Problems of Education in Turkestan in the Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries

Beijerinck and the bioluminescent bacteria: microbiological experiments in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Microbiological research in the days before specialized equipment, or even electricity, required a great deal of ingenuity. The revival of 90-year-old bioluminescent bacteria from Beijerinck's laboratory in Delft prompted a review of his work with these microorganisms and revealed their use in simple techniques for the investigation of, among other things, sugar metabolism in yeasts, oxygen gen...

Inheritance Laws in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Perceptions and problems of disease in the one-humped camel in southern Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) was first introduced to German South West Africa (Namibia) for military purposes in 1889. Introductions to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) in 1897 and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1903 were initially with a view to replacing oxen that died of rinderpest. Disease risks attendant on these introductions were recognised and to some extent guarded against. T...

Research on iodine deficiency and goiter in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In 1811, Courtois noted a violet vapor arising from burning seaweed ash and Gay-Lussac subsequently identified the vapor as iodine, a new element. The Swiss physician Coindet, in 1813, hypothesized the traditional treatment of goiter with seaweed was effective because of its iodine content and successfully treated goitrous patients with iodine. Two decades later, the French chemist Boussingault...

„eine Kempelensche Sprechmaschine". New Insights in Speaking Machines in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries

It was in 1791 that Wolfgang von Kempelen published the Mechanismus der menschlichen Sprache nebst der Beschreibung seiner sprechenden Maschine in Vienna, the last part of which is dedicated to the description of the speaking machine he had worked on for many years. In some parts of his book Kempelen refers to ideas he hadn’t been able to put into practice at that time and asks the readers to f...