La Suisse Research Articles

Philosophical Conversations about Music in Simple Language. Pythagoras: the Divine Number and World Musical Harmony

The article is written on the basis of a conversation on the philosophy of music by Professor G.G. Kolomiets, author of the book Value of music: philosophical aspect, with a musician from France, Dmitry Rasul-Kareev, Clarinet solo of Orchestra de la Suisse Romande. The dialogue gives a detailed and simple understanding of the philosophical view of music on the example of the ancient philosopher Pythagoras. His cosmological teaching saw the kinship of music, mathematics and philosophy and stated that the divine perception of the world is contained in the divine Number permeating the entire cosmos and our life. Music is made of numerical proportions and acts as a substance that exists even without a person, yet this unchanging principle of divine harmony, can be felt, experienced and expressed in musical art. Cosmologists believed there is a comprehensive law, according to which objects obey the divine mind, the great Rhythm. Music seemed to be the embodiment of the rhythm of the universe and harmony. The essence of the harmony of the spheres is that the cosmos is a harmoniously arranged and musical-sounding body. The movement of the starry sky creates the music of the cosmic spheres, which is refracted when playing musical instruments, and this lends itself to precise mathematical calculations. The intervals between the cosmic spheres are mathematically correlated with each other like the intervals of tones in music. The Pythagorean understanding of the numerical harmony of the structure of the universe largely determined the path of development of music theory, forming the main musical categories: fret, rhythm, interval, modulation and others. The modern philosophy of music deepens the Pythagorean ideas of harmony of spheres, putting forward the principles of functionality and processivity as properties of music, and allows us to talk about the law of cyclicity on a global scale. For example, following Pythagoras, music outside of the actual musical art is interpreted as a reflection of the vibrations of a complex communicative system: man-society-nature-cosmos.

Jacques-Louis Reverdin - pioneer of transplantology, a surgeon who opened the veil of functional importance of the thyroid gland

Jacques-Louis Reverdin is a famous Swiss surgeon, scientist, and entomologist of the nineteenth century. He made a considerable contribution to the development of transplantology — he was one of the first to publish work on allotransplantation, performing the so — called “skin grafting”, urology — he defended his thesis on urethrotomy, endocrinology- he performed surgical operations for the treatment of goiter, observed and described the symptoms of iatrogenic hypothyroidism, introduced the concept of postoperative myxedema. For thirty-four years, he led an active surgical practice, thanks to which he described a large number of operations (the most famous are operations on the thyroid gland), introduced a surgical suture and needle, which are still used today. During the Franco-Prussian war, he commanded a Swiss ambulance. He was a proponent of Lister’s method of asepsis and antiseptics, and introduced it in hospitals in Geneva. He was engaged in teaching and research, and was nominated for the Nobel prize three times. He received the Amuss prize of the Academy of Medicine, the prize of the Paris Academy of medicine for his work on urethrotomy, founded the Revue Medicale de la Suisse Romande, and was a co-founder and later President of the Association of physicians of Geneva. Honorary member of the entomological societies of Switzerland, France, England and Brazil.

Tombes à dalles néolithiques (cistes et chambres) du nord-est de la péninsule Ibérique : une vision historiographique et chronologique

Les sépultures à dalles néolithiques sont connues depuis le début du XXe siècle, tout particulièrement grâce au travail débuté par J. Vilaró et poursuivi par M. Cura, J. Castany et Ll. Guerrero. Cependant, elles ont reçu de la part des archéologues moins d’attention que d’autres structures funéraires (même si elles sont souvent mentionnées dans la littérature archéologique), ce qui est surprenant. En effet, les tombes découvertes sont nombreuses, ainsi que les parallèles avec d’autres manifestations néolithiques contemporaines ou proches dans le temps du sud de la France, du nord de l’Italie ou de la Suisse. Il s’est donc avéré nécessaire d’effectuer une série d’analyses pour améliorer nos connaissances à leur sujet. La faible visibilité de ces tombes (ou l’absence de visibilité), leur mauvais état de conservation, le manque de prospections et les dégradations dues aux remaniements des sols des zones agropastorales dans lesquels elles se trouvent, peuvent être les causes du nombre peu élevé de découvertes réalisées ces dernières décennies. L’objectif de cet article est de présenter les derniers résultats obtenus par notre équipe de chercheurs réunie autour de l’étude de ces tombes. Nous présenterons l’état de la question sur leur historiographie, ainsi que les caractéristiques qui les définissent, en partant des structures pour arriver aux personnes inhumées et au mobilier funéraire associé. Il est important d’insister sur l’existence de nouvelles datations radiocarbone et sur les analyses statistiques effectuées, car elles nous ont permis d’évaluer la distribution chronologique des tombes et leur durée d’utilisation. Jusqu’à la réalisation de ce programme de datation, la chronologie des sépultures à dalles était assez incertaine en raison du nombre restreint de dates, dont certaines obtenues à partir d’échantillons de longue durée de vie. Ces données ont servi de trait d’union pour établir des liens avec d’autres manifestations funéraires du néolithique d’Europe centrale et occidentale.

Facetten des Denkens im Museum – Aneignungsweisen von Besuchenden der Ausstellung "14/18. Die Schweiz und der Grosse Krieg"

What do visitors think while passing through an historical museum, how do they shape cognitive interaction with the elements of the museum? These questions are at the center of an ongoing empirical project, which aims to identify elements and structures of thinking processes during a museum visit. The article outlines findings of the project which has been realized with visitors of the exhibition «14/18. La Suisse et la grande guerre» by using a method that is still almost unknown within the field of visitor studies: the think aloud method.

Facetten des Denkens im Museum – methodischer Zugang, empirische Befunde

What do visitors think while passing through an historical museum, how do they shape cognitive interaction with the elements of the museum? These questions are at the centre of an ongoing empirical project, which aims to identify elements and structures of thinking processes during a museum visit. The project has been realized with visitors of the exhibition « 14/18. La Suisse et la grande guerre » by using a method that is still almost unknown within the field of visitor studies : the think aloud methods. The article provides insights into methodological issues and afterwards outlines findings of the project.

Swiss and Alpine geologists between two tectonic revolutions. Part 1: from the discovery of nappes to the hypothesis of continental drift

At the advent of the twentieth century, geologists believed that folded continental mountain chains like the Alps were due to horizontal compression, resulting from contractions of the Earth’s crust as it cooled. In 1918, Albert Heim defended this point of view and illustrated it with a geological section across Switzerland. In 1915, however, and in short notes as early as 1912, Alfred Wegener in Die Entstehung der Kontinente und Ozeane (The Origin of Continents and Oceans) proposed that mountains were the result of collisions between light continents drifting and floating on denser formations of the Earth’s interior, also present at the bottom of the oceans. Before this (1906), Otto Ampferer had already proposed the association of folds with active movements of material inside the Earth. Wegener used numerous morphological, geological, and gravimetric data to justify his theory. He was innovative in his successful use of paleogeographic and paleoclimatologic reconstitutions. Although very popular, his theory only received reserved approval from the active scientific community. Alpine geologists found it too audacious and too far removed from the field data. In the first critical analysis written in French (1922), Elie Gagnebin welcomed it as a working hypothesis, but was very reserved regarding the arguments of a geophysicist who, in his opinion, was not sufficiently versed in structural geology. In contrast, Emile Argand integrated Wegener’s theory into his conception of the evolution of the Alps already in 1916. At that time, he judged the Alpine orogeny to have been the result of permanent compression and proposed that its whole history had been dominated by what he called embryonic tectonics, a compressional concept which he illustrated so admirably that it had an incomparable and lasting success. However, he himself abandoned it in his major work, La Tectonique de l’Asie (The Tectonics of Asia), in favour of an evolution that first originated in an extension regime, finally leading to the splitting of the continental crust, with local emergence of basic rocks, constituting the bottom of new oceanic floors. It is at the slope of these continental margins, and at their foot, that geosynclines are formed by the large accumulation of sediments transported by submarine slumping. During the following compressive stage, slices of basic ocean floor are transported upwards between overlapping continental masses, forming extensive ophiolitic zones. Although admired for his enormous accomplishment, La Tectonique de l’Asie remained ignored for its most innovative propositions, which clearly foreshadow plate tectonics. After this work, Argand practically abandoned geology. His last publication (1934), Guide geologique de la Suisse: la zone pennique (Geological Guide to Switzerland: the Pennine Zone), revived his argument of the early evolution of the geosyncline in a context of extension, followed by thrusts involving the ocean floor. Unfortunately, the concept had no greater success than at its first appearance.

Jaques-Louis Reverdin (1842-1929): el cirujano y la aguja

With the development and rise of abdominal laparoscopic techniques, the old Reverdin needle has had a revival, because it proved to be useful for the endoscopic closure of laparoscopic access ports, in order to lower the incidence of incisional hernias. Several new modifications of the Reverdin needle, with different names, are in the market now. This new use of an old instrument, prompted a review of the life and work of Jaques-Louis Reverdin, the Swiss surgeon trained in Paris and founder of the modern Swiss surgery.Biographical and bibliographical review of Jaques-MLouis Reverdin and his contributions to surgeryJaques-Louis Reverdin (1842-1929), born in Geneva, completed his medical studies in Paris, where he practised in several well-known hospitals such as La Pitié (with Goselin), Saint Louis (with Guérin), Lariboisiére, and Necker (with Guyon). In 1869 he published and presented in several meetings, a pioneering experience of successful free skin graft procedure, that is still performed in some cases and constitutes the first organ transplantation. In 1870 he presented his doctoral thesis "Etude sur l'uréthrotomie interne" with the expeience of his master Guyon (63 operations), gaining the Civiale prize and the bronze medal of the Paris Faculty of Medicine. He returned back to Geneva in 1872 to begin a long surgical practice and Faculty teaching, and he made seminal contributions to the knowledge of thyroid diseases, in particular on the clinical presentation of function deficiency following exeresis of the thyroid gland ( postoperative myxoedema). His contributions paralleled that made by Theodor Kocher in Bern, the surgeon that received in solitary the Nobel prize for these studies in 1909. With Jean6hyphen;Louis Prevost and Constant Picot, they founded the "Revue medicale de la Suisse romande", the most important Swiss medical journal of the 20th century. He is remembered in the field of Urology for a special needle designed to pass through a suture in a time were catgut and silk were the most employed sutures to control organ pedicles.Reverdin, that pertains to the glorious epoch were surgery -performed under anaesthesia and with the antisepsis postulates of Lister and Pasteur-, reached most of his goals, is remembered for the first human transplant (skin grafting), and, fortunately, one of the several surgical instrument he designed, the Reverdin needle, had a revival in current laparoscopic surgery.

Des hommes by Laurent Mauvignier

menace la Belgique [...] c’est de devenir un non-pays comme la Suisse, une pure surface diplomatique, un pays à colloques” (51). De longs passages sont consacr és aux antécédents historiques de l’UE, chaque personnage échafaudant une théorie sur les origines et le devenir de l’Europe, ce qui tend fréquemment à assimiler ce roman à un essai. L’auteur a sans doute cherché à mener de front le récit fictionnel et l’essai politico-philosophique, constructions parallèles n’ayant pas pour objet d’aboutir à un traditionnel roman à thèse. La tension entre ces deux composantes du livre (ainsi que la narration éclatée, morcelée, faite de bribes que les lecteurs doivent recouper pour y trouver une certaine continuité) reflète une vision quasi-baroque de l’Europe, toujours en peine de concilier l’unité et la diversit é qui figurent pourtant dans sa devise: “Blocs-séquences d’histoire signifiantes, ajointés péniblement, mal. Attestant de la discontinuité, chose irrémédiable” (295). Constellation constitue un projet littéraire ambitieux, malheureusement alourdi par un excès du jargon qui rend illisible la plus grande partie des documents issus de l’UE. Un livre à l’image de l’Europe: inachevé, constitué de fragments de qualité variable, encore à la recherche d’une cohérence d’ensemble. Western Washington University Edward Ousselin MAUVIGNIER, LAURENT. Des hommes. Paris: Minuit, 2009. ISBN 978-2-7073-2075-9. Pp. 281. 17,50 a. Laurent Mauvignier’s most recent novel, his seventh for the Editions de Minuit, is a dark parable of the ways in which the past inflects the present. Bernard, known familiarly as “Feu-de-Bois,” is a man of sixty-three years whose life has come to nothing. He is an alcoholic; he has no job; he is alienated from his family; he has no friends. After having spent most of his adulthood away from the small village where he grew up, he returns there to live. If indeed one can call that mode of existence “living,” for his principal concern is to indict and belabor the people of La Bassée, those folks who were able to come to terms with the world in ways that he himself found unacceptable. On the occasion of his sister Solange’s sixtieth birthday, violence breaks out, and along with it a spate of remembrance. The novel is narrated by a man named Rabut, who is a cousin to Bernard and Solange. More than anyone else, it is undoubtedly Rabut who represents the kind of compromiser against whom Bernard rails. Rabut is someone who manages to find accommodation in even the most nightmarish situations . Prejudice, injustice, and long-simmering resentment combine to construct a catastrophic present in Des hommes, yet Mauvignier suggests that the origins of that catastrophe must be sought in the past. The particular past that haunts the present in this novel is the Algerian war of independence. Both Bernard and Rabut had enlisted in the army, forty years prior to the narrative “now” of the text, as a way of escaping a grim, rural, and proletarian existence. Both of them served in Algeria for the standard twentyeight months, from 1960 to 1962. Both of them witnessed their share of atrocities, yet they carry those experiences forward in very different ways. They performed their service anonymously, both with regard to their fellow-soldiers and in relation to the native population. Speaking of Bernard, Rabut remarks: “Il n’est pas seul à être seul, ils sont tous seuls ensemble” (161). Both of them wonder, upon occasion, if their service is worthy of that of their fathers, whether at Verdun in the 424 FRENCH REVIEW 84.2 First World War or in the Resistance in the Second. In his worst moments, Bernard imagines himself in the role of the German occupier—and the image of Oradoursur -Glane seems suddenly more apposite to him than does that of Verdun. A very grim secret looms in Des hommes, and from the beginning of the novel Mauvignier tantalizes us with the prospect of finding out just what that secret entails. Some readers may find his game of narrative hide-and-seek a bit wearying after a...

Frederick Burlingham: Exploration, Mountaineering and The Origins Of Swiss Documentary Cinema

A Burlingham filmography 1913–18 1913 PRODUCTION COMPANY: BRITISH AND COLONIAL KINEMATOGRAPH COMPANY. AGENT: MOTION PICTURE SALES AGENCY • 23 March: Winter Sports at St. Moritz, 367 feet • 12 June: Europe's Winter Playground, 473 feet. Viewing copy in British National Film and Television Archive. • 7 August: From Montreux to Rochers de Naye, 424 feet. Viewing copy in British National Film and Television Archive. • 7 August: Ascent of the Matterhorn, 1500 feet. Distributor: Jury's Imperial Pictures. • 13 October: The Grand St. Bernard Hospice, 557 feet PRODUCTION COMPANY: BRITISH AND COLONIAL KINEMATOGRAPH COMPANY. AGENT: DAVISON's FILM SALES AGENCY. • 16 October: Winter Sports at Suvretta, 550 feet • 27 November: A Trip to the Gornergrat, 494 feet 1914 • 15 January: Descent into the Crater of Vesuvius, 1500 feet. Distributor, Jury's Imperial Pictures Ltd. Viewing copy in Norwegian Film Archive. • 5 February: A Trip Round Sunny Marseilles, 474 feet • 5 March: In the Land of Roses, 474 feet • 9 March: In a Sea Garden, 600 feet • 26 March: Springtime in Nice, 421 feet • 27 April: Ostrich Farming at Nice, 336 feet • 18 May: The Bernina Railway in Winter, 554 feet • 28 May: Picturesque Berne, 329 feet • 1 June: A Funicular Ride to Murottas and Muraigl, 361 feet • 19 June: A Trip up Monte San Salvatore, 354 feet • 9 July: A Ride under the Alps, 506 feet • 16 July: Scenes on Lake Como, Italy, 304 feet • 23 July: The Barromean Islands, Lake Maggiore, Italy, 307 feet • 30 July: Pageant at Zurich, Switzerland, 405 feet • 6 August: A Wonder Zoo, 402 feet • 13 August: Frolicsome Bears, 312 feet PRODUCTION COMPANY: WANDERER FILMS. AGENT: MOTION PICTURE SALES AGENCY. • Around Lake Geneva • 10 September: Winter Sports in Midsummer in the Jungfrau, 254 feet • 1 October: Adventures on the Roof of the World, 2000 feet. The British National Film and Television Archive has a copy of a film (dated by them as 1913) called Alpine Adventures: A Jaunt on the Jungfrau with Burlingham Films as the production company. I suspect it to be a version of this film. PRODUCTION COMPANY: BURLINGHAM STANDARD. AGENT: NEW AGENCY FILM COMPANY. • 8 October: London in Wartime, 480 feet • 22 October: Lunch at the Zoo, 360 feet • 29 October: Giant Snow Ploughs, 394 feet • 5 November: Winter in Marseilles, 435 feet • 12 November: Winter in the Engadine, 340 feet 1915 • 7 January: An Italian Paradise, 320 feet PRODUCTION COMPANY: BURLINGHAM FILMS. AGENT: R. PRIEUR AND CO. LTD. • 9 August: Chimpanzee Pete, 300 feet • 19 August: Picturesque Berne, 360 feet • 26 August: Scrambles on Snowdon, 350 feet • 2 September: Bettwys-Y-Coed, North Wales, 400 feet • 9 September: Through Switzerland in Ten Minutes, 500 feet • 13 September: A Famous British Spa, 355 feet • 20 September: Rock Climbing in North Wales, 295 feet • 27 September: Mediterranean Scenes of Great Interest, 373 feet PRODUCTION COMPANY: BURLINGHAM FILMS. AGENT: ECLIPSE EXCLUSIVES. • October: The Ascent of Mont Blanc, 775 feet. Viewing copy in British National Film and Television Archive. • 16 December: Climbing the Jungfrau, 860 feet. Distributor, Trans-Atlantic Film Co. Ltd. Viewing copy in British National Film and Television Archive. 1916 • March: Chamonix in Summer • March: Arctic Exploration in Switzerland • March: The Jungfrau Railway • March: The Gemmi Pass • March: A Famous Swiss Pass AGENT: JAMES MCENNERY FILM SYNDICATE. • Swiss Army Sketches • French Prisoners in Leysin • La Suisse Inconnue: La Vallée de Loetschenthal, 150 metres. Made in Switzerland in 1916 and probably not released in Britain. Viewing copy in Cinematheque Suisse 1917 • In the Face of Death on the Blümlisalp, 300 metres. Scheduled for release in Britain in June 1918 1918 • Dangerous Ascent of the Zinal Rothorns, 300 metres. Scheduled for release in Britain in June 1918

Ursula Gaillard (review)

516 Reviews Mariage de raison: Romandset Alemaniques, une histoiresuisse. By Christophe Buchi. Trans. by Ursula Gaillard. Carouge-Geneve: Editions Zoe. 2001. 335 pp. SWF36. ISBN 2-88182-441-2. Though by a journalist, this is the work of a historian. Historian of what? Not so much of the languages of Switzerland (there is very little about the languages them? selves, except the relative place of dialect versus the standard form), as of the political relations between the language groups. Almost certainly, as a journalist, Christophe Biichi is principally concerned with the present. In order to explain it, pushing the causal chain furtherand furtherback, he reaches the almost mythical foundation ofthe Swiss Confederation in 1291. Whom will this interest?Well, anybody who knows what rostigrabenis foropeners; all those who have a historical, political, or literary interest either in Switzerland or other multilingual countries (Canada would be an obvious point of comparison, and most of the foreign works listed in the ample bibliography are from Canada/Quebec). There is no unseemly rush for the present, however: the post-First World War period is not reached until page 233 (out of 305 pages of text), and whereas the development and spread ofthe Confederation are dealt with in some detail, as the present draws near, the subsections become shorter and more allusive. Since my own approach to Switzerland has been mainly literary,and it is eminently possible to have a scholarly interest in one of the cultures of Switzerland without much reference to the remainder, I found this book salutary. It did, however, reveal a glaring gap in my knowledge: geography. I am finewith islands (the UK and Ireland are no problem?and even Italy fairlyeasy to steer my way around), but landlocked countries like Hungary, Austria, and .. . Switzerland are a black spot. Until now, I had relied on the banks of the lake to guide me from Geneva to Montreux, and mostly that was enough. Sadly, this book is not abundantly supplied with maps to help the foreign reader: there is one small map showing the current linguistic situation in shades so uncontrasted as to be confusing. Maps showing the growth ofthe Confederation, and tables giving historic populations, forexample, and French-style tableaux de synthese would have been very welcome. There is a certain amount of honest revisionism. The period 1798-1848, often seen as a black period in Swiss history, is also that in which the French-speaking cantons (apart from Fribourg) came into the Confederation as full members, and hence needs some re-evaluation ifits heritage is to be seen as a good thing. Part of the book's aim is to dispel the popular international view of Switzerland as a quiet haven of peace, tolerance, and order. It does not entirely succeed. Never? theless, in recent years the clockwork order of Switzerland has been threatened by a number of referendums in which a clear cleavage between differentlanguage commu? nities can be seen. This is not just a confrontation between the older-language cantons and la Suisse romande but between the Alemanic part of the country and all of the 'Latin' speakers?French, ltalian, and Rhaeto-Romance. The long historical intro? duction leads up to a fairlyspeedy review ofthe results ofthese referendums, revealing, as they predictably do, a greater readiness forinternational engagement in Romandie. The conclusion raises reasons for concern for Switzerland's future. Will Switzerland be Balkanized through a resurgence of ethno-nationalism? Seemingly, and for those of us who love it, not. It is worth recalling that this is a translation of Rostigraben: Das Verhdltniszwischen deutscher und franz osischerSchweiz. Geschichte und Perspektiven (Zurich: NZZ, 2000)?the lumbering German titlegives a hint ofthe underlying problem?and itis a moot point as to whether those who have German would do better with the original; those who are at ease in French might do well to read this version. In any event, it does not 'read translated', and Ursula Gailland's French is a pure delight. Trinity College Dublin David Parris ...

La diversité au fondement des activités réflexives

Language diversity, a base for reflexive activities. Jean-François de Pietro, Institut de recherche et de documentation pédagogique (IRDP), Neuchâtel / Délégation à la langue française de la Suisse romande. «Language awareness, it helps to open up the world of languages ...» (Melissa, 10) Language awareness processes which first appeared in Great Britain in the eighties are now developing in a lot of countries. These processes suggest a new way of considering the reflexive part in the language activities set up in the classroom (how languages work, the links between oral speech and written language, the history of languages and the relationships existing between them, etc...) by introducing into them ail the languages listed as «present » in the classroom : the teaching language, the other languages taught (as school topics) and the language brought in by immigrants. Being no longer regarded as an obstacle, linguistic diversity finds itself legitimized and it becomes a special subject in the classwork, the base for the building up by pupils of acquisitions on languages, of a wider culture, the development of their metalinguistic capacities of great use in their learning and the questionning of commonly observed stereotypes and prejudices about «foreign » languages. After some remarks on the current situation in teaching, the author puts forward the possible contributions of such processes in the field of grammar by discussing mainly, as an example, questions related to the notion of gender and by presenting some activities which can be set up with pupils of different grades of compulsory school. As a conclusion, he emphasizes the contribution of such processes for a «wider » conception of grammar with an interlinguistic view - point and the construction of a multilanguage culture, while at the same time he points out the necessary complementarity of activities set up in that perspective and the ones which are more directly turned towards the mastery of oral and written expression.

La Suisse et les réfugiés à l'époque du national-socialisme, Gregor Spuhler and Regula Ludi

La Suisse et les réfugiés à l'époque du national-socialisme, Gregor Spuhler and Regula Ludi Martin Conway Martin Conway Balliol College, Oxford Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume 116, Issue 465, February 2001, Pages 278–279, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/116.465.278 Published: 01 February 2001

The theory of CMB anisotropies

This is a review of the theory of CMB anisotropies, an updated version of a course given at the troisieme cycle de la Suisse Romande. An introduction to gauge invariant cosmological perturbation theory is given and the theory CMB anisotropies is develiped in this context. Simple analytical approximations for the acoustic peak positions for adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations are derived. Silk damping is discussed by an analytic approximation. A short description of the present status of observations and parameter estimation followed by a critical discussion terminate the review. The full system of differential equations for CMB anisotropies and polarization needed in a numerical treatment is also developed and given in an appendix.

Gestion des paradoxes dans les organisations: Tomes 1–4. Actes du 9é congrès de l'Association internationale de psychologie du travail de langue française (AIPTLF).

RésuméIl est rare de retrouver en français un ouvrage aussi volumineux sur le sujet de la psychologie du travail que les huit tomes de 199 articles publiés en 1998 à l'issue du congrès de l'Association de psychologie du travail de langue française. Ces articles de qualité représentent une véritable mine de renseignements et d'outils pratiques. Les recherches présentées sont solides et font appel, pour expliquer des phénomènes complexes, à des méthodes variées telles que l'observation de situations réelles, l'analyse de documents, l'étude de cas a posteriori, le diagnostic à partir de questionnaires ou la vérification empirique d'hypothèses fondées ou non sur des modèles théoriques. On y retrouve plusieurs textes théoriques pouvant fournir aux praticiens comme aux universitaires et chercheurs des pistes de réflexion et des solutions. La multiplicité des cultures représentées, telles que la France, le Québec, la Suisse, la Belgique et les pays du Maghreb, enrichit les analyses et les discussions. Quatre des 8 tomes sont traités dans la présente recension. Les tomes cinq à huit seront présentés dans le numéro de mars 2000.AbstractIn 1998 the Association de psychologie du travail de langue française published 199 articles in eight volumes presenting the analysis and results of researchers from Francophone countries. This review examines the first four volumes. The remaining four volumes will be reviewed in the March 2000 issue. In order to understand organizational and human complex phenomena, the authors of the collection presented in this review used various methodologies such as on‐site observation, case studies, document analysis, diagnostics from questionnaires and empirical verification of hypotheses, some based on theoretical models. Volume 1 deals with managing change from different perspectives, both from the point of view of the individual implementing the change and the individual experiencing it. It includes some very useful tips on how to successfully implement change. The results of the researchers' questioning of current beliefs and ideas in the field of organizational change are presented. Volume 2 deals extensively with work design as an important variable in successful organizational change. Whether in the private or public sector, successful implementation of change requires strong commitment from senior management, partnership with unions, active participation from the employees, constant and well‐thought‐out communication of information, clarity and well‐adapted human resource management systems. Volume 3 covers human resource management practices such as recruitment, training and evaluation, and their impact on individuals and organizations. Empirical and theoretical articles deal with the many traditional and new human resource management practices and the problems that they raise. This volume allows the reader/practitioner to better understand human resources practices and presents various solutions to real day‐to‐day problems. The researcher will find research and theoretical models that offer avenues for future research projects. The 25 articles in Volume 4 allow for a better understanding of the distinction between the often‐confused and taken‐for‐granted concepts of leadership versus power and those of teams versus informal groups. These articles are an important and unique addition to the literature since they provide readers in Quebec and elsewhere with access to scientific publications that reflect cultural Francophone issues that are rarely mentioned in other North American publications.

SHORTER REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Anselin, L. and R.J.G.M. Florax (eds.) 1995: New directions in spatial econometrics.Herbert, David T. (ed.) 1995: Heritage, tourism and society.Baldassare, Mark (ed.) 1994: The Los Angeles riots: lessons for the urban future.Wacquant, Loic J.D. (1994) The new urban color line: the state and the fate of the ghetto in postfordist America. In C. Calhoun (ed.), Social theory and the politics of identityLeresche, Jean‐Philippe and René Levy (eds.) 1995: La Suisse et la coopération transfrontalière: repli ou redéploiement?

Les campagnes photographiques de Martens en Suisse et en Savoie

The photographic campaigns of Martens in Switzerland and Savoy. Between 1859 and 1864, under the title La Suisse et la Savoie, the Goupil & Cie publishing house produced a set of lithographic prints based on the photographs of Frédéric Martens (1806-1885). This photographer has been largely forgotten today but during his lifetime he had a considerable reputation. The article studies the aesthetic aspects of these views of the Alps, taken in the perspective of a picturesque tradition going back to the late eighteenth century. Their critical reception by contemporaries is also examined, underlining the ambiguous nature of these images, somewhere between scientific documentation and works of art. The article concludes with an analysis of the relations between photography and lithography at this period, the latter process still being a more reliable and cheaper form of image reproduction.

Montaigne's Cure: Stones and Roman Ruins

remaining letters of his correspondence, nor even in the record of the trip, the Journal de voyage en Italie par la Suisse et l'Allemagne.1 Various explanations can be gleaned from Montaigne's general remarks on travel in the Essais, namely in De la vanite (III, ix), but even so, the trip is one whose specific motives remain unexplained. So we are left to conjecture: Montaigne's poor health and his desire to seek treatment at various spas; the unstable state of affairs in France; a desire to leave the everyday cares and problems of family and estate; an undying curiosity; the desire to experience the new-all these seem to have had a hand in his decision to

Jumping-Off Place by Baine Kerr

332 Western American Literature are technical masterpieces, with Textual Commentaries and Word-Division lists to please the most meticulous of scholars. In Switzerland, for example, we learn not only the measurements of Cooper’s notebook (16.7 cm x 21 cm) but also that one traveler’s guide Cooper used (Henry Keller, Carte Itinéraire de la Suisse) came to Cooper boxed, corrected, and linen-backed. In my opinion, Cooper’s major interpreters have given up on interpreta­ tion altogether, and have turned (perhaps from perplexity) to stodgy antiquarianism instead. Although, as stated, the books deserve — demand — a place on library shelves, it is this kind of drawing-room criticism which has given and continues to give Cooper a bad name. (Even Twain was, after all, merely functioning as inaccurate technician when he devastated Cooper in his hilarious essays.) Scholars have too long avoided the difficult task of attempting to under­ stand the immensity of the impact of Cooper’s writings not only in America, but in the world. Why, for example, did the French realists (of all people) take their perception of “The Real Indians” from Cooper? D. H. Lawrence remains, in my opinion, still the only major Cooper scholar to even half-way approach the significance of Cooper as cultural phenomenon; when he ascribed to Cooper a “myth-meaning” he pointed a way of understanding Cooper that later scholars have ignored. I am not attempting to re-write these introductions, and I say again praise be that Cooper is coming back into print — but I am reminded of a movie I once saw about a crack baseball player (a true-to-life movie). Near the end of the picture, the star won a national award for his brilliant play. At that point, I think, one of his team-mates suggested he buy a new mitt. The star’s reply was something like: “Hell, I could catch the ball with an old shoe box.” I believe that what is important for us in Cooper is that we read and interpret him — and that what should be important about Cooper criticism is that it lead us to an understanding of the writing, of the text, even if such criticism must be read on the yellowed pages of a cheap, old paperback. RICHARD C. POULSEN Brigham Young University Jumping-Off Place. By Baine Kerr. (Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1981. 64 pages.) Baine Kerr’s stories open with the bristlecone pine of Nevada’s Great Basin and conclude with a vision of eagles at a canyon mouth on Colorado’s eastern slope. Between these two sections the reader traverses a good deal of Reviews 333 the country and the human heart. From California’s coast through Nevada on Highway 50; from San Antonio along the Goodnight - Loving Trail to Denver; from Nacogdoches, Texas, to Virginia’s tidewater to Amble, South Dakota; from Ft. Benning, Georgia, to a Colorado city where the plains begin stretching eastward, we are confronted with a series of quests for knowledge of human nature as reflected by the nature of place. With the first sentence in Jumping-Off Place the reader is faced with an unsettling notion: Anyone driving between California and the Rockies for the first time will realize he has been lied to all his life: the country has not been settled, the West not won. This fiction presents the contradictions inherent in any received set of ideas, invites us to test the limits of widely diverse ethical and social situations. “Jumping-off place,” defined by Webster’s New Twentieth Century Diction­ ary both as “any isolated or remote place regarded as the outmost limit of civilization” and as “the extreme limits of one’s ability to cope with a situa­ tion,” has a double meaning as place and consciousness weigh against each other and we assess their influences on human action. A search for “wholeness” and the difficulty any individual has in attain­ ing it threads through all of the stories. In “Rider” (included in Martha Foley’s Best American Short Stories of 1977) the geological and moral wilder­ ness of Nevada becomes a determining presence, a catalyst for action, during the narrator...

Vibration in pneumatic picks—effects on man and control measures: M. Porchet 1976 Bulletin technique de la Suisse romande (Switzerland)102, 390–392. (3 pages, 3 figures, 8 references) (In French)

Vibration in pneumatic picks—effects on man and control measures: M. Porchet 1976 Bulletin technique de la Suisse romande (Switzerland)102, 390–392. (3 pages, 3 figures, 8 references) (In French)

Some Aspects of Literary Relations between "La Suisse Romande" and XIXth Century France

Some Aspects of Literary Relations between "La Suisse Romande" and XIXth Century France