As a river in its seaward course gathers volume and momentum from its tributaries, so does a science, from its inception to its attainment of maturity and beyond, increase its strength, scope and depth by incorporating into itself its historical past, built up by the contributions of those scientists and philosophers whose work marks stages in its progress. A history of science, to fulfil its purpose, must unravel the intricate strands of ideas and facts which form the fabric of modern science and trace them back to their inspiration and source. Such a history would be almost beyond the bounds of human endeavour, and its only practicable substitute tends to degenerate into a mere collection of names of scientists, combined with a review of their individual contributions to the development of science. Science, however, is neither an assemblage of facts nor of ideas. It is a co-ordinated system of facts linked by theories—with the emphasis, generally speaking, on the ideas—and within our limited capacity it can best be interpreted by reconstructing the lives and reliving the thoughts of those men who have done most to fashion it. Such a man was Isaac Newton and such also was James Hutton. It is of little profit to argue as to which was the greater mind. What Newton achieved in the field of astronomy and mathematics Hutton achieved in the field of geology. It was he who provided geology with a theory: and here we must take theory, not as something remote and opposed to fact, but in its original meaning in Greek, namely, comprehension.

A brief historical account of the early faunal investigations is given. Modern studies concentrate on qualitative and quantitative description and interpretation of the processes taking place within the Rockall Trough. Demographic analyses are feasible on a variety of species allowing estimation of growth and production rates. The pelagic fauna impinges on the benthopelagic environments of the slope regions of the Trough. There it is predated by populations of demersal fish. Advection of fauna takes place to the north and northeast, probably primarily in the slope current.

Chemical oceanography is fundamentally concerned with the chemical properties of sea water. In order to study these properties, and the interactions of sea waterkwith other phases, we must first have some concept of what sea water.

The river Tay receives water from an area covering over 2500 square miles of Scotland and has a discharge which is greater than that of the Severn and the Thames combined. It is, in addition, the least polluted of our major British rivers today. It thus provides a composite sample of the waters draining through much of east central Scotland, it provides a baseline for studies on other major British rivers, and with the impending upsurge in industrial activity along the Scottish east coast with the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea, the importance of having a baseline against which future environmental changes can be measured is now a matter of urgency.

The Clyde Estuary is recovering from gross pollution. In the early 1970s high densities of a small number of species of intertidal invertebrates tolerant of organic enrichment and low oxygen levels provided rich feeding for large numbers of dunlin, redshank, lapwing, oystercatcher and curlew. Winter numbers of the first three species have now declined considerably. The declines cannot be attributed to national changes in wader numbers and are not due to changes in breeding habitats or lack of reproductive success in particular regions, since each species wintering on the Clyde Estuary breeds in a different area. The most likely explanation of the decline, which is most pronounced in the species highly dependent on Corophium volutator, is either that reduced organic pollution has reduced the densities of the main prey, or that higher oxygen levels over the mudflats have allowed fish, particularly flounders, to enter the estuary and compete with the waders for the available prey. Although there is evidence of some birds having moved to other wintering areas, the fate of most birds is unknown.

This paper reviews the status of marine fish populations in Scottish waters and considers current and potential threats. The inshore environments considered (shallow sandy bays, deeper and muddier areas, sea lochs, estuaries and firths) can be characterised by fish communities of 20-50 species, with some 20 species being present at any one locality. All of them functioned as nursery areas for commercial species and as habitats for smaller non-commercial residents. As few as 3-5 species were dominant, in terms of both numbers and biomass, in each habitat. More species occurred on the open shelf (over 200 ?) with up to 90 being taken regularly, but only 10 species accounted for 90% of both total biomass (in each of three North Sea areas) and commercial landings in Scotland by U.K. vessels. Mackerel (32.3%), herring (20.4%) and haddock (14.7%) dominated the landings. Both coastal fish communities and shelf stocks of commercial species have historically suffered from over-exploitation, a situation that has continued to date despite changes in management leading to their supposed protection. Other threats are identified, as is the need for conservation, while some legislative and research recommendations are made.

The passage of ova down the Fallopian tube and uterine horn of one side into the horn of the other side is generally referred to as transuterine migration. There is evidence that such transmigration can occur in a wide variety of animals—Ungulata, Carnivora, Cheiroptera, Insectivora and Primates (Boyd, Hamilton and Hammond, 1944; Marshall's Physiology of Reproduction, 1952). In all these forms the genital tract has a single supravaginal segment varying from a common cervical canal to the single uterine cavity of the primate uterus simplex. The uterus of the albino rat is generally described as “uterus duplex”, with separate cervical canals opening independently into the vagina, and it has been stated by Hanson and Boone (1925, 1926) and by Slonaker (1927) that there is no evidence that transuterine migration occurs in the albino rat. In the course of an experimental investigation of the vascular pattern in pregnancy in the rat, some results were obtained which indicate that transuterine migration can occur in the albino rat.

In several well-authenticated instances intestinal pathogens, including Salmonella species, have been isolated from water in the absence of bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, commonly used to detect faecal pollution. The present study examines certain anaerobic, non-sporing commensals of the intestinal tract as alternative ‘indicator’ bacteria. The numbers of bifidobacteria and Bacteroides fragilis recovered from faecal specimens were between 109 and 1010 per gram while the Gram-positive, anaerobic cocci numbered only about 106 per gram. In sewage, this numerical difference was eliminated by a rapid loss of viability of bifidobacteria and B. fragilis so that the counts of all three types of bacteria approximated to those of E. coli. Storage tests with aerated and non-aerated sewage established that further loss of viability of bifidobacteria and B. fragilis occurred only fairly slowly. In samples of water from the Dighty Water and River Tay Estuary, shown to be faecally polluted, the three anaerobic types of bacteria were recovered in numbers roughly equal to those of E. coli and their persistence in the surface of the bed of the Dighty Water was also at least equal to that of E. coli.

These results demonstrated that, in spite of their strictly anaerobic growth requirements, Bifidobacteria, B. fragilis and the Gram-positive, anaerobic cocci persist in aerobic, aqueous environments. If their habitat can be shown to be reasonably restricted to the intestinal tract they are likely, under special circumstances, to be useful indicators of faecal pollution.

The ornamental use of Salix in Britain must be measured against any detrimental impact introduced plants may have on the natural or artificial environment. Willows in amenity planting have the capacity to be both rewarding and at the same time damaging. Anyone using them should be aware of the constraints that may be imposed by the plants and by any potential site. Existing published plant lists are long and inaccurate, often failing to give proper advice on ornamental use. Commercial plant supply may be wanting. Forty species and cultivars are recommended here for a range of situations, but some require further taxonomic research and others need wider introduction to the trade.

In a paper entitled ‘Africa – the odd man out’ Richards (1973) pointed out that of the three main regions of tropical rain forest he recognised, namely American, African and Indo–Malaysian, the African rain forest stands out as distinct from the others. He took this view largely on the comparative poverty of its flora, the wider distribution of African plants, and the poor representation of certain plant groups such as palms, orchids and trees of the family Lauraceae. In addition, Africa is relatively poorly endowed with some life forms such as lianes and epiphytes. He attributed the uniqueness of tropical Africa to a number of possible factors. In the first place, differences may be due to climate since the uniformly high rainfall, humidity, temperatures, and absence of a regular dry season that occur in parts of the other two tropical regions are evidently rare or lacking in Africa. A distinct dry season, often of over two months, is nearly always present, and even in the central Congo basin there is usually at least one month when rainfall is less than 100 mm. Secondly, the impact of human beings on vegetation has been longer and more sustained in Africa than elsewhere, so much so that the presence of any truly primeval or so-called virgin forest is very questionable. However, it is unlikely that present day climatic factors and human interference can wholly account for the unique position of African rain forest, and historical reasons must also be sought. Thus it seems probable that the vicissitudes of climate, recorded as arid and pluvial periods in African lake sediments, have been much greater than those in the other two regions in question.

This paper reviews the knowledge of deterioration processes which occur when steel and concrete structures are situated in seawater. The basic corrosion mechanisms of steel, together with possible methods of protection, are outlined briefly. With regard to coatings and cathodic protection, recent developments to counteract the increasingly severe conditions encountered by oil-production platforms in the North Sea, are discussed. Concrete structures usually provide a naturally-inhibitive internal environment to confer protection from corrosion to encased steel reinforcements, but mention is made of the possibilities of such protection becoming ineffective during long service in severe offshore conditions.

The basic features of corrosion fatigue are described in the light of recent research but some aspects, which are of great importance for the performance of steel structures, are shown to be not well documented or understood. Corrosion fatigue of concrete structures has not been studied extensively, a particularly neglected area being the elucidation of the fundamental mechanisms of deterioration.

Sequential observations were made of the effects on root development of inoculating Betula pendula seedlings during propagation with sheathing mycorrhizal fungi, Amanita muscaria, Hebeloma sacchariolens or Paxillus involutus. After propagation, the seedlings were grown for two seasons in four different soils (two mineral soils and two peats) which were not sterilised.

While all inoculated seedlings had similar numbers of mycorrhizas at planting, numbers subsequently increased most rapidly with P. involutus and least rapidly with A. muscaria. From the end of the first season onwards, the uninoculated controls had as many mycorrhizas as seedlings inoculated with either A. muscaria or H. sacchariolens. These numbers were, however, usually exceeded on plants inoculated with P. involutus.

The mycorrhizas developing on the controls, and on seedlings inoculated with A. muscaria, were attributable after planting into the unsterile soils, to naturally occurring soil-borne inocula of species of Cenococcum, Hebeloma, Inocybe, Laccaria, Paxillus and Thelephora etc. Those developing on seedlings inoculated with P. involutus were all attributable to this inoculant fungus in the first year but, in the second year, the proportions decreased to 19—14%. With H. sacchariolens, at least 90% of the mycorrhizas in the two mineral soils and one of the peats (a sedge peat) were attributable in years 1 and 2 to the inoculant fungus. In the other peat (Sphagnum peat), the proportion of mycorrhizas attributable to H. sacchariolens decreased to 25% by the end of the first year and totally disappeared in the second.

The continued ability of H. sacchariolensto form mycorrhizas in a range of unsterile soils, to the virtual exclusion of mycorrhizas attributable to other fungi, is thought to be characteristic of fungi that occur early in mycorrhizal successions. In contrast,A. muscaria(a late-stage fungus), was unable to form mycorrhizas after inoculated seedlings were transferred from controlled axenic conditions to unsterilised field soils.

Two arbiters of root growth were measured—numbers of roots and their dry weights. Whereas inoculations with H. sacchariolens significantly decreased numbers in the latter part of the first season, they either had no effects on dry weights as in the mineral soils or significantly increased them as in the peats. In the second season, there was further evidence, sometimes contradictory, showing that inoculations can appreciably alter the structure of developing root systems.

Process of care is the most immediate, relevant and susceptible to improvement of Donabedian's three elements of quality assurance. To place the study of process in context, the history of quality assurance in English-speaking countries is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the U.S.A. A range of methods are examined in detail and examples are provided to illustrate their strengths and weaknesses. Particular attention is paid to the use of explicit and implicit criteria. The importance of information technology in monitoring the process of care cannot be over-stated. Limited audit is possible with manual records but all substantial projects require computer support. The value of capturing data from operational systems rather than from dedicated projects is emphasised. Attention is drawn to the key importance of structured records and minimum data sets; these allow information to be pooled and process studies to be generalised. Examples are given of quality assurance projects which have used information technology. Finally potential future developments are reviewed with particular reference to clinical guidelines and computer-based clinical decision support systems.

The idea that only after 1490 the European sailors had ‘come for the first time in recorded history to struggle with the limitations placed on sailing ships by the winds and currents of the open ocean’ does not correspond to reality. There is enough proof to show that much earlier, in the fifteenth century, the North-East Trades’ regularity, the wind variability in the zone directly north of them, and the Canaries Current were already known. When the fifteenth century ended, the Portuguese had already verified the symmetry of wind patterns in the Atlantic on both sides of the equatorial calm zone, which led them to apply the significant name of ‘ventos gerais’ to the trade winds of both hemispheres.

Accurate knowledge of the wind and current systems was essential to good navigation and the Portuguese ratters of the sixteenth century, chiefly ‘carreira da India’ rutters, include an increasing amount of information on that subject, referring especially to zones in the passage from the North Atlantic to the South Atlantic. The report of a voyage (1503) proves that at that time the Portuguese already knew the Gulf of Guinea winds and currents sufficiently well. As a result of oceanic sailing, the traditional ratters, exclusively coastal, developed considerably, not only by adding data about latitudes and compass variations but also by the indication of winds and currents. There appeared also an even newer type of ratter, the ‘oceanic rutter‘, in which the safest and quickest routes, because of the changeability of winds and current patterns, are indicated.

Information about elements concerning winds and currents which are included in the Portuguese ratters was revealed in printed matter after the end of the sixteenth century and this allowed some European scientists to study, because of the availability of better information, the causes of those physical phenomena, which had already been treated briefly in the sixteenth century by two nautical treatise writers, D. João de Castro and Father Fernando Oliveira.

Inhibitors of the aromatase enzyme represent a class of therapeutic agents which potently inhibit oestrogen biosynthesis in vivo. This inhibition of oestrogen biosynthesis is well established as effective therapy in the treatment of oestrogen-dependent breast cancer. CGS 16949A [4-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydroimidazo-[l,5-a]pyridin-5-yl)-benzonitrile hydrochloride] is a non-steroidal imidazole derivative which is a potent competitive aromatase inhibitor in vitro. At a maximally effective concentration, it selectively inhibits aromatase and does not affect glucocorticoid production from the adrenal in vitro.

In vivo in the rat, CGS 16949A effectively reduces ovarian oestrogen content and potently inhibits an aromatase-mediated androgen-induced uterine hypertrophy. Oral treatment of adult, cyclic female rats with CGS 16949A disrupts cyclicity, inhibits ovulation, reduces uterine weight and suppresses serum oestradiol, all expected sequelae of oestrogen deprivation. At maximally effective doses, there is no evidence of adrenal hypertrophy, indicating that adrenal steroidogenesis is unaffected. In the DMBA-induced mammary carcinoma model in the rat, CGS 16949A caused almost complete regression of palpable tumours and significantly suppressed the appearance of new tumours at a maximally effective oral dose. Thus, CGS 16949A is a potent and selective inhibitor of the aromatase enzyme. In the rat, it is very efficacious in inhibiting oestrogen biosynthesis and in suppressing the growth of DMBA-induced mammary tumours.

The success of plants which lived in the past should be assessed differently from that of living plants as time is an additional important factor. Success may therefore be judged in one period of time or throughout the whole geological history of the plants.

Limitations of the fossil record through plant fragmentation, lack of preservation and incomplete preservation severely restrict the amount of information available. However, accepting these problems, there are four major ways in which plants may be judged: long term survival, repeated specialisation, dominance and adaptability. Examples are given of pteridophytes that exhibit success in these four ways.

Changes of the in vitro morphogenetic state may be achieved for some potato genotypes, but others are unresponsive (recalcitrant). Although the biochemical basis for somatic recalcitrance is unknown, evidence suggests that two different aspects of oxidative stress may be involved. Phenolic oxidation is a major problem in manipulating cultures of woody plant species (Thorpe & Harry 1990) and lipid peroxidation has been associated with recalcitrance in monocotyledonous plants (Cutler et al. 1989; Benson et al. 1992). Both oxidative phenomena are believed to be free-radical mediated, but to date there is no reported direct evidence for the formation of free radicals during plant tissue culture callogenesis. The objectives of the present study were twofold; to assess the feasibility of using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to detect free radicals directly in plant tissue cultures and to investigate free radical activity during dedifferentiation of responsive and unresponsive potato genotypes.