OBITUARY JOHN HESLOP-HARRISON (1920-1998)

The passing of Jack Heslop-Harrison marks the end of an outstandinginternational scientific career and represents the loss of adistinguished contemporary British botanist. British by birthand by acclaim in that he held Fellowships of the Royal Societyand the Royal Society of Edinburgh, together with Membershipof the Royal Irish Academy. International, in so far as hismany career appointments were divided between Great Britainand the United States and involved scientific colleagues frommany nations.Copyright 1998 Annals of Botany Company.     

Communication,Cooperation, and Social Interactions: a Report from the Third Young Microbiologists Symposium on Microbe Signalling,Organisation, and Pathogenesis

The third Young Microbiologists Symposium took place on the vibrant campus of the University of Dundee, Scotland, from the 2nd to 3rd of June 2014. The symposium attracted over 150 microbiologists from 17 different countries. The significant characteristic of this meeting was that it was specifically aimed at providing a forum for junior scientists to present their work. The meeting was supported by the Society for General Microbiology and the American Society for Microbiology, with further sponsorship from the European Molecular Biology Organization, the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, and The Royal Society of Edinburgh. In this report, we highlight some themes that emerged from the many exciting talks and poster presentations given by the young and talented microbiologists in the area of microbial gene expression, regulation, biogenesis, pathogenicity, and host interaction.     

A second type A-nauplius from the Upper Cambrian 'Orsten' of Sweden

Walossek, Dieter & Müller, Klaus J. 1989 07 15: A second type A-nauplius from the Upper Cambrian 'Orsten' of Sweden. Lethaia , Vol. 22, pp. 301–306. Oslo. ISSN 0024–1164.
Among newly sorted material, two specimens at first considered as nauplius-like larva A (Müller & Walossek 1986, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 77 ) differ from this type in their larger sized body and appendages, much smaller caudal spines, and lack of the dorsal hook-like plates. They are regarded as a similar but distinct type, named 'larva A2'. * Crustacea, ontogeny, phosphatization, 3D-preservation .     

A taxonomic database and linked iconograph for diatoms

Hydrobiologia - The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and the Natural History Museum are collaborating to establish a database and linked iconograph, wherever possible using TDWG (Taxonomic Databases...     

Brave new world of post-genomics!

The Royal Society Discussion Meeting on "Utilizing the Genome Sequence of Parasitic Protozoa" was held at the Royal Society in London, UK, 21-22 March 2001.     

Tension at EMBO's Aneuploidy Workshop

The EMBO 2010 Workshop on Chromosome Segregation and Aneuploidy, held between 19 and 23 June at Edinburgh University's Royal College of Surgeons, highlighted basic mitotic mechanisms, chromosome‐based defects linked to human diseases and the processes that connect them.     

509. Dauphinea Brevilabra

Summary.  Dauphinea brevilabra Hedge is a little‐known perennial from Madagascar, first described from specimens growing in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. In general it resembles Plectranthus , but has several unique floral characters.     

Book Reviews

Natural Antioxidants in Human Health and Disease Edited by Balz Frei Academic Press, San Diego

In Vitro Toxicology Edited by: Shayne Cox Gad Raven Press Ltd.: New York, 290pp ISBN: 0-88167-974-7

Active Oxygen, Lipid Peroxidation and Antioxidants Edited by Kunio Yagi Japan Scientific Society Press: Tokyo ISBN 4-7622-6738-4, 1993 CRC Press: Boca Raton ISBN 0-8493-7769-2, 1993 x +372 pages Y 13, 000

Free Radicals, Cardiovascular Dysfunction and Protection Strategies R C Kukreja and M L Hess R G Landes Company: Austin, Texas, USA, 1994

Oxygen and Environmental Stress in Plants (Special issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, volume 102 1994) eds R M M Crawford, G A F Hendry and B A Goodman

Mitochondria: DNA, Proteins and Disease Eds. V. Darley Usmar and A.H.V. Schapira Portland Press Research Monograph V, London, 1994

Human Medicinal Agents From Plants Edited by A. Douglas Kinghorn and Manuel F. Balandrin ACS Symposium Series 534 American Chemical Society: Washington DC, 1993, pp. xii + 356. ISBN 08412 2705 5. $89.95.     

The Reverend Henry Duncan (1774–1846) and the Discovery of the First Fossil Footprints

The Reverend Henry Duncan (1774–1846), clergyman, philosopher, writer, politician, archeologist, poet, educator, social reformer, and the founder of savings banks, was indeed a “Man for All Seasons.” In 1824, while Minister of the Church of Scotland at Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, he was presented with a slab of red sandstone from the Corncockle Muir quarry in Annandale, exhibiting a set of footprints. Although Duncan felt from the start that he was dealing with the tracks of an animal, he wrote to the Reverend William Buckland, Reader in Mineralogy and Geology at the University of Oxford, to solicit his opinion on the origin of these curious markings. Buckland was at first skeptical but, after receiving casts of the markings from Duncan, he became convinced that they did in fact represent footprints, urging Duncan to study and publish on what he considered to be a very important paleontological find. On January 7, 1828 Duncan described the Corncockle Muir footprints to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and quoted Buckland's findings. Duncan's paper was not published by the Society until 1831, but it aroused considerable interest and was reported in several newspapers. This represents the first scientific report of a fossil track.     

Mouse genomics gets the royal treatment

A report on the Genetics Society autumn meeting The mouse: genetics and genome', The Royal Society, London, UK, 14 November 2003.     

A Panaeolus poisoning in Scotland

Summary A male and female patient were admitted to the Poison Unit, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, suffering from poisoning caused by eating basidiocarps of Panaeolus subbalteatus (B. & Br.) Sacc. Those basidiocarps involved in the poisoning and later collections are described in full and pertinent ecological data etc. given.     

Analysis of variance tables based on experimental structure

A stepwise procedure for obtaining the experimental structure for a particular experiment is presented together with rules for deriving the analysis-of-variance table from that structure. The procedure involves the division of the factors into groups and is essentially a generalization of the method of Nelder (1965, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A 283, 147-162; 1965, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series A 283, 163-178), to what are termed 'multi-tiered' experiments. The proposed method is illustrated for a wine-tasting experiment.     

Microbial signaling and systems biology

A report of the symposium on Signaling and Systems Biology held during the Society for General Microbiology Spring Meeting, 29-30 March 2010, Edinburgh, UK.     

850. MYRCEUGENIA LEPTOSPERMOIDES

Though extremely rare in British and Irish gardens, the South American genus Myrceugenia shows great horticultural potential and a number of species have entered cultivation in the last four decades, primarily through the efforts of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. Two of the showiest of these, Myrceugenia lanceolata and Myrceugenia leptospermoides, both Chilean endemics, are discussed.     

History of Ichnology: The Correspondence Between the Reverend Henry Duncan and the Reverend William Buckland and the Discovery of the First Vertebrate Footprints

The Reverend Henry Duncan (1774–1846), clergyman, philosopher, writer, politician, archeologist, poet, educator, social reformer, and the founder of savings banks, was indeed a Man for All Seasons. In 1824, while Minister of the Church of Scotland at Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, he was presented with a slab of red sandstone from the Corncockle Muir quarry in Annandale, exhibiting a set of footprints on it. Although Duncan felt from the start that he was dealing with the tracks of an animal, he wrote to the Reverend William Buckland, Reader in Mineralogy and Geology at the University of Oxford, to solicit his opinion on the origin of these curious markings. Buckland was at first skeptical, but after receiving casts of the markings from Duncan, he became convinced that they did in fact represent footprints. Duncan and Buckland maintained a correspondence about the footprints, and on January 7, 1828, Duncan described the Corncockle Muir footprints to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and quoted Buckland's findings. Duncan's paper was not published by the Society until 1831, but it aroused considerable interest—“Footsteps before the Flood”!—and was reported in several newspapers. This was the first scientific report of a fossil track; although a schoolboy, Pliny Moody, had found fossil footprints in Connecticut in 1802, they were not scientifically described until 1836. The Scottish tracks are now considered to be not reptilian but of synapsid origin and the rocks containing them are now known to be of Permian age.     

A question of merit: John Hutton Balfour, Joseph Hooker and the 'concussion' over the Edinburgh chair of botany

In 1845, Robert Graham's death created a vacancy for the traditionally dual appointment to the University of Edinburgh's chair of botany and the Regius Keepership of the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden. John Hutton Balfour and Joseph Hooker emerged as the leading candidates. The contest quickly became embroiled in long running controversies over the nature and control of Scottish university education at a time of particular social and political tension after a recent schism in Church of Scotland. The politics of the appointment were complicated by the fact that the Edinburgh Town Council (which preferred Balfour) chose the chair while the keepership was under the patronage of the Westminster government (which preferred Hooker). Balfour eventually emerged triumphant after a bitter campaign marked on all sides by intense politicking. The struggle to replace Graham provides a case study in how Victorian men of science adapted their aspirations to the practical realities of life in industrial, reforming, imperial, multinational Britain.     

Towards a virtual Arabidopsis plant

A report on the Royal Society Discussion Meeting "The plant cell: between genome and plant", London, 13-14 June 2001.     

Synaptic plasticity in health and disease: introduction and overview

We summarize the reviews and research papers submitted by speakers at a discussion meeting on Synaptic Plasticity in Health and Disease held at the Royal Society, London on 2–3 December 2013, and a subsequent satellite meeting convened at the Royal Society/Kavli Centre at Chicheley Hall on 4–5 December 2013. Together, these contributions give an overview of current research and controversies in a vibrant branch of neuroscience with important implications for the understanding of many forms of learning and memory, and a wide spectrum of neurological and cognitive disorders.     

Book reviews

Book review in this article Natural History of the Adelaide Region Royal Society of South Australia Inc.     

An inordinate fondness for beetles*

The abundance and diversity of insects was the subject of the joint commemorative meeting between the Linnean Society and the Royal Entomological Society of London. This paper gives a brief outline of the foundation and early history of the Entomological Society and its forerunners, and its relations with the Linnean Society at the time. It also shows how the contributions of the founding fellows of the Society, whose interests originated in collecting and insect natural history, laid the foundations of many of the present day fields of entomological research.