The Accuracy of Ancient Cartography Reassessed: The Longitude Error in Ptolemy’s Map

This essay seeks to explain the most glaring error in Ptolemy’s geography: the greatly exaggerated longitudinal extent of the known world as shown on his map. The main focus is on a recent hypothesis that attributes all responsibility for this error to Ptolemy’s adoption of the wrong value for the circumference of the Earth. This explanation has challenging implications for our understanding of ancient geography: it presupposes that before Ptolemy there had been a tradition of high-accuracy geodesy and cartography based on Eratosthenes’ measurement of the Earth. The essay argues that this hypothesis does not stand up to scrutiny. The story proves to be much more complex than can be accounted for by a single-factor explanation. A more careful analysis of the evidence allows us to assess the individual contribution to Ptolemy’s error made by each character in this story: Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, ancient surveyors, and others. As a result, a more balanced and well-founded assessment is offered: Ptolemy’s reputation is rehabilitated in part, and the delusion of high-accuracy ancient cartography is dispelled.

The two earths of Eratosthenes

In the third century B.C.E., Eratosthenes of Cyrene made a famous measurement of the circumference of the Earth. This was not the first such measurement, but it is the earliest for which significant details are preserved. Cleomedes gives a short account of Eratosthenes' method, his numerical assumptions, and the final result of 250,000 stades. However, many ancient sources attribute to Eratosthenes a result of 252,000 stades. Historians have attempted to explain the second result by supposing that Eratosthenes later made better measurements and revised his estimate or that the original result was simply rounded to 252,000 to have a number conveniently divisible by 60 or by 360. These explanations are speculative and untestable. However, Eratosthenes' estimates of the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth are preserved in the doxographical literature. This essay shows that Eratosthenes' result of 252,000 stades for the Earth's circumference follows from a solar distance that is attributed to him. Thus it appears that Eratosthenes computed not only a lower limit for the size of the Earth, based on the assumption that the Sun is at infinity, but also an upper limit, based on the assumption that the Sun is at a finite distance. The essay discusses the consequences for our understanding of his program.

"Measuring by the bushel": reweighing the Indian Ocean pepper trade

Of all the oriental spices, black pepper was the most important until the eighteenth century. The historiography of the pepper trade is characterized by a strong focus on Europe in terms of both its economic significance in the ancient and medieval periods and the struggle for its control in the early modern period. This article, by contrast, seeks to situate the pepper trade firmly in its Asian contexts. It examines the Indian Ocean pepper trade from three perspectives. First, it places the trade in its supply-side context by focusing on the Malabar coast as the primary source of pepper. Second, it examines the relative importance of the different branches of Malabar's pepper trade and highlights the central role played by Muslim mercantile networks. Third, it considers the reconfiguration of these pepper networks in the sixteenth century in the face of aggressive competition from the Portuguese. In their sum, these arguments advocate the need for rethought balances of trade and a reweighted scholarly focus on the pepper trade in its global dimensions.

In the balance: weighing babies and the birth of the infant welfare clinic

The nineteenth century saw the incorporation of technology, such as the stethoscope, microscope, and thermometer, into clinical medicine. An instrument that has received less attention in the history of the role of technology in medicine is the weighing balance, or scale. Although not new to nineteenth-century medicine, it played an important part in the rise of the numerical method and its application to the development and shaping of pediatrics. This article explores the origin and development of the weighing of babies. During its clinical and scientific adoption, this simple procedure was refined and applied in a number of increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching ways: as a measure of the dimensions of the fetus and newborn, as an index of the viability of the newborn, as a means of estimating milk intake, as a way of distinguishing normality from abnormality, as a summary measure of infant health, and as an instrument of mass surveillance. In so doing it changed the way in which medical care was delivered to infants.

Mechanized metrics: from verse science to laboratory prosody, 1880-1918

From roughly the 1880s on, a methodical verse "science" was beginning to assert itself. Gripped by the thought of articulating an objective, fact-based metrics, poetry scientists brought to bear on the traditional verse-line principles of observation and, later, on full-blown experimental practices—not to mention a curious array of instrumentation. By the turn of the century, metrical verse was being subjected to a rigorous measurement regime, which employed techniques and apparatuses derived from the new disciplines of experimental physiology and psychology. Proponents of this newly mechanized metrics pitched themselves enthusiastically into the turn-of-the-century prosody fray, believing they could resolve, once and for all, some of the fundamental dilemmas of versification.

[Study on weight units of chinese medicine in Sui and Tang dynasties]

Although there were changes in measuring system of Sui dynasty, the measuring units of medicine, astronomy and music still remained unchanged. So there appeared two systems of measuring units. For medicine, the government of Tang dynasty followed the regulations of Sui dynasty in measuring system. Besides this, the measuring units of Qian and Fen also were also related to medicine.

Between grocers and physicians: pharmacists, the new chemistry, and institutional reforms in Bologna during the Napoleonic period

This case study deals with pharmacy and the profession of the pharmacist in the Bolognese context of Napoleonic Italy. Pharmacists wished to be considered as peers by physicians. In order to reach this goal, they adopted two strategies: on the one hand, they tried to distinguish themselves from charlatans and grocers, with the refusal of the new decimal metric system in the name of the tradition and of the peculiarity of their discipline. On the other hand, they insisted on the theoretical side of the new anti-phlogistic chemistry, which provided pharmacy with a scientific basis. Through an analysis of the relationships between physicians and pharmacists before and after the reforms of public education and public health brought by Napoleon, as well as an analysis of the pharmacists' attitude towards the new chemistry, this paper shows that the two strategies adopted were too contradictory to allow the pharmacists to reach their goal.

The scale politics of emerging diseases

The concept of scale politics offers historians a useful framework for analyzing the connections between environment and health. This essay examines the public health campaign around emerging diseases during the 1990s, particularly the ways in which different actors employed scale in geographic and political representations; how they configured cause, consequence, and intervention at different scales; and the moments at which they shifted between different scales in the presentation of their arguments. Biomedical scientists, the mass media, and public health and national security experts contributed to this campaign, exploiting Americans' ambivalence about globalization and the role of modernity in the production of new risks, framing them in terms that made particular interventions appear necessary, logical, or practical.

The tortuous road to the adoption of katal for the expression of catalytic activity by the General Conference on Weights and Measures

BACKGROUND

The "unit" for "enzymic activity" (U = 1 micromol/min) was recommended by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUB) in 1961 and is widely used in medical laboratory reports. The general trend in metrology, however, is toward global standardization through defining units coherent with the International System of Units (SI).

APPROACH

Several proposals were advanced from the IFCC, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and IUB regarding the definition for enzymic activity as well as the terms for kind-of-quantity, units, symbol, and dimension. In 1977, international agreement was reached between these bodies and WHO that "catalytic activity" (z), of a catalyst in a given system is defined by the rate of conversion in a measuring system (in mol/s) and expressed in "katal" (symbol, kat; equal to 1 mol/s). The katal is invariant of the measurement procedure, but the numerical quantity value is not. Gaining support for the katal from the final arbiter, the General Conference on Weights and Measures, was slow, but Resolution 12 of 1999 adopted the katal (symbol, kat) as a special name and symbol for the SI-derived unit, mol/s, used in measuring catalytic activity.

CONCLUSIONS

Laboratory results for amounts of catalysts, including enzymes, measured by their catalytic activity can now officially be expressed in katals and are traceable to the SI provided that the specified indicator reaction reflects first-order kinetics. The conversion from "unit" is: 1 U = 16.667 x 10(-9) kat. Further derived quantities have coherent units such as kat/L, kat/kg, and kat/kat = 1.

The introduction of the metric system in Dutch medicine 1820-1880

The Netherlands went metric in 1820 and the medical sciences were supposed to follow suit, except for apothecaries weight, which was very close to the Anglo-Saxon variant and was not abolished before 1870. Doctors and pharmacists had opposed metric weights in pharmacy in 1820 because they were afraid of errors that could lead to loss of life. On the continent old local and Paris units were used in general medical science. It took many decades for the metric system to become predominant in trade and daily life. The same slow acceptance was reflected in the medical sciences. Before it began to make tentative inroads, the metric system was entirely ignored for at least 15 years by the Dutch medical professions. Articles and other texts in medical magazines illustrate this. The slow advance of metric was also hindered by international, especially German influences. The other European nations began to go metric from 1840 onwards and France was the first to do so. Under Napoleon Bonaparte France had reverted to old units for daily life and retail trade in 1812. When Germany, a nation with a profound influence on Dutch medical science, went metric in 1870, the ultimate collapse of the old units began. Their presence in magazines dwindled and branches of medical science such as obstetrics and ophtalmology went metric; the former changed slowly and without planning, the latter went metric after an international agreement in 1866.

[The wine merchant as weight watcher]

Berry Brothers & Rudd Ltd are a company of wine merchants, based in central London, with traditions dating from the 18th century. From the beginning the company traded in colonial goods. This required a pair of scales. Buying coffe became an opportunity for a weighing session for the customers and over the years since 1765 weight records from the British nobility and gentry are available in seven leatherbound ledgers. Several interesting weight histories can be documented by the study of these well kept records. They illustrate that there was a need to measure body weight, long before the association between relative body weight and health had become clear.

The story of the gauge

Gauges are old measures of thickness. They originated in the British iron wire industry at a time when there was no universal unit of thickness. The sizes of the gauge numbers were the result of the process of wire-drawing and the nature of iron as a substance. Gauges were measured and described in fractions of an inch during the 19th century. In the UK, one gauge was standardised and legally enforced as the Standard Wire Gauge. One important reason for the standardisation of the gauge was the convenience of craftsmen. In the 20th century, the gauge was to be replaced with the introduction of the International System of Units. However, within the field of anaesthesia at the threshold of the 21st century, the gauge seems hard to remove from the minds of craftsmen like anaesthetists.

Man is the measure ... the measurer

Measures originated from human anatomy. Metrology has moved from man the measure to man the measurer. This transformation is documented using examples taken from the history of metrology. The outcome measure are units constructed and maintained for their utility, constancy and generality.

The history of the Army weight standards

Medical officers in the U.S. Army are tasked with screening, evaluating, and processing soldiers in accordance with AR 600-9, the Army's height and weight standards regulation. This essay traces the origins of the Army's weight standards to the present day. The Army's height and weight standards have varied markedly, from the crude subjective assessment of selective service candidates at the local draft examination boards at the turn of the century to the modern, highly accurate methods currently used in anthropomorphic research. The strictness of military recruitment and retention standards closely paralleled changing military personnel requirements in any particular era. Racial integration and the influx of women into the ranks had noteworthy effects on this history. The evolution of the Army's weight-control program and screening standards reflects advancements in medical knowledge and technology, societal and political pressure, and the empirical tests of world wars.

The origins of the gauge system for medical equipment

The gauge system for sizing medical catheters and equipment is used widely around the world. Yet both its origins and its interpretation, in terms of conventional measurements, have long been obscure. The gauge, formally known as the Stubs Iron Wire Gauge, was developed in early 19th century England. Developed initially for use in wire manufacture, each gauge size arbitrarily correlates to multiples of .0010 inches. This sizing system was the first wire gauge recognized as a standard by any country (Great Britain, 1884). It was first used to measure needle sizes in the early 20th century. Today it is used in medicine to measure not only needles, but also catheters and suture wires. However, owing to the potential confusion inherent in using a gauge system, the iron wire gauge is rarely used in manufacture of nonmedical equipment.

Scientific medicine and Système International units

The Système International, a modern version of the metric system, is being introduced into American medicine. The most compelling reason for this is that a worldwide standardization of weights and measures is taking place, and American medicine should take part in this process. A subsidiary advantage is that units of measurement used in clinical laboratories throughout the United States will be standardized as well. It is possible that expressing concentrations in moles per liter rather than as weight per volume will reveal clinically useful chemical relationships, but this remains unproved. Transition to Système International units will require use of different reference ranges, and there will be a potential for serious misinterpretation of laboratory data unless well-planned educational programs are instituted before the change.

Major developments in clinical chemical instrumentation

The introduction of instrumentation into the clinical chemistry laboratory is reviewed for the period extending from about 1890 to 1960. Topics covered, from a historical point of view, include the microscope, analytical balance, and centrifuge, colorimetry and spectrophotometry, flame photometry, gasometric analysis, pH, electrophoresis, chromatography, radioisotopes, and automation.

Systems of measurement: their development and use in medicine

A brief historical review of customary measurements, the resultant chaos and the desirability for a simplified unified measurement system is discussed. The basic units of the International System of Units are described and defined, along with their application in Medicine.

International basis for uniform measurement

The influence and importance of the International Bureau have never been greater than they are today and there seems little doubt that its position will be enhanced in the future. The rapid development of science and technological industry during recent decades has placed heavy demands on fundamental metrology to keep ahead of immediate needs. This trend is likely to increase. Other organizations also have an important role to play in measurement and its ultimate application. However, if the International Bureau conserves its competence, the fact that it has always envisaged its role as that of providing leadership in the development of an international scientific consensus rather than developing and imposing its own ideas, combined with the authority that is conferred only by international treaty, will assure its position as the international focus for world measurement. Inevitably this will call for expansion of the Bureau's activities. Not all demands made on it will be legitimate or wise. It will be the responsibility of the International Committee to keep the situation under continuous study and bring imaginative yet prudent recommendations to the Conference.