Evolutionism Essay Example for Free

Evolutionism Essay Essay Critically discuss the Nineteenth Century theory of Evolutionism in relation to the social development of cultures. special development of cultures. Anthropology originated in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Missionaries, traders and travellers in Africa, North America, the pacific and elsewhere provided the first great anthropological works. Anthropology is the holistic study of the biological, social and cultural aspects of mankind, paying particular attention to the relationships between our physical and cultural natures and between culture and the nvironment. Anthropology is basically the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors. Early thinkers such as Hume, Smith and Montesquieu wrote about primitive institutions which they argued about amongst themselves. Their conclusions were not based on any scientific that could be tested but from principles found in their own culture. They laid the foundations for modern social anthropology believing that universal laws found in nature could be applied to human society. The thinkers were concerned with social evolution and progress. The term evolution was opularized during the 19th century by Herbert Spencer to mean cultural evolution. Evolutionists were those who believed that the cultures and life forms being studied are evolving toa particular form. Evolutionism is the idea that this universe is the result of random cosmic accidents, life arose spontaneously through chemical processes and all life forms are related and share a common ancestor. Evolution is a process of formation, growth and development from generation to generation. Socio- cultural evolutionism describes how cultures and societies have changed over time. In the nineteenth century Edward B. Tylor maintained that culture evolved from simple to complex and all societies passed through three basic stages of development which was originally suggested by Montesquieu. The three stages are called the lines of human progress which states that man evolved from savagery to barbarism and finally to civilization. Man became civilized after discovering pottery. To account for cultural variation different societies were at different stages of evolution. Simpler people of the day had not yet reached higher stages. Some ocieties were more evolve than others. Evolutionists believed Western Europe had evolved from a backward society to a more advanced society. Simpler contemporary societies were thought to resemble ancient societies. More advanced societies exhibited traces of earlier customs that survived in present day cultures, this was known as survival. Pottery is an example of survival, earlier people made their cooking pots out of clay, today pots are most often made with metal because they are most durable but dishes are preferred to be made out of clay. Tylor correlates the hree levels of social evolution to types of religion: savages practicing animatism, barbarians practicing polytheism, and civilized man practicing monotheism. Tylor includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society, Tylor believed that because of the basic similarities common to all peoples, different societies often find the same solutions to the same problems independently. Tylor also noted that different cultural traits may spread from one society to another by a simple means of diffusion hich means the borrowing by one culture of a trait belonging to another as the result of contact between the two societies. Lewis H. Morgan was one of the most influential evolutionary theorists of the nineteenth century. In his book Ancient Society, he divided the lines of human progress into the three stages and further divided savagery and barbarism into upper, middle and lower segments. Each stage was distinguished by technological development and connected in patterns of subsistence, marriage, family, and political organization. Middle savagery was arked by the acquisition of a fish diet and the discovery of fire, upper savagery by the bow and arrow, lower barbarism by pottery, middle barbarism by animal domestication and irrigated agriculture, upper barbarism by the manufacture of iron, and civilization by the alphabet. Morgan believed family units became smaller and self contained as society became more developed. Johann J. Bachofen developed a theory of evolution of kinship systems which was agreed upon by Morgan. Morgan believed in the theory of primitive promiscuity, which means that human society had o sexual prohibitions and no real family structure. Primitive promiscuity can be divided into matriliny where descent was traced through the female only, patrilinV where descent was traces through the male only and polyandry were several husbands shred one wife. Morgan believed that family units became progressively smaller and more self-contained as human society developed. However, his postulated sequence for the evolution of the family is not supported by the enormous amount of ethnographic data that has been collected since his time. For xample, no recent society that Morgan would call savage indulges in group marriage or allows brother-sister mating. Modern social anthropologists regard these reconstructions as over amplifications of events that can never be known in detail. The efforts of early writers were only historical enquiries. At this stage it became clear that there was no evidence which could detail the earliest stages of society and few societies developed in total isolation of other human cultures or outside influence. The evolutionists became unpopular by the nd of the nineteenth century. The school of Diffusionists became popular, they brelieved tahat cultural change and progress were mainly due to borrowing because items of culture were mainly transmitted from one society to another. Despite the errors of the nineteenth century scholars, modern social anthropology owes much to their efforts because of their interest in the social institutions of different societies and the methods used to draw conclusions. The current anthropological view concentrates mainly on the institutionalized aspects (kinship, marriage and religion) of culture taking into ccount systems of belief, values and ideas. Modern anthropology relys mainly on fieldwork which is the gathering of data which organizes, describes, analyzea and interprets to build and present that account which may be in the form of a book, article or film. The latest investigations regarding early humans is that mankind civilization through the slow gain of knowledge. Reference: * Introduction to anthropology 101 (course book 2010) * Culture vs civilization http://www. edward]ayne. com/culture/fallacy. html http://www. as. ua. edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/evol. htm * Wikipedia

Medical Attributes of Cannabis sativa - Marijuana Essay -- Exploratory

Medical Attributes of Cannabis sativa - Marijuana Cannabis sativa is an erect herb commonly known as hemp or marijuana, or by vernacular names such as grass, weed, refer, and pot. C. sativa is a member of the Cannabinaceae or hemp family. Marijuana can be cultivated illegally in eastern and central North America. Marijuana was legal in the United States for industrial, recreational and medicinal uses until 1937 (Anon., 1996a). C. sativa contains about sixty various psychoactive chemicals called cannabinoids. The most active component in C. sativa is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC which is found in greatest concentrations in the flowering tops and leaves of the hemp plants. The word marijuana refers to the whole plant and the resin from hemp or also called hashish (Anon., 1996b). Presently, C. sativa has four medicinal values. First, it is used to relieve nausea and increase appetite. Second, it brings about the reduction of intraocular pressure in glaucoma. Third, it causes a reduction of muscle spasms. Fourth, it provides relief from mild to moderate chronic pain (Anon., 1996a). In 1975, a study was conducted testing the effects of marijuana on the cardiovascular system. People between the ages of 30-40 years, whom had never smoked marijuana were used for this experiment. Results showed that there is no direct cardiac effect of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) unless the THC dose is 50 fold. There were no changes in stimulation of ephedrine production (which stimulates the sympathetic nervous system), levels of blood glucose, lactate or pyruvates and fatty acid fractions. Changes to these effects were observed when the THC dose was 50 fold (Beacansfield, 1975). In a study in 1982, researchers analyzed the biological effe... ...s antiemetic medicine: A survey of oncologists' experiences and attitudes. F. Cline Oncology 9:1314-1319. Sallan, S.E., N.E. Ainberg, and E. Frex. 1975. Antiemetic effects of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. The New England Journal of Medicine 293:795-797. Singh, N., S. Vrat, B. Ali, and K.P. Bhargava. 1981. An assessment of biological effects of chronic use of cannabis in human subjects. Quarterly Journal of Crude Drug Research 19: 81-91. Tashkin, D.P., B.J. Shapiro, Y.E. Lee, and C.E. Harper. 1975. Effects of smoked marijuana in experimentally induced asthma. American Review of Respiratory Disease 112. Volfe Z., A. Dvilansky. and I. Nathan. 1985. Cannabinoids block release of serotonin from platelets induced by plasma from migraine patients. International Journal of Clinical and Pharmacological Research 5:243-246.

Agriculture Education Essay

An interim development plan was prepared for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. It was agreed that the three existing courses in plant-breeding and genetics provided an adequate scientific background in this field and that priority should now go to fruit and vegetable production. To this end, two new courses should be added so that the overall course would include: vegetable growing, vegetable production (two courses) and seed production. – 5- 19. In vegetable growing, in addition to the existing areas of definition, classification, soil and climatic requirements, the Faculty should add rotation, green manuring and kitchen garden cultivation. The two courses in vegetable production would give time for major crops to be dealt with in greater detail and for more practical training. The area in Sind under vegetable cultivation is increasing steadily as farmers realise its value for cash crops, but the yield is still very low. This is due mainly to lack of knowledge and experience (which the agricultural extension services could provide) and a lack of good seed. 2 0. A course in vegetables, fruit and ornamental plant seed production should be offered. Students would learn how to collect, harvest, clean, dry, pack and store seeds and they would study seed dormancy, germination and treatment, together with methods of breeding self and cross-pollinated crops. Postgraduate Curricula 21. The present postgraduate curricula cover horticultural plant nutrition, plant propagation and fruit production (two p arts). This last should be replaced by two new courses : (a) the soil and water relations of horticultural plants; (b) temperature and water relations of horticultural plants. Optional courses should be introduced for M. Sc. students to supply them with additional information needed in their fields of study. Options could include courses on major horticultural crops and general courses on the improvement of horticultural plants, on growth† regulators and on protected cultivation. As most research experiments on vegetables must be conducted at the Agricultural Research Institute at Mirpurkhas, 30 miles away, it was decided that priority should be given to raising vegetable crops at Malir, the university Farm,to provide the Horticultural Department with the facilities needed for research. Vegetable Crops (1) Objectives and Methods 22. The main objectives of the Horticultural Department in growing vegetable crops were to provide practical training for staff, students and labourers; to become familiar with problems of vegetable production in Sind; to evaluate crops and varieties, and seed production. It was planned to start by using two acres in the horticultural garden for growing most of the vegetable crops for practical training, and four acres at Malir Farm for a four-year crop rotation. Winter vegetables, carrots, radishes, turnips, cauliflowers, spinach and beet, were grown in the garden. The local varieties were identified, evaluated, weighed and measured. Promising varieties of radish, carrot and onion could be improved by breeding. All peas and spinach were of poor quality, most of the peas being dwarf types, with an average plant height of only ten – twelve inches. – 6- The spinach varieties were prickly-seeded and, during the shortest winter days, started flowering early. The seed stalks had an extreme male-type of inflorescence. Seed of selected suitable varieties of peas and spinach should be imported. (2) Growing Methods (a) Trailed Tomatoes; 2 4. Trailing tomatoes were tried in the open; local and imported varieties were planted and supported by iron stakes, galvanised wire and plastic string. Students and labourers were trained to tie the vines to strings, to pinch and remove auxiliary shoots and to apply fertilisers. The trial was successful, the plants standing well throughout the season and bearing -heavily. Later, owing to virus diseases on some vines, all plants were removed and burnt. A second trial was begun in the summer, the tomato vines being shaded by luffa plants – ridge gourd (luffa acutangula) and sponge gourd (luffa aegyptica) – the small luffa fruit being edible. (b) Soil-level mulches: 2 5. Cucurbits – bitter gourd (mermodica charanta), tinda or Indian squash (citrullos vulgaris, var fistulosa), tori (luffa s p. ), cucumber and cantalope were grown- early. Seeds were planted on December 21st in hillocks on raised beds covered with clear polyethylene film to form soil-level mulches. Two weeks later, seed emergence was observed, with a minimum temperature o f 6 C. Minimum and maximum temperatures and germination percentages were recorded. (c) Plastic tunnels: 2 6. Plastic walk-in and mini-tunnels were† made of local materials. The mini-tunnels were used for raising nursery plants and for getting tomato, pepper and egg-plant seedlings†¢ They gave high germination percentages and well-established seedlings. The walk-in tunnels were used for trailed tomatoes and for cucumbers, temperature and humidity data being recorded.

The Time Of Captivity During The 19th Century - 1931 Words

In early America slaves hired by rich white folk did any and all labor. Whether it was plantation work or boat work these slaves were not only working as hard as they could but they were also singing. Whether it was singing to keep the group together, singing to stay positive, or singing for communication there was never a silent moment during work hours. Work songs have traveled through cultures and time for so long that they still exist today in a way that you may not even realize. Work songs first developed in the 18th century in Africa during the Time of Captivity. The Time of Captivity was when white boat owners and slave traders would sail over to Africa and capture natives who would later be sold into the slave trade. They would†¦show more content†¦Albert S. Cook Library research database defines work song as â€Å"any song that belongs to either of two broad categories: Songs used as a rhythmic accompaniment to a task and songs that make a statement about work.† (Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica 2014) The regular steady rhythm of the work song helped the majority of the workers stay together and relieve their boredom while also making the task at hand a little more fun. Work songs sung in the field were commonly about religious praises, return to home, and a hopeful future based around freedom from slavery. Other times work songs were about mocking their fields’ overseers or expressing frustrations about the physical pains of working. A common work song form was call and response. An unofficial leader would sing a line or two, followed by a response from the rest of the workers. They would respond with either the same line sang by the leader, or a different line repeated after every line the leader sang, almost like a refrain. Work songs were rarely written down but one work song that demonstrates one of these common themes and forms is â€Å"My Southern Home† which was found in William Wells Brown s memoir. My Southern Home â€Å"All them pretty gals will be there, Shuck that corn before you eat; They will fix it for us rare, Shuck that corn before you eat. I know that supper will be big, Shuck that corn before you eat; I think I smell a fine roast pig, Shuck that corn before you eat† During the time of slavery, theShow MoreRelatedThe Yellow Wallpaper By Charlotte Perkins Gilman1041 Words   |  5 Pagessymbolizes the protagonist s mind named Jane during the 19th century. The yellow wallpaper symbolizes the way women were perceived. The yellow wallpaper includes models, angles and curves so that they contradict each other. we could say that these angles represents the identity of women during the 19th century. 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