. Subsequent Kagyü masters developed Gampopa’s analysis further, produced anthologies of Mahāmudrā texts, and related Mahāmudrā to a variety of important Indian and Tibetan Buddhist ideas and practices. As a meditation practice, Mahāmudrā often is divided into sudden and gradual approaches. The sudden approach involves simply abiding in the natural mind, which is tantamount to buddhahood. Gradual approaches may involve complex tantric visualizations and the manipulation of forces within the subtle body or a sequence of meditations that focus on the nature of mind, which is found to be empty, luminous, non‐dual, and blissful. Discourse on mahāmudra in India and Tibet raises a number of important issues for Buddhist thought and practice, such as the soteriological sufficiency of a single, sudden insight; the place of reason and ethics in contemplative tradition; and the unity or diversity of meditative realization. Those issues resonate, in turn, with discussions elsewhere of mysticism, religious experience, and the nature of mind.

Toward an understanding of non-dual mindfulness

The aim of this article is to explore an approach to ‘mindfulness’ that lies outside of the usual Buddhist mainstream. This approach adopts a ‘non-dual’ stance to meditation practice, and based on my limited experience and training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, this non-dual notion of ‘mindfulness’ seems an especially appropriate point of comparison between Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Buddhism. That comparison itself will not be the focus here—given my own inexpertise and lack of clinical experience, it would be best to leave the comparison to others! Instead, the aim here will be to explore some features of ‘mindfulness’ in the context of non-dual styles of Buddhist practice. To begin, we will assess some difficulties that emerge when one attempts to speak of ‘mindfulness’ in Buddhism. Next, we will turn to the somewhat radical notion of ‘non-dual’ practice in relation to the more mainstream descriptions found in the Buddhist Abhidharma literature. We will then examine some crucial features of Buddhist non-dualism, including attitudes and theories about thoughts and judgments. A brief foray into specific practice instructions will help us to understand the role of ‘mindfulness’ in a specific non-dual tradition called, ‘Mahāmudrā’ (the ‘Great Seal’). Finally, after some reflection on ‘mindfulness’ in the non-dual practice of Mahāmudrā, I will conclude by considering a crucial issue: the context of practice.

Laparo-endoscopic single site retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy: a novel concept

Various treatment options are available for small incidentally detected kidney masses, including surveillance, partial nephrectomy and probe ablative therapies. When partial nephrectomy is considered, the procedure can be safely approached laparoscopically, either pure or robot assisted, in experienced hands. Laparo-endoscopic single site (LESS) surgery is a novel approach for partial nephrectomies in well selected cases. In this video, we present our experience with the LESS retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy using the Gelpoint device. A 63 year old male patient with a BMI of 31, and a history of a T1c prostate cancer, had a 1.5 cm right posterior lower pole renal enhancing mass discovered incidentally on a three phase CT scan. With the patient under general anesthesia, and in a full flank position, a LESS retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy was performed using a 3 cm transverse incision below the tip of the 12th rib. The following instruments and devices were used: A gelpoint device for single incision port of entry, one 10 mm and two 5 mm trocars used through the gelpoint, one 5 mm Olympus HD endoeye flexible tip camera, one roticulator scissors, and one articulating graspers. Operative time, EBL, and hospital stay were 1 hour, 5 ml, and 23 hours, respectively. The pathology result confirmed a benign hemorrhagic cystic mass. The visual analog scale (0-10) for pain at recovery, 6 hours post op, and 23 hours post op was 5, 3, and 1 point, respectively. The patient tolerated clear liquids and regular diet at 6 and 16 hours, after the procedure. At one month of follow-up, the patient is asymptomatic and practically scarless. LESS retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy is safe and feasible in selected cases such as small exophytic posterior renal masses. The retroperitoneal approach avoids mobilization of the colon and kidney to access the posterior surface. Instrument clashing, limited range of motion, and CO2 leakage, can be some difficulties encountered during single port retroperitoneal surgery. However, the Gelpoint device gives a great seal in the flank position and allows the relocation of trocars, without loss of CO2 pressure, to prevent instrument clashing during different parts of the procedure.

Mrs Janet Taylor's ‘Mariner's Calculator’: assessment and reassessment

AbstractVanished from history is the story of the ‘Mariner's Calculator’, invented and patented at the Great Seal Patent Office, London, by Mrs Janet Taylor, in 1834. Dismissed by the Admiralty, it had no commercial future and only one instrument is known to remain in existence. The article traces the invention from its inception and provides relevant biographical details of its inventor. The authors then analyse the assessment by the Admiralty to determine if it was fair and outline the endeavour in 2004 to reassess the achievement by a reconstruction of the Mariner's Calculator from its original patent.

Warrants under the signet in the reign of Edward IV

While fifteenth-century historians have long appreciated the importance of the signet and have incorporated it into their work on the politics and government of the time, the surviving warrants issued under the signet to the great and privy seals have not been studied in depth. By examining the surviving signet warrants in the files of the chancery and privy seal office, it is possible to detect some of the changes which were occurring in the governance of England with the overthrow of Henry VI and the accession of the Yorkists.

English embroidery from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: 'twixt art and nature

This book centres around the Metropolitan Museum of Art's preeminent collection of embroidered objects from England's late Tudor and Stuart eras. These seventeenth-century embroideries, some eighty works in all, include samplers, gloves, headgear, purses, raised work panels, boxes and mirrors, portrait miniatures, lavishly embroidered Bibles, and a spectacular burse made to hold the Great Seal of England. In a series of essays, the book explores the important role of embroidery in the history of textiles and decorative arts and also offers new insight into the role of women in the production of decorative arts. Expert scholars discuss embroidered furnishings, fashion accessories, biblical narratives, and pastoral imagery, to create a superb and comprehensive overview of embroidery during this tumultuous period in English history.

Reconceiving Rights and Constitutionalism

Human rights invoked in the international context are often treated as having self-evident content. The focus is on implementation and enforcement. The urge to enforcement is especially strong when...

John Lisle, Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, and the Last Months of the Cromwellian Protectorate

The sources for the last years of the Protectorate are limited and, when they survive, often opaque. However, a neglected manuscript, the ‘Abridgements of Chancery Causes’, prepared by John Lisle, one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal during the Interregnum, does enable us to cast a little more light on this period. The emphasis on strict constitutional formality in Lisle's work enhances the sense of Oliver Cromwell's waning grip on affairs during the last months of his life, and of the uncertainty, confusion and division at the centre that followed his death. The contextualisation of the manuscript in terms of the political career of its author, a notorious timeserver, provokes some reflection on the better known period of factional infighting during the session Richard Cromwell's Parliament, which eventually led to the overthrow of the Protectorate.

Abnormal high pressure in Kuqa foreland thrust belt of Tarim basin: Origin and impacts on hydrocarbon accumulation

Abstract Following analyses of the abnormal high pressure distribution characteristics, based on the geological characteristics, tectonic stress field and physical simulation, we investigated the formation mechanisms of abnormal high pressure and its impacts on hydrocarbon accumulation in the Kuqa foreland thrust belt. The abnormal high pressure appears at the bottom of the Paleogene and obviously exists in the Triassic and Jurassic. However, the pressure coefficient in the Triassic and Jurassic is lower than that in the Cretaceous and at the bottom of the Paleogene. Horizontally, the abnormal high pressure distribution in characterized by E-W orientation zoning. The maximum pressure coefficient lies in the Kelasu-Dongqiu-Dina tectonic zones in the centre of the Kuqa foreland thrust belt and decreases away from the tectonic zones. The formation of abnormal high pressure was mainly related with the intense tectonic compression in the Early Pleistocene time, and tectonic uplifting, undercompaction and hydrocarbon generation were secondary factors contributing to abnormal high pressure. Under the rapid and intense tectonic compression in the Early Pleistocene, the rock framework firstly undertook 1/4 of the compression stress and the other was borne by the pore fluids. Due to the presence of great seal of gypsum-salt or gypsum-mudstone beds in the Paleogence, the pressure of pore fluids increased rapidly and led to the abnormal high pressure in the Kuqa foreland thrust belt. The abnormal high pressure has important impacts on hydrocarbon accumulation. It is one of the necessary conditions for formation of large oil and gas fields in the Kuqa foreland thrust belt.

ROYAL INCAPACITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONTINUITY: THE REGENT AND COUNSELLORS OF STATE

THE British monarch has legal duties to perform, as well as ceremonial and representative functions to discharge. For example, the monarch’s assent is legally required before a Bill or an Order in Council can pass into law; some appointments only take effect when they are formally approved by the monarch, which is sometimes signified by the Queen’s personal signature, the royal sign manual, or at others by personal delivery by the monarch of seals of office. Some types of document require as a matter of law the affixing of the Great Seal, which can usually be done only by virtue of a warrant under the royal sign manual: examples include royal proclamations (say to dissolve Parliament), or Letters Patent (say to confer a peerage or to ratify a treaty). Because the monarch is part of the legal machinery of government it is essential that the monarch is always available to function as such; but because a monarch is only human there will be times when, because of absence or illness, this is impossible.

Voluntarist Nationalism with the Idea of Self-Invented Nation: An Aspect of American Exceptionalism

Nationalism is never anything less than an invention. Where is there is a national identity that is truly natural? Where a nationalism that has not been forged in the collective imagination of a self-conscious culture? But America's sense of national self-identity is unique even by these standards, for more than any other nation America is self-invented — an express creation of a people who knew itself to be engaged in an act of self-conscious artifice. The conception of the American nation as self-constituted, as a second chance for humanity away f;om Europe's ticking historical clock, is then anything but unproblematic. Yet “the New order of Things” promised by the Great Seal of the United State as an aspect of American excqtionalism still offers hope of a community held together by bonds free of the taint of blood and the repressive hierarchy of kinship.

A Note on the Great Seal of Pērōz and Middle Persian nycny

A Note on the Great Seal of Pērōz and Middle Persian nycny

'Show Me the Money!'

'Show Me the Money!'

The Chancellor, the Chancery, and the History of Law Reform

As both James Oldham and Joshua Getzler show in their perceptive and helpful comments, much work remains to be done on the history of both the nineteenth-century Chancery and the wider law reform movement. My discussion of the inconclusive nature of the political debate about Eldon's arrears leads Oldham to ask whether the Chancellor was really overburdened and whether the appointment of the Vice Chancellor was as counterproductive as many contemporaries claimed. On the first of these issues, the data show that while Eldon was in general able to deal with the caseload before him, it was in the 1810s—when “by a series of most important decisions, [he] systematized the law of bankruptcy”—that a dramatic arrear in appeals developed (see Figure 5), which contributed to the political pressure on him in the following decade. Oldham shows from a survey of his notebooks that Eldon heard roughly fifty cases a year from 1801–13; while according to official returns, in the 1820s, he heard more than forty appeals each year. But between 1813 and 1819, the number fell to about twelve cases a year. On the second issue, the data show that the creation of a Vice Chancellor did have an impact, but a relatively modest one. Lacking the distractions of the Great Seal, he could hear more original business; and cases set down and heard in Chancery increased by about 40 percent in the decade and a half after his appointment. While the number of appeals also increased, both numerically and proportionally, they remained at manageable levels.

Justus von Liebig, FRS: creator of the world's first scientific research laboratory

The date 26 May 1824, when Justus von Liebig was made an 'extraordinary professor' of chemistry at the University of Giessen, is for me as momentous an occasion in the history of science as 16 July 1662, when the Charter of Incorporation of the Royal Society passed the Great Seal, making it the official date of that body's foundation. This year marks the two hundredth anniversary of Liebig's birth, and here I describe his long and interdisciplinary scientific career, and in particular his creation of the world's first scientific research and teaching laboratory at Giessen. This essay is in part a review of William H. Brock's biography, Justus von Liebig: The Chemical Gatekeeper.

Lord Cottenham and the Court of Chancery

Lord Cottenham was a significant legal figure in nineteenth-century Britain. He was a Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal in both Lord Melbourne's and Lord Russell's administrations. Yet compared with his peers he has faded into obscurity, because his contribution to the reform of the Court of Chancery and the development of the law, particularly equity, has not been fully appreciated. It will be argued that Lord Cottenham was not as successful as his successors in reforming Chancery because his attempts to do so were flawed by the view that incremental reform would redress the problems which beset the Court. However, he made some highly significant contributions to equitable doctrine, sometimes taking a practical approach to judicial decision-making and laying the foundation for some modern doctrines.

The Great Seal of Peroz

L'inscription sur le grand sceau de Peroz, publiee et traduite par Ph. Gignoux, doit etre lue a partir du milieu de la premiere ligne. Ainsi, il est possible de restituer un formulaire de titulature sassanide regulier, mais le nom de l'Eran-wez en disparait.

Dans Les Coulisses: Bellievre and the Struggle for the Seals, 1599-1607

According to the letters patent of late 1604, Henri IV nominated a keeper of the seals in response to Chancellor Pomponne de Bellièvre's request that he create one, ‘in order to assist and relieve him’. Behind the formal explanation of an impending change in status, or the relinquishing of office in early modern France, there often lay a history of collegial manoeuvring. We examine these interpersonal aspects of Bellièvre's career as chancellor (1599–1607). Our analysis shows how and why Bellièvre, an honest and highly principled royal servant, forfeited the king's favour, despite the chancellor's struggle to keep the great seals of France in face of the machination of enemies, defection of allies, betrayal by friends and the vulnerability of old age. To reconstruct these alarums and excursions ‘dans les coulisses’ enables us to grasp more effectively the human dimension of politics that underpinned changes in staff or the formulation of policy.