iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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David Ibitson @arry-k-arry.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

A highlight of #BAVS2026 was the panel by @victorianhand.bsky.social, a mind bogglingly rich project, which reminded me of these ambiguous (long?) 19th Century hands by the unpleasant Charles Dana Gibson.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

✋ Join us for an evening talk on 27 August at Two Temple Place exploring how making and mending shaped Victorian Britain and why these skills still matter today! Tickets at the 🔗 below. twotempleplace.org/events/makin...

twotempleplace.org

Celebration of Makers Talk: The Hands that Made the Victorian World - Two Temple Place

Two Temple Place, one of London’s hidden architectural gems, hosts exhibitions and events and is owned by the charity The Bulldog Trust.

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Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Back in May, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and @victorianhand.bsky.social came together to discuss how tactility and the symbolism of the hand can bring us closer to history. Listen to a recording of the event now. faber.co.uk/journal/podcast-touching-time-doireann-ni-ghriofa-x-the-victorian-hand-project/

faber.co.uk

Podcast: Touching Time: Doireann Ní Ghríofa x The Victorian Hand Project

In this podcast episode, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Helen Victoria Murray use Said the Dead as the basis for their discussion about how tactility and the symbolism of the hand can bring us closer to…

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

📖 Earlier this year, our Research Associate, Helen Murray, was in conversation with Doireann Ní Ghríofa to mark the publication of Said the Dead at @faberbooks.bsky.social! Listen to the podcast of the event to hear about how hands can bring us closer to history. www.faber.co.uk/journal/podc...

Two people sitting on orange chairs with a green backdrop. The backdrop has the blue event poster depicting a disembodied hand.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

🎞️ We are delighted that Manual, the first film by our project filmmaker Lily Ford, is available to watch! Blending Victorian self-help culture with contemporary digital media, the film explores ideas of labour, self-improvement, class, gender and creativity through the hand. youtu.be/LhDyk5G02BY

youtu.be

Manual

YouTube video by The Victorian Hand

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

🪡 On Friday we explored practices of mending with The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles and textile artist Ruth Singer. We reflected on the meaning of mending, past and present, and tried our hand at repairing nineteenth century textiles!

Quilt with red and white striped blocks featuring handwritten names, over a floral-patterned fabric

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Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Tickets are now available for our event celebrating Said the Dead. In this event, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Helen Victoria Murray of @victorianhand.bsky.social will discuss about how tactility and the symbolism of the hand can bring us closer to history. www.faber.co.uk/product/touc...

faber.co.uk

Touching Time: Doireann Ní Ghríofa x The Victorian Hand Project

In this event, Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Helen Victoria Murray will use Said the Dead as the basis for their discussion about how tactility and the symbolism of the hand can bring us closer to history,…

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

We are delighted to be partnering with colleagues from Lancaster University for a free workshop at Lancaster City Museum exploring the histories of touch! Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/histories-...

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Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Also, stay tuned for the announcement of a PERMANENT post in Late Medieval / Early Modern History.

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Reposted by The Victorian Hand

Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

📢 JOB ALERT📢 Please spread the word that there are 2x1-year, F/T (Teaching & Research) posts going in History @ Lancaster: Lecturer in Modern British History (1800-2000), with a focus on the social & cultural histories of the economy, advertising, or consumerism. hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk

Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Lecturer in Modern British History

Lecturer in Modern British History, c1800-2000 The School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in Modern British History, c.1800-2000 (Teaching and Scholarship). ...

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

We are delighted to be taking part in this exciting event - ‘Touching Time’ - which launches Doireann Ní Ghríofa's brilliant new book Said the Dead. Follow the link to book a ticket for 20 May, 7pm, at The Bindery, London. www.faber.co.uk/product/touc...

faber.co.uk

Touching Time: Doireann Ní Ghríofa x The Victorian Hand Project

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

✍️ Our Public Engagement Fellow, rosscmrn.bsky.social, sheds light on the origins of our project in the latest Bulletin of The Royal College of Surgeons of England! Read the full article here: publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/full/10....

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Our latest blog by Public Engagement Fellow @rosscmrn.bsky.social reflects on the first two Work of Mending workshops, where sewing and surgery were brought into dialogue to explore how identity is shaped through what we do with our hands. Read more here: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/surg...

The image features a pair of outlined hands filled with handwritten words. The text expresses thoughts on the tactile experiences and history of hands, suggesting themes of touch, work, and emotion. The tone of the piece is reflective and introspective.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

🫀 On Friday we held the second Work of Mending workshop at @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social, exploring pride in skill across histories of surgery and craft. Thank you to everyone who joined and we’re looking forward to continuing the conversation at our next workshop at The Quilters' Guild in York!

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

We launched our Work of Mending workshop series at The Quilters' Guild in York, exploring skilled hands from the nineteenth century to the present day. Thank you to everyone who joined and we’re looking forward to continuing the conversation at our next workshop at @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social!

Ornate quilt featuring a central star, surrounded by floral and bird patterns. Various colors and shapes create a vibrant, intricate design.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

🤝 AI is back in the headlines and still can’t get hands right. In this month’s blog, our Research Associate Helen Victoria Murray looks at Glasgow’s arts community response to a proposed AI-generated mural. Read the full blog to explore the debate: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/ai-s...

A mural featuring a man in overalls and a cap, gesturing with his hands. Surrounding him are a train, eagle, highland cows, stag, wind turbines, and castles, set against a blue sky.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

We are delighted to invite you to take part in The Work of Mending workshops with @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social at The Royal College of Surgeons of England! This series of creative workshops explores the meaning of hands and handwork, past and present. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-work-...

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

🎥 In Robert Wiene’s The Hands of Orlac (1924), hands are the protagonists. After a train accident, a pianist receives transplanted hands from a murderer, which seem disturbingly autonomous and reflect early twentieth-century anxieties about prosthetics, fingerprinting, and modern medicine.

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Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

We're so excited about these workshops. Stay tuned for more news soon about dates.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

We are delighted to be partnering with @hunterianmuseum.bsky.social at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in our research on hands, craft and haptic skill in the nineteenth century! Stay tuned for news about our collaboration and how to get involved!

Black and white image showing a person helping another put on a glove. The glove is open, filled with water, as one hand slides in.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

We’re delighted to announce the first workshops in our Work of Mending series, in partnership with The Quilters’ Guild. These hands-on, research-led workshops explore what hands do and what they mean in historical and contemporary handwork. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-work-...

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Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

@victorianhand.bsky.social is running a series of workshops exploring our hands as agents of making & mending in collaboration with the Quilters' Guild & @collegeofsurgeons.bsky.social. You can sign up for the QG workshops here with dates for the RCS to follow: www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-work-...

eventbrite.com

The Work of Mending

The Work of Mending is a series of research-led, hands-on workshops exploring what hands do and what they mean across histories of making, repairing and caring.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

🙌 Two weeks on from The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment and Identity conference, we reflect on the stimulating contributions of scholars, artists and makers who explored the hand across historical, cultural and creative contexts. Read our latest blog here: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/conf...

A patchwork quilt features vintage, monochrome portraits of women, accented with embroidery. A blue fabric piece and beige, circular embroidery are in progress. Emotive and historical feel

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

A huge thank you to all our delegates for joining The Hand: Emotion, Embodiment, Identity! Your ideas, questions and conversations made the conference such a rewarding and inspiring event. We are grateful to everyone who contributed and helped make it a success 🤝

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

✋ This 1845 daguerreotype captured the branded hand of Jonathan Walker - marked ‘SS’ for ‘slave stealer’ after he tried to help enslaved people escape Florida. Intended as punishment, it became an abolitionist symbol, though his story often overshadowed those of the enslaved people he sought to aid.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

⚔️ Götz von Berlichingen lost his hand to a cannonball in 1504 and commissioned an iron prosthesis with hinged, lockable fingers for use in battle. He later adopted a more advanced model - one of the earliest functioning mechanical prosthetic hands - which he used across his military career.

A vintage prosthetic arm lies on a textured surface. The metal hand, detailed with joints, is palm-facing up. A strap extends from the arm's base. Historic, mechanical.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

🌎 What happens when a travel writer navigates the world through touch? This month’s blog explores the journeys of James Holman, the self-described ‘Blind Traveller’, and how his haptic encounters challenged the visual conventions of travel writing. www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/the-...

Portrait engraving of a man seated, holding a pencil and notebook. He wears a suit with a high collar and has sideburns. In the background is a framed painting of a ship at sea.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

In 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered mysterious ‘X-rays’. His image of his wife’s hand - bones and wedding ring visible - captivated Europe. X-rays transformed medicine, revealing the body’s interior without surgery. Early radiologists paid a price, as missing hands became a mark of the work.

A faint image of the bones inside a hand with a wedding ring. The picture is framed with green card with the title 'Hand mit Ringen [Hand with Ring]' and stamped by Wurzburg University.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

🧵 We are delighted to be partnering with The Quilters’ Guild! The Guild aims to give quilt-making the status it deserves as a craft and an art and its Quilt Collection preserves our patchwork and quilting heritage. Stay tuned for more information about our collaboration and how to get involved!

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

We were thrilled to welcome Professor Alison Bashford to @globalaffairslu.bsky.social yesterday to discuss her new @uchicagopress.bsky.social book, Decoding the Hand. Thank you to everyone who came along to hear insights into the entangled histories of science, medicine and magic!

Professor Bashord is standing in front of a screen displaying an image of the inked palm print of a gorilla, taken in London Zoo in 1936. The print shows the creases and lines of the palm.

Professor Bashford takes a question from the audience during the Q&A. Behind her, the slide shows a book titled The Psychonomy of the Hand.

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Katie McDonough @kmcdono.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Lovely to be at Alison Bashford’s talk @lancasteruni.bsky.social as a part of the @victorianhand.bsky.social project.

Photo of Alison Bashford starting lecture on her book Decoding the Hand

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The University of Chicago Press @uchicagopress.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

#Lancaster! Join Alison Bashford tonight, Nov 12 at 5pm, @globalaffairslu.bsky.social (with @victorianhand.bsky.social) as she discusses her new book, Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic. #HistSTM #HSTM #HistSci #BookTour #Palmistry buff.ly/jsJZ7Kp

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

✊ From the late 19th century, socialist movements adopted the raised fist as a symbol of unity and strength. One of the first depictions was by Hungarian artist Mihály Biró in 1912. His image of a fist emerging from factories toward parliament in Budapest visualised the power of collective action.

A red fist, representing collective power, emerging from a crowd of workers waving the red flag.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

General registration is now open for our upcoming conference The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment and Identity at London College of Fashion, 8-9 January! Visit our website to register: www.thevictorianhand.uk/conference

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

This month’s suitably spooky blog post is from our Research Associate, who has been speaking with the dead in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research! Read here: www.thevictorianhand.uk/gallery/spir...

Black and white photo of a man sitting on a chair with prosthetic arms stroking his head and arms.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

We are delighted to announce that the plenary speakers for our upcoming conference are Dr Sarah Jackson, Professor Peter J. Capuano and Caroline Seymour! Visit our website for more information: www.thevictorianhand.uk/conference

A black and white poster with photographs of hands in motion on the right hand side.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

In colonial India, William Herschel introduced fingerprinting in the 1850s to authenticate identity on legal documents. Influenced by colonial ideologies, his experiments laid the foundations for modern forensic identification, codifying the hand as a scientific marker of identity. #handoftheweek

A palm print at the top of a document, with the whirls and lines of the palm and fingerprints clearly visible.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

We’re launching our #handoftheweek series! This week is Dr Hippolyte Baraduc, who tried to photograph the human soul via 'the most perfect organ after the brain', the hand. Baraduc’s photos blend science and occult, showing how hands were seen as windows onto the inner self in the 19th century.

A photograph in the negative of a handprint with caterpillar-like bristles emanating from the fingers and palm, supposedly showing the human soul.

A fuzzy picture of a palm print, with what looks like white clouds apparently showing the human soul.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

How might hands reveal an inner self – a soul, a character, an identity? Join us on 12 November at Lancaster University to explore this question with Professor Alison Bashford (University of New South Wales) as she presents her book, Decoding the Hand. Tickets: thevictorianhand.uk/alison-bashf...

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

We are pleased to annouce that Dr Ross Cameron @rosscmrn.bsky.social has joined The Victorian Hand team as a Public Engagement Fellow at @lcflondon.bsky.social! Watch this space for upcoming annoucements about public engagement activities and ways to get involved with The Victorian Hand.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Time feels tangible in these casts... Over on the Victorian Hand project blog, our Research Associate @helenvmurray.bsky.social reflects on her trip to Watts Gallery to research their extensive collection of plaster cast hands.. www.thevictorianhand.uk/blog-touchin...

A plaster cast of the hands of GF Watts, one folded over the other.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

🙋Don't forget! The call for abstracts for our conference on The Hand closes at midnight tonight! All abstracts should be sent to victorianhand@fashionarts.ac.uk We can't wait to go through all the incredible submissions we've received, so we can hand-craft a fantastic programme. Watch this space!

A 2 page spread from a Victorian drawing manual, showing hands, pointing in opposite directions. Text reads: "Last day to submit! The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity, an Interdisciplinary Conference. London College of Fashion, 8-9 January 2026"

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Touch transcends time... Last week, @helenvmurray.bsky.social was getting some haptic shivers whilst exploring spiritual hands in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. Meanwhile, we're levitating with excitement to receive your abstracts for The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity.

A hand holding open a nineteenth-century manuscript, laid on a bookrest. The manuscript has marbled endpapers, and a letter on the right-hand page referencing the Victorian medium D.D. Home.

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

3 weeks to go until the deadline for abstracts for our conference The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity (8-9 Jan 2026). Are you getting yours ready?✍ Send abstracts and bios to victorianhand@fashionarts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025. We can't wait to hear from you!

A sculpture maquette of a hand, photographed in close up. Text reads '3 weeks to go! CfP Deadline 22 Sept'

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

🙌Call for Papers🙌 We are excited to invite abstracts for an interdisciplinary conference on The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity, at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social on 8-9 Jan 2026 Send abstracts of 300 words to victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk by 22 Sep - please circulate among your networks!

Call for Papers. The Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, Identity. An Interdisciplinary Conference. 8-9 January, 2026
London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
Proposal Deadline: 22 September 2025

What do hands reveal about us?
We invite abstracts for papers of 15-20 minutes, for presentation at our 2-day interdisciplinary conference, part of The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, and Identity, Past and Present, supported by UKRI.

We welcome presentations from multi- and interdisciplinary research fields, including Critical Studies, Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and STEM.
We encourage proposals from artists, makers and performers.
Image includes an illustration of magnetism, a Victorian man sitting under 3 hands, 2 of whom have lines of magnetic power emanating onto his head and shoulders

Please send abstracts up to 300 words, and biographies up to 100 words to victorianhand@fashion.arts.ac.uk by 22 September 2025
Read the full call at thevictorianhand.uk/call-for-papers-the-hand

Image features the 3 logos of Lancaster University, UAL and UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council

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The Victorian Hand @victorianhand.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

New publication (not on hands, but on emotions and senses) from project leads @jbhist.bsky.social and @medhistoryman.bsky.social. It's completely Open Access and free for anyone to read.

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Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

We argue that the emotional sensorium of the RME cultivated positive 'prosthetic feelings' about the army & encouraged imaginative investiment in the figure of Tommy Atkins. We put embodied experiences at the heart of discussions about the rise of popular militarism in the age of New Imperialism.

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Michael Brown @medhistoryman.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

@jbhist.bsky.social & I are excited to see that our new article on the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 has been published Open Access by @ihr.bsky.social. This takes a sensory & emotions history approach to the topic of late Victorian popular militarism. academic.oup.com/histres/adva...

academic.oup.com

Exhibiting Tommy Atkins: senses, spectacle and military modernity in late Victorian Britain

Abstract. This article considers the conjunction of senses, emotions and objects in the Royal Military Exhibition of 1890 to deepen our understanding of po

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