• Landscape view looking out across a large body of water. Land is just visible on the horizon, there is a line of trees on the shore, and in the immediate foreground there is a rough stone wall.

Alfred North Whitehead and the Edinburgh Connection

By Leemon B. McHenry. 15 February is the birthday of British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, born in 1841 – he would have been 155 today. Whitehead delivered his masterpiece of metaphysics, Process and Reality, at the Gifford Lectures…

Highland sheep farming, 1850-1900

In this post, James Hunter reflects on an article he wrote for the very first volume of Northern Scotland published in 1972. You can read James’ article ‘Sheep and Deer: Highland sheep farming, 1850-1900‘ free online. This was my first…

The Lang Road to Scottish History

By Catriona M.M. Macdonald Historians frequently address reputations in their work, indeed they are central to some of the most important debates in historiography. They are typically less inclined, however, to address common assumptions regarding the work and legacy of…

The semantic dimension of Newtonian Power

By Asher Jiang The concept of physical power in its modern forms has been introduced by Sir Isaac Newton in his great work Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica. Although Newton has embedded this concept into a precise mathematical framework, the power…

Spotlight on Scottish Archaeological Journal

Founded in 1969, the Scottish Archaeological Journal publishes original articles which aim to further the study of archaeology in Scotland. The journal, published on behalf of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, features the latest results of archaeological fieldwork, excavation and research.…

Agricultural improvement and India

In the May 2015 issue of the Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, Eric Grant and Alistair Mutch explore the intertwined careers of Kenneth Murchison, surgeon, and Patrick Duff, General of the East India Company’s artillery in Bengal. Both men returned…

The National Monument of Scotland

In the November 2014 edition of Architectural Heritage John Gifford explores the history, origin and alternative designs of the National Monument of Scotland. Twelve Doric columns stand on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill, witnesses to ambition, patriotism, love of the arts, respect…