The Victorian Eye
The Victorian Eye

Author: Chris Otter

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2008-11-15

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0226640787

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During the nineteenth century, Britain became the first gaslit society, with electric lighting arriving in 1878. At the same time, the British government significantly expanded its power to observe and monitor its subjects. How did such enormous changes in the way people saw and were seen affect Victorian culture? To answer that question, Chris Otter mounts an ambitious history of illumination and vision in Britain, drawing on extensive research into everything from the science of perception and lighting technologies to urban design and government administration. He explores how light facilitated such practices as safe transportation and private reading, as well as institutional efforts to collect knowledge. And he contends that, contrary to presumptions that illumination helped create a society controlled by intrusive surveillance, the new radiance often led to greater personal freedom and was integral to the development of modern liberal society. The Victorian Eye’s innovative interdisciplinary approach—and generous illustrations—will captivate a range of readers interested in the history of modern Britain, visual culture, technology, and urbanization.

The Bovine Scourge
The Bovine Scourge

Author: Keir Waddington

Publisher: Boydell Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9781843831938

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Investigation of the complex issues surrounding the links between bovine tuberculosis and infected meat - with a contemporary resonance in the BSE scare. By the late 1890s, the question of bovine tuberculosis (TB) and infected meat had become one of national importance, reflecting a national sense of fear. Although the extent of the threat to health proved uncertain, bovine TB hadcome to stand at the centre of debates about diseased meat and public health. The anxiety it caused was part of a longer story, linked to concern over food safety, changes in how tuberculosis was understood, and to worries over diseased meat and the 'evils' of the urban meat trade. The Bovine Scourge explores the debates and fears that came to surround bovine TB, meat and public health between the 1860s and 1914. It traces how diseased meat and bovine TB emerged as a public health issue, examines the measures adopted to protect the public, and addresses how by the Edwardian era milk had become the major source of concern in discussion of bovine TB. It also raises important questions about the history of food safety, the concerns generated by diseased meat, and the role of the public health and veterinary profession in preventing the sale of contaminated food. KEIR WADDINGTON is a senior lecturerin the School of History and Archaeology at Cardiff University.