ONE OF THE MOST SPOKEN DIALECTS in China, Southeast Asia, and globally, Cantonese was nevertheless deemed a local dialect enjoying little prestige among the intellectuals. Not much was recorded in official documents or gazetteers about the early history of Hong Kong. The Cantonese language and its origin remained much of a mystery until the mid-20th century when scholars started to accord it with increasing attention. Thanks to dedicated efforts of early missionaries, pedagogues, and linguists, we can now trace back the evolution of modern Cantonese since the 19th century— how differences in sounds, words, and grammar distinguish the old from contemporary speech today. In this book, Hung-nin Samuel Cheung, an acclaimed scholar on the study of Cantonese, offers profound insights to various firsthand century-old materials including language manuals, Bible translations, and maps of Hong Kong, with findings that will be useful for ongoing efforts to study the development of
Labeling products with emphasis on origin has been a long tradition in the realm of trade to convey the quality of the product. With entry into the WTO, India which has a long tradition of origin lab
The Origin and Principles of the American Revolution is perhaps one of the most important books written on the American Revolution by a European author. It is an original study of the subject by a con
Building on the work of Darwin and Mendel, the biologist William Bateson (1861–1926) was the first scientist to combine the study of variation, heredity and evolution, and to use the term 'genetics'. This book was first published in 1894 after many years of experimental and theoretical work - particularly in the embryology of the acorn worm genus Balanoglossus - which had been guided by the principle that embryonic developmental stages replay the evolutionary transitions of adult forms of an organism's ancestors. Bateson was the first to challenge this theory, which made him unpopular among the scientific establishment of the time, but he was proved right. Organising his material by anatomical sections, Bateson explores speciation, phylogeny and discontinuous and continuous variation among a wide range of species, including vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. This pioneering work offers great insight into how the study of genetics and inheritance itself evolved.
Neo-Darwinism currently occupies a dominant position in evolutionary thought. While this theory has considerable explanatory power, it is widely recognized as being incomplete in that it lacks a component dealing with individual development, or ontogeny. This is particularly conspicuous in relation to attempts to explain the evolutionary origin of the 35 or so animal body plans, and of the developmental trajectories that generate them. This book examines both the origin of body plans in particular and the evolution of animal development in general. In doing so, it ranges widely, covering topics as diverse as comparative developmental genetics, selection theory and Vendian/Cambrian fossils. Particular emphasis is placed on gene duplication, changes in spatio-temporal gene-expression patterns, internal selection, coevolution of interacting genes, and coadaptation. The book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in evolutionary biology, genetics, paleontology and deve
Neo-Darwinism currently occupies a dominant position in evolutionary thought. While this theory has considerable explanatory power, it is widely recognized as being incomplete in that it lacks a component dealing with individual development, or ontogeny. This is particularly conspicuous in relation to attempts to explain the evolutionary origin of the 35 or so animal body plans, and of the developmental trajectories that generate them. This book examines both the origin of body plans in particular and the evolution of animal development in general. In doing so, it ranges widely, covering topics as diverse as comparative developmental genetics, selection theory and Vendian/Cambrian fossils. Particular emphasis is placed on gene duplication, changes in spatio-temporal gene-expression patterns, internal selection, coevolution of interacting genes, and coadaptation. The book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in evolutionary biology, genetics, paleontology and deve
Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this work explores the historical and cultural dimensions of an indigenous Timorese domain in the southern central highlands of West Timor.
This commentary is the sequel to G.A.A. Kortekaas' The Story of Apollonius, King of Tyre: A Study of Its Greek Origin and an Edition of the Two Oldest Latin Recensions. Whereas the critical edition (2
First published in 1923, this book presents a discussion of 'the part played by the Sacred Dance among the peoples of antiquity'. Chapters include 'The origin and purposes of the sacred dance', 'Dances in celebration of victory' and 'The sacred dance as a marriage rite'. The text was written by the well-known theologian and biblical scholar W. O. E. Oesterley (1866–1950). This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in perspectives on anthropology and religion.
During the past decade a diverse group of disciplines have simultaneously intensified their attention upon the scientific study of emotion. This proliferation of research on affective phenomena has be
A comparative study of the origins of the welfare state in England and Germany from 1850 to 1914. Peter Hennock analyses policies on social security and the public provision of medical care, dealing w
John Mathew was a Presbyterian minister who developed an interest in Aboriginal ethnography after migrating from Scotland to work on his uncle's farm in Queensland in 1864. From 1879 he published influential studies of Aboriginal culture. Although Mathew's speculative argument for the tri-hybrid origins of the Australian Aborigines has long been disproved, his discussion of Aboriginal language and social behaviour was pioneering in the field of anthropology and is still well-regarded today. Two Representative Tribes of Queensland (1910) is the result of the extensive time Mathew spent visiting the Kabi and Wakka people living in the Barambah Government Aboriginal Station. This direct experience is emphasised in the preface to the book: 'For Mr Mathew Australian origins ... have been a life study, and the knowledge bearing upon these questions, which most others have gleaned from the library shelves, he has acquired at first-hand in the native camping grounds.'
The literary scholar Samuel Weller Singer (1783–1858) was largely self-taught, but his enthusiasm for reading caused him to open a bookshop, and he developed a wide circle of bibliomaniac friends, including Francis Douce (who later left him enough money to retire from writing for a living). He was an editor of many early modern poets, and his editions of John Selden's Table-Talk and Joseph Spence's Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men are also reissued in this series. This highly illustrated 1816 work, originally published in a run of only 250 copies, was praised for its quality by Thomas Frognall Dibdin. In it, Singer argues that the increasing sophistication sought by the buyers of playing cards led to increasing improvements in the art of wood engraving, and that the study of these humble and rarely surviving artefacts can give insights into the achievements of the greatest Renaissance carvers.
The discussion initiated by The Gospels for All Christians: Rethinking the Gospel Audiences, edited by Richard Bauckham, has had a profound effect on gospel study and has been probed and debated at ma
This study explores a prominent Italian Renaissance theme, the origin of genius, revealing how the coalescence of a Platonic theory of divine frenzy and an Aristotelian theory of melancholy genius eve
This 1893 study of the music, instruments and dance of the world's indigenous peoples reflects the Victorian view that human development moved from primitive to complex along a linear evolutionary path. Despite this standpoint, it was an important contribution to comparative musicology in the late nineteenth century, demonstrating the principle that studying the music of non-European cultures and societies could help Europeans understand their own musical tradition. On the basis of his comparative analysis, Wallaschek developed a theory that music originated from rhythm and dance rather than the melody of speech. His proposed model moved forward that of Wagner, and recognised that music is embedded as a fundamental element of social interaction. The book describes music and instruments around the world, the role of singing and dance, and tonality and harmony, before discussing the origin of music and the role of heredity and external circumstances on musicality.
Studholme set out to trace the origin and history of the important Tibetan Buddhist formula, but found so much about in the sutra, the earliest text that mentions it, that he focused his study on anal
A groundbreaking treatise based on fifteen years of research, Torsten Lenk's classic study of the flintlock has been acclaimed for decades as the essential book on the subject. His passion for this h
