Sense Of Perspective Research Articles

The March of Iron across a Continent

Everywhere in the ancient world the development of iron metallurgy was a revolutionary advance that permitted men to build new and more complex societies. Africa was no exception to this rule. It saw the rise of great African kingdoms equipped with a new mastery over the soil and the forest and over their non-iron-using neighbors. This ironwork was the product of home industries practiced for generations and which originally owed nothing to the white man. It is now known that great iron civilizations developed as early as the beginnings of the Christian era in at least two widely separated regions of the continent: One in West Africa (the Sudan, Dahomey, Ghana, etc.); another in eastern and south-central Africa. A few years ago it was hardly suspected that iron technology in south-central Africa dated back so far, but since 1953 evidence has been piling up with the discovery of early Christian-period iron centers near Lake Tanganyika and elsewhere. This article is the last of a series of four articles reprinted here to help develop a sense of perspective in the historical depth of African culture, and the early evidences of civilization in some parts of the continent.

The spirit of our founders

We are come together in this place today, ladies and gentlemen, to pay our respects, to accord honor, and to remember. These are important human activities: paying respect, according honor, and continuing to remember. These constitute the concern for Founders Day. Not that the founders themselves have need for our tribute. Each of them served well in his own day, and the achievement of each was its own reward. It is we, rather, who need Founders Day. No person can appreciate fully his own institution and its goals, and his proper relationships to it, who does not see clearly its origins or who is not conscious of the sacrifices those have made who brought it along. In recent months, I read with absorbing interest a history of the University in which I serve. Completing it, I expressed to my family the conviction that this book should be required reading for every new instructor who accepts employment at the University, and probably for every new student. So, on Founders Day, it is not the founders, but we, who have need. For our own sense of perspective and direction, our growth in humility and gratitude, we need regularly to stop and look back and remember. For our own sake, we need to take reverent recognition of those who have labored with such sacrifice and devotion to give us our beginnings. We need to remember their courage when others had stopped the struggle; to be reminded again and again of their burning faith in public education during those terrible and bitter years of Reconstruction when others had abandoned hope; to recall their inspired insight and vision when most others had lost the way. And in these unsettled times, when our sister institutions have been tempted like the legendary character who jumped on his horse and rode

The Late Bronze Age Chronology of Central Europe: Some Reflections

At a classic meeting of the Prehistoric Society, held during April 1948 in the old home of the Institute of Archaeology of London University, V. G. Childe and C. F. C. Hawkes presented two papers, each complementary to the other, on the chronology of the Late Bronze Age in Europe. This joint approach was focussed on the relative and absolute dating of the Urnfields of the North Alpine foreland, whence Hawkes applied the results to the West, and pre-eminently to Britain; but, by arrangement, Childe approached the crucial area from Hither Asia by way of the Danube corridor, and from Greece through the Balkans, while Hawkes worked his way forward from the Aegean up the length of Italy, and so northwards over the Alps.It is worth recollecting that this was the first time that British archaeologists had formally addressed themselves to this most difficult set of problems in detail, and on Central European territory. Furthermore both papers suffered, one feels, from being among the first essays in archaeological synthesis to be attempted in this country after the war, with all that is implied in that. At all events within a year of publication Childe was saying that he no longer had any confidence in his derivation of the flange-hilted bronze sword from Hither Asia; and he had also by then become less assured of some of his other Asiatic derivations. While in the course of the international discussion which followed, Hawkes felt obliged to revise a number of his dates, chiefly in the direction of a longer chronology. Nevertheless, both essays commanded a splendid range of material, and were fortified by a sufficient exposition of the history of research in this field to give a sound sense of perspective. If today they have been outmoded in many particulars by the work of a small army of scholars working in half a dozen countries, they remain for English-speaking students an indispensable starting-point, and an admirable introduction to their subject.

The Chemical Aspects of Light

ALTHOUGH a number of treatises suitable for specialists have recently appeared, there has hitherto been no English text-book on photochemistry and allied subjects which meets the needs of first- and second-year students. Lecturers and students will be grateful to Mr. Bowen for writing a book of which the need has been apparent for so long. In presenting a complete outline of the present state of our knowledge of the interaction of light and matter, the book will also be valuable to the non-specialist and the advanced student, whose sense of perspective is liable to be obscured by detailed study of parts of the subject. The Chemical Aspects of Light By E. J. Bowen. Pp. vii + 192. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1942.) 12s. 6d. net.

Assumptions and Methods in Attitude Measurements

T WHERE HAS been increasing interest in the problems of attitude measurement. Bain, Droba, Roback, Sherman, Watson and others have prepared useful summaries of recent developments.' It is to be hoped that sociologists will continue to investigate this fertile field with open minds, with due precautions against stereotyped procedures and with a sense of perspective. There is reason to think that a genuine antithesis exists between certitude and meaningfulness. The transmissibility and verifiability of the quantitative-analytical approach can be purchased at too great a sacrifice of the meaning and insight associated with the intuitive-configurational approach. There does seem danger at times that the range of scientific implications may be sacrificed to refinements of statistical technique. Frequently the use of one formula as compared with another in sociological research would have less effect upon ultimate implications than positing a different conceptual framework or a new definition of units. In the interest of provoking discussion, eight questions are here raised concerning the basic assumptions of attitude measurement. Answers based on the writer's own thinking and research are given only to illustrate one possible approach to the problem.

World Disorder and Reconstruction: an Epitome of the Economic Situation

MR. BLAKE'S attempt in brief compress to trace the causes of the crisis, to outline the present situation and to assess the conditions and prospects of revival derives its greatest value from the sense of perspective in which it is written. Here is one more writer whose analysis leads him to stress the importance of the effort to persuade governments and peoples to see their present trials not only in their individual incidence but also as part of a great universal disorder, and the grave dangers attending the adoption of merely insular expedients which intensify difficulties beyond their borders. Mr. Blake has resisted any temptation to outline an easy way out of our troubles. He emphasises instead the elementary, if not fragmentary, character of our investigations of monetary phenomena. Much of the statistical knowledge upon which action has to be taken is rather a record of past movements than an accurate reflection of existing tendencies. Nor are authorities everywhere in control of monetary mechanism which can fully reflect their intentions, and it is necessary for stability that all the major control banks should be in continuous and effective co-operation. Effective co-ordination requires the establishment of an international control bank of which the rudiments may be found in the Bank of International Settlements. World Disorder and Reconstruction: an Epitome of the Economic Situation. By Hubert Blake. Pp. 186. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1932.) 6s. net.

The Contemporary Background of Hobbes' "State of Nature"

THE isolation of a thinker from his environment is like a mirage in a desert. He either looms too large or fades into the distance. Never can he be brought into real contact with the observer, for one is on the earth, and the other but an hallucination. From the moment Thomas Hobbes began writing he suggested to his readers that he was of a different mould from themselves. Within his own lifetime his works were regarded as the epitome of all that was anti-social, anti-moral, anti-religious., Hobbism became a term expressive of complete depravation and licentiousness, and was so used well into the i8th century.2 Recent writers on Hobbes have resurrected the horror with which contemporaries clothed the works of this great thinker. They are shocked at views which by isolation have assumed unreal proportions. Hobbes' conception of human nature is one of the chief ideas to rouse their disapproval. Stripped of its contemporary background, it stands out in rude proportions. Replace it in its natural surroundings and a sense of perspective is immediately restored. Whilst Hobbes' mother, frightened at the approach of the Armada, brought forth her celebrated offspring with his twinbrother Fear.4 Arminius in Amsterdam was leading the reaction

A New Roentgen Stereoscope, and a New Method of Increasing the Sense of Perspective

A New Roentgen Stereoscope, and a New Method of Increasing the Sense of Perspective

A new Roentgen Stereoscope, and a new Method of Increasing the Sense of Perspective

A new Roentgen Stereoscope, and a new Method of Increasing the Sense of Perspective

The Psychology of Society

IN short compass Mr. Morris Ginsberg discusses critically with admirable lucidity the psychological basis on which much recent treatment of social problems is founded. He has a keen eye for essentials, and a sense of perspective. He presents tersely and fairly the salient arguments of writers who count and pronounces clearly and courteously well-considered judgment. A little book but a good one.

The Development of the Leeward Islands under the Restoration, 1660-1688

history of the Leeward Islands, writes Mr. Higham in his preface, is the history of the experiments of Restoration ministers in their endeavours to organize a definite system of control over both the trade and the growing self-government of the'plantations. Of this history Mr. Higham has made a painstaking and scholarly study. He begins with an account of the extinction of proprietary government; he then traces the relations of the English and French in the West Indies, describes the events of the Anglo-French war of 1666-7, the loss of the English part of St. Christopher's, and the unsuccessful attempts to recover it, and details the negotiations for the restoration of the English part of the island, and the subsequent efforts to arrange a treaty of neutrality between the two nations in the West Indies. He then discusses particular subjects?the Caribs, the labour problem, economic progress, and the system of government. All tbese matters he has worked out with great care, collecting and elucidating the facts from a large amount of scattered evidence, and discussing and comparing his authorities with judgment. The thoroughness and care with which all his work is done deserve very high commendation. On the other hand, his book would have gained in interest if it had been less loaded with detail, and if the history of the period had been treated with more breadth and more sense of perspective. In his last paragraph he sums up the position very well: In 1688 the Leeward Islands stood at the parting of the ways. They were then a group of islands where Europeans lived and farmed their lands, though helped by a growing number of slaves; they were soon to become a tropical plantation where vast lands were owned by a few absentees, and worked by slave gangs under overseers. In 1688 they were wealthy islands, enjoying a very real amount of inde? pendence and local government ; to-day they are a Crown colony that can scarce pay its way. The story of this change is the story of slave-grown sugar and the French competition of the eighteenth century. The book is a scholarly and substantial piece of research, which makes much clearer the economic and political conditions of the islands during the years under review. E. A. B.

Children in the cities

National Municipal ReviewVolume 4, Issue 2 p. 197-203 Article Children in the cities Mrs. Florence Kelley, Mrs. Florence Kelley New York Mrs. Kelley is secretary of the National Consumers' League and has won a national reputation as an effective worker in the cause of improving social conditions in urban centers. This address, which waa given before a crowded audience at the Baltimore meeting of the National Municipal League, calls attention in a very vivid way to the necessity for immediate attention to the question of the care to be given to children in the cities. When one considers how much attention is given to the care and treatment of dumb animals and contrasts it with the attention given to human beings, one wonders where the sense of perspective is in American people. In connection with this address it is suggested that the reader refer to Mrs. Kelley's informal remarks at the Thursday morning meeting of the League, reported on page 175 of the January issue.Search for more papers by this author Mrs. Florence Kelley, Mrs. Florence Kelley New York Mrs. Kelley is secretary of the National Consumers' League and has won a national reputation as an effective worker in the cause of improving social conditions in urban centers. This address, which waa given before a crowded audience at the Baltimore meeting of the National Municipal League, calls attention in a very vivid way to the necessity for immediate attention to the question of the care to be given to children in the cities. When one considers how much attention is given to the care and treatment of dumb animals and contrasts it with the attention given to human beings, one wonders where the sense of perspective is in American people. In connection with this address it is suggested that the reader refer to Mrs. Kelley's informal remarks at the Thursday morning meeting of the League, reported on page 175 of the January issue.Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1915 https://doi.org/10.1002/ncr.4110040202 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume4, Issue2April 1915Pages 197-203 RelatedInformation