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Talk:Cryptozoology

Compress the article
We get it, cryptozoology is a pseudoscience. The article essentially has point after point repeating the same thing for 80% of it's length. I think compressing the article's reception and/or terminology and approach section should be done, it's a very bloated article. KanyeWestDropout (talk) 08:54, 14 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I agree, we do not need to keep saying it, once in the lede and a discussion in the body is enough. Slatersteven (talk) 12:20, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * It probably appears bloated and repetitive because so many of our WP:FRIND sources frame the topic as a pseudoscience when discussing various aspects of it. I think such framing, especially when it helps clarify context, is quite useful. - LuckyLouie (talk) 15:28, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I don't think they discuss various aspects Most say essentially the same thing (Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience) without anything really unique to add. Hill's and Card's sections have relevant and unique info. Prothero, Ward and Regal's section's don't add much besides repeating the "cryptozoology is a pseudoscience" line which is supported by 8+ citations KanyeWestDropout (talk) 19:43, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * The attributed statements are each quite different, and they help illustrate the overwhelming consensus among relevant experts that cryptozoology is a pseudoscience — something that a number of fringe-friendly editors have demanded text and citations for in the past. - LuckyLouie (talk) 21:05, 25 February 2023 (UTC)
 * We have citations, it seems like the bulking of the article was just done out of spite to those fringe-friendly editors and not because the article needs it KanyeWestDropout (talk) 01:02, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * But do we really need all those quotes when we have something like 10 cites for "There is a broad consensus among academics that cryptozoology is a pseudoscience"? Slatersteven (talk) 10:46, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Might be helpful to hear what others think, so tagged at FTN. - LuckyLouie (talk) 15:12, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * If anything, we need more discussion of this topic, not less. Almost everything about the history of this subculture—from its foundation to its continued existence in internet corners—centers around its opposition to mainstream science and mainstream academia. Here we discuss why and how it came into existence, and its continued fixation on presenting iself as a science to the general public. This is exactly what our reliable sources focus on and exactly what we cover here. :bloodofox: (talk) 17:57, 26 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Why? What else is there to say about Cryptozoology that isn't said multiple times in the article already? KanyeWestDropout (talk) 21:30, 28 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the organization could be improved, but the length does not look excessive to me. XOR'easter (talk) 17:46, 27 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Length of the whole article or length of sections? KanyeWestDropout (talk) 21:30, 28 February 2023 (UTC)

Add more to the criticism and pseudoscience section?
I feel like the majority of the first section is dedicated to criticism of the subject. Wouldn't that fit better under the criticism and pseudoscience section of the page? Especially the creationist/media organization ties KanyeWestDropout (talk) 13:03, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Articles for deletion/Great spider
For the interested. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:02, 29 August 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 1 September 2023
I would like to update the opening sentence in 1st paragraph: "Cryptozoology is the generally pseudoscience-following study" with "Cryptozoology is the controversial study" Nbk8zpe (talk) 13:44, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * THis will not get any traction, I think you need to make a very good case. Slatersteven (talk) 13:52, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the feedback. If I consider Popper's Falsification Principle as a way of demarcating science from non-science, then I can take a theory such as 'there exists a Loch Ness Monster' and call it scientific, if it can be be tested and conceivably proven false. With a depth of 788 feet (240 metres) and a length of about 23 miles (36 km), Loch Ness has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain, so it is an ongoing scientific search. So far this creature's existence not been proven to universal acceptance, however, this does not render cryptozoology false and thus pseudoscientific. Given numerous sightings from people over many years, the existence is what I would deem controversial, as those who claim to have seen the creature assert this as epistemologically true. If 'Nessy' were to be verifiably proven to exist and accepted by many people then cryptozoology is true. My point is that the choice of language here is not precise and seeks to denigrate an alternative viewpoint. Nbk8zpe (talk) 17:08, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Its does if RS say it does. Slatersteven (talk) 17:12, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Not sure I understand this reply. Can you kindly elaborate? What does "Its does is RS says it does" mean please? Nbk8zpe (talk) 21:37, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * If wp:rs say it is pseudoscience so do we. Slatersteven (talk) 11:47, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia operates via a consensus of editors who agree to adhere to a set of editorial policies. Internet debating skills do not apply here. The relevant policy in this case is WP:FRINGE. . - LuckyLouie (talk) 17:32, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I'd settle for fringe instead of controversial. I believe have a made a reasoned suggestion in good faith for my view to be considered, however I'm not sure this is being given any logical consideration for replacement of 'pseudoscience' with 'controversial' or even 'fringe'. I'm applying philosophy of science perspective here and science does not have uniform agreement on a theory to give it treatment as an alternative position. Nbk8zpe (talk) 21:42, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

 * Read Cryptozoology and pay special attention to the footnotes. This is how the encyclopedia's editorial policies work. We go by what high quality expert sources say rather than Talk page arguments by editors. - LuckyLouie (talk) 21:58, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. Cannolis (talk) 19:05, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Recent edits
I reverted these edits that added unsourced material and contradicted sourced material. Besides the obvious WP:PROFRINGE problems, language like "a generally pseudoscience following study" is quite WP:WEASELly. - LuckyLouie (talk) 14:33, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

 * I understand where you're coming from; however calling all of cryptozoology pseudoscience could be misleading. While I agree that the vast majority of it is, it isn't all folklorists. Snake Enthusiast (talk) 18:10, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Why? if a biologist discovers a new species its science, and will be published in academic journals. Slatersteven (talk) 18:12, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Now some edit warring happening, claiming changing this back would be going against Wikipedia's entire purpose - neutral factual information. WP:NPOV's relationship to WP:FRINGE is often misunderstood by new editors. See WP:NOTNEUTRAL. - LuckyLouie (talk) 18:25, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I see. I wasn't aware of Wiki's take on neutrality. Snake Enthusiast (talk) 18:30, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes... but that's not what I'm saying. Not every so-called 'cryptozoologist' is making up stories about random animals they saw in the woods that are probably black bears. Some are scientists; and a handful of organisms have been discovered by investigating a 'cryptid' (which I'm sure you know as you seem to haunt this page so often); without which these organisms would likely have remained hidden for years more. Snake Enthusiast (talk) 18:25, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * And when they are they cease to be cryptids, the point here is this is about the "random animals they saw in the woods that are probably black bears". Not actual biology. Slatersteven (talk) 18:29, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * But then you get into the whole mess of what a cryptid is and more warring. I'll leave the page as it is, but I still think that it is heavily biased towards skepticism and needs reworking in future. Snake Enthusiast (talk) 18:31, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Bottom line: we can't base Wikipedia text on personal opinions. That would be WP:OR. We go by what the majority of reliable independent sources say. - LuckyLouie (talk) 18:32, 4 September 2023 (UTC)
 * WP:YESBIAS. - LuckyLouie (talk) 18:33, 4 September 2023 (UTC)

New Hatnote: Distinguish?
Could someone please add a hatnote 'Distinguish|Cryptozoa' ? People can easily confuse the names "cryptozoology" and "cryptozoa" (undiscovered microscopic animals). I don't want to have to log in to edit the semi-protected page. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:45:403:ABC0:E50B:CCC2:4A45:5B72 (talk) 18:10, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

 * lider of grope krittozoologia kosmopoisk 176.65.112.181 (talk) 13:39, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
 * What? Slatersteven (talk) 13:43, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

spelling correction?
' a pseudoscientic extension of older belief in monsters and other similar entities from the folkloric record, yet with a "new, more scientific-sounding name: cryptids". '

- seems to read better with 'pseudoscientific' -

i'm not sure on this article how to suggest this possible correction ... Hirbey (talk) 18:21, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I am not seeing where the spelling error that needs correcting is. Slatersteven (talk) 18:25, 21 December 2023 (UTC)
 * pseudoscientic —> pseudoscientific. Done. Thank you, Hirbey. Bishonen | tålk 18:29, 21 December 2023 (UTC).
 * Really could not see it. Now I do, sorry. Slatersteven (talk) 18:55, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

Dendle
Dendle (2006) seems to have been quote mined. In the same "Folklore" article quoted, he also says "The point of this paper is not to disparage the important work of cryptozoologists nor to imply that there is no legitimate place for cryptozoology within contemporary zoology. The International Society of Cryptozo from 1982 to 1998), for instance, published sound research and reflection in its newsletter and in a refereed journal." For balance should we not include this as well? The implication in wiki article that he thinks it is all pseudoscience that clearly is not his position. 193.130.15.245 (talk) 11:12, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Quote mining indeed. Folklorist Dendle goes on to say: ...There are, of course, new species that remain to be discovered, and early reports of them will naturally appear folkloric before a specimen is secured and the scientific community can verify it. My intention is rather to unpack certain facets of the social significance of the widespread interest and even belief in such creatures before they are confirmed by science. In keeping with his intention, Dendle is used in our article for his observations re the social significance and belief regarding cryptozoology, not to argue whether it, or anything else, is a pseudoscience. - LuckyLouie (talk) 12:59, 4 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cryptozoology


text:
Column

A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. The term column applies especially to a large round support (the shaft of the column) with a capital and a base or pedestal, which is made of stone, or appearing to be so. A small wooden or metal support is typically called a post. Supports with a rectangular or other non-round section are usually called piers.

For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces. Other compression members are often termed "columns" because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or ceilings rest. In architecture, "column" refers to such a structural element that also has certain proportional and decorative features. These beautiful columns are available in a broad selection of styles and designs in round tapered, round straight, or square shaft styles. A column might also be a decorative element not needed for structural purposes; many columns are engaged, that is to say form part of a wall. A long sequence of columns joined by an entablature is known as a colonnade.

Antiquity
All significant Iron Age civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean made some use of columns.

Egyptian
In ancient Egyptian architecture as early as 2600 BC, the architect Imhotep made use of stone columns whose surface was carved to reflect the organic form of bundled reeds, like papyrus, lotus and palm. In later Egyptian architecture faceted cylinders were also common. Their form is thought to derive from archaic reed-built shrines. Carved from stone, the columns were highly decorated with carved and painted hieroglyphs, texts, ritual imagery and natural motifs. Egyptian columns are famously present in the Great Hypostyle Hall of Karnak (c. 1224 BC), where 134 columns are lined up in sixteen rows, with some columns reaching heights of 24 metres.

One of the most important type are the papyriform columns. The origin of these columns goes back to the 5th Dynasty. They are composed of lotus (papyrus) stems which are drawn together into a bundle decorated with bands: the capital, instead of opening out into the shape of a bellflower, swells out and then narrows again like a flower in bud. The base, which tapers to take the shape of a half-sphere like the stem of the lotus, has a continuously recurring decoration of stipules.

Greek and Roman
The Minoans used whole tree-trunks, usually turned upside down in order to prevent re-growth, stood on a base set in the stylobate (floor base) and topped by a simple round capital. These were then painted as in the most famous Minoan palace of Knossos. The Minoans employed columns to create large open-plan spaces, light-wells and as a focal point for religious rituals.

These traditions were continued by the later Mycenaean civilization, particularly in the megaron or hall at the heart of their palaces. The importance of columns and their reference to palaces and therefore authority is evidenced in their use in heraldic motifs such as the famous lion-gate of Mycenae where two lions stand each side of a column. Being made of wood these early columns have not survived, but their stone bases have and through these we may see their use and arrangement in these palace buildings.

The Egyptians, Persians and other civilizations mostly used columns for the practical purpose of holding up the roof inside a building, preferring outside walls to be decorated with reliefs or painting, but the Ancient Greeks, followed by the Romans, loved to use them on the outside as well, and the extensive use of columns on the interior and exterior of buildings is one of the most characteristic features of classical architecture, in buildings like the Parthenon. The Greeks developed the classical orders of architecture, which are most easily distinguished by the form of the column and its various elements. Their Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders were expanded by the Romans to include the Tuscan and Composite orders.

Persian
Some of the most elaborate columns in the ancient world were those of the Persians, especially the massive stone columns erected in Persepolis. They included double-bull structures in their capitals. The Hall of Hundred Columns at Persepolis, measuring 70 × 70 metres, was built by the Achaemenid king Darius I (524–486 BC). Many of the ancient Persian columns are standing, some being more than 30 metres tall. Tall columns with bull's head capitals were used for porticoes and to support the roofs of the hypostylehall, partly inspired by the ancient Egyptian precedent. Since the columns carried timber beams rather than stone, they could be taller, slimmer and more widely spaced than Egyptian ones.

Middle Ages
Columns, or at least large structural exterior ones, became much less significant in the architecture of the Middle Ages. The classical forms were abandoned in both Byzantine and Romanesque architecture in favour of more flexible forms, with capitals often using various types of foliage decoration, and in the West scenes with figures carved in relief.

During the Romanesque period, builders continued to reuse and imitate ancient Roman columns wherever possible; where new, the emphasis was on elegance and beauty, as illustrated by twisted columns. Often they were decorated with mosaics.

Renaissance and later styles
Renaissance architecture was keen to revive the classical vocabulary and styles, and the informed use and variation of the classical orders remained fundamental to the training of architects throughout Baroque, Rococo and Neo-classical architecture.

Structure
Early columns were constructed of stone, some out of a single piece of stone. Monolithic columns are among the heaviest stones used in architecture. Other stone columns are created out of multiple sections of stone, mortared or dry-fit together. In many classical sites, sectioned columns were carved with a centre hole or depression so that they could be pegged together, using stone or metal pins. The design of most classical columns incorporates entasis (the inclusion of a slight outward curve in the sides) plus a reduction in diameter along the height of the column, so that the top is as little as 83% of the bottom diameter. This reduction mimics the parallax effects which the eye expects to see, and tends to make columns look taller and straighter than they are while entasis adds to that effect.

There are flutes and fillets that run up the shaft of columns. The flute is the part of the column that is indented in with a semi circular shape. The fillet of the column is the part between each of the flutes on the Ionic order columns. The flute width changes on all tapered columns as it goes up the shaft and stays the same on all non tapered columns. This was done to the columns to add visual interest to them. The Ionic and the Corinthian are the only orders that have fillets and flutes. The Doric style has flutes but not fillets. Doric flutes are connected at a sharp point where the fillets are located on Ionic and Corinthian order columns.

Nomenclature
Most classical columns arise from a basis, or base, that rests on the stylobate, or foundation, except for those of the Doric order, which usually rest directly on the stylobate. The basis may consist of several elements, beginning with a wide, square slab known as a plinth. The simplest bases consist of the plinth alone, sometimes separated from the column by a convex circular cushion known as a torus. More elaborate bases include two toruses, separated by a concave section or channel known as a scotia or trochilus. Scotiae could also occur in pairs, separated by a convex section called an astragal, or bead, narrower than a torus. Sometimes these sections were accompanied by still narrower convex sections, known as annulets or fillets.

At the top of the shaft is a capital, upon which the roof or other architectural elements rest. In the case of Doric columns, the capital usually consists of a round, tapering cushion, or echinus, supporting a square slab, known as an abax or abacus. Ionic capitals feature a pair of volutes, or scrolls, while Corinthian capitals are decorated with reliefs in the form of acanthus leaves. Either type of capital could be accompanied by the same moldings as the base. In the case of free-standing columns, the decorative elements atop the shaft are known as a finial.

Modern columns may be constructed out of steel, poured or precast concrete, or brick, left bare or clad in an architectural covering, or veneer. Used to support an arch, an impost, or pier, is the topmost member of a column. The bottom-most part of the arch, called the springing, rests on the impost.

Equilibrium, instability, and loads
As the axial load on a perfectly straight slender column with elastic material properties is increased in magnitude, this ideal column passes through three states: stable equilibrium, neutral equilibrium, and instability. The straight column under load is in stable equilibrium if a lateral force, applied between the two ends of the column, produces a small lateral deflection which disappears and the column returns to its straight form when the lateral force is removed. If the column load is gradually increased, a condition is reached in which the straight form of equilibrium becomes so-called neutral equilibrium, and a small lateral force will produce a deflection that does not disappear and the column remains in this slightly bent form when the lateral force is removed. The load at which neutral equilibrium of a column is reached is called the critical or buckling load. The state of instability is reached when a slight increase of the column load causes uncontrollably growing lateral deflections leading to complete collapse.

For an axially loaded straight column with any end support conditions, the equation of static equilibrium, in the form of a differential equation, can be solved for the deflected shape and critical load of the column. With hinged, fixed or free end support conditions the deflected shape in neutral equilibrium of an initially straight column with uniform cross section throughout its length always follows a partial or composite sinusoidal curve shape, and the critical load is given by

$$f_{cr}\equiv\frac{\pi^2\textit{E}I_{min}}{{L}^2}\qquad (1)$$

where E = elastic modulus of the material, Imin = the minimal moment of inertia of the cross section, and L = actual length of the column between its two end supports. A variant of (1) is given by

$$f_{cr}\equiv\frac{\pi^{2}E_T}{(\frac{KL}{r})^{2}}\qquad (2)$$

where r = radius of gyration of column cross-section which is equal to the square root of (I/A), K = ratio of the longest half sine wave to the actual column length, Et = tangent modulus at the stress Fcr, and KL = effective length (length of an equivalent hinged-hinged column). From Equation (2) it can be noted that the buckling strength of a column is inversely proportional to the square of its length.

When the critical stress, Fcr (Fcr =Pcr/A, where A = cross-sectional area of the column), is greater than the proportional limit of the material, the column is experiencing inelastic buckling. Since at this stress the slope of the material's stress-strain curve, Et (called the tangent modulus), is smaller than that below the proportional limit, the critical load at inelastic buckling is reduced. More complex formulas and procedures apply for such cases, but in its simplest form the critical buckling load formula is given as Equation (3),

$$f_{cr}\equiv{F_y}-\frac{F^{2}_{y}}{4\pi^{2}E}\left(\frac{KL}{r^2}\right)\qquad (3)$$

A column with a cross section that lacks symmetry may suffer torsional buckling (sudden twisting) before, or in combination with, lateral buckling. The presence of the twisting deformations renders both theoretical analyses and practical designs rather complex.

Eccentricity of the load, or imperfections such as initial crookedness, decreases column strength. If the axial load on the column is not concentric, that is, its line of action is not precisely coincident with the centroidal axis of the column, the column is characterized as eccentrically loaded. The eccentricity of the load, or an initial curvature, subjects the column to immediate bending. The increased stresses due to the combined axial-plus-flexural stresses result in a reduced load-carrying ability.

Column elements are considered to be massive if their smallest side dimension is equal to or more than 400 mm. Massive columns have the ability to increase in carrying strength over long time periods (even during periods of heavy load). Taking into account the fact, that possible structural loads may increase over time as well (and also the threat of progressive failure), massive columns have an advantage compared to non-massive ones.

Extensions
When a column is too long to be built or transported in one piece, it has to be extended or spliced at the construction site. A reinforced concrete column is extended by having the steel reinforcing bars protrude a few inches or feet above the top of the concrete, then placing the next level of reinforcing bars to overlap, and pouring the concrete of the next level. A steel column is extended by welding or bolting splice plates on the flanges and webs or walls of the columns to provide a few inches or feet of load transfer from the upper to the lower column section. A timber column is usually extended by the use of a steel tube or wrapped-around sheet-metal plate bolted onto the two connecting timber sections.

Foundations
A column that carries the load down to a foundation must have means to transfer the load without overstressing the foundation material. Reinforced concrete and masonry columns are generally built directly on top of concrete foundations. When seated on a concrete foundation, a steel column must have a base plate to spread the load over a larger area, and thereby reduce the bearing pressure. The base plate is a thick, rectangular steel plate usually welded to the bottom end of the column.

Orders
The Roman author Vitruvius, relying on the writings (now lost) of Greek authors, tells us that the ancient Greeks believed that their Doric order developed from techniques for building in wood. The earlier smoothed tree-trunk was replaced by a stone cylinder.

Doric order
The Doric order is the oldest and simplest of the classical orders. It is composed of a vertical cylinder that is wider at the bottom. It generally has neither a base nor a detailed capital. It is instead often topped with an inverted frustum of a shallow cone or a cylindrical band of carvings. It is often referred to as the masculine order because it is represented in the bottom level of the Colosseum and the Parthenon, and was therefore considered to be able to hold more weight. The height-to-thickness ratio is about 8:1. The shaft of a Doric Column is almost always fluted.

The Greek Doric, developed in the western Dorian region of Greece, is the heaviest and most massive of the orders. It rises from the stylobate without any base; it is from four to six times as tall as its diameter; it has twenty broad flutes; the capital consists simply of a banded necking swelling out into a smooth echinus, which carries a flat square abacus; the Doric entablature is also the heaviest, being about one-fourth the height column. The Greek Doric order was not used after c. 100 B.C. until its “rediscovery” in the mid-eighteenth century.

Tuscan order
The Tuscan order, also known as Roman Doric, is also a simple design, the base and capital both being series of cylindrical disks of alternating diameter. The shaft is almost never fluted. The proportions vary, but are generally similar to Doric columns. Height to width ratio is about 7:1.

Ionic order
The Ionic column is considerably more complex than the Doric or Tuscan. It usually has a base and the shaft is often fluted (it has grooves carved up its length). The capital features a volute, an ornament shaped like a scroll, at the four corners. The height-to-thickness ratio is around 9:1. Due to the more refined proportions and scroll capitals, the Ionic column is sometimes associated with academic buildings. Ionic style columns were used on the second level of the Colosseum.

Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is named for the Greek city-state of Corinth, to which it was connected in the period. However, according to the architectural historian Vitruvius, the column was created by the sculptor Callimachus, probably an Athenian, who drew acanthus leaves growing around a votive basket. In fact, the oldest known Corinthian capital was found in Bassae, dated at 427 BC. It is sometimes called the feminine order because it is on the top level of the Colosseum and holding up the least weight, and also has the slenderest ratio of thickness to height. Height to width ratio is about 10:1.

Composite order
The Composite order draws its name from the capital being a composite of the Ionic and Corinthian capitals. The acanthus of the Corinthian column already has a scroll-like element, so the distinction is sometimes subtle. Generally the Composite is similar to the Corinthian in proportion and employment, often in the upper tiers of colonnades. Height to width ratio is about 11:1 or 12:1.

Solomonic
A Solomonic column, sometimes called "barley sugar", begins on a base and ends in a capital, which may be of any order, but the shaft twists in a tight spiral, producing a dramatic, serpentine effect of movement. Solomonic columns were developed in the ancient world, but remained rare there. A famous marble set, probably 2nd century, was brought to Old St. Peter's Basilica by Constantine I, and placed round the saint's shrine, and was thus familiar throughout the Middle Ages, by which time they were thought to have been removed from the Temple of Jerusalem. The style was used in bronze by Bernini for his spectacular St. Peter's baldachin, actually a ciborium (which displaced Constantine's columns), and thereafter became very popular with Baroque and Rococo church architects, above all in Latin America, where they were very often used, especially on a small scale, as they are easy to produce in wood by turning on a lathe (hence also the style's popularity for spindles on furniture and stairs).

Caryatid
A Caryatid is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese.

Engaged columns
In architecture, an engaged column is a column embedded in a wall and partly projecting from the surface of the wall, sometimes defined as semi or three-quarter detached. Engaged columns are rarely found in classical Greek architecture, and then only in exceptional cases, but in Roman architecture they exist in abundance, most commonly embedded in the cella walls of pseudoperipteral buildings.

Pillar tombs
Pillar tombs are monumental graves, which typically feature a single, prominent pillar or column, often made of stone. A number of world cultures incorporated pillars into tomb structures. In the ancient Greek colony of Lycia in Anatolia, one of these edifices is located at the tomb of Xanthos. In the town of Hannassa in southern Somalia, ruins of houses with archways and courtyards have also been found along with other pillar tombs, including a rare octagonal tomb.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Column


text:
Carmilla

Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 25 years. First published as a serial in The Dark Blue (1871–72), the story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla, later revealed to be Mircalla, Countess Karnstein. The character is a prototypical example of the lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist. The story is often anthologised, and has been adapted many times in film and other media.

Publication
Carmilla, serialised in the literary magazine The Dark Blue in late 1871 and early 1872, was reprinted in Le Fanu's short-story collection In a Glass Darkly (1872). Comparing the work of two illustrators of the story, David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald—whose work appears in the magazine article but not in modern printings of the book—reveals inconsistencies in the characters' depictions. Consequently, confusion has arisen relating the pictures to the plot. Isabella Mazzanti illustrated the book's 2014 edition, published by Editions Soleil and translated by Gaid Girard.

Plot summary
Le Fanu presents the story as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult detective in literature.

Laura, the teenaged protagonist, narrates, beginning with her childhood in a "picturesque and solitary" castle amid an extensive forest in Styria, where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower retired from service to the Austrian Empire. When she was six, Laura had a vision of a very beautiful visitor in her bedchamber. She later claims to have been punctured in her breast, although no wound was found. All the household assure Laura that it was just a dream, but they step up security as well and there is no subsequent vision or visitation.

Twelve years later, Laura and her father are admiring the sunset in front of the castle when her father tells her of a letter from his friend, General Spielsdorf. The General was supposed to visit them with his niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt, but Bertha suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. The General ambiguously concludes that he will discuss the circumstances in detail when they meet later.

Laura, saddened by the loss of a potential friend, longs for a companion. A carriage accident outside Laura's home unexpectedly brings a girl of Laura's age into the family's care. Her name is Carmilla. Both girls instantly recognise each other from the "dream" they both had when they were young.

Carmilla appears injured after her carriage accident, but her mysterious mother informs Laura's father that her journey is urgent and cannot be delayed. She arranges to leave her daughter with Laura and her father until she can return in three months. Before she leaves, she sternly notes that her daughter will not disclose any information whatsoever about her family, her past, or herself, and that Carmilla is of sound mind. Laura comments that this information seems needless to say, and her father laughs it off.

Carmilla and Laura grow to be very close friends, but occasionally Carmilla's mood abruptly changes. She sometimes makes romantic advances towards Laura. Carmilla refuses to tell anything about herself, despite questioning by Laura. Her secrecy is not the only mysterious thing about Carmilla; she never joins the household in its prayers, she sleeps much of the day, and she seems to sleepwalk outside at night.

Meanwhile, young women and girls in the nearby towns have begun dying from an unknown malady. When the funeral procession of one such victim passes by the two girls, Laura joins in the funeral hymn. Carmilla bursts out in rage and scolds Laura, complaining that the hymn hurts her ears.

When a shipment of restored heirloom paintings arrives, Laura finds a portrait of her ancestor, Mircalla, Countess Karnstein, dated 1698. The portrait resembles Carmilla exactly, down to the mole on her neck. Carmilla suggests that she might be descended from the Karnsteins, though the family died out centuries before.

During Carmilla's stay, Laura has nightmares of a large, cat-like beast entering her room. The beast springs onto the bed and Laura feels something like two needles, an inch or two apart, darting deep into her breast. The beast then takes the form of a female figure and disappears through the door without opening it. In another nightmare, Laura hears a voice say, "Your mother warns you to beware of the assassin," and a sudden light reveals Carmilla standing at the foot of her bed, her nightdress drenched in blood. Laura's health declines, and her father has a doctor examine her. He finds a small, blue spot, an inch or two below her collar, where the creature in her dream bit her, and speaks privately with her father, only asking that Laura never be unattended.

Her father sets out with Laura, in a carriage, for the ruined village of Karnstein, three miles distant. They leave a message behind asking Carmilla and one of the governesses to follow once the perpetually late-sleeping Carmilla awakes. En route to Karnstein, Laura and her father encounter General Spielsdorf. He tells them his own ghastly story.

At a costume ball, Spielsdorf and his niece Bertha had met a very beautiful young woman named Millarca and her enigmatic mother. Bertha was immediately taken with Millarca. The mother convinced the General that she was an old friend of his and asked that Millarca be allowed to stay with them for three weeks while she attended to a secret matter of great importance.

Bertha fell mysteriously ill, suffering the same symptoms as Laura. After consulting with a specially ordered priestly doctor, the General realised that Bertha was being visited by a vampire. He hid with a sword and waited until a large, black creature of undefined shape crawled onto his niece's bed and spread itself onto her throat. He leapt from his hiding place and attacked the creature, which had then taken the form of Millarca. She fled through the locked door, unharmed. Bertha died before the morning dawned.

Upon arriving at Karnstein, the General asks a woodman where he can find the tomb of Mircalla Karnstein. The woodman says the tomb was relocated long ago by a Moravian nobleman who vanquished the vampires haunting the region.

While the General and Laura are alone in the ruined chapel, Carmilla appears. The General and Carmilla both fly into a rage upon seeing each other, and the General attacks her with an axe. Carmilla disarms the General and disappears. The General explains that Carmilla is also Millarca, both anagrams for the original name of the vampire Mircalla, Countess Karnstein.

The party is joined by Baron Vordenburg, the descendant of the hero who rid the area of vampires long ago. Vordenburg, an authority on vampires, has discovered that his ancestor was romantically involved with the Countess Karnstein before she died. Using his forefather's notes, he locates Mircalla's hidden tomb. An imperial commission exhumes the body of Mircalla. Immersed in blood, it seems to be breathing faintly, its heart beating, its eyes open. A stake is driven through its heart, and it gives a corresponding shriek; then, the head is struck off. The body and head are burned to ashes, which are thrown into a river.

Afterwards, Laura's father takes his daughter on a year-long tour through Italy to regain her health and recover from the trauma, but she never fully does.

Motifs
“Carmilla” exhibits the primary characteristics of Gothic fiction. It includes a supernatural figure, a dark setting of an old castle, a mysterious atmosphere, and ominous or superstitious elements.

In the novella, Le Fanu abolishes the Victorian view of women as merely useful possessions of men, relying on them and needing their constant guardianship. The male characters of the story, such as Laura's father and General Spielsdorf, are exposed as being the opposite of the putative Victorian males – helpless and unproductive. The nameless father reaches an agreement with Carmilla's mother, whereas Spielsdorf cannot control the faith of his niece, Bertha. Both of these scenes portray women as equal, if not superior to men. This female empowerment is even more threatening to men if we consider Carmilla's vampiric predecessors and their relationship with their prey. Carmilla is the opposite of those male vampires – she is actually involved with her victims both emotionally and (theoretically) sexually. Moreover, she is able to exceed even more limitations by dominating death. In the end, her immortality is suggested to be sustained by the river where her ashes had been scattered.

Le Fanu also departs from the negative idea of female parasitism and lesbianism by depicting a mutual and irresistible connection between Carmilla and Laura. The latter, along with other female characters, becomes a symbol of all Victorian women – restrained and judged for their emotional reflexes. The ambiguity of Laura's speech and behaviour reveals her struggles with being fully expressive of her concerns and desires.

Another important element of “Carmilla” is the concept of dualism presented through the juxtaposition of vampire and human, as well as lesbian and heterosexual. It is also vivid in Laura's irresolution, since she "feels both attraction and repulsion" towards Carmilla. The duality of Carmilla's character is suggested by her human attributes, the lack of predatory demeanour, and her shared experience with Laura. According to Gabriella Jönsson, Carmilla can be seen as a representation of the dark side of all mankind.

Influence
Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female and lesbian vampires. Although Le Fanu portrays his vampire's sexuality with the circumspection that one would expect for his time, lesbian attraction evidently is the main dynamic between Carmilla and the narrator of the story:

"Sometimes after an hour of apathy, my strange and beautiful companion would take my hand and hold it with a fond pressure, renewed again and again; blushing softly, gazing in my face with languid and burning eyes, and breathing so fast that her dress rose and fell with the tumultuous respiration. It was like the ardour of a lover; it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet overpowering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, 'You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever.' (Carmilla, Chapter 4)."

When compared to other literary vampires of the 19th century, Carmilla is a similar product of a culture with strict sexual mores and tangible religious fear. While Carmilla selected exclusively female victims, she only becomes emotionally involved with a few. Carmilla had nocturnal habits, but was not confined to the darkness. She had unearthly beauty, and was able to change her form and to pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego was a monstrous black cat, not a large dog as in Dracula. She did, however, sleep in a coffin. Carmilla works as a Gothic horror story because her victims are portrayed as succumbing to a perverse and unholy temptation that has severe metaphysical consequences for them.

Some critics, among them William Veeder, suggest that Carmilla, notably in its outlandish use of narrative frames, was an important influence on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (1898).

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Le Fanu's work has been noted as an influence on Bram Stoker's masterwork of the genre, Dracula:
 * Both stories are told in the first person. Dracula expands on the idea of a first person account by creating a series of journal entries and logs of different persons and creating a plausible background story for their having been compiled.
 * Both authors indulge the air of mystery, though Stoker takes it further than Le Fanu by allowing the characters to solve the enigma of the vampire along with the reader.
 * The descriptions of the title character in Carmilla and of Lucy in Dracula are similar. Additionally, both women sleepwalk.
 * Stoker's Dr. Abraham Van Helsing is similar to Le Fanu's vampire expert Baron Vordenburg: both characters investigate and catalyze actions in opposition to the vampire.
 * The symptoms described in Carmilla and Dracula are highly comparable.
 * Both the titular antagonists - Carmilla and Dracula, respectively, pretend to be the descendants of much older nobles bearing the same names, but are eventually revealed to have the same identities. However, with Dracula, this is left ambiguous. Although it is stated by Van Helsing (a character with a slightly-awkward grasp of the English language) that he "must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land", the next statement begins with "If it be so", thereby leaving a thin margin of ambiguity.
 * "Dracula's Guest", a short story by Stoker believed to have been a deleted prologue to Dracula, is also set in Styria, where an unnamed Englishman takes shelter in a mausoleum from a storm. There, he meets a female vampire, named Countess Dolingen von Gratz.

Books

 * The novella Carmilla and Laura by S.D. Simper is a reimagining of the original novella. In Carmilla and Laura, the two women develop a true romantic relationship.
 * The novel Carmilla: The Wolves of Styria is a re-imagining of the original story. It is a derivative re-working, listed as being authored by J.S. Le Fanu and David Brian.
 * Theodora Goss' 2018 novel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (the second in The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series) features a heroic Carmilla and her partner Laura Hollis aiding The Athena Club in their fight against Abraham Van Helsing. Tor.com's review of the novel states, "It’s utterly delightful to see Goss’s version of Carmilla and Laura, a practically married couple living happily in the Austrian countryside, and venturing forth to kick ass and take names."
 * Rachel Klein's 2002 novel The Moth Diaries features several excerpts from Carmilla, as the novel figures into the plot of Klein's story, and both deal with similar subject matter and themes. The book was adapted in a feature film in 2011 written and directed by Mary Harron.
 * Undead Girl Murder Farce is a Japanese light novel series by Yugo Aosaki that began publication in 2015. Many of the characters in the series are from 19th-century European literature. Carmilla is a recurring antagonist. This also has manga and anime adaptations.
 * An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson retells Carmilla in Massachusetts at a 1960s college.

Comics

 * In 1991, Aircel Comics published a six-issue black and white miniseries of Carmilla by Steven Jones and John Ross. It was based on Le Fanu's story and billed as "The Erotic Horror Classic of Female Vampirism". The first issue was printed in February 1991. The first three issues adapted the original story, while the latter three were a sequel set in the 1930s.
 * In March 2021, Warrant Publishing Company launched a nationally distributed newsstand magazine titled Vampiress Carmilla which is a bi-monthly black and white illustrated horror comic anthology hosted by the character "Vampiress Carmilla" who introduces each individual horror tale, in the style of the early 1950's E.C. Comics horror hosts.
 * In 2023, Dark Horse Comics's Berger Books imprint published Carmilla: The First Vampire written by Amy Chu with art by Soo Lee and set in 1990s New York City. Snippets from the original story are used as the main character consults the original story while investigating a series of murders. The collected edition went on to win the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Film

 * Danish director Carl Dreyer loosely adapted Carmilla for his film Vampyr (1932) but deleted any references to lesbian sexuality. The credits of the original film say that the film is based on In a Glass Darkly. This collection contains five tales, one of which is Carmilla. Actually the film draws its central character, Allan Gray, from Le Fanu's Dr. Hesselius; and the scene in which Gray is buried alive is drawn from "The Room in the Dragon Volant".
 * Dracula's Daughter (1936), Universal Pictures' sequel to 1931 Dracula film, was loosely based on Carmilla.
 * French director Roger Vadim's Et mourir de plaisir (shown in the UK and US as Blood and Roses, 1960) is based on Carmilla. The Vadim film thoroughly explores the lesbian implications behind Carmilla's selection of victims, and boasts cinematography by Claude Renoir. The film's lesbian eroticism was, however, significantly cut for its US release. Annette Stroyberg, Elsa Martinelli and Mel Ferrer star in the film.
 * A more-or-less faithful adaptation starring Christopher Lee was produced in Italy in 1963 under the title La cripta e l'incubo (Crypt of the Vampire in English). The character of Laura, played by Adriana Ambesi, fears herself possessed by the spirit of a dead ancestor, played by Ursula Davis (also known as Pier Anna Quaglia).
 * The Vampire Lovers (1970), the first of film in The Karnstein Trilogy was based on the novel and featured Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla.
 * The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) (La novia ensangrentada) is a 1972 Spanish horror film written and directed by Vicente Aranda, is based on the text. The film has reached cult status for its mix of horror, vampirism and seduction with lesbian overtones. British actress Alexandra Bastedo plays Mircalla Karnstein, and Maribel Martín is her victim.
 * The 2000 Japanese anime film Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust features Carmilla "the Bloody Countess" as its primary antagonist. Having been slain by Dracula for her vain and gluttonous tyranny, Carmilla's ghost attempts to use the blood of a virgin to bring about her own resurrection. She was voiced by Julia Fletcher in English and Beverly Maeda in Japanese.
 * In the direct-to-video movie The Batman vs. Dracula (2005), Carmilla Karnstein is mentioned as Count Dracula's bride, who had been incinerated by sunlight years ago. Dracula hoped to revive her by sacrificing Vicki Vale's soul, but the ritual was stopped by the Batman.
 * Carmilla is featured as the main antagonist in the movie Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009), a comedy starring Paul McGann and James Corden, with Silvia Colloca as Carmilla.
 * The book is directly referenced several times in the 2011 film, The Moth Diaries, the film version of Rachel Klein's novel. There are conspicuous similarities between the characters in "Carmilla" and those in the film, and the book figures into the film's plot.
 * The Unwanted (2014) from writer/director Brent Wood relocates the story to the contemporary southern United States, with Hannah Fierman as Laura, Christen Orr as Carmilla, and Kylie Brown as Millarca.
 * The Curse of Styria (2014), alternately titled Angels of Darkness is an adaptation of the novel set in late 1980s with Julia Pietrucha as Carmilla and Eleanor Tomlinson as Lara.
 * In 2017 The Carmilla Movie, based on the 2015 web series of the same name was released. Directed by Spencer Maybee and produced by Steph Ouaknine, the movie follows up the web series 5 years after the finale.
 * Carmilla (2019), written and directed by Emily Harris, was inspired by the novella. Fifteen-year-old Lara (Hannah Rae) develops feelings for Carmilla (Devrim Lingnau), but her strict governess believes their strange houseguest is a vampire. Harris says she "stripped back" the supernatural layers to consider the story as a "derailed love story" and "a story about our tendency as humans to demonize the other".

Opera

 * A chamber opera version of Carmilla appeared in Carmilla: A Vampire Tale (1970), music by Ben Johnston, script by Wilford Leach. Seated on a sofa, Laura and Carmilla recount the story retrospectively in song.

Rock music

 * Jon English released a song named "Carmilla", inspired by the short story, on his 1980 album Calm Before the Storm.
 * The title track of the album Symphonies of the Night (2013), by the German/Norwegian band Leaves' Eyes, was inspired by Carmilla.
 * "Moonflower", a single released in April 2024 by the gothic metal band Blackbriar, featuring a duet between vocalist Zara Cock and singer-songwriter Marjana Semkina, is based on the novel. Cock said that Carmilla is "a timeless story that predates even the infamous Dracula".
 * "Empress ov Blood", a song by German symphonic deathcore band Ruins of Perception, is based on the novel.

Periodicals

 * A Japanese lesbian magazine is named after Carmilla, as Carmilla "draws hetero women into the world of love between women".

Radio

 * The Columbia Workshop presented an adaptation (CBS, July 28, 1940, 30 min.). Lucille Fletcher's script, directed by Earle McGill, relocated the story to contemporary New York state and allows Carmilla (Jeanette Nolan) to claim her victim Helen (Joan Tetzel).
 * In 1975, the CBS Radio Mystery Theater broadcast an adaptation by Ian Martin (CBS, July 31, 1975, rebroadcast December 10, 1975). Mercedes McCambridge played Laura Stanton, Marian Seldes played Carmilla.
 * Vincent Price hosted an adaptation (reset to 1922 Vienna) by Brainard Duffield, produced and directed by Fletcher Markle, on the Sears Radio Theater (CBS, March 7, 1979), with Antoinette Bower and Anne Gibbon.
 * BBC Radio 4 broadcast Don McCamphill's Afternoon Play dramatisation June 5, 2003, with Anne-Marie Duff as Laura, Brana Bajic as Carmilla and David Warner as Laura's father.

Stage

 * A German language adaptation of Carmilla by Friedhelm Schneidewind, from Studio-Theatre Saarbruecken, toured Germany and other European countries (including Romania) from April 1994 until 2000.
 * The Wildclaw Theater in Chicago performed a full-length adaptation of Carmilla by Aly Renee Amidei in January and February 2011.
 * Zombie Joe's Underground Theater Group in North Hollywood performed an hour-long adaptation of Carmilla, by David MacDowell Blue, in February and March 2014.
 * The David MacDowell Blue adaptation of Carmilla was performed by The Reedy Point Players of Delaware City in October 2016. This production was directed by Sean McGuire, produced by Gail Springer Wagner, assistant director Sarah Hammond, technical director Kevin Meinhaldt and technical execution by Aniela Meinhaldt. The performance featured Mariza Esperanza, Shamma Casson and Jada Bennett with appearances by Wade Finner, David Fullerton, Fran Lazartic, Nicole Peters Peirce, Gina Olkowski and Kevin Swed.

Television

 * In 1989, Gabrielle Beaumont directed Jonathan Furst's adaptation of Carmilla as an episode of the Showtime television series Nightmare Classics, featuring Meg Tilly as the vampire and Ione Skye as her victim Marie. Furst relocated the story to an American antebellum southern plantation.
 * "Carmilla" directed by Janusz Kondratiuk was a television spectacle aired on Polish Television Channel 1 on 13th November 1980.
 * Carmilla is a major antagonist in the Castlevania animated series, where she was first introduced in Season 2 as a secondary antagonist, acting as a sly and ambitious general on Dracula's War Council. Unlike her video-game counterpart, who is immensely faithful to her leader, Carmilla takes issue with Dracula's plan to kill off their only source of food and has designs to take Dracula's place and build her own army to subjugate humanity alongside her Council of Sisters, Lenore (inspired by Laura), Striga, and Morana. Her plans are bolstered by Dracula's death at the hands of his son, Alucard, and her kidnapping of the Devil Forgemaster, Hector. She is later personally confronted by Isaac, Dracula's other loyal Devil Forgemaster, when he and his Night Creature horde invade her castle in Styria to rescue Hector and put an end to her ambitions. After singlehandedly fighting him and his host of demons, she commits suicide in Season 4.

Web series

 * Carmilla is a web series on YouTube starring Natasha Negovanlis as Carmilla and Elise Bauman as Laura. First released on August 19, 2014, it is a comedic, modern adaptation of the novella which takes place at a modern-day university, where both girls are students. They become roommates after Laura's first roommate mysteriously disappears and Carmilla moves in, taking her place. The final episode of the web series was released on October 13, 2016. In 2017, a movie was made based on the series. The Carmilla Movie was initially released on October 26, 2017, to Canadian audiences through Cineplex theatres for one night only. A digital streaming version was also pre-released on October 26, 2017, for fans who had pre-ordered the film on VHX. The following day the movie enjoyed a wide release on streaming platform Fullscreen.

Video games

 * Carmilla is a recurring character in Castlevania, a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula, created and developed by Konami. Castlevania has also been expanded into comic books and an animated television series.
 * In the Japanese action game series Onechanbara, Carmilla is the matriarch of the Vampiric clan. She appears in the 2011 title Onechanbara Z ~ Kagura ~ as the manipulator & main antagonist of sister heroines Kagura and Saaya, first using them to attack her rivals before trying (and failing) to eliminate them as pawns.

title: Carmilla


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Clitoridectomy

Clitoridectomy or clitorectomy is the surgical removal, reduction, or partial removal of the clitoris. It is rarely used as a therapeutic medical procedure, such as when cancer has developed in or spread to the clitoris. Commonly, non-medical removal of the clitoris is performed during female genital mutilation.

Malignancies
A clitoridectomy is often done to remove malignancy or necrosis of the clitoris. This is sometimes done along with a radical complete vulvectomy. Surgery may also become necessary due to therapeutic radiation treatments to the pelvic area.

Removal of the clitoris may be due to malignancy or trauma.

Clitoromegaly and other conditions
Female infants born with a 46,XX genotype but have a clitoris size affected by congenital adrenal hyperplasia and are treated surgically with vaginoplasty that often reduces the size of the clitoris without its total removal. The atypical size of the clitoris is due to an endocrine imbalance in utero. Other reasons for the surgery include issues involving a microphallus and those who have Müllerian agenesis. Treatments on children raise human rights concerns.

Technique
Clitoridectomy surgical techniques are used to remove an invasive malignancy that extends to the clitoris. Standard surgical procedures are followed in these cases. This includes evaluation and biopsy. Other factors that will affect the technique selected are age, other existing medical conditions, and obesity. Other considerations are the probability of extended hospital care and the development of infection at the surgical site. The surgery proceeds with the use of general anesthesia, and prior to the vulvectomy/clitoridectomy an inguinal lymphadenectomy is first done. The extent of the surgical site extends one to two centimeters beyond the boundaries of malignancy. Superficial lymph nodes may also need to be removed. If the malignancy is present in muscular tissue in the region, it is also removed. In some cases, the surgeon is able to preserve the clitoris though the malignancy may be extensive. The cancerous tissue is removed and the incision is closed.

Post operative care may employ the use of suction drainage to allow the deeper tissues to heal toward the surface. Follow up after surgery includes the stripping of the drainage device to prevent blockage. A typical hospital stay can be up to two weeks. The site of the surgery is left unbandaged to allow for frequent examination. Complications can be the development of lymphedema though not removing the saphenous vein during the surgery will help prevent this. In some instances, foot elevation, diuretic medication and compression stockings can reduce the build up of fluid.

In a clitoridectomy for infants with a clitoromegaly, the clitoris is often reduced instead of removed. The surgeon cuts the shaft of the elongated phallus and sews the glans and preserved nerves back onto the stump. In a less common surgery called clitoral recession, the surgeon hides the clitoral shaft under a fold of skin so only the glans remains visible.

General
While much feminist scholarship has described clitoridectomy as a practice aimed at controlling women's sexuality, the historic emergence of the practice in ancient European and Middle Eastern cultures may also have derived from ideas about what a normal female genitalia should look like and the policing of boundaries between the sexes.

In the seventeenth century, anatomists remained divided on whether a clitoris was a normal female organ, with some arguing that it was an abnormality in female development and, if large enough to be visible, it should always be removed at birth. In the 19th century, a clitoridectomy was thought by some to curb female masturbation. Isaac Baker Brown (1812–1873), an English gynaecologist who was president of the Medical Society of London believed that the "unnatural irritation" of the clitoris caused epilepsy, hysteria, and mania, and he worked "to remove [it] whenever he had the opportunity of doing so", according to his obituary in the Medical Times and Gazette. Peter Lewis Allen writes that Brown's views caused outrage, and he died penniless after being expelled from the Obstetrical Society.

Occasionally, in American and English medicine of the nineteenth century, circumcision was done as a cure for insanity. Some believed that mental and emotional disorders were related to female reproductive organs and that removing the clitoris would cure the neurosis. This treatment was discontinued in 1867.

Aesthetics may determine clitoral norms. A lack of ambiguity of the genitalia is seen as necessary in the assignment of a sex to infants and therefore whether a child's genitalia is normal, but what is ambiguous or normal can vary from person to person.

Sexual behavior is another reason for clitoridectomies. Author Sarah Rodriguez stated that the history of medical textbooks has indirectly created accepted ideas about the female body. Medical and gynecological textbooks are also at fault in the way that the clitoris is described in comparison to a male's penis. The importance and originality of a female's clitoris is underscored because it is seen as "a less significant organ, since anatomy texts compared the penis and the clitoris in only one direction." Rodriguez said that a male's penis created the framework of the sexual organ.

Not all historical examples of clitoral surgeries should be assumed to be clitoridectomy (removal of the clitoris). In the nineteen thirties, the French psychoanalyst Marie Bonaparte studied African clitoral surgical practices and showed that these often involved removal of the clitoral hood, not the clitoris. She also had a surgery done to her own clitoris by the Viennese surgeon Dr Halban, which entailed cutting the suspensory ligament of the clitoris to permit it to sit closer to her vaginal opening. These sorts of clitoral surgeries, contrary to reducing women's sexual pleasure, actually appear aimed at making coitus more pleasurable for women, though it is unclear if that is ever their actual outcome.

Human rights concerns
Clitoridectomies are the most common form of female genital mutilation. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that clitoridectomies have been performed on 200 million girls and women that are currently alive. The regions that most clitoridectomies take place are Asia, the Middle East and west, north and east Africa. The practice also exists in migrants originating from these regions. Most of the surgeries are for cultural or religious reasons.

Clitoridectomy of women with conditions that cause a clitoromegaly is controversial when it takes place during childhood or under duress. Many women that were exposed to such treatment have reported their loss of physical sensation in the affected area, and loss of autonomy. In recent years, multiple human rights institutions have criticized early surgical management of such characteristics.

In 2013, it was disclosed in a medical journal that four unnamed elite female athletes from developing countries were subjected to gonadectomies and partial clitoridectomies after testosterone testing revealed that they had an disorder of sex development/intersex variation. In April 2016, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on health, Dainius Pūras, condemned this treatment as a form of genital mutilation "in the absence of symptoms or health issues warranting those procedures."

title: Clitoridectomy


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Cabal

A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually without the knowledge of those who are outside their group. The use of this term usually carries negative connotations of political purpose, conspiracy and secrecy. It can also refer to a secret plot or a clique, or it may be used as a verb (to form a cabal or secretly conspire).

Etymology
The term cabal is derived from Kabbalah (a word that has numerous spelling variations), the Jewish mystical interpretation of the Hebrew scripture (קַבָּלָה). In Hebrew, it means "received doctrine" or "tradition", In European culture (Christian Cabala, Hermetic Qabalah) it became associated with occult doctrine or a secret.

It came into English via the French cabale from the medieval Latin cabbala, and was known early in the 17th century through usages linked to Charles II and Oliver Cromwell. By the middle of the 17th century, it had developed further to mean some intrigue entered into by a small group and also referred to the group of people so involved, i.e. a semi-secret political clique.

There is a theory that the term took on its present meaning from a group of ministers formed in 1668 – the "Cabal ministry" of King Charles II of England. Members included Sir Thomas Clifford, Lord Arlington, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Ashley and Lord Lauderdale, whose initial letters coincidentally spelled CABAL, and who were the signatories of the public Treaty of Dover that allied England to France in a prospective war against the Netherlands, and served as a cover for the Secret Treaty of Dover. The theory that the word originated as an acronym from the names of the group of ministers is a folk etymology, although the coincidence was noted at the time and could possibly have popularized its use.

Usage in the Netherlands
In Dutch, the word kabaal, also kabale or cabale, was used during the 18th century in the same way. The Friesche Kabaal (Frisian Cabal) denoted the Frisian pro-Orange nobility which supported the stadholderate, but also had great influence on stadtholders Willem IV and Willem V and their regents, and therefore on the matters of state in the Dutch Republic. This influence came to an end when the major Frisian nobles at the court fell out of favor. The word nowadays has the meaning of noise, uproar, racket. It was derived as such from French and mentioned for the first time in 1845.

Conspiratorial discourse
Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory use "The Cabal" to refer to what is perceived as a secret worldwide elite organization who, according to proponents, wish to undermine democracy and freedom, and implement their own globalist agendas.

Some anti-government movements in Australia, particularly those that emerged during Canberra’s response to the pandemic, that Scott Morrison’s secret ministerial appointments were evidence of what they said was happening all along – a "secret cabal".

The term is sometimes employed as an antisemitic dog whistle due to its evocation of centuries-old antisemitic tropes.

title: Cabal


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Cytochrome

Cytochromes are redox-active proteins containing a heme, with a central iron (Fe) atom at its core, as a cofactor. They are involved in the electron transport chain and redox catalysis. They are classified according to the type of heme and its mode of binding. Four varieties are recognized by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB), cytochromes a, cytochromes b, cytochromes c and cytochrome d.

Cytochrome function is linked to the reversible redox change from ferrous (Fe(II)) to the ferric (Fe(III)) oxidation state of the iron found in the heme core. In addition to the classification by the IUBMB into four cytochrome classes, several additional classifications such as cytochrome o and cytochrome P450 can be found in biochemical literature.

History
Cytochromes were initially described in 1884 by Charles Alexander MacMunn as respiratory pigments (myohematin or histohematin). In the 1920s, Keilin rediscovered these respiratory pigments and named them the cytochromes, or “cellular pigments”. He classified these heme proteins on the basis of the position of their lowest energy absorption band in their reduced state, as cytochromes a (605 nm), b (≈565 nm), and c (550 nm). The ultra-violet (UV) to visible spectroscopic signatures of hemes are still used to identify heme type from the reduced bis-pyridine-ligated state, i.e., the pyridine hemochrome method. Within each class, cytochrome a, b, or c, early cytochromes are numbered consecutively, e.g. cyt c, cyt c1, and cyt c2, with more recent examples designated by their reduced state R-band maximum, e.g. cyt c559.

Structure and function
The heme group is a highly conjugated ring system (which allows its electrons to be very mobile) surrounding an iron ion. The iron in cytochromes usually exists in a ferrous (Fe2+) and a ferric (Fe3+) state with a ferroxo (Fe4+) state found in catalytic intermediates. Cytochromes are, thus, capable of performing electron transfer reactions and catalysis by reduction or oxidation of their heme iron. The cellular location of cytochromes depends on their function. They can be found as globular proteins and membrane proteins.

In the process of oxidative phosphorylation, a globular cytochrome cc protein is involved in the electron transfer from the membrane-bound complex III to complex IV. Complex III itself is composed of several subunits, one of which is a b-type cytochrome while another one is a c-type cytochrome. Both domains are involved in electron transfer within the complex. Complex IV contains a cytochrome a/a3-domain that transfers electrons and catalyzes the reaction of oxygen to water. Photosystem II, the first protein complex in the light-dependent reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis, contains a cytochrome b subunit. Cyclooxygenase 2, an enzyme involved in inflammation, is a cytochrome b protein.

In the early 1960s, a linear evolution of cytochromes was suggested by Emanuel Margoliash that led to the molecular clock hypothesis. The apparently constant evolution rate of cytochromes can be a helpful tool in trying to determine when various organisms may have diverged from a common ancestor.

Types
Several kinds of cytochrome exist and can be distinguished by spectroscopy, exact structure of the heme group, inhibitor sensitivity, and reduction potential.

Four types of cytochromes are distinguished by their prosthetic groups:

There is no "cytochrome e," but cytochrome f, found in the cytochrome b6f complex of plants is a c-type cytochrome.

In mitochondria and chloroplasts, these cytochromes are often combined in electron transport and related metabolic pathways:

A distinct family of cytochromes is the cytochrome P450 family, so named for the characteristic Soret peak formed by absorbance of light at wavelengths near 450 nm when the heme iron is reduced (with sodium dithionite) and complexed to carbon monoxide. These enzymes are primarily involved in steroidogenesis and detoxification.

title: Cytochrome