In Charles Areskine’s Library, Karen Baston uses a detailed study of an eighteenth-century Scottish advocate’s private book collection to explore key themes in the Scottish Enlightenment including secularisation, modernisation, internationalisation, and the development of legal literature in Scotland. By exploring a surviving manuscript dated 1731that lists a Scottish lawyer’s library, Karen Baston demonstrates that the books Charles Areskine owned, used in practice, and read for pleasure embedded him in the intellectual culture that expanded in early eighteenth-century Scotland. Areskine and his fellow advocates emerged as scholarly and sociable gentlemen who led their nation. Lawyers were integral to and integrated with the Scottish society that allowed the Scottish Enlightenment to take root and flourish within Areskine’s lifetime.

Novel Plant Bioresources: Applications in Food, Medicine and Cosmetics serves as the definitive source of information on under-utilized plant species, and fills a key niche in our understanding of the relationship of human beings with under-utilized plants. By covering applications in food, medicine and cosmetics, the book has a broad appeal. In a climate of growing awareness about the perils of biodiversity loss, the world is witnessing an unprecedented interest in novel plants, which are increasingly prized for their potential use in aromas, dyes, foods, medicines and cosmetics. This book highlights these plants and their uses. After an introductory section which sets the scene with an overview of the historical and legislative importance of under-utilized plants, the main four parts of the book are dedicated to the diverse potential application of novel plant bioresources in Food, Medicine, Ethnoveterinary Medicine and Cosmetics. Examples and contributors are drawn from Africa, Europe, the USA and Asia. The economic, social, and cultural aspects of under-utilized plant species are addressed, and the book provides a much needed boost to the on-going effort to focus attention on under-utilized plant species and conservation initiatives. By focusing on novel plants and the agenda for sustainable utilization, Novel Plant Bioresources highlights key issues relevant to under-utilized plant genetic resources, and brings together international scholars on this important topic.

This book is devoted to scholarship in the field of self-directed learning in the 21st century, with specific reference to higher education. The target audience of the book includes scholars in the field of self-directed learning and higher education. The book contributes to the discourse on the quality of education in the 21st century and adds to the body of scholarship in terms of self-directed learning, and specifically its role in higher education. Although all the chapters in the book directly address self-directed learning, the different foci and viewpoints raised make the book a rich knowledge bank of work on self-directed learning.

By linking culture and tradition with socio-economic development, this book breaks new ground in the discourse on development. It highlights the differences between Euro-centric and African culture, where concepts such as capital accumulation, entrepreneurial attitudes and material wealth are not top priority. In doing so, it dispels popular myths, stereotypes and distortions, as well as discounting misleading accounts about major aspects of African culture and traditional practices.

This is the second volume in a series of monographs which are intended to promote information exchange and international harmonised standards for the quality control and use of herbal medicines. It contains scientific information on 30 selected plants, and each entry includes a pharmacopoeial summary for quality assurance purposes, information on its clinical application and sections on contraindications, pharmacology, safety issues, and dosage forms. It provides two cumulative indexes with entries in alphabetical order by plant name and according to the plant material of interest.