1.
Hendrik Hondius I
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Hendrik Hondius I, Henricus Hondius I or Hendrik Hondius the Elder, was a Flemish-born and trained engraver, cartographer and publisher who settled in the Dutch Republic in 1597. He was born as the son of Guillam de Hondt, a philologist, the 17th century Flemish biographer Cornelis de Bie reports that Hondius father was a learned man who moved with his family to Mechelen. Here the young Hondius learned to write, after the death of his father he moved with his mother to Antwerp. After his mothers marriage to a citizen of Antwerp, Hondius was apprenticed in Brussels to Godfried van Ghelder, goldsmith to Alexander Farnese and he also studied drawing with the engraver Jan Wierix of Antwerp. At this time he started to study engraving and he applied himself to mathematics and studied perspective, architecture and the construction of fortifications with Hans Vredeman de Vries and Samuel Marelois. After travelling to Cologne, London and Paris, he moved to The Hague by 1597 and that year he registered in the local artists’ guild and married the daughter of a goldsmith of The Hague. He obtained his first print privilege for a portrait of Prince Maurits and he dedicated himself to his engraving practice. His work was well received and he got commissions from many eminent personalities for engravings or drawings. He was granted a privilege by the States General of the Netherlands in 1599. Hondius was thus the first publisher to obtain a national privilege until Peter Paul Rubens in 1618, the privilege provided protection against circulation in the Dutch Republic of copies of his published works. He moved to Amsterdam in 1603 and Leiden in 1604–5, here he published with the printer Breukel Cornelisz Nieulandt of The Hague the book Perspective by Hans Vredeman de Vries. He returned to settle in The Hague in 1605, after his return to The Hague his prints displayed the Buitenhof as his address. The young Constantijn Huygens followed in 1611 for three months drawing classes with Hondius, Hondius bought in 1614 a large house between the Binnenhof and the Gevangenpoort in The Hague which he used as work and living quarters. He joined in 1617 the local church counsel where he adopted an anti-catholic and he had a flourishing printing business in The Hague, which was continued by his sons Willem and Hendrik. Initially he hired printers to do his printing until he bought his own printing press in 1620 and he turned more to publishing rather than engraving and printing in the 1630s. His publications were mainly maps, books about fortifications and official portraits and he also reused original plates and blocks by earlier artists for reprinting and such reprints represented almost a third of his publishing output. In the 1640s he returned to printing concentrating exclusively on etching and he remained active as a printmaker and draughtsman until his final years. Through his 1610 book Hondius updated and expanded the canon of Netherlandish painting and he included some German and English artists in an apparent attempt to situate the Netherlanders within a broader, more semantically uncertain Northern canon
2.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
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He also painted no portraits, the other mainstay of Netherlandish art. After his training and travels to Italy, he returned in 1555 to settle in Antwerp and he does the same with the fantastic and anarchic world developed in Renaissance prints and book illustrations. He is sometimes referred to as Peasant Bruegel, to him from the many later painters in his family. From 1559, he dropped the h from his name and signed his paintings as Bruegel, the two main early sources for Bruegels biography are Lodovico Guicciardinis account of the Low Countries and Karel van Manders 1604 Schilder-boeck. Guicciardini recorded that Bruegel was born in Breda, but van Mander specified that Bruegel was born in a village near Breda called Brueghel, nothing at all is known of his family background. Van Mander seems to assume he came from a peasant background, in keeping with the over-emphasis on Bruegels peasant genre scenes given by van Mander and many art historians. Breda was already a significant centre as the base of the House of Orange-Nassau, with a population of some 8,000, from the fact that Bruegel entered the Antwerp painters guild in 1551, it is inferred that he was born between 1525 and 1530. His master, according to van Mander, was the Antwerp painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst, between 1545 and 1550 he was a pupil of Pieter Coecke, who died on 6 December 1550. Bruegel possibly got this work via the connections of Mayken Verhulst, maykens father and eight siblings were all artists or married an artist, and lived in Mechelen. In 1551 Bruegel became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp. He set off for Italy soon after, probably by way of France. He visited Rome and, rather adventurously for the period, by 1552 he had reached Reggio Calabria at the tip of the mainland. He probably continued to Sicily, but by 1553 was back in Rome, there he met the miniaturist Giulio Clovio, whose will of 1578 lists paintings by Bruegel, in one case a joint work. These works, apparently landscapes, have not survived, but marginal miniatures in manuscripts by Clovio are attributed to Bruegel, with one exception, Bruegel did not work the plates himself, but produced a drawing which Cocks specialists worked from. In 1563 he was married in Brussels, where he lived for the rest of his life, while Antwerp was the capital of Netherlandish commerce as well as the art market, Brussels was the centre of government. Van Mander tells a story that his mother-in-law pushed for the move to him from his established servant girl mistress. By now painting had become his main activity, and his most famous come from these years. His paintings were sought after, with patrons including wealthy Flemish collectors and Cardinal Granvelle, in effect the Habsburg chief minister
3.
Flanders
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Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium, although there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language, politics and history. It is one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming, while the corresponding adjective is Flemish. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although Brussels itself has an independent regional government, in historical contexts, Flanders originally refers to the County of Flanders, which around AD1000 stretched from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the area was made two political entities, the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region. These entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a cultural mandate, covers Brussels. Flanders has figured prominently in European history, as a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy. Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution, geographically, Flanders is generally flat, and has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a density of almost 500 people per square kilometer. It touches France to the west near the coast, and borders the Netherlands to the north and east, the Brussels Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own, Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands. It comprises 6.5 million Belgians who consider Dutch to be their mother tongue, the political subdivisions of Belgium, the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community. The first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels, the political institutions that govern both subdivisions, the operative body Flemish Government and the legislative organ Flemish Parliament. The two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders, a feudal territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic. Until the 1600s, this county also extended over parts of France, one of the regions conquered by the French in Flanders, namely French Flanders in the Nord department. French Flanders can be divided into two regions, Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking already in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century, the city of Lille identifies itself as Flemish, and this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The region conquered by the Dutch Republic in Flanders, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland, the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a very broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the part of the Low Countries
4.
Dancing mania
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Dancing mania was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. It involved groups of people dancing erratically, sometimes thousands at a time, the mania affected men, women, and children who danced until they collapsed from exhaustion. Affecting thousands of people across several centuries, dancing mania was not an isolated event and it was nevertheless poorly understood, and remedies were based on guesswork. Generally, musicians accompanied dancers, to ward off the mania. There is no consensus among scholars as to the cause of dancing mania. The several theories proposed range from religious cults being behind the processions to people dancing to relieve themselves of stress, Dancing mania is derived from the term choreomania, from the Greek choros and mania, and is also known as dancing plague. St Vituss Dance was diagnosed, in the 17th century, as Sydenham chorea, Dancing mania has also been known as epidemic chorea and epidemic dancing. A disease of the system, chorea is characterized by symptoms resembling those of dancing mania. Scientists have described dancing mania as a mental disorder, collective hysterical disorder. The earliest known outbreak of dancing mania occurred in the 7th century, and it reappeared many times across Europe until about the 17th century, when it stopped abruptly. One of the earliest known incidents occurred sometime in the 1020s in Bernburg, another incident, in 1278, involved about 200 people dancing on a bridge over the River Meuse in Germany, resulting in its collapse. Many of the survivors were restored to health at a nearby chapel dedicated to St Vitus. The first major outbreak of the mania occurred between 1373 and 1374, with incidents reported in England, Germany and the Netherlands, further episodes occurred in 1375 and 1376, with incidents in France, Germany and Holland, and in 1381 there was an outbreak in Augsburg. Further incidents occurred in 1418 in Strasbourg, where people fasted for days, in another outbreak, in 1428 in Schaffhausen, a monk danced to death and, in the same year, a group of women in Zurich were reportedly in a dancing frenzy. Further incidents occurred during the 16th century, when the mania was at its peak, in 1536 in Basel, involving a group of children, and in 1551 in Anhalt, involving just one man. In the 17th century, incidents of recurrent dancing were recorded by professor of medicine Gregor Horst, Dance madly all day and all night until they collapse in ecstasy. In this way come to themselves again and feel little or nothing until the next May. Forced around St. Vitus Day to betake themselves to that place, ne of these women is said to have danced every year for the past twenty years, another for a full thirty-two
5.
Strasbourg
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Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany in the region of Alsace. In 2014, the city proper had 276,170 inhabitants, Strasbourgs metropolitan area had a population of 773,347 in 2013, making it the ninth largest metro area in France and home to 13% of the Grand Est regions inhabitants. The transnational Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau had a population of 915,000 inhabitants in 2014, Strasbourg is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine, Strasbourgs historic city centre, the Grande Île, was classified a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1988, the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. The largest Islamic place of worship in France, the Strasbourg Grand Mosque, was inaugurated by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on 27 September 2012. Economically, Strasbourg is an important centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail, the port of Strasbourg is the second largest on the Rhine after Duisburg, Germany. Before the 5th century, the city was known as Argantorati, a Celtic Gaulish name Latinized first as Argentorate, after the 5h century, the city became known by a completely different name Gallicized as Strasbourg. That name is of Germanic origin and means Town of roads, Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the River Rhine, which forms the eastern border of the modern city. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the River Ill, which flows parallel to, and roughly 4 kilometres from. The natural courses of the two eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city. This section of the Rhine valley is an axis of north-south travel, with river traffic on the Rhine itself. The city is some 400 kilometres east of Paris, in spite of its position far inland, Strasbourgs climate is classified as Oceanic, with warm, relatively sunny summers and cold, overcast winters. Precipitation is elevated from mid-spring to the end of summer, but remains largely constant throughout the year, on average, snow falls 30 days per year. The highest temperature recorded was 38.5 °C in August 2003. The lowest temperature recorded was −23.4 °C in December 1938. Nonetheless, the disappearance of heavy industry on both banks of the Rhine, as well as effective measures of traffic regulation in and around the city have reduced air pollution
6.
Alsace
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Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Alsace is located on Frances eastern border and on the west bank of the upper Rhine adjacent to Germany, from 1982 until January 2016, Alsace was the smallest of 22 administrative regions in metropolitan France, consisting of the Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin departments. Territorial reform passed by the French legislature in 2014 resulted in the merger of the Alsace administrative region with Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine to form Grand Est. The predominant historical language of Alsace is Alsatian, a Germanic dialect also spoken across the Rhine, but today most Alsatians primarily speak French, the political status of Alsace has been heavily influenced by historical decisions, wars, and strategic politics. The economic and cultural capital as well as largest city of Alsace is Strasbourg, the city is the seat of several international organizations and bodies. The name Alsace can be traced to the Old High German Ali-saz or Elisaz, an alternative explanation is from a Germanic Ell-sass, meaning seated on the Ill, a river in Alsace. In prehistoric times, Alsace was inhabited by nomadic hunters, by 1500 BC, Celts began to settle in Alsace, clearing and cultivating the land. It should be noted that Alsace is a surrounded by the Vosges mountains. It creates Foehn winds which, along with irrigation, contributes to the fertility of the soil. In a world of agriculture, Alsace has always been a region which explains why it suffered so many invasions and annexations in its history. By 58 BC, the Romans had invaded and established Alsace as a center of viticulture, to protect this highly valued industry, the Romans built fortifications and military camps that evolved into various communities which have been inhabited continuously to the present day. While part of the Roman Empire, Alsace was part of Germania Superior, with the decline of the Roman Empire, Alsace became the territory of the Germanic Alemanni. The Alemanni were agricultural people, and their Germanic language formed the basis of modern-day dialects spoken along the Upper Rhine, Clovis and the Franks defeated the Alemanni during the 5th century AD, culminating with the Battle of Tolbiac, and Alsace became part of the Kingdom of Austrasia. Under Clovis Merovingian successors the inhabitants were Christianized, Alsace formed part of the Middle Francia, which was ruled by the eldest grandson Lothar I. Lothar died early in 855 and his realm was divided into three parts, the part known as Lotharingia, or Lorraine, was given to Lothars son. The rest was shared between Lothars brothers Charles the Bald and Louis the German, the Kingdom of Lotharingia was short-lived, however, becoming the stem duchy of Lorraine in Eastern Francia after the Treaty of Ribemont in 880. Alsace was united with the other Alemanni east of the Rhine into the duchy of Swabia. Alsace experienced great prosperity during the 12th and 13th centuries under Hohenstaufen emperors, Frederick I set up Alsace as a province to be ruled by ministeriales, a non-noble class of civil servants
7.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
8.
Astrology
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Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events. Throughout most of its history astrology was considered a tradition and was common in academic circles, often in close relation with astronomy, alchemy, meteorology. It was present in political circles, and is mentioned in works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in it has largely declined, Astrology is now recognized to be pseudoscience. The word astrology comes from the early Latin word astrologia, which derives from the Greek ἀστρολογία—from ἄστρον astron, astrologia later passed into meaning star-divination with astronomia used for the scientific term. Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the Indians, Chinese, the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems. Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, with roots in systems used to predict seasonal shifts. A form of astrology was practised in the first dynasty of Mesopotamia, Chinese astrology was elaborated in the Zhou dynasty. Hellenistic astrology after 332 BCE mixed Babylonian astrology with Egyptian Decanic astrology in Alexandria, Alexander the Greats conquest of Asia allowed astrology to spread to Ancient Greece and Rome. In Rome, astrology was associated with Chaldean wisdom, after the conquest of Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe, major astronomers including Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the works of such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer. Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition and it was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine. At the end of the 17th century, new concepts in astronomy. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined, Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky. This was a first step towards recording the Moons influence upon tides and rivers, by the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars. Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa thought to be compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE, a scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash
9.
Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
10.
Bloodletting
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Bloodletting is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to cure or prevent illness and disease. Bloodletting was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and it is claimed to have been the most common medical practice performed by surgeons from antiquity until the late 19th century, a span of almost 2,000 years. In Europe the practice continued to be common until the end of the 18th century. The practice has now abandoned by modern style medicine for all except a few very specific conditions. However, since hypertension is often asymptomatic and thus undiagnosable without modern methods. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the use of bloodletting was harmful to patients. Today, the term refers to the drawing of blood for laboratory analysis or blood transfusion. Therapeutic phlebotomy refers to the drawing of a unit of blood in specific cases like hemochromatosis, polycythemia vera, porphyria cutanea tarda, the traditional medical practice of bloodletting is today considered to be a pseudoscience. Bloodletting was first performed in ancient Egypt around 1000 BCE, and later spread to the Greeks, in Greece, bloodletting was in use in the fifth century B. C. during the lifetime of Hippocrates, who mentions this practice but generally relied on dietary techniques. Archagathus, one of the first Greek physicians to practice in Rome, bleeding a patient to health was modeled on the process of menstruation. Hippocrates believed that menstruation functioned to purge women of bad humors, during the Roman Empire, the Greek physician Galen, who subscribed to the teachings of Hippocrates, advocated physician-initiated bloodletting. There were two key concepts in his system of bloodletting, the first was that blood was created and then used up, it did not circulate, and so it could stagnate in the extremities. Galen believed that blood was the dominant humour and the one in most need of control, in order to balance the humours, a physician would either remove excess blood from the patient or give them an emetic to induce vomiting, or a diuretic to induce urination. Galen created a system of how much blood should be removed based on the patients age, constitution, the season, the weather. Do-it yourself bleeding instructions following these systems were developed, symptoms of plethora were believed to include fever, apoplexy, and headache. The blood to be let was of a specific nature determined by the disease, either arterial or venous and he linked different blood vessels with different organs, according to their supposed drainage. For example, the vein in the hand would be let for liver problems. The more severe the disease, the blood would be let
11.
Ergot
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Ergot or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus Claviceps. The most prominent member of group is Claviceps purpurea. This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that can cause ergotism in humans, Claviceps includes about 50 known species, mostly in the tropical regions. Economically significant species include C. purpurea, C. fusiformis, C. paspali, C. africana, C. purpurea most commonly affects outcrossing species such as rye, as well as triticale, wheat and barley. An ergot kernel, called a sclerotium, develops when a spore of fungal species of the genus Claviceps infects a floret of flowering grass or cereal, the infection process mimics a pollen grain growing into an ovary during fertilization. Infection requires that the fungal spore have access to the stigma, consequently, plants infected by Claviceps are mainly outcrossing species with flowers, such as rye. The proliferating fungal mycelium then destroys the plant ovary and connects with the vascular bundle originally intended for seed nutrition, the first stage of ergot infection manifests itself as a white soft tissue producing sugary honeydew, which often drops out of the infected grass florets. This honeydew contains millions of spores, which insects disperse to other florets. Later, the convert into a hard dry sclerotium inside the husk of the floret. At this stage, alkaloids and lipids accumulate in the sclerotium, Claviceps species from tropic and subtropic regions produce macro- and microconidia in their honeydew. Macroconidia differ in shape and size between the species, whereas microconidia are rather uniform, oval to globose, macroconidia are able to produce secondary conidia. Secondary conidia form a white, frost-like surface on honeydew drops, no such process occurs in Claviceps purpurea, Claviceps grohii, Claviceps nigricans, and Claviceps zizaniae, all from northern temperate regions. When a mature sclerotium drops to the ground, the fungus remains dormant until proper conditions trigger its fruiting phase and it germinates, forming one or several fruiting bodies with heads and stipes, variously coloured. In the head, threadlike sexual spores form, which are ejected simultaneously when suitable grass hosts are flowering, Ergot infection causes a reduction in the yield and quality of grain and hay, and if livestock eat infected grain or hay it may cause a disease called ergotism. Black and protruding sclerotia of C. purpurea are well known, however, many tropical ergots have brown or greyish sclerotia, mimicking the shape of the host seed. For this reason, the infection is often overlooked, insects, including flies and moths, carry conidia of Claviceps species, but it is unknown whether insects play a role in spreading the fungus from infected to healthy plants. Ergot alkaloids have a range of biological activities including effects on circulation and neurotransmission. Ergot alkaloids are classified as, derivatives of 6, 8-dimethylergoline, ergotism is the name for sometimes severe pathological syndromes affecting humans or other animals that have ingested plant material containing ergot alkaloid, such as ergot-contaminated grains
12.
Ergotamine
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Ergotamine is an ergopeptine and part of the ergot family of alkaloids, it is structurally and biochemically closely related to ergoline. It possesses structural similarity to several neurotransmitters, and has biological activity as a vasoconstrictor and it is used medicinally for treatment of acute migraine attacks. Medicinal usage of ergot fungus began in the 16th century to induce childbirth and it has been used to prevent post-partum hemorrhage. It was first isolated from the fungus by Arthur Stoll at Sandoz in 1918. The mechanism of action of ergotamine is complex, the molecule shares structural similarity with neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and epinephrine and can thus bind to several receptors acting as an agonist. The anti-migraine effect is due to constriction of the intracranial blood vessels through the 5-HT1B receptor. Ergotamine also has effects on the dopamine and norepinephrine receptors and its side effects are due mainly to its action at the D2 dopamine and 5-HT1A receptors. Ergotamine is a metabolite and the principal alkaloid produced by the ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Its biosynthesis in these fungi requires the amino acid L-tryptophan and dimethylallyl diphosphate and these precursor compounds are the substrates for the enzyme, tryptophan dimethylallyltransferase, catalyzing the first step in ergot alkaloid biosynthesis, i. e. the prenylation of L-tryptophan. Further reactions, involving methyltransferase and oxygenase enzymes, yield the ergoline, lysergic acid is the substrate of lysergyl peptide synthetase, a nonribosomal peptide synthetase, which covalently links LA to the amino acids, L-alanine, L-proline, and L-phenylalanine. Enzyme-catalyzed or spontaneous cyclizations, oxygenations/oxidations, and isomerizations at selected residues precede, ergotamine produces vasoconstriction peripherally as well as damages the peripheral epithelium. In high doses, ergotamine is conducive to vascular stasis, thrombosis and it can increase uterine contractivity and occasionally is used therapeutically immediately post-partum to decrease uterine bleeding. Ergotamine continues to be prescribed for migraines, the common form of prescription is Cafergot which is a combination of caffeine and ergotamine. Contraindications include, atherosclerosis, Buergers syndrome, coronary disease, hepatic disease, pregnancy, pruritus, Raynauds syndrome. Its also contraindicated if patient is taking Macrolide antibiotics, certain HIV protease inhibitors, certain azole antifungals delavirdine, in the United States, ergotamine is available as a suppository, a sublingual tablet, and a tablet, sometimes in combination with caffeine. The suppository is available under the brand name Migergot, which contains 2 mg of ergotamine with 100 mg caffeine, the sublingual tablet is available under the brand name Ergomar and contains 2 mg of ergotamine. The combination tablet in combination with caffeine called Cafergot contains 1 mg of ergotamine and 100 mg of caffeine and this preparation may be used immediately following the aura/onset of pain to abort the migraine. For the best results, dosage should start at the first sign of an attack, side effects of ergotamine include nausea and vomiting
13.
Lysergic acid diethylamide
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Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as acid, is a psychedelic drug known for its psychological effects. This may include altered awareness of the surroundings, perceptions, and feelings as well as sensations and it is used mainly as a recreational drug and for spiritual reasons. LSD is typically either swallowed or held under the tongue and it is often sold on blotter paper, a sugar cube, or gelatin. However, adverse reactions such as anxiety, paranoia. LSD is in the ergoline family, LSD is sensitive to oxygen, ultraviolet light, and chlorine, though it may last for years if it is stored away from light and moisture at low temperature. In pure form it is odorless and clear or white in color, as little as 20–30 micrograms can produce an effect. LSD was first made by Albert Hofmann in Switzerland in 1938 from ergotamine, the laboratory name for the compound was the acronym for the German Lyserg-säure-diäthylamid, followed by a sequential number, LSD-25. Hofmann discovered its properties in 1943. LSD was introduced as a medication under the trade-name Delysid for various psychiatric uses in 1947. In the 1950s, officials at the U. S, Central Intelligence Agency thought the drug might be useful for mind control and chemical warfare and tested the drug on young servicemen and students, and others without their knowledge. The subsequent recreational use by youth culture in the Western world as part of 1960s counterculture resulted in its prohibition, LSD currently has no approved uses in medicine. LSD is commonly used as a recreational drug, LSD is considered an entheogen because it can catalyze intense spiritual experiences, during which users may feel they have come into contact with a greater spiritual or cosmic order. Users sometimes report out of body experiences, in 1966, Timothy Leary established the League for Spiritual Discovery with LSD as its sacrament. LSD can cause pupil dilation, reduced appetite, and wakefulness, other physical reactions to LSD are highly variable and nonspecific, some of which may be secondary to the psychological effects of LSD. The most common immediate psychological effects of LSD are visual hallucinations and illusions, trips usually start within 20–30 minutes of taking LSD by mouth, peak three to four hours after ingestion, and last up to 12 hours. It is impossible to predict when a bad trip will occur, some users, including Albert Hofmann, report a strong metallic taste for the duration of the effects. LSD causes an animated experience of senses, emotions, memories, time. Generally beginning within 30 to 90 minutes after ingestion, the user may experience anything from subtle changes in perception to overwhelming cognitive shifts, changes in auditory and visual perception are typical
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Salem witch trials
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The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, twelve other women had previously been executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century. Despite being generally known as the Salem Witch Trials, the hearings in 1692 were conducted in several towns, Salem Village, Salem Town, Ipswich. The most infamous trials were conducted by the Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 in Salem Town, the episode is one of Colonial Americas most notorious cases of mass hysteria. It has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations. It was not unique, but a Colonial American example of the broader phenomenon of witch trials in the early modern period. Many historians consider the effects of the trials to have been highly influential in subsequent United States history. According to historian George Lincoln Burr, the Salem witchcraft was the rock on which the theocracy shattered, at the 300th anniversary events in 1992 to commemorate the victims of the trials, a park was dedicated in Salem and a memorial in Danvers. In November 2001, the Massachusetts legislature passed an act exonerating all of those convicted and listing them by name, in January 2016, the University of Virginia announced its Gallows Hill Project team had determined the execution site in Salem, where the nineteen witches had been hanged. The city owns the site and is planning a memorial to the victims, in Against Modern Sadducism, Joseph Glanvill claimed that he could prove the existence of witches and ghosts of the supernatural realm. Glanvill wrote about the denial of the resurrection, and the spirits. In his treatise, Glanvill claimed that men should believe in witches and apparitions, if they doubted the reality of spirits, they not only denied demons. Glanvill wanted to prove that the supernatural could not be denied, works by men such as Glanvill and Cotton Mather tried to prove that demons were alive. The earliest recorded execution was that of Alse Young in 1647 in Hartford. Historian Clarence F. Jewett included a list of people executed in New England in The Memorial History of Boston, Including Suffolk County. New England had been settled by religious refugees seeking to build a pure and they lived closely with the sense of the supernatural. The original 1629 Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was vacated in 1684, Andros was ousted in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution in England replaced the Catholic James II with the Protestant co-rulers William and Mary. At the same time tensions erupted between English colonists settling in the Eastward and French-supported Wabanaki Indians of that territory in what came to be known as King Williams War
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Tarantism
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Tarantism is a form of hysteric behaviour, popularly believed to result from the bite of the wolf spider Lycosa tarantula. However, the term historically is used to refer to a dancing mania - characteristic of Southern Italy - which likely had little to do with spider bites, the tarantella dance supposedly evolved from this therapy. It was originally described in the 11th century, the condition was common in southern Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. There were strong suggestions that there is no cause for the heightened excitability. The stated belief of the time was that victims needed to engage in frenzied dancing to prevent death from tarantism, supposedly a particular kind of dance, called the tarantella, evolved from this therapy. A prime location for such outbursts was the church at Galatina, particularly at the time of the Feast of Saints Peter, the dancing is placed under the sign of Saint Paul, whose chapel serves as a theater for the tarantulees public meetings. The spider seems constantly interchangeable with Saint Paul, the female tarantulees dress as brides of Saint Paul, as a climax, the tarantulees, after having danced for a long time, meet together in the chapel of Saint Paul and communally attain the paroxysm of their trance. The general and desperate agitation was dominated by the cry of the tarantulees, the crisis cry. Francesco Cancellieri, in his treatise on Tarantism, takes note of semi-scientific, literary. He notes a report that in August 1693, a doctor in Naples had himself bitten by two tarantulas with six witnesses and a notary, but did not suffer the dancing illness. Cancellieri in part attributes this illness not only to the spiders but to the locale, since Tarantism was mainly seen in Abruzzo, Puglia and he states, When one is in the hold of this ill-wished beast, one has a hundred different feelings at a time. One cries, dances, vomits, trembles, laugh, pales, cries, faints, and one will suffer great pain, sweat and antidotes relieve the sick, but the sovereign and the only remedy is Music. He goes on to some specific observations of the malady, typically afflicting peasants. The malady typically affected peasants on hot days, causing indolence. And cause his illness was known to all, a guitar was brought, whose harmony immediately that he was understood, began first moving the feet, soon after an interval he arose swaying. Finally, in the space of a quarter of an hour he was leaping, sighed, but with such great impetus, that it terrorized bystanders, and before an hour, the black was gone from his hands and face, and he regained his native color. John Compton proposed that ancient Bacchanalian rites that had been suppressed by the Roman Senate in 186 BC went underground, the phenomenon of tarantism is consistent with mass psychogenic illness. Although the popular belief persists that tarantism results from a spider bite, donaldson, Cavanagh, and Rankin conclude that the actual cause or causes of tarantism remain unknown
16.
Discovery Communications
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Discovery Communications, Inc. is an American global mass media and entertainment company based in Silver Spring, Maryland. The company started as a channel in 1985, The Discovery Channel. DCI both produces original programming and acquires content from producers worldwide. A. T. in October 2016. NBCUniversal executive David Zaslav was named president and CEO on November 16,2006, on September 17,2008, Discovery Holding Company completed a restructuring plan. The new fully public company and trades on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbols DISCA, DISCB, SEC filings are submitted by the Discovery Holding Company. In May 2014, Discovery and Liberty Global announced an agreement to form a 50,50 joint venture to acquire All3Media, a producer and distributor of TV programming. On November 10,2015, Discovery and Liberty Global made a joint investment of $195–400 million in Lionsgate, DCI operates its businesses in the following groups, Discovery Networks U. S. Discovery Networks International, Discovery Studios Group, Discovery Digital Media, the company started out with just a single channel, Discovery Channel, launched in 1985. In 1991, they acquired Discovery Channels rival, The Learning Channel, in the mid-90s, Discovery Communications started developing several new networks. The first of these to launch was Animal Planet, which was launched in cooperation with the BBC in 1996 and this was followed by the 1998 launches of Discovery Wings Channel and Discovery Health Channel. In 2012, the company debuted Velocity, a network that has become the leader in upscale male programming, beating several sports niche competitor channels in ratings, Discovery Communications also signed on OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network. Since its launch, OWN has grown to become the #1 network with African-American women, OWN has seen double and triple-digit ratings growth following the success of series The Haves and Haves Not and Greenleaf. The company employs an extensive localization strategy by offering customized schedules, Discovery Networks International has five regional operations spanning Asia-Pacific, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America/U. S. Hispanic, Northern Europe, and Southern Europe, with headquarters in Singapore, Warsaw, Miami, London, Mumbai. In June 2015, Discovery Communications won the multiplatform rights across Europe to the Olympic Games from 2018 to 2024, Discovery and Eurosport promised more coverage than ever across screens to Europes 700 million residents. This deal includes Discovery Channel, TLC, ID and Eurosport, the deal also includes digital rights. Discovery also signed deals with TDC and Sky Eurosport has also expanded its deal with The All England Club to show all the Wimbledon matches live in 16 additional countries and it is a 3-year deal that includes exclusive TV and digital rights. This expands their tennis portfolio to show all four Grand Slams, Eurosport Digital will be the first client in order to upgrade its suite of digital products to be powered by BAMTech’s video platform
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PubMed Identifier
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PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez system of information retrieval, from 1971 to 1997, MEDLINE online access to the MEDLARS Online computerized database primarily had been through institutional facilities, such as university libraries. PubMed, first released in January 1996, ushered in the era of private, free, home-, the PubMed system was offered free to the public in June 1997, when MEDLINE searches via the Web were demonstrated, in a ceremony, by Vice President Al Gore. Information about the journals indexed in MEDLINE, and available through PubMed, is found in the NLM Catalog. As of 5 January 2017, PubMed has more than 26.8 million records going back to 1966, selectively to the year 1865, and very selectively to 1809, about 500,000 new records are added each year. As of the date,13.1 million of PubMeds records are listed with their abstracts. In 2016, NLM changed the system so that publishers will be able to directly correct typos. Simple searches on PubMed can be carried out by entering key aspects of a subject into PubMeds search window, when a journal article is indexed, numerous article parameters are extracted and stored as structured information. Such parameters are, Article Type, Secondary identifiers, Language, publication type parameter enables many special features. As these clinical girish can generate small sets of robust studies with considerable precision, since July 2005, the MEDLINE article indexing process extracts important identifiers from the article abstract and puts those in a field called Secondary Identifier. The secondary identifier field is to store numbers to various databases of molecular sequence data, gene expression or chemical compounds. For clinical trials, PubMed extracts trial IDs for the two largest trial registries, ClinicalTrials. gov and the International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number Register, a reference which is judged particularly relevant can be marked and related articles can be identified. If relevant, several studies can be selected and related articles to all of them can be generated using the Find related data option, the related articles are then listed in order of relatedness. To create these lists of related articles, PubMed compares words from the title and abstract of each citation, as well as the MeSH headings assigned, using a powerful word-weighted algorithm. The related articles function has been judged to be so precise that some researchers suggest it can be used instead of a full search, a strong feature of PubMed is its ability to automatically link to MeSH terms and subheadings. Examples would be, bad breath links to halitosis, heart attack to myocardial infarction, where appropriate, these MeSH terms are automatically expanded, that is, include more specific terms. Terms like nursing are automatically linked to Nursing or Nursing and this important feature makes PubMed searches automatically more sensitive and avoids false-negative hits by compensating for the diversity of medical terminology. The My NCBI area can be accessed from any computer with web-access, an earlier version of My NCBI was called PubMed Cubby
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Elsevier
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Elsevier is one of the worlds major providers of scientific, technical, and medical information, and a technology company originally established in 1880. It is now a part of the RELX Group, known until 2015 as Reed Elsevier, Elsevier publishes approximately 400,000 articles annually in 2,500 journals. Its archives contain over 13 million documents and 30,000 e-books, total yearly downloads amount to 900 million. Elseviers high profit margins and its practices have subjected it to criticism by researchers. Elsevier was founded in 1880 and took the name from the Dutch publishing house Elzevir which has no connection with the present company, the Elzevir family operated as booksellers and publishers in the Netherlands, the founder, Lodewijk Elzevir, lived in Leiden and established the business in 1580. The expansion of Elsevier in the field after 1945 was funded with the profits of the newsweekly Elsevier. The weekly was an instant success and earned lots of money, in 1947, Elsevier began publishing its first English-language journal, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. In 2013, Elsevier acquired Mendeley, a UK company making software for managing and sharing research papers, Mendeley, previously an open platform for sharing of research, was greatly criticized for the acquisition, which users saw as acceding to the paywall approach to research literature. Mendeleys previously open sharing system now allows exchange of paywalled resources only within private groups, the New Yorker described Elseviers reasons for buying Mendeley as two-fold, to acquire its user data, and to destroy or coöpt an open-science icon that threatens its business model. In December 2013, Elsevier announced a collaboration with University College, London, Elseviers investment is substantial and thought to be more than £10 million. In the primary research market during 2015, researchers submitted over 1. 3m research papers to Elsevier-based publications. Over 17,000 editors managed the peer review and selection of these papers, in 2013, the five editorial groups Elsevier, Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis and SAGE Publications published more than half of all academic papers in the peer-reviewed literature. At that time, Elsevier accounted for 16% of the market in science, technology. Elsevier breaks down its revenue sources by format and by geographic region, approximately 41% of revenue by geography in 2014 derived from North America, 27% from Europe and the remaining 32% from the rest of the world. Approximately 76% of revenue by format came from Electronic, 23% came from Print, Elsevier employs more than 7,200 people in over 70 offices across 24 countries. The company publishes 2,500 journals and 30,000 e-books and it is headed by Chief Executive Officer Ron Mobed. In 2015, Elsevier accounted for 35% of the revenues of RELX group, in operating profits, it represented 42%. Adjusted operating profits rose by 2% from 2014 to 2015, following the integration of its Science & Technology and Health Sciences divisions in 2012, Elsevier has operated under a traditional business structure with a single CEO
19.
International Standard Serial Number
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An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title, ISSN are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature. The ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971, ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC9 is responsible for maintaining the standard. When a serial with the content is published in more than one media type. For example, many serials are published both in print and electronic media, the ISSN system refers to these types as print ISSN and electronic ISSN, respectively. The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers, as an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits. The last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows, NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character. The ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, for calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, the modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker that can validate an ISSN, ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres, usually located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris. The International Centre is an organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, at the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept, where ISBNs are assigned to individual books, an ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an identifier associated with a serial title. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change, separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. Also, a CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved, however, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
