Altruism is the act of doing something for someone else's benefit, with no benefit for the person conducting the act, popularly known as being 'unselfish'.The term was first employed by the French philosopher Comte, to signify devotion to others or to humanity; the opposite of selfishness or egoism.
Some argue that true altruism must be an act that not only benefits another person, but does so to the detriment of the person conducting the altruistic act. This self-sacrifice is of course contrary to the basic principles of survival, and as such many psychologists argue that no human act is ever truly altruistic, but is indeed self-serving.
A typical example cited is a parent risking their life to save their child. In this example the parent is actually serving their basic instinct to protect the genes which they have passed on and are being carried by the child. Similarly, an adult risking their life to save a stranger, it is argued, follows the same pattern. The human race developed from a small family and as such we all share some genes, the stranger is part of our family, albeit remotely, and we are simply acting - unconsciously - to save our own genes. Other apparently altruistic acts, such as being kind to someone, it is argued are done with a view to some future payback. The stranger may help us in the future, or may help someone else who helps someone until the kindness goes full circle and someone is kind to us. An act which hopes for a benefit for the perpetrator of the act, such as a future kindness being received, or securing a place in a holy after-life, is not altruistic, but selfish, no matter how kind it may be. Research Altruism
Annus luctus was the period formerly during which a widow was morally supposed to remain chaste. The reasoning went that should the woman remarry within nine months of the death of her husband, and a child was born, then the paternity of the child could be questionable. Research Annus Luctus
The ARCOS Raid was a three-day search of the All Russian Cooperative Society's premises in Moorgate, London by 200 police officers in 1927, forming the climax of an attempt by Assistant Commissioner Wyndham Child of Scotland Yard to outlaw the Communist Party of Great Britain. The raid was intended to prove the Trade Mission was involved in espionage by finding marked secret papers which were 'allowed' to go missing from the War Office. The search failed to find the missing War Office papers. Research ARCOS Raid
Baptism (from the Greek baptizo, from bapto, to immerse or dip), is a rite which is generally thought to have been usual with the Jews even before Christ, being administered to proselytes. From this baptism, however, that of St John the Baptist differed, because he baptized Jews also as a symbol of the necessity of perfect purification from sin. Christ himself never baptizedy, but directed his disciples to administer this rite to converts; and baptism, therefore, became a religious ceremony among Christians, taking rank as a sacrament with all sects which acknowledge sacraments.
In the primitive church the person to be baptized was dipped in a river or in a vessel, with the words which Christ had ordered, generally adopting a new name to further express the change. Sprinkling, or, as it was termed, clinic baptism, was used only in the case of the sick who could not leave their beds. The Greek Church and Eastern schismatics retained the custom of immersion; but the Western Church adopted or allowed the mode of baptism by pouring or sprinkling, since continued by most Protestants. This practice can be traced back certainly to the third century, before which its existence is disputed.
Since the Reformation there have been various Protestant sects called Baptists, holding that baptism should be administered only by immersion, and to those who can make a personal profession of faith. The Montanists in Africa baptized even the dead, and in Roman Catholic countries the practice of baptizing church-bells - a custom of tenth-century origin - continues to this day. Being an initiatory rite, baptism is only administered once to the same person. The Roman and Greek Catholics consecrate the water of baptism, but Protestants do not. The act of baptism is accompanied only with the formula that the person is baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but, among most Christians, it is preceded by a confession of faith made by the person to be baptized if an adult, and by his parents or sponsors if he be a child. The Roman Catholic form of baptism is far more elaborate than the Protestant. This church teaches that all persons not baptized are damned, even unbaptized infants are not admitted into heaven; but for those with whom the absence of baptism was the chief fault, even St. Augustine himself believed in a species of mitigated damnation. Protestants hold that though the neglect of the sacrament is a sin, yet the saving new birth may be found without the performance of the rite which symbolizes it. Naming the person baptized forms no essential part of the ceremony, but has become almost universal, probably from the ancient custom of renaming the catechumen. Research Baptism
Bar Mitzvah are Jewish celebrations connected with reaching the age of maturity and of legal and religious responsibility. A boy celebrates his
Bar Mitzvah when he is thirteen years and one day old, a girl (in non- orthodox communities) when she is twelve years and one day. The celebration involves the child reading a passage from the Torah or the Prophets in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and is then considered a full member of the congregation. Research Bar Mitzvah
A bastard is a child begotten and born out of wedlock; an illegitimate child. By the former civil and canon laws, and by the law of Scotland (as well as of some of the United States), a bastard became legitimate by the intermarriage of the parents at any future time. But by the former laws of England a child, to be legitimate, must at least be born after the lawful marriage; it did not require that the child should be begotten in wedlock, but it was indispensable that it should be born after marriage, no matter how short the time, the law presuming it to be the child of the husband. The only incapacity of a bastard in former law was that he cannot be heir or next of kin to any one save his own issue. In England the maintenance of a bastard in the first instance formerly devolved on the mother, while in Scotland it was a joint burden upon both parents. The mother was entitled to the custody of the child in preference to the father. By the 1980's the law had evolved and illegitimacy was irrelevant. Research Bastard
A changeling is a child substituted for another, usually at birth. There was formerly a belief that weak or peevish children were changelings, perhaps swapped by fairies or other evil spirits. Research Changeling
Churching of Women was a public thanksgiving after child-birth in the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, the latter having a special service in the Prayer Book. Research Churching of Women
Couvade is a custom prevalent in ancient as well as modern times among some of the aboriginal races in all parts of the world. After the birth of a child the father takes to bed, and receives the food and compliments usually given elsewhere to the mother. The custom was observed, according to Diodorus, among the Corsicans; and Strabo notices it among the Spanish Basques, by whom, as well as by the Gascons, it was still to some extent practised at the start of the 20th century. Travellers from Marco Polo downwards have met with a somewhat similar custom among the Chinese, the Dyaks of Borneo, the negroes, the aboriginal tribes of North and South America, etc. Research Couvade
Drowning means death by the air being prevented entering the lungs owing to the month and nostrils being immersed in a liquid, the liquid being commonly water. Death may, therefore, occur by drowning in a small quantity of water. Thus a child may fall head downwards into a tub and be drowned, though the tub is not half full of water, sufficient to cover the mouth and nostrils being all that is necessary, and an adult overcome by a fit or by drunkenness may fall on a road with their head in a ditch or pool of water, and drown. Death is thus due to suffocation, to the stoppage of breathing, and to the entrance of water into the lungs. When death has been caused by drowning, the skin presents the appearance called goose-skin (cutis anserina), the face and surface of the body generally are usually pale, a frothy liquid is found in the lungs and air-passages, and about the lips and nostrils; water may be found in the stomach, and clenched fingers, holding substances grasped at, may serve to show that a struggle has taken place in the water, and that the body was alive at the time of immersion.
Drowning was formerly a mode of capital punishment in Europe. The last person executed by drowning in Scotland was executed in 1685. In Ireland there was an execution by drowning so lately as 1777. Research Drowning
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Altruism
