Theories of emergence have had a longstanding influence on psychological thought. Emergentism rejects both reductionism and holism; emergentists are scientific materialists, and yet argue that reductionist explanation may not always be scientifically feasible. I begin by summarizing the history of emergence in psychology and sociology, from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th century. I t...

Although new invasive procedures for the treatment of migraine have evolved during the past decades, the application of invasive procedures for this indication is not new. In this review, the history of non-drug treatments for migraine is discussed. Historical texts by physicians known to have written on headache and migraine (hemicrania), well-known books by physicians from the main historical...

Three world-famous neurologists, Charcot and Mitchell, in the 19th century, and Lees, in this century, all of whom had great scientific curiosity, experimented with the psychoactive drugs hashish, mescal and yagé, respectively, in an attempt to increase their knowledge of neurological diseases and how the brain works.

At the end of the 19th century, in an attempt to define cancer's etiology, scientists considered that cancer was mainly affecting the white race and the temperate zone countries. In their turn, epidemiological studies held in the early 20th century sustained the dogma of cancer's racial distribution, targeting and stigmatizing ethnic groups.

In literary histories written in both Iran and the West it has generally be assumed that early modern Persian literary works are (technically inferior) copies of Western literary works. This has been and is still a claim. Almost no academically and scientifically sound works has substantiated this claim. While there is no point in denying a European influence on early modern Persian literature,...

The progress of astronomy leapt forward when astrophysics was added to its sub-disciplines. The science of astrophysics essentially started in the early 19th century and has advanced at a great pace, especially so in the last century. In fact we might suggest that the 20th century was an epoch of enlightenment, in which our understanding of the Universe was revolutionized. As with many of today...

OBJECTIVES To compare the extent to which late 20th century patterns of mortality in London are predicted by contemporary patterns of poverty and by late 19th century patterns of poverty. To test the hypothesis that the pattern of mortality from causes known to be related to deprivation in early life can be better predicted by the distribution of poverty in the late 19th century than by that in...