1.
Adam Smith
–
Adam Smith FRSA was a Scottish economist, philosopher, and author. He was a philosopher, a pioneer of political economy. He is best known for two works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, and An Inquiry into the Nature. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and the first modern work of economics. Smith studied social philosophy at the University of Glasgow and at Balliol College, Oxford, after graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh, leading him to collaborate with David Hume during the Scottish Enlightenment. Smith obtained a professorship at Glasgow teaching moral philosophy, and during this time he wrote, in his later life, he took a tutoring position that allowed him to travel throughout Europe, where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. Smith laid the foundations of free market economic theory. The Wealth of Nations was a precursor to the academic discipline of economics. In this and other works, he developed the concept of division of labour, Smith was controversial in his own day and his general approach and writing style were often satirised by Tory writers in the moralising tradition of William Hogarth and Jonathan Swift. In 2005, The Wealth of Nations was named among the 100 Best Scottish Books of all time, the minor planet 12838 Adamsmith was named in his memory. Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, in the County of Fife and his father, also Adam Smith, was a Scottish Writer to the Signet, advocate, and prosecutor and also served as comptroller of the Customs in Kirkcaldy. In 1720 he married Margaret Douglas, daughter of the landed Robert Douglas of Strathendry and his father died two months after he was born, leaving his mother a widow. The date of Smiths baptism into the Church of Scotland at Kirkcaldy was 5 June 1723, and this has often been treated as if it were also his date of birth, Smith was close to his mother, who probably encouraged him to pursue his scholarly ambitions. He attended the Burgh School of Kirkcaldy—characterised by Rae as one of the best secondary schools of Scotland at that period—from 1729 to 1737, he learned Latin, mathematics, history, Smith entered the University of Glasgow when he was fourteen and studied moral philosophy under Francis Hutcheson. Here, Smith developed his passion for liberty, reason, in 1740 Smith was the graduate scholar presented to undertake postgraduate studies at Balliol College, Oxford, under the Snell Exhibition. Adam Smith considered the teaching at Glasgow to be far superior to that at Oxford, according to William Robert Scott, The Oxford of time gave little if any help towards what was to be his lifework. Nevertheless, Smith took the opportunity while at Oxford to teach several subjects by reading many books from the shelves of the large Bodleian Library. When Smith was not studying on his own, his time at Oxford was not a happy one, near the end of his time there, Smith began suffering from shaking fits, probably the symptoms of a nervous breakdown
2.
Scotland
–
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and covers the northern third of the island of Great Britain. It shares a border with England to the south, and is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east. In addition to the mainland, the country is made up of more than 790 islands, including the Northern Isles, the Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the Early Middle Ages and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI, King of Scots, became King of England and King of Ireland, Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain. The union also created a new Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles, the legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland, Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. Glasgow, Scotlands largest city, was one of the worlds leading industrial cities. Other major urban areas are Aberdeen and Dundee, Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third-largest city in Scotland, the title of Europes oil capital, following a referendum in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. Scotland is represented in the UK Parliament by 59 MPs and in the European Parliament by 6 MEPs, Scotland is also a member nation of the British–Irish Council, and the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly. Scotland comes from Scoti, the Latin name for the Gaels, the Late Latin word Scotia was initially used to refer to Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to Scotland north of the River Forth, alongside Albania or Albany, the use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages. Repeated glaciations, which covered the land mass of modern Scotland. It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, the groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and the first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period and it contains the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler laid out on white quartz pebbles and birch bark. It was also discovered for the first time that early Bronze Age people placed flowers in their graves, in the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll, when the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the laird, began an amateur excavation of the site, but after uncovering four houses
3.
Caricature
–
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or through other artistic drawings. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics, Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines. The term is derived from the Italian caricare—to charge or load, an early definition occurs in the English doctor Thomas Brownes Christian Morals, published posthumously in 1716. Expose not thy self by four-footed manners unto monstrous draughts, with the footnote, When Mens faces are drawn with resemblance to some other Animals, the Italians call it, to be drawn in Caricatura Thus, the word caricature essentially means a loaded portrait. Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, the point was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait. Caricature took a road to its first successes in the aristocratic circles of France and Italy. These caricatures were the work of Brig. -Gen, george Townshend whose caricatures of British General James Wolfe, depicted as Deformed and crass and hideous, were drawn to amuse fellow officers. Elsewhere, two great practitioners of the art of caricature in 18th-century Britain were Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray, Rowlandson was more of an artist and his work took its inspiration mostly from the public at large. Gillray was more concerned with the vicious visual satirisation of political life and they were, however, great friends and caroused together in the pubs of London. In a lecture titled The History and Art of Caricature, the British caricaturist Ted Harrison said that the caricaturist can choose to either mock or wound the subject with an effective caricature. Drawing caricatures can simply be a form of entertainment and amusement – in which case gentle mockery is in order – or the art can be employed to make a social or political point. A caricaturist draws on the characteristics of the subject, the acquired characteristics. Sir Max Beerbohm, created and published caricatures of the men of his own time. His style of single-figure caricatures in formalized groupings was established by 1896 and his published works include Caricatures of Twenty-five Gentlemen, The Poets Corner, and Rossetti and His Circle. He published widely in magazines of the time, and his works were exhibited regularly in London at the Carfax Gallery. George Cruikshank created political prints that attacked the family and leading politicians. He went on to create caricatures of British life for popular publications such as The Comic Almanack
4.
Engraving
–
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it. Wood engraving is a form of printing and is not covered in this article. Engraving was an important method of producing images on paper in artistic printmaking, in mapmaking. Other terms often used for printed engravings are copper engraving, copper-plate engraving or line engraving, hand engraving is a term sometimes used for engraving objects other than printing plates, to inscribe or decorate jewellery, firearms, trophies, knives and other fine metal goods. Traditional engravings in printmaking are also engraved, using just the same techniques to make the lines in the plate. Each graver is different and has its own use, engravers use a hardened steel tool called a burin, or graver, to cut the design into the surface, most traditionally a copper plate. Modern professional engravers can engrave with a resolution of up to 40 lines per mm in high grade work creating game scenes, dies used in mass production of molded parts are sometimes hand engraved to add special touches or certain information such as part numbers. In addition to engraving, there are engraving machines that require less human finesse and are not directly controlled by hand. They are usually used for lettering, using a pantographic system, there are versions for the insides of rings and also the outsides of larger pieces. Such machines are used for inscriptions on rings, lockets. Gravers come in a variety of shapes and sizes that yield different line types, the burin produces a unique and recognizable quality of line that is characterized by its steady, deliberate appearance and clean edges. The angle tint tool has a curved tip that is commonly used in printmaking. Florentine liners are flat-bottomed tools with multiple lines incised into them, ring gravers are made with particular shapes that are used by jewelry engravers in order to cut inscriptions inside rings. Flat gravers are used for work on letters, as well as wriggle cuts on most musical instrument engraving work, remove background. Knife gravers are for line engraving and very deep cuts, round gravers, and flat gravers with a radius, are commonly used on silver to create bright cuts, as well as other hard-to-cut metals such as nickel and steel. Square or V-point gravers are typically square or elongated diamond-shaped and used for cutting straight lines, V-point can be anywhere from 60 to 130 degrees, depending on purpose and effect. These gravers have very small cutting points, other tools such as mezzotint rockers, roulets and burnishers are used for texturing effects. Burnishing tools can also be used for stone setting techniques
5.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
–
Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the edge of the Old Town. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, the Kirkyard is operated by City of Edinburgh Council in liaison with a charitable trust, which is linked to but separate from the church. The Kirkyard and its monuments are protected as a category A listed building, Greyfriars takes its name from the Franciscan friary on the site, which was dissolved in 1559. The churchyard was founded in 1561, the Kirkyard was involved in the history of the Covenanters. The Covenanting movement began with signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk on 28 February 1638, following the defeat of the militant Covenanters at Bothwell Brig in 1679, some 1200 Covenanters were imprisoned in a field to the south of the churchyard. When, in the 18th century, part of field was amalgamated into the churchyard as vaulted tombs the area became known as the Covenanters Prison. The graveyard is associated with Greyfriars Bobby, the dog who guarded his masters grave. The dogs statue is opposite the gate, at the junction of George IV Bridge. The grave of Edinburgh police officer John Gray, where the dog famously slept for 13 years, lies on the eastern path, the stone is modern, the grave originally being unmarked. Enclosed vaults are found mainly on the edge of the graveyard. These either have solid walls or iron railings and were created as a deterrent to grave robbing. Greyfriars also has two low ironwork cages, called mortsafes and these were leased, and protected bodies for long enough to deter the attentions of the early nineteenth-century resurrection men who supplied Edinburgh Medical College with corpses for dissection. Notable monuments include the Martyrs Monument, which commemorates executed Covenanters, the Italianate monument to Sir George Mackenzie was designed by the architect James Smith, and modelled on the Tempietto di San Pietro, designed by Donato Bramante. Duncan Ban MacIntyres memorial was renovated in 2005, at a cost of about £3,000, the monument of John Byres of Coates,1629, was one of the last works of the royal master mason William Wallace. D. Founder of the Edinburgh Gazette and Edinburgh Courant John Watson W. S. founder of John Watsons Institution, patrick Wilson architect Dr Robert Whytt The National Covenant was signed in the graveyard in 1638. Whilst some depictions of the event show them leaning on table-stones, these stones did not exist at that time, following the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, some 1200 prisoners were brought to Edinburgh. Their being too numerous for containment in the prison or castle a makeshift prison was formed in a field south of Greyfriars Kirkyard and this area was conveniently enclosed on two sides by the Flodden Wall and on a third side by the high enclosing wall of George Heriots School
6.
Dalkeith
–
Dalkeith Scottish Gaelic, Dail Cheith) is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540, the settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle. Dalkeith has a population of 12,342 people according to the 2011 census, the town is split into four distinct areas, Dalkeith proper with its town centre and historic core, with Eskbank to its west and Woodburn to its east. Eskbank is the district of Dalkeith with many large Victorian. To the south of Eskbank is Newbattle with its abbey, Woodburn is a working class council estate. Dalkeith is the administrative centre for Midlothian. It is twinned with Jarnac, France, in 2004, Midlothian Council re-paved Jarnac Court in honour of Dalkeith and Jarnacs long standing link. There is an estate called Thornyhall on the edge of Dalkeith near the industrial estate beyond which is the newly built Dalkeith Campus - housing the schools of Dalkeith. Dalkeith is understood to be a Cumbric name, cognate with Welsh ddôl meadow, plateau, one of the earliest historical references to Dalkeith is found in the Chronicles of Jean Froissart who stayed at Dalkeith Castle for fifteen days. The same time I saw there this earl James, a young child. In 1650, Oliver Cromwells army came to Dalkeith and his officer General George Monck, was Commander in Scotland, and the government of the country was based out of Dalkeith castle. In the 17th century, Dalkeith had one of Scotlands largest markets in its exceptionally broad High Street, in 1831, Dalkeith was linked to Edinburgh by a railway line that transported coal, minerals, and agricultural produce. Two decades later, in 1853, a Corn Exchange, at the time the largest indoor market in Scotland, was built. In 1879, Dalkeith was where William Ewart Gladstone started his campaign for British Prime Minister, the Collegiate Church of St Nicholas Buccleuch, formerly known as Dalkeith Parish Church, stands on High Street. Dedicated to St Nicholas, this church became a collegiate establishment in 1406. The nave and transepts date from 1854, when the inside of the church was greatly altered, the chancel was abandoned in 1590, walled off from the rest of the church, and is now ruinous. Sir James Douglas, 1st Earl of Morton, and his wife Joanna, St Nicholas Buccleuch Church remains one of the two Church of Scotland parish churches in Dalkeith, the other being St Johns and Kings Park Church. The Episcopal Church, St Marys is on High Street, at the entrance to Dalkeith Country Park, St Davids Church, on Eskbank Road, is the only Roman Catholic church in the town, it is a category A listed building and was built in 1854
7.
Barber
–
A barber is a person whose occupation is mainly to cut, dress, groom, style and shave mens and boys hair. A barbers place of work is known as a shop or a barbers. Barber shops are also places of social interaction and public discourse, in some instances, barbershops are also public forums. They are the locations of open debates, voicing public concerns and they were also influential in helping shape male identity. In previous times, barbers performed surgery and dentistry. With the development of safety razors and the prevalence of beards, in English-speaking cultures. In modern times, the barber is used both as a professional title and to refer to hairdressers who specialize in mens hair. Historically, all hairdressers were considered barbers, in the 20th century, the profession of cosmetology branched off from barbering, and today hairdressers may be licensed as either barbers or cosmetologists. Barbers differ with respect to where they work, which services they are licensed to provide, part of this terminology difference depends on the regulations in a given location. Different states in the US vary on their labor and licensing laws, for example, in Maryland, a cosmetologist cannot use a straight razor, strictly reserved for barbers. In Australia, the term for a barber is hairdresser, barber is only a popular title for mens hairdressers. Most would work in a hairdressing salon, the barbers trade has a long history, razors have been found among relics of the Bronze Age in Egypt. In ancient Egyptian culture, barbers were highly respected individuals, priests and men of medicine are the earliest recorded examples of barbers. Men in Ancient Greece would have their beards, hair, and fingernails trimmed and styled by the κουρεύς, in an agora which also served as a gathering for debates. Barbering was introduced to Rome by the Greek colonies in Sicily in 296 BC, starting from the Middle Ages, barbers often served as surgeons and dentists. In addition to haircutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, the barber pole, featuring red and white spiraling stripes, symbolized different aspects of the craft. Barbers received higher pay than surgeons until surgeons were entered into British warships during naval wars, some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleansing of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks. Barbershops were influential at the turn of the 19th century as African American businesses that helped to develop African American culture and economy
8.
Edinburgh
–
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
9.
Parliament Square, Edinburgh
–
Parliament Square, Edinburgh, is located off the High Street, part of the Royal Mile. The Queensberry Memorial to the 5th Duke of Buccleuch, stands in West Parliament Square, the square came into existence in 1632 as a forecourt to the Parliament House on the old graveyard of St Giles Kirk. Parliament House not only housed the pre-union Parliament of Scotland but also the Court of Session. Another building adjacent to the square was the Old Tolbooth, which was used variously as a place for the Town Council. It was from there in 1661 that those guilty of high treason after the Restoration were taken to be executed next to the mercat cross. Henry Cockburn lamented the loss of the historical name, Parliament Close. Anderson, James, Mrs. James Guthrie, Mrs. James Durham, and Mrs
10.
Royal Mile
–
The Royal Mile is the name given to a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The name was first used in W M Gilberts Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century, the streets which make up the Royal Mile are Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand. The Royal Mile is the busiest tourist street in the Old Town, running eastwards from the crag, the Royal Mile sits upon the ridge of the tail which slopes gently down to Holyrood Palace. Steep closes run between the many tall lands off the main thoroughfare, the route runs from an elevation of 42 meters above sea level at the palace, to 109 meters at the castle, for an average gradient of 4. 1%. The Castle Esplanade was laid out as a ground, in 1753. It was formalised in 1816 when it was widened and provided with decorative railings, the Esplanade with its several monuments has been A-listed by Historic Scotland. It is the venue of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo at which time specially designed temporary grandstands are erected, the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland and New College are further down on the same side, in an architecturally somewhat understated building as seen from this side. The Scottish Parliament met in the Assembly Hall between 1999 and 2004, the Lawnmarket was originally part of the High Street before its separate naming, which accounts for the street numbering being a continuation of the High Street numbers. A charter of 1477 designated this part of the High Street as the market-place for what was called inland merchandise - items such as yarn, stockings, coarse cloth, in later years, linen was the main product sold. As a result, it known as the Land Market which was later corrupted to Lawn Market. Today, the majority of shops in the street are aimed at tourists, on the north side is the preserved 17th century merchants townhouse Gladstones Land owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The south side has a strong Dutch influence in its 17th-century gables, the lower end of the Lawnmarket is intersected by George IV Bridge on the right and Bank Street on the left, leading to The Mound and the New Town. The view down Bank Street is closed by the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland. On the south-west corner of intersection, with its entrance on George IV Bridge, is a new hotel. This building is of controversial design winning both best building awards and carbuncle awards in 2009/10. Between Bank Street and St Giles Street, marking the end of the Lawnmarket, St Giles Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, also stands in Parliament Square. The prison was described by Sir Walter Scott as the Heart of Midlothian, locals have traditionally spat upon the heart, presumably to express disgust. The custom has been to some extent sanitised by tourist guides who claim that the spitting is merely for good luck, on the north side, opposite St Giles, stand Edinburgh City Chambers, where the City of Edinburgh Council meets
11.
Great Fire of Edinburgh
–
The Great Fire of Edinburgh was one of the most destructive fires in the history of Edinburgh. It started on Monday, November 15,1824, and lasted for five days, the fire broke out around 10pm on November 15,1824, in Kirkwoods engraving workshop on the second floor of the Old Assembly Close, a narrow alleyway just off the High Street. The city of Edinburgh had formed a permanent fire brigade only two months earlier under its new firemaster James Braidwood, by midnight, four tenements were ablaze as the fire advanced towards the Cowgate. The Old Assembly Hall at the centre of the fire was destroyed during the night, around midday on Tuesday, November 16, the spire on the Tron Kirk caught fire and molten lead began to pour from its roof. Although firemen succeeded in reaching the roof of the church, the fierceness of the blaze forced them back, at 10pm on Tuesday evening a secondary outbreak occurred in buildings on the corner of High Street and Parliament Close. This blaze started on the top floor of a building overlooking the Cowgate. This led to claims of divine intervention and punishment from God and it was more likely the result of a still smouldering ember. This second phase of the fire began to consume the buildings on the east side of Parliament Close, efforts focused on saving the adjacent Parliament Hall and Law Courts, and stopping the fire leaping to St Giles Cathedral. A young David Octavius Hill made watercolour sketches during this second phase, by 5am on Wednesday 19 November, the fire was described as grand and terrific. The building housing the Edinburgh Courant collapsed and the continued to spread down Conns Close towards the Cowgate. Due mainly to a downpour of rain, the conflagration was brought under control by Wednesday evening, although small outbreaks continued, over the following days, engineers from the castle and navy were employed to pull down the highly unsafe remnants of buildings left precariously balanced along the closes. Several printworks destroyed An estimated 400 homes were destroyed, with 400-500 families left homeless, thirteen lives were lost including those of two firemen and many people were injured. Amidst mounting public criticism of the new brigade and its young firemaster. Braidwood and his pioneers were exonerated from all blame, the inquiry found that there had been confusion as to who had been in charge of the firefighting operation. Public officials, assuming authority under older municipal regulations, were found to have issued orders to the harassed firemen. The inquiry also criticised the number of firecocks that had been available to the firefighters. Within a year the number for the town was increased from 45 to 97. The brigade was also fully re-equipped, the fire opened the way for a more formal completion of the Scottish Law Courts in Parliament Square
12.
Hugo Arnot
–
Hugo Arnot of Balcormo was a Scottish advocate, writer, and campaigner. Arnot was the son of a Leith merchant, where he was born on 8 December 1749 as Hugo Pollock and he adopted his mothers maiden name, Arnot, after succeeding to her property of Balcormo in Fife. He became an advocate 5 December 1772, in 1779 he published his History of Edinburgh, and in 1785 a Collection of Celebrated Criminal Trials in Scotland. Both works were pirated in Ireland, Arnot published the second at his own expense in defiance of the Edinburgh booksellers, and the gross proceeds were 600 pounds. Many anecdotes are told of his eccentricity and he wrote many papers on local politics, opposing local taxation and road tolls mainly hitting the poorer part of the population as means for funding road projects. He is said to have held up for ten years the erection of the citys South Bridge, Arnot died 20 November 1786, and left eight children. He is buried in South Leith Parish Churchyard, in his texts, Arnot was sharp and outspoken, which was met with mixed feelings. In his Collection of Celebrated Criminal Trials in Scotland, he comments on what he considered as unjust decisions. Here, for example, is his Enlightenment view of progress being made in the sentencing of criminals, the codes of the criminal laws of most nations are exceedingly barbarous. This is owing to their having been compiled when the nations were sunk in barbarity, were subjected to an absolute government. However, he was later a participant in church activities, and his contributions to the Society were recognised by the Edinburgh magistrates. Arnot was a subject with John Kay, the Edinburgh caricaturist. Chambers, Robert & Thomson, Thomas Napier, a biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen
13.
Joseph Black
–
Joseph Black FRSE FRCPE FPSG was a Scottish physician and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. The chemistry buildings at both the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow are named after Black, Black was born in Bordeaux, France, where his father, who was from Belfast, Ireland, was engaged in the wine trade. His mother was from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and her family was also in the wine business, Joseph had twelve brothers and sisters. During his studies he wrote a thesis on the treatment of kidney stones with the salt magnesium carbonate. Like most eighteenth-century experimentalists, Blacks conceptualisation of chemistry was based on five principles of matter, Water, Salt, Earth, Fire and he added the principle of Air when his experiments definitely confirmed the presence of carbon dioxide. Blacks research programme was guided by questions relating to how the foregoing principles combined with other in various different forms. He used the term affinity to describe the force that held such combinations together, throughout his career he used a variety of diagrams and formulas to teach his Edinburgh students how to manipulate affinity through different kinds of experimentation. In about 1750, while still a student, Black developed the analytical balance based on a beam balanced on a wedge-shaped fulcrum. Each arm carried a pan on which the sample or standard weights was placed and it far exceeded the accuracy of any other balance of the time and became an important scientific instrument in most chemistry laboratories. In 1757, Black was appointed Regius Professor of the Practice of Medicine at the University of Glasgow. Additionally, Black observed that the application of heat to boiling water does not result in a rise in temperature of a water/steam mixture, from these observations, he concluded that the heat applied must have combined with the ice particles and boiling water and become latent. The theory of latent heat marks the beginning of thermodynamics, Blacks theory of latent heat was one of his more-important scientific contributions, and one on which his scientific fame chiefly rests. He also showed that different substances have different specific heats, the theory ultimately proved important not only in the development of abstract science but in the development of the steam engine. The latent heat of water is large compared with other liquids. Black and Watt became friends after meeting around 1757 while both were at Glasgow, Black provided significant financing and other support for Watts early research in steam power. Black also explored the properties of a gas produced in various reactions and he found that limestone could be heated or treated with acids to yield a gas he called fixed air. He observed that the air was denser than air and did not support either flame or animal life. Black also found that when bubbled through a solution of lime
14.
Hugh Blair
–
Hugh Blair FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. Blair was born in Edinburgh into an educated Presbyterian family and his father was John Blair, an Edinburgh merchant. He was great grandson of Rev Robert Blair of St Andrews. From an early age it was clear that Blair, a child, should be educated for a life in the church. Schooled at the High School, Blair studied moral philosophy and literature at the University of Edinburgh, in 1741, two years after the publication of his thesis, Blair received his license as a Presbyterian preacher. Shortly thereafter, the Earl of Leven heard of Blairs popularity and presented him to the Parish Church of Collessie in Fife, by 1743 Blair was elected as the second charge of the Canongate Kirk, where he spent the next eleven years. Blair was appointed to the charge of Lady Yesters Kirk in 1754, and four years later was promoted to the High Church of St. Giles, Blair maintained this position for many years, during which time he published a five volume series of his addresses entitled Sermons. Having attained ultimate success in the church, Blair turned to matters of education, at first Blair taught without remuneration, but the popularity of his course led to the institution of a class in Rhetoric at the university and a paid professorship for Blair. Blair was eventually appointed the first Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres by George III, upon retirement, Blair published several of his lectures in Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres. In 1783 Blair was one of the members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He served as its Literary President from 1789 to 1796, Blairs life was very full in both the public and the private spheres. As a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment, he surrounded himself with scholars in the movement. Hume, Carlyle, Adam Smith, Ferguson, and Lord Kames were among those Blair considered friends, as well, Blair had a very loving marriage to his cousin, Katherine Bannatyne, whom he married in 1748. Together they had two children, a son who died at birth and a daughter who died at the age of 20, Blair also outlived his wife, who died several years before his own death in December 1800. He was described as amiable, kind to young authors, and remarkable for a harmless, Blair is buried in Greyfriars Churchyard in Edinburgh. The grave was unmarked, but a memorial was erected on the south-west section of Greyfriars Kirk to commemorate him. It is inscribed in Latin therefore gives his name as Hugo Blair and he was succeeded in his chair at Edinburgh University by Andrew Brown. While little attention is given to his works, Blair published several other works anonymously
15.
Claud Irvine Boswell, Lord Balmuto
–
Claud Irvine Boswell, Lord Balmuto was a Scottish judge. His father, John Boswell of Balmuto, who was the brother of James Boswell of Auchinleck. At the early age of six he was sent to Mr. Barclays school at Dalkeith, after finishing his education at Edinburgh University, he was admitted a member of the faculty of advocates on 2 August 1766. After nearly twenty-three years of work he resigned in January 1822. He died at Balmuto on 22 July 1824, in his eighty-third year and he was a robust and athletic man, with black hair and beetling eyebrows. His manner was boisterous and his temper passionate, though fond of joking, a habit he sometimes indulged in on the bench, he was not particularly keen in the perception of wit in others. In 1783 he married Anne Irvine, who, by the death of her brother and grandfather, became the heiress of Kingcussie, two etchings of him will be found in Kay, Nos.262 and 300. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Barker. Media related to Claud Irvine Boswell at Wikimedia Commons
16.
John Brown (doctor)
–
John Brown was a Scottish physician and the creator of the Brunonian system of medicine. In 1759 he discontinued his studies and began the study of medicine. After a dispute with Cullen and the professors of the university, Browns public lectures contained attacks on preceding systems of medicine and he received his medical degree from St Andrews in 1779. In 1780 he published his Elementa Medicinae, which for a time was an influential text and it set out his theories, often called the Brunonian system of medicine, which essentially understood all diseases as a matter of over or under-stimulation. John Browns theory focused on outside factors, which would excite the body and lead to different diseases, the stimulation was seen as excitability, hence the relation of Brunonian medicine and excitants. John Brown argued that any symptoms of disease or behavior which strayed from that of a healthy individual suggested over-excitement of the body, for instance, even a person presenting as weak had been over-excited. Brown labeled over-stimulation as the state and under-stimulation as the asthenic state. For sthenic diseases, Browns treatments included vomiting, cold air, for asthenic diseases, Brown prescribed opium, roast beef, and alcoholic beverages. He wrote that all life consists in stimulus, and both over-abundance and deficiency is productive of diseases, Brown described medicine as related to excitement and his medicine was seen as mechanical to certain individuals and dynamic to others. For instance, Immanuel Kant perceived the system as highly mechanical and this system explained disease as the imbalance of excitants and could be quantified. Kant believed that this quantification could be used to explain the cause of disease, on the other hand, avid follower in Germany, Andreas Röschlaub, perceived Brunonian medicine as an example of natural philosophy and as a changing theory. He saw this practice of medicine as a way to explain relationships between nature and man and this notion was rooted in pathology and relation of the outside world to man and his disease or illness. In his work, Brown outlined and explained which excitants were good, the Brunonian system of treatment was intended to outline specific treatments for symptoms and to simplify medicine. Due to this simplicity, it very popular in countries such as Germany. His medical ideas proved highly influential for the few decades, especially in Italy. His medical theory was based on the principle that all disease was caused by an unbalance of excitability, Brown believed that excitement could be measured mathematically similar to the use of degrees on a thermometer. At this time in Germany, many physicians were attempting to change and revamp the medical curriculum, Germany physicians wanted a system rooted in science which would give a scientific explanation to diseases, as the medical world began to emphasize science. John Browns theory explained the relationship between the world, causing excitement, and the body, which was stimulated from the world
17.
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
–
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, was a Scottish judge, scholar of linguistic evolution, philosopher and deist. He is most famous today as a founder of comparative historical linguistics. In 1767 he became a judge in the Court of Session, as such, Burnett adopted an honorary title based on the name of his fathers estate and family seat, Monboddo House. Monboddo was one of a number of scholars involved at the time in development of concepts of evolution. Some credit him with anticipating in principle the idea of selection that was developed into a scientific theory by Charles Darwin. James Burnett was born in 1714 at Monboddo House in Kincardineshire, after his primary education at the parish school of Laurencekirk, he studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen, from where he was graduated in 1729. He also studied at University of Edinburgh and the University of Groningen, at Edinburgh University he graduated in law and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1737. Burnett married Elizabethe Farquharson and they had two daughters and a son, burnetts younger daughter Elizabeth Burnett was an Edinburgh celebrity, known for her beauty and amiability. Tragically, she died from consumption at the age of 24, burnetts friend the Scottish poet Robert Burns had a romantic interest in Elizabeth and wrote a poem, Elegy on The Late Miss Burnet of Monboddo, praising her beauty, which became her elegy. Monboddos early work in practising law found him in a piece of litigation of his time, known as the Douglas cause. Burnett, as the solicitor for the young Douglas heir, was victorious after years of legal battle, from 1754 until 1767 Monboddo was one of a number of distinguished proprietors of the Canongate Theatre. He clearly enjoyed this even when some of his fellow judges pointed out that the activity might cast a shadow over his sombre image as jurist. Here he had occasion to further associate with David Hume who was an actor in one of the plays. He had actually met Hume earlier when Monboddo was a curator of the Advocates Library, from 1769 until 1775 John Hunter acted as his personal secretary. In the era after Monboddo was appointed to Justice of the court, he organised learned suppers at his house on 13 St John Street. Local intellectuals were invited to attend attic repasts, Monboddo rode to London on horseback each year and visited Hampton Court as well as other intellectuals of the era, the King himself was fond of Monboddos colourful discussions. Monboddo is buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh along with his daughter Elizabeth where they have unmarked graves in the enclosure of Patrick Grant of Elchies. In The Origin and Progress of Language Burnett analysed the structure of languages, Burnett was the first to note that some languages create lengthy words for rather simple concepts
18.
Alexander Carlyle
–
Very Reverend Alexander Carlyle DD FRSE was a Scottish church leader, and autobiographer. He was born in Cummertrees, Dumfriesshire, the son of Rev Willam Carlyle and he was a witness to the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745 where he was part of the government Edinburgh militia. He missed the battle as he had sent to lodge in nearby houses. Carlyle was educated at the University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow and he was associated with Principal Robertson as an ecclesiastical leader. His strikingly ruddy complexion earned him the nickname of Jupiter Carlyle and he was also a member of The Select Society and of The Poker Club. He was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in November 1783. He is buried in Inveresk churchyard, Alexander married Mary Roddan in 1760. The majority of their children died young, on death he bequeathed his belongings to his nephew, Carlyle Bell. List of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Espinasse and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Carlyle, Alexander. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Cousin. A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, london, J. M. Dent & Sons. Wikisource Autobiography of the Rev. Dr Alexander Carlyle, containing memorials of the men and events of his time, from Internet Archive
19.
James Donaldson (publisher)
–
Sir James Donaldson was a Scottish printer and newspaper publisher. He bequeathed a part of his estate to the founding of Donaldsons Hospital. Donaldson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1751 and his mother was Anna Marshall, a merchants daughter. He had younger brothers, but all died young and his paternal grandparents were James Donaldson, a textile manufacturer, and Treasurer of Edinburgh, and Elizabeth Weir. He had an uncle, John Donaldson, a London bookseller and partner of his father who was also an appellant in Donaldson v Beckett. At age 22, Donaldson became the publisher of the Tory biweekly newspaper the Edinburgh Advertiser. His printing house was located at Castlehill and his apprentices and apprentice compositors included William Wilson, James Campbell, William Begg, Robert Miller, and James Thomson. In 1820, Donaldson sold the paper to Claud Muirhead, son of James Muirhead, Donaldson was a member of the Edinburgh Booksellers Society. In 1782, like his father, he became a Burgess, Donaldson married Jane Gillespie, eldest daughter of an Edinburgh physician, on 29 September 1792. He spent most of his life in Edinburgh and he owned two homes, one in town, the other in the country. The former was located on Princes Street, now the site of New Club, the later, Broughton Hall, had been his fathers home. He inherited £100,000 from his father, and doubled that through wise investing, known for his benevolence, Donaldson gave money to beggars each week. He was also known for being an eccentric, Donaldson died at Broughton Hall in 1830. Shortly after his death, Broughton Halls attached garden was converted into zoological gardens and he bequeathed £220,000 of his estate for the foundation of Donaldsons Hospital to maintain and educate poor children, with a preference for those named Donaldson or Marshall. He is buried against the wall of the churchyard of St Johns at the west end of Princes Street. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Donaldson
20.
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
–
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville PC FRSE was a Scottish advocate and Tory politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and became, in 1806, although acquitted, he never held public office again. Dundas was born in Edinburgh on 28 April 1742 in the known as Bishops Land on the Royal Mile. He was the son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President of the Court of Session, by his second wife, Anne Gordon. While a student he was a member of the Edinburgh University Belles Lettres Society, participating in its meetings and his name appears in the 1776 minute book of the Poker Club. After holding subordinate offices under William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and William Pitt the Younger, appointed Minister for War on the outbreak of the Wars of the French Revolution, he was Pitts closest advisor and planner for Britains military participation in the First Coalition. He is largely responsible for the lack of organization and confused planning in the Flanders Campaign. In November 1793, he provided support to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, from 1794 to 1801 he was War Secretary under Pitt, his great friend. From about 1798 on he pleaded frequently to be allowed to resign on grounds, but Pitt. In 1802 he was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira, under Pitt in 1804 he again entered office as First Lord of the Admiralty, when he introduced numerous improvements in the details of the department. Suspicion had arisen, however, as to the management of the Admiralty. In 1802 a commission of inquiry was appointed, which reported in 1805, the result was the impeachment of Dundas in 1806, on the initiative of Samuel Whitbread, for the misappropriation of public money. Although the process ended in an acquittal, and nothing more than formal negligence lay against him and this was the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords. Another reason for his retreat could have been Pitts death in 1806, an earldom was offered in 1809 but declined. Lord Melvilles first marriage was to Elizabeth, daughter of David Rannie, of Melville Castle, within days she had confessed by letter to her husband, and approximately a month later they were divorced. She never saw her again, dying in 1847, aged 97. Henry Dundas, as was the law of the time, kept all of the money, after this divorce he married again, to Lady Jane Hope, daughter of John Hope, 2nd Earl of Hopetoun, in 1793. He died in May 1811, aged 69, and was succeeded in his titles by his son from his first marriage, the Viscountess Melville later remarried and died in June 1829
21.
Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville
–
Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville KT PC FRS was a British statesman, the son of Henry Dundas, the 1st Viscount. Dundas was the Member of Parliament for Hastings in 1794, Rye in 1796 and he was also Keeper of the Signet for Scotland from 1800. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1807, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1817, a Knight of the Thistle in 1821, and was Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1814. Melville filled various offices and was First Lord of the Admiralty from 1812 to 1827. He was born in Edinburgh on 14 March 1771, the son of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. Educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, he went in 1786 with his tutor John Bruce on a continental tour and he studied afterwards at Edinburgh University and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was admitted at Lincolns Inn in 1788. After a successful attempt at law he became his fathers secretary from 1794, though he was brought in as MP for Hastings in 1794. The same year, on 29 August, he married an heiress, Anne Saunders, and took her name beside his own. They had four sons and two daughters, their eldest son, Henry Dundas, later third Viscount Melville, became an officer while their second son, Richard Saunders Dundas. Dundas was appointed Keeper of the Signet for Scotland and elected MP for Midlothian in 1801 and he remained silent in parliament until his speeches of 1805 and 1806 in defence of his father, who was then being impeached. His first real test came in negotiating to be left in charge of Scotland by a hostile ‘ministry of all the talents’ and he got nowhere, but won the respect of his own side, and the problem vanished with the ministrys collapse. He was rewarded with the presidency of the Board of Control for India by the Duke of Portland in 1807, dundass main task was to frustrate any possibility that Napoleon might exploit his alliance with Russia to make some attempt on British India. He sent a mission to the shah of Persia, at whose court French agents were present and he formed alliances with the princes of Lahore and Kabul. He ordered occupation of the Portuguese factories in India and China, of the Dutch colony of Java and he had also to deal with a sharp deterioration, through loss of trade during the war, in the finances of the East India Company. Dundas drafted the legislation which ended them at the renewal of the charter in 1813. Dundass Indian administration was interrupted for six months in 1809 when he served as Chief Secretary for Ireland, spencer Perceval, succeeding Portland, then wanted to promote him to the cabinet as secretary for war, but this did not happen due to the wishes of his father. Dundas returned to the Board of Control, still without a place in cabinet and he succeeded as Viscount Melville on 27 May 1811. The next year, under Prime Minister Lord Liverpool, he was promoted First Lord of the Admiralty, while the Napoleonic wars went on, his job was to maintain the British maritime supremacy established at the battle of Trafalgar
22.
Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville
–
Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville was a Scottish judge. Rockville was the youngest son of William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen, by his third wife Lady Anne, daughter of Alexander Gordon and he served as a Lord of Session from 1788 to 1792 under the judicial title Lord Rockville. Rockville married Anne, daughter of William Duff and widow of William Dalrymple-Crichton, 5th Earl of Dumfries, one of their sons was Sir William Duff-Gordon, 2nd Baronet. He died on 13 March 1792 and is buried in St Cuthberts churchyard in Edinburgh, the eroded family stone lies in the north-west corner close to the elaborate Gothic Bailey vault. Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair Duff-Gordon baronets www. thepeerage. com
23.
Francis Grose
–
Francis Grose was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He was born at his fathers house in Broad Street, St-Peter-le-Poer and his parents were Swiss immigrant and jeweller Francis Jacob Grose, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex. Grose was baptized on 11 June 1731 in the parish of St Peter-le-Poer, the eldest of seven children, Francis probably received a classical education but first aimed at a career in the Army. In 1747, he was in Flanders, apparently as a volunteer in Howards regiment of foot, posted to Kent on excise duties in 1750, he met and married Catherine Jordan of Canterbury. They were eventually to have ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood and their eldest son was Francis Grose, the Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales, Australia. Grose left the army in October 1751, possibly to avoid his regiments posting to Scotland, in 1755, his father bought him the post of Richmond Herald but Francis showed little interest in heraldry and was to sell it again in February 1763. In 1757, Grose was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries, and 1759 he resumed his career, this time in the militia. He was commissioned into the Surrey regiment as a lieutenant, the Surrey militia was disbanded in 1762 but this hardly affected Grose, who continued to receive a salary as paymaster and adjutant even in peacetime. Grose had early on shown a keen interest in drawing, having attempted sketches of buildings as far back as 1749. He was not a gifted draughtsman but he mixed in the London artistic milieu and began to exhibit, first at the Society of Artists in 1767–8. His interest was in the field of medieval remains, which were beginning to exercise an increasing grip on the public imagination, in 1772, he published the first part of The Antiquities of England and Wales, a work which he unashamedly aimed at the popular market. Sometimes the text was taken from books published, or from information supplied by other antiquaries, sometimes Grose collated material himself from which he could work up an article. From 1772 onwards, he toured the country to visit. The fourth and last volume came out in June 1776, and his publishing career was interrupted however, when the Surrey militia was again called into service between 1778 and 1783. This was not an experience for him. Where previously Grose had been able to spend his summers visiting and sketching ancient sites and he did not get on well with his new commanding officer, and he handled regimental finances in a slipshod manner. The result was that he incurred debts towards fellow officers that would take years to straighten out, the financial pressure forced him to increase both the rate and the range of his publications. The Supplement to The Antiquities was resumed in 1783, this time with a proportion of the illustrations being done by other artists
24.
Henry Home, Lord Kames
–
Henry Home, Lord Kames was a Scottish advocate, judge, philosopher, writer and agricultural improver. Born at Kames House, between Eccles and Birgham, Berwickshire, he was educated at home by a private tutor and he studied law at Edinburgh, was called to the bar in 1724, and became an advocate. He soon acquired reputation by a number of publications on the civil and Scottish law, in 1752, he was raised to the bench, thus acquiring the title of Lord Kames. Home was on the panel of judges in the Joseph Knight case which ruled that there could be no slavery in Scotland and his address in 1775 is shown as New Street on the Canongate. Home wrote much about the importance of property to society, in Historical Law Tracts and later in Sketches on the History of Man he described human history as having four distinct stages. The first was as a hunter-gatherer where people avoided each other out of competition, the second stage he described was a herder of domestic animals which required forming larger societies. No laws were needed at these stages except those given by the head of the family or society, agriculture was the third stage requiring greater cooperation and new relationships to allow for trade or employment. He argued that the union among a multitude of individuals, occasioned by agriculture required a new set of rights. This requires laws and law enforcers, a fourth stage moves from villages and farms to seaports and market towns requiring yet more laws and complexity but also much to benefit from. Kames could see these stages within Scotland itself, with the highlands, the agricultural/industrial lowlands. Home was a polygenist, he believed God had created different races on earth in separate regions, the above studies created the genre of the story of civilization and defined the fields of anthropology and sociology and therefore the modern study of history for two hundred years. The late eighteenth-century tradition of writing was associated with his notion that the genuine rules of criticism are all of them derived from the human heart. Prof Neil Rhodes has argued that Lord Kames played a significant role in the development of English as a discipline in the Scottish Universities. He enjoyed intelligent conversation and cultivated a number of intellectual associates, among them John Home, David Hume. Lord Monboddo was also a frequent debater of Kames, although these two usually had a competitive and adversarial relationship. Principles of Equity Introduction to the Art of Thinking Elements of Criticism Published by two Scottish booksellers, Andrew Millar and Alexander Kincaid, henry Home, Lord Kames at James Boswell - a Guide
25.
James Hutton
–
James Hutton FRSE was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist. He originated the theory of fundamental principle of geology—which explains the features of the Earths crust by means of natural processes over geologic time. Huttons work established geology as a science, and thus he is often referred to as the Father of Modern Geology. His theories of geology and geologic time, also called time, came to be included in theories which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism. Some of his writings anticipated the Gaia hypothesis, Hutton was born in Edinburgh on 3 June 1726 OS as one of five children of William Hutton, a merchant who was Edinburgh City Treasurer, and his wife, Sarah Balfour. His father died in 1729, when James was only three. e and he was apprenticed to the lawyer George Chalmers WS when he was 17, but took more interest in chemical experiments than legal work. At the age of 18, he became a physicians assistant, after three years he went to the University of Paris to continue his studies, taking the degree of Doctor of Medicine at Leiden University in 1749 with a thesis on blood circulation. After his degree Hutton returned to London, then in mid-1750 went back to Edinburgh and resumed chemical experiments with close friend, Hutton owned and rented out properties in Edinburgh, employing a factor to manage this business. Hutton inherited from his father the Berwickshire farms of Slighhouses, a farm which had been in the family since 1713. In the early 1750s he moved to Slighhouses and set about making improvements, introducing farming practices from other parts of Britain and experimenting with plant and he recorded his ideas and innovations in an unpublished treatise on The Elements of Agriculture. This developed his interest in meteorology and geology, in a 1753 letter he wrote that he had become very fond of studying the surface of the earth, and was looking with anxious curiosity into every pit or ditch or bed of a river that fell in his way. Clearing and draining his farm provided ample opportunities and his theoretical ideas began to come together in 1760. While his farming activities continued, in 1764 he went on a tour of the north of Scotland with George Maxwell-Clerk. In 1768 Hutton returned to Edinburgh, letting his farms to tenants but continuing to take an interest in farm improvements and he developed a red dye made from the roots of the madder plant. He had a built in 1770 at St Johns Hill, Edinburgh. This later became the Balfour family home and, in 1840, Hutton held no position in Edinburgh University and communicated his scientific findings through the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was particularly friendly with Joseph Black, and the two of them together with Adam Smith founded the Oyster Club for weekly meetings, at this time he is listed as living on Bernard Street in Leith. In 1777 he published a pamphlet on Considerations on the Nature, Quality and Distinctions of Coal, in 1783 he was a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
26.
Thomas Jefferson
–
Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
27.
Vincenzo Lunardi
–
Vicenzo Lunardi was a pioneering Italian aeronaut, born in Lucca. His family were of minor Neapolitan nobility, and his father had married late in life, Vicenzo was one of three children. He travelled in France in his years before being called home. Vincenzo Lunardi had come to England as Secretary to Prince Caramanico and his balloon was later exhibited at the Pantheon in Oxford Street. The road junction in Welham Green near to the site Lunardi made his first stop is called Balloon Corner to this day to commemorate the landing, doubt about the experiment still remained in England, however, at least in some circles. His next flight was nearly a year later on 29 June 1785. Lunardi and Biggin, and two invitees, Letitia Ann Sage and Colonel Hastings were supposed to make the flight, Lunardi and Hastings stepped down, and the balloon took off with Biggin and Mrs. Sage, making her the first English female in flight. 90 minutes later, they landed near Harrow, where the two aeronauts had to be rescued by a group of boys from Harrow School from the farmer whose crops were damaged. Lunardi then made flights in Liverpool on 20 July and 9 August that year before moving onto Glasgow, in October 1785, a large and excited crowd filled the grounds of George Heriots School in Edinburgh to see Lunardis first Scottish hydrogen-filled balloon take off. The 46 mile flight over the Firth of Forth ended at Coaltown of Callange in the parish of Ceres, there is today a commemorative plaque nearby. The two-hour flight covered 110 miles, and passed over Hamilton, the weather was worse on this flight—which had to end after just 20 minutes, with the Grand Balloon landing in Campsie Glen in Milton of Campsie—just over 10 miles from Glasgow. His landing, on 5 December 1785, is commemorated by a plaque in the village. However, the flight on 20 December 1785, was a disaster. Seventy minutes after the ascent from the grounds of Heriots Hospital in Edinburgh and he spent a long time in the North Sea until rescued by a passing fishing boat which docked at North Berwick. A short time later, in 1786, Lunardi published An Account of five Aerial Voyages in Scotland in a series of letters to his guardian, Gherardo Campagni. What was supposed to be his 12th launch at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1786 ended in a casualty, assistants restraining the already buoyant balloon, fled from the place which caused it to take off. One of them, the son of Mr. Heron, under-sheriff of Northumberland, had a rope twisted around his hand and he was drawn up in the air. Eventually, he fell to the ground and died a while later from internal injuries, the critical responses following this death made Lunardi leave Great Britain, and he continued to make ascents in Italy, Spain and Portugal
28.
William Nairne, Lord Dunsinane
–
Sir William Nairne, Lord Dunsinane, 5th Baronet of Nairne was a Scottish advocate and judge, and the uncle of Katherine Ogilvie. The title of Lord Dunsinane was taken from Dunsinane Hill, a fort near Collace, Perthshire. Dunsinane Hill is referenced in Shakespeares play, Macbeth, the alternative Gaelic spelling of the term Dunsinane is Dunsinnan, meaning The hill of ants, likely a reference to the large number of people it took to build the fortress. William Nairne was born in Perthshire, Scotland in about 1731 and he was the son of Sir William Nairne, 2nd Baronet and his wife, Emilia Graham of Fintry, Forfarshire. The Nairne baronetcy was conferred on Nairnes grandfather by Queen Anne on 31 March 1704, as the younger son of the 2nd Baronet, and under the presumption that ascending to the baronetcy was unlikely, Nairne pursued a career in law. He was admitted as an advocate on 11 March 1755, and in 1758 was appointed joint Commissary Clerk of Edinburgh with Alexander Nairne and he was made Sheriff of Perthshire in 1783. After thirty years as an advocate, Nairne was elevated to a Lord of Session and he also was appointed a Commissioner of Justiciary, a position he held from 1792 to 1808. Nairnes ‘Disputatio Juridica ad tit.4 Lib. xx, qui potiores in pignore vel hypotheca habeantur’ was published in 1755. He also assisted in the collection of the ‘Decisions of the Court of Session from the end of the year 1756 to the end of the year 1760’, a portrait of Lord Dunsinane, painted by Scottish painter Sir Henry Raeburn, hangs in Parliament Hall, Edinburgh. Nairne was the uncle of Katherine Kitty Ogilvie, née Nairne, Katherine became a sensation throughout Scotland in 1765 when she and Lieut. Patrick Ogilvie, her brother-in-law and alleged lover, were convicted of incest and of the poisoning of Katherines much older husband, Thomas Ogilvie of Eastmiln, the case was salacious even by todays standards. The main accusers being another Ogilvie brother, Alexander, and his recent bride, both Katherine and Patrick were found guilty of their crimes. Patrick Ogilvie was hung in the Grassmarket of Edinburgh, Katherine, owing to pregnancy, was given a stay of execution sufficient to allow her to deliver her child. Katherine purportedly left Edinburgh towards Dover in a driven by her uncles clerk. Once at Dover she obtained ship passage to France, a civil reward was offered for Katherine Nairnes capture, but to no avail. Accounts vary as to the outcome for Katherine, including the fate of her child. One scenario has Katherine entering a convent, a second marrying a Dutch man and having a large family, also unknown is whether Lord Dunsinane definitively aided in Katherines escape. If he did, it would appear his involvement had no effect on his law career, Nairne succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his nephew William Nairne, the fourth baronet, in January 1790
29.
William Robertson (historian)
–
Rev William Robertson FRSE FSA Scot DD was a Scottish historian, minister in the Church of Scotland, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh. The thirty years during which presided over the University perhaps represent the highest point in its history and he made significant contributions to the writing of Scottish history and the history of Spain and Spanish America. He was Chaplain of Stirling Castle and one of the Kings Chaplains in Scotland, Robertson was born at the manse of Borthwick, Midlothian, and educated at Borthwick Parish School and Dalkeith Grammar School. He was the son of Rev William Robertson and his wife Eleanor Pitcairn, the family moved to Edinburgh when his father became appointed minister of Old Greyfriars Kirk. He studied Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, and was licensed to preach in 1741 and he was granted a Doctor of Divinity in 1759. He became minister at Gladsmuir in 1743 and in 1759 at Lady Yesters Kirk, a staunch Presbyterian and Whig, he volunteered to defend the city against the Jacobites led by Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1745. In 1754 he was an member of the Edinburgh Select Society. He was also a member of The Poker Club, one of his most notable works is his History of Scotland 1542–1603, begun in 1753 and first published in 1759. It was the development of commerce, assisted by law and private property and he was a significant figure in the Scottish Enlightenment and also of the moderates in the Church of Scotland. In 1783 he was a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He died at Grange House in south Edinburgh on 11 June 1793, Robertson is buried at Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh. The grave is within a large stone mausoleum. Second only to William Adams mausoleum immediately to the south, both stand to the south-west of the church, near the entrance to the Covenanters Prison. He gives his name to the William Robertson Building of the Old Medical School buildings at the University of Edinburgh on Teviot Place, home to the School of History, Classics, Robertson married Mary Nisbet in 1751. One of his daughters married the author Patrick Brydone FRSE and another, Eleanor, married John Russell co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
30.
Sarah Siddons
–
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh-born actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character, Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own, the Sarah Siddons Society continues to present the Sarah Siddons Award in Chicago every year to a prominent actress. Acting was only just becoming a profession for a woman. In 1774, Siddons won her first success as Belvidera in Thomas Otways Venice Preservd and she was, in her own words, banished from Drury Lane as a worthless candidate for fame and fortune In 1777, she went on the circuit in the provinces. For the next six years she worked in companies, in particular York. Her first appearance at Baths Old Orchard Street Theatre was in autumn 1778 at a salary of £3 per week and she lived with her husband and children at number 33 The Paragon until her final performance in May 1782. Having gradually built up a reputation, her next Drury Lane appearance, on 10 October 1782 and she was an immediate sensation playing the title role in Garricks adaptation of a play by Thomas Southerne, Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage. Her most famous role was that of Lady Macbeth, it was the grandeur of her emotions as she expressed Lady Macbeths murderous passions that held her audiences spellbound, in Lady Macbeth she found the highest and best scope for her acting abilities. She was tall and had a figure, brilliant beauty, powerfully expressive eyes. She once told Samuel Johnson that Catherine was her favourite role and it was the beginning of twenty years in which she was the undisputed queen of Drury Lane. Her celebrity status has been called mythical and monumental, and by the mid-1780s Siddons was established as an icon, along with Hannah Murphy. She mixed with the literary and social elites of London society, and her acquaintances included Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Hester Thrale Piozzi and she nevertheless continued to act in the provinces, appearing at The Theatre, Leeds in 1786 and on several other occasions. In a 1785 visit to her earliest friend the Hon and her approbation and unremitting kindness, when we were both very young indeed, kindled the latest sparks of genius to a flame, which she now gazes on with wonder and delight. Let this not appear like vanity, recollect what I am, and you will find it proceeds from a better source. In 1802 she left Drury Lane and subsequently appeared from time to time on the stage of the establishment, Covent Garden. It was there, on 29 June 1812, that she gave perhaps the most extraordinary farewell performance in theatre history and she was playing her most famous role, Lady Macbeth, and the audience refused to allow the play to continue after the end of the sleepwalking scene. Mrs. Siddons formally retired from the stage in 1812, and her last appearance was on 9 June 1819 as Lady Randolph in John Homes Douglas
31.
Peter Williamson
–
Peter Williamson, aka Indian Peter, was a Scottish memoirist who was part-showman, part-entrepreneur and inventor. He adopted the pseudonym Indian Peter due to his time spent with native Americans and his self-exploitation of this in an autobiography, Williamson was born the son of James Williamson in a croft in Hirnlay near Aboyne. He described his parents as reputable though not rich and at an early age was sent to live with an aunt in Aberdeen. Though little acknowledged in history, there was in those days a thriving trade in stolen children. In January 1743, Williamson fell victim to the trade when he was kidnapped while playing on the quay at Aberdeen and his autobiography gives his age as eight at the time. Some of the Aberdeen bailies were suspected of colluding with the traffickers, Williamson was taken to Philadelphia and sold for £16 as an indentured servant for a period of seven years to a fellow Scot, Hugh Wilson. Wilson had himself been kidnapped as a boy and sold into slavery and he may have therefore sympathised with Peters situation. Williamson said Wilson treated him kindly, and when the latter died in 1750, just before the end of the indenture, he bequeathed the boy £120 plus his best horse and saddle and this helped bring about a change in Peters fortunes. On the night of 2 October 1754 his farm was attacked by Cherokee Indians, the house was plundered and burned to the ground. Williamson related that he was forced to march many miles acting as a pack-mule for the Cherokees, after several months he escaped and made his way back to his father-in-laws home, where he learnt that his wife had died in his absence. He was called before the State Assembly in Philadelphia to pass on any information he had acquired during his captivity, whilst there, he enlisted in an army regiment raised to combat in the French and Indian War. In the following two years he rose to the rank of lieutenant, in a now repeating pattern he was captured by French troops and marched to Quebec. He was then granted status as a prisoner and sent on a ship to Plymouth in England where he arrived in November 1756. Having a damaged left hand from being wounded, he was discharged from the army as unfit and he set off to walk the length of Britain back to Aberdeen. Arriving penniless in York his stories aroused the interest of some honourable, a thousand copies of the book were sold, earning Williamson a profit of £30, which allowed him to continue his journey to Scotland in comparative ease. In June 1758 he finally returned to Aberdeen, some 15 years after his kidnapping, while he was selling copies of his book in Aberdeen, the authorities charged Williamson with libel in relation to his accusations of their involvement in his original kidnapping. Since the same magistrates he was accusing were also judging him, surplus copies of his book were seized and burned publicly at the mercat cross by the common hangman. Williamson was made to sign a statement stating that his claims were false, fined five shillings, Williamson then headed for Edinburgh where he settled for the remainder of his life
32.
Alexander Wood (surgeon)
–
Alexander Wood was an Edinburgh surgeon, active in the convivial clubs which flourished in Enlightenment Edinburgh and was the founder of two of these. Because of his lean, lanky physique he was known to his contemporaries. His treatment of and friendship with the poet Robert Burns contributed to the celebrity status which he attained. The son of Thomas Wood, a farmer on the outskirts of Edinburgh and he became a Freeman of the Incorporation of Surgeons in 1756 and was appointed to the staff of the new Royal Infirmary. Elected Deacon of the Incorporation of Surgeons in 1762 he held office for two years and he was in surgical practice with the surgeons John Rattray and Charles Congleton. Yet he made no contributions to the advancement of surgical knowledge. Two of his pupils held him in high regard, John Bell the surgeon dedicated his book Anatomy of the Human Body to Wood while Sir Alexander Morison the pioneer of psychiatric medicine composed a poem in his honour. Wood married Veronica Chalmers and one of their sons, Sir Alexander Wood, surgery was a popular choice of family career, Lang Sandy’s brother Thomas Wood and son George Wood were also Edinburgh surgeons. His grand-nephew Dr. Alexander Wood introduced hypodermic medication into medical practice, Lang Sandy became a well known and popular figure in Edinburgh with a reputation for a warm and generous nature. Noted too for personal idiosyncrasy, he was often accompanied around Edinburgh by two pets, a sheep and a raven which perched on his shoulder. He was said to be the first person in Edinburgh to own, lord Byron included a couplet about him in the 5th canto of his poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage in which he describes contemporary Edinburgh and some of its characters. It was published in Blackwoods Magazine in May 1818, Oh. for an hour of him who knew no feud, The octogenarian chief and he is a good soul and a safe surgeon. Do as he bids and I trust your leg will soon be quite well”, Wood and Burns became friends with Burns referring to “My very worthy respected friend, Mr Alexander Wood” and to “one of the noblest men in God’s world - Alexander Wood, Surgeon”. Wood died aged 82 on May 12,1807, Alexander Wood. Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 62 http, //en. wikisource. org/wiki/Wood, _Alexander_%281725-1807%29_%28DNB00%29 Kay, John, Paton, Hugh. Kay’s Portraits, A series of portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay, with biographical sketches
33.
International Standard Book Number
–
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
34.
Integrated Authority File
–
The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
35.
National Library of Australia
–
In 2012–2013, the National Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, and an additional 15,506 metres of manuscript material. In 1901, a Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was established to serve the newly formed Federal Parliament of Australia, from its inception the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was driven to development of a truly national collection. The present library building was opened in 1968, the building was designed by the architectural firm of Bunning and Madden. The foyer is decorated in marble, with windows by Leonard French. In 2012–2013 the Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, the Librarys collections of Australiana have developed into the nations single most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage. Australian writers, editors and illustrators are actively sought and well represented—whether published in Australia or overseas, approximately 92. 1% of the Librarys collection has been catalogued and is discoverable through the online catalogue. The Library has digitized over 174,000 items from its collection and, the Library is a world leader in digital preservation techniques, and maintains an Internet-accessible archive of selected Australian websites called the Pandora Archive. A core Australiana collection is that of John A. Ferguson, the Library has particular collection strengths in the performing arts, including dance. The Librarys considerable collections of general overseas and rare materials, as well as world-class Asian. The print collections are further supported by extensive microform holdings, the Library also maintains the National Reserve Braille Collection. The Library has acquired a number of important Western and Asian language scholarly collections from researchers, williams Collection The Asian Collections are searchable via the National Librarys catalogue. The National Library holds a collection of pictures and manuscripts. The manuscript collection contains about 26 million separate items, covering in excess of 10,492 meters of shelf space, the collection relates predominantly to Australia, but there are also important holdings relating to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific. The collection also holds a number of European and Asian manuscript collections or single items have received as part of formed book collections. Examples are the papers of Alfred Deakin, Sir John Latham, Sir Keith Murdoch, Sir Hans Heysen, Sir John Monash, Vance Palmer and Nettie Palmer, A. D. Hope, Manning Clark, David Williamson, W. M. The Library has also acquired the records of many national non-governmental organisations and they include the records of the Federal Secretariats of the Liberal party, the A. L. P, the Democrats, the R. S. L. Finally, the Library holds about 37,000 reels of microfilm of manuscripts and archival records, mostly acquired overseas and predominantly of Australian, the National Librarys Pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events. Art works and photographs are acquired primarily for their informational value, media represented in the collection include photographs, drawings, watercolours, oils, lithographs, engravings, etchings and sculpture/busts
36.
Netherlands Institute for Art History
–
The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in documentation, archives, and books on Western art from the late Middle Ages until modern times, all of this is open to the public, and much of it has been digitized and is available on their website. The main goal of the bureau is to collect, categorize, via the available databases, the visitor can gain insight into archival evidence on the lives of many artists of past centuries. The library owns approximately 450,000 titles, of which ca.150,000 are auction catalogs, there are ca.3,000 magazines, of which 600 are currently running subscriptions. Though most of the text is in Dutch, the record format includes a link to library entries and images of known works. The RKD also manages the Dutch version of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, the original version is an initiative of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California. Their bequest formed the basis for both the art collection and the library, which is now housed in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Though not all of the holdings have been digitised, much of its metadata is accessible online. The website itself is available in both a Dutch and an English user interface, in the artist database RKDartists, each artist is assigned a record number. To reference an artist page directly, use the code listed at the bottom of the record, usually of the form, https, for example, the artist record number for Salvador Dalí is 19752, so his RKD artist page can be referenced. In the images database RKDimages, each artwork is assigned a record number, to reference an artwork page directly, use the code listed at the bottom of the record, usually of the form, https, //rkd. nl/en/explore/images/ followed by the artworks record number. For example, the record number for The Night Watch is 3063. The Art and Architecture Thesaurus also assigns a record for each term, rather, they are used in the databases and the databases can be searched for terms. For example, the painting called The Night Watch is a militia painting, the thesaurus is a set of general terms, but the RKD also contains a database for an alternate form of describing artworks, that today is mostly filled with biblical references. To see all images that depict Miriams dance, the associated iconclass code 71E1232 can be used as a search term. Official website Direct link to the databases The Dutch version of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus
37.
Virtual International Authority File
–
The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
.jpg)
