School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemThe role of symbols in the development of chemistry to 1916 : with, A dictionary of chemical terms (1600-1800)( 1966)The Oxford English Dictionary offers a number of meanings for the word symbol; "Something that stands for, represents, or denotes something else (not by exact resemblance, but by vague suggestion, or by some accidental or conventional relation).... a material object representing or taken to represent something immaterial or abstract ...... a written character or mark used to represent something: a letter, figure or sign conventionally standing for some object, process." When chemistry is taught today it is presented with its symbols developed and the rules of their combinations defined. However, in reaching this stage the chemist's symbols at various times have had the meanings listed above. Chemists and historians of chemistry have discussed the roles and origins of symbols only to a very limited extent. The aim if this thesis is to provide a chronological review of the use of chemical symbols beginning with the exoteric alchemical symbols and concluding with electron theory bonds. We shall show how this use varied from the time when empirical shorthand characters were employed to the time when formulae or combinations of symbols were used as structural diagrams of molecules written in conformity with rules provided by a theory of composition. This association of formulae and rules for their construction will be examined against the often uncertain and disputed nineteenth century background of atoms, radicals and valence. I shall include in this background two examples of mathematical interests in formulae, which have been almost completely ignored by historians of chemistry. They are Bridle's calculus and Sylvester's quantities.
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ItemA history of the Australian meat export trade, 1865-1939( 1967)This thesis is about the production, treatment and export of meat from Australia between the 1860s, when the trade began, and the Second World War. Primarily it is a study of those involved directly in the trade in Australia - graziers and farmers, meatworks operators and exporters - and of their actions and attitudes. To some extent, however, it has also been necessary to examine the trade in the broader context of Australian rural production as a whole, of domestic demands for meat and stock, and of the leading overseas markets and competitors with Australia in those markets.
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ItemThe history of the Defter of the Samaritan liturgy( 1969)The typescript of what was intended to be the final draft for the present work was already well advanced at the time when Zeev Ben-Hayyim’s erudite contribution to Defter studies, The Recitation of Prayers and Hymns, became available. Even a superficial reading of this volume indicated that my own work ought to be revised at several points, but a more careful study revealed nothing that required abandonment of the line of inquiry which I had pursued. It did provoke, however, certain doubts that brought disquiet and unrest to my mind until I could provide an answer to a vexacious problem. It raised the question whether Ben-Hayyim and every other writer on the Samaritan liturgy subsequent to Cowley's printed edition, myself included, had placed too much reliance on his work. Since the answer appeared to lie in the affirmative, there could be no other alternative for me than to begin again. Where the method and techniques of earlier scholarship could stand before modern criticism the results could be accepted, but elsewhere new techniques had to be developed. Hence the present form of this thesis is concerned primarily with problems of method, and of interpreting manuscript evidence. If Cowley's successors must be criticized for their uncritical use of his work, Cowley himself ought to bear responsibility for the methods that he employed. However few if any of his successors have taken the trouble to determine his primary aim or the validity of his method. Although aspects of his work are rejected in the ensuing pages as no longer holding sufficient a degree of accuracy to be used as a basis for further research, the greater part is still extremely valuable even if it must be used with caution. Allowance ought to be made for the fact that new techniques developed subsequent to his work, yet he may not be absolved from all blame because of the way in which he employed the manuscripts which he classified as Defters. Whilst this deficiency is sought out and displayed in the present work, my own admiration for his achievement in his time has increased rather than diminished. (From Preface)
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ItemForeign policies of the Afro-Asian states: an analysis of their voting behaviour in the General Assembly and of their economic and military relationships with one another and with the great powers( 1969)This thesis is an examination of relationships among the Afro-Asian states and between these states and the great powers. Three kinds of relationship are analysed: identity or voting in the United Nations General Assembly; contacts arising from trade, economic aid and institutions and conferences for economic co-operation; and military commitments, whether they are established through treaties, the cession of bases or the receipt of military aid by the Afro-Asian countries. The purpose of these analyses is fivefold: 1. to assess the extent of co-operation and conflict among the Afro-Asian states; to determine the existence of groups among them, the members of which act frequently together and pursue similar policies, and to identify the issues on which individual nations and the groupings agree and disagree. 2. to determine, for each Afro-Asian country, the superpower with which it most frequently votes; to ascertain its attitude to the China question; and to show with which of the powers, the United States, the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, or the former colonial power, it has close economic and military links. 3. to examine the extent to which members of the groupings identified among the Afro-Asian states have similar great power affiliations, in order to establish the power orientation of each grouping. 4. to assess the degree to which each Afro-Asian state is dependent upon its patron among the great powers and the extent to which the Afro-Asian nations are collectively dependent upon the great powers. 5. to gauge the influence of the great powers among the Afro-Asian states and to assess the extent to which Afro-Asian agreement with or accession to their policies has been of advantage to the great powers. The methods of analysis adopted, both qualitative and quantitative, take account of those occasions on which an individual nation or group of nations acts at variance from its normal behaviour, and they also permit changes in orientations over periods of time to be observed. By taking as the starting-point for analysis the policies and behaviour on particular issues of each Afro-Asian country and then correlating the relationships between them, it has been possible to qualify some preconceived notions about the cohesion, influence and power bloc orientations of the Afro-Asian nations. The analysis is by no means exhaustive. But it is hoped that, by indicating some areas in which all or most of the Afro-Asian states do co operate and the power bloc orientations and local rivalries which divide them, some contribution has been made to the study of their foreign policies.
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ItemThe mysticism of John Saba( 1969)This edition and translation of some of the mystical discourse of the eighth-century Nestorian monk John of Dalyatha is an attempt to fill part of the gap that exists in our knowledge of Syrian Christian mysticism.