Epidemiology, old and new / [William H. Hamer].

  • Hamer, William Heaton, 1862-1936.
Date:
1928
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Epidemiology, old and new / [William H. Hamer]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the weaving of general principles. It is this union, of passionate interest in the detailed facts with equal devotion to abstract generalisation, which forms the novelty in our present society. Previously it had appeared sporadically and as if by chance. This balance of mind has now become part of the tradition which infects cultivated thought.” Dr. Brownlee’s view may be compared and contrasted with that of Prof. Whitehead. In 1908 Dr. Brownlee (4b) read a paper before the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, entitled “ Germinal Vitality ; a study of the Growth of Nations as an instance of a hitherto undescribed Factor in Evolution.” In this paper special stress was laid on germinal activity and growth of population as a whole, while, incidentally, Dr. Brownlee made some very interesting observations on periodicity in the manifestation of genius. He states that “ Each period of English energy since the Conquest is associated with increase of population, and if this held also for the period of the Saxon invasion, then up till the present time there have been five waves of expansion, with four intervening periods, in which there was no national response to the intellectual action of the few great men who lived or ruled during these times of depresssion.” Dr. Brownlee’s five waves cover 450-55° a.d., 650-800, 1290-1390 (the age of Dante and Chaucer), then the age from Shakspere to Milton (Prof. Whitehead’s Century of Genius), and finally a period which “ runs from 1760-1870,” thus covering Prof. Whitehead’s next three epochs and bringing us to the dawn of his new mentality.