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The relation between religion and science is an issue central to any civilization or culture. Although the problem may not always be posed as an opposition religion VERSUS science religious inspiration and intellectual drive are central forces in the advancement of human val ues. Professor Nallino has demonstrated in his extensive studies of the scientific culture of medieval Islamic lands the historiographical vistas that can be opened up in this inquiry. His studies of geography and as tronomy/astrology have inspired us to push further our examination of the field of astrological science and practice, and to investigate its connection with the Islamic spiritual world.

The effect of some plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on greenhouse tomato fruit yields was determined during a spring and a fall production. The bacteria were inoculated into commercial peat-based substrates. In the spring crop, the bacterial strains tested increased the marketable and Grade No. 1 fruit yields between 5.6 and 9.6% but these results were not statistically significant. None of the bacteria affected significantly the fruit size in this experiment. On the other hand, in the fall experiment where the plants were grown under suboptimal environmental conditions, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain 63-28 increased significantly the marketable fruit yield by 13.3% (P ⩽ 0.1) and Grade No. 1 fruit weight by 18.2% (P ⩽ 0.05). The average size of harvested fruits was also increased by 11.1% (P ⩽ 0.05) in this assay and the plants treated with strain 63-28 produced 12% of unmarketable fruits as compared to 23% for the control. These results show the potential to use PGPR in order to improve yields in greenhouse tomato crops.

Emergency department data are currently being used by several syndromic surveillance systems to identify outbreaks of natural or man-made illnesses, and preliminary results suggest that regular outbreaks might be detected earlier with such data than with traditional reporting. This article summarizes a retrospective study of 5 influenza seasons in Ottawa,Canada; time-series analysis was used to look for an association between consultation to the emergency department for influenzalike illness and the isolation of influenza virus in the community. The population studied included both children and adults consulting to 3 local hospitals. In 4 seasons, visits to the emergency department involving children younger than 5 years consulting mainly for fever and for respiratory symptoms peaked 1 to 4 weeks before the isolation of influenza virus in the community. If monitored regularly for the presence of key symptoms, pediatric hospitals might be efficient and cost-effective sentinels of influenza and of other infectious diseases.

L'opinion selon laquelle la poésie lyrique provençale, ou poésie des troubadours, serait née grâce aux afflux vivificateurs provenant de la Péninsule ibérique, n'est pas nouvelle. On la voit déjà poindre chez des Italiens du XVIe siècle. Barbieri, par exemple, qui écrivait vers 1570, songeait principalement à la rime chez les poètes romans qu'il croyait empruntée aux Arabes. L'étude de la question a fait beaucoup de chemin depuis. Si l'utilisation de la rime ne peut plus être considérée comme une caractéristique exclusive de la poésie arabe, il est par contre établi que les combinaisons spéciales de rimes utilisées par les troubadours dans leurs strophes et refrains proviennent, en plus ou moins droite ligne, des muwashshahas et zajjals andalous.

Tout historien qui s'intéresse, de nos jours, à la transmission du savoir arabe à l'Occident, au x n e siècle, se voit trop souvent mis en présence de la fameuse légende de 1' « École des traducteurs de Tolède », qui aurait été fondée, ou du moins protégée, favorisée, par l'archevêque Raymond, archevêque de Tolède de 1124 à 1151. La légende remonte vraisemblablement à l'érudit A. Jourdain, à l'admiration qu'il professe envers les traducteurs qui travaillèrent dans l'entourage de Raymond Certes, il existe dès le Moyen Age toute une tradition littéraire tendant à exalter le rôle de Tolède, postérieurement à sa reconquête, comme le centre européen de connaissances et d'activités scientifiques au contact de la culture arabe. Dès les XIIIeet XIVesiècles, certains auteurs décrivaient l'Espagne, principalement Tolède, comme la patrie de la nécromancie, du savoir exotique, même ésotérique.