Name.

When this line of latitude was named in the last centuries BC, the Sun was in the constellation Capricornus at the December solstice. This is the date each year when the Sun reaches zenith at this latitude, the southernmost latitude it reaches for the year. (Due to the precession of the equinoxes the Sun currently appears in Sagittarius at this solstice.)

Geography and environment.

The Tropic of Capricorn is the dividing line between the Southern Temperate Zone to the south and the tropics to the north. The Northern Hemisphere equivalent of the Tropic of Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer.  The Tropic of Capricorn's position is not fixed, but constantly changes because of a slight wobble in the Earth's longitudinal alignment relative to its orbit around the Sun. Earth's axial tilt varies over a 41,000 year period from 22.1 to 24.5 degrees and currently resides at about 23.4 degrees. This wobble means that the Tropic of Capricorn is currently drifting northward at a rate of almost half an arcsecond (0.468′′) of latitude, or 15 metres, per year (it was at exactly 23° 27′S in 1917 and will be at 23° 26'S in 2045). See under circles of latitude for information.  There are approximately 13 hours, 35 minutes of daylight during the summer solstice. During the winter solstice, there are 10 hours, 41 minutes of daylight. The length of the Tropic on 11 June 2015, at 23°26′14′′S is.

Africa.

In most of this belt of southern Africa, a minimum of seasonal rainfall is reliable and farming is possible, though yields struggle to compete with for example the Mississippi basin, even against like-to-like soil fertilisers. Rivers have been successfully dammed particularly flowing from relief precipitation areas (high emininences) and those from the edge of the Great Rift Valley, such as the Zambezi, well within the Tropics. This, with alluvial or enriched soil, enables substantial yield grain farming in areas with good soil. Across this large region pasture farming is widespread, where intensive, brief and rotational it helps to fertilise and stabilise the soil, preventing run-off and desertification. This approach is traditional to many tribes and promoted by government advisors such as Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean-born biologist, farmer, game rancher, politician and international consultant and co-founder of the Savory Institute. According to the United Nations University Our World dissemination he is credited with developing “holistic management” in the 1960s and has led anti-desertification efforts in Africa for decades using a counterintuitive approach to most developed economies of increasing the number of livestock on grasslands rather than fencing them off for conservation. Such practices in this area have seen success and won generous awards; he gave the keynote speech at UNCCD's Land Day in 2018, and later that year a TED (conference) address, widely re-broadcast.

Australia.

In Australia, areas around the Tropic have some of the world's most variable rainfall. In the east advanced plants such as flowering shrubs and eucalyptus and in most bioregions grasses have adapted to cope with means such as deep roots and little transpiration. Wetter areas, seasonally watered, are widely pasture farmed. As to animals, birds and marsupials are well-adapted. Naturally difficult arable agriculture specialises in dry fruits, nuts and modest water consumption produce. Other types are possible given reliable irrigation sources and, ideally, water-retentive enriched or alluvial soils, especially wheat; shallow irrigation sources very widely dry up in and after drought years. The multi-ridge Great Dividing Range brings relief precipitation enough to make hundreds of kilometres either side cultivable, and its rivers are widely dammed to store necessary water; this benefits the settled areas of New South Wales and Queensland.  Behind the end of the green hills, away from the Pacific, which is subject to warm, negative phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (colloquially this is an "El Niño year/season") is a white, red and yellow landscape of 2,800 to 3,300 kilometres of rain shadow heading west in turn feature normally arid cattlelands of the Channel Country, the white Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, the mainly red Mamungari Conservation Park, then the Gibson Desert, after others the dry landscape settlement of Kalbarri on the west coast and its rest, northward. The Channel Country features an arid landscape with a series of ancient flood plains from rivers which only flow intermittently. The principal rivers are Georgina River, Cooper Creek and the Diamantina River. When there is sufficient rainfall in their catchment area these rivers flow into Lake Eyre, South Australia. In most years the flood waters are absorbed into the earth or evaporate, however. One of the most significant rainfall events occurred in 2010 when a monsoonal low from ex-Cyclone Olga created a period of exceptional rainfall.  El Niño adverse phases cause a shift in atmospheric circulation; rainfall becomes reduced over Indonesia and Australia, rainfall and tropical cyclone formation increases over the tropical Pacific. The low-level surface trade winds, which normally blow from east to west along the equator, either weaken or start blowing from the other direction.

South America.

In South America, whilst in the continental cratons soils are almost as old as in Australia and Southern Africa, the presence of the geologically young and evolving Andes means that this region is on the western side of the subtropical anticyclones and thus receives warm and humid air from the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, areas in Brazil adjacent to the Tropic are impressively productive agricultural regions, producing large quantities of crops such as sugarcane, and the natural rainforest vegetation has been almost entirely cleared, except for a few remaining patches of Atlantic Forest. Further south in Argentina, the temperate grasslands of the Pampas region is equally influential in wheat, soybeans, maize, and beef, making the country one of the largest worldwide agricultural exporters, similar to the role played by the Prairies region in Canada.  West of the Andes which creates a rain shadow air is further cooled and dried by the cold Humboldt Current which makes it very arid, creating the Atacama Desert, one of the driest in the world, so that no glaciers exist between Volcán Sajama at 18 ̊30'S and Cerro Tres Cruces at 27 ̊S. Vegetation here is almost non-existent, though on the eastern slopes of the Andes rainfall is adequate for rainfed agriculture.

Around the world.

Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the Tropic of Capricorn passes through 10 countries:

Places located along the Tropic of Capricorn.

The following cities and landmarks are either located near the Tropic of Capricorn, or the tropic passes through them.

List of countries entirely south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

As most of earth's land is in the Northern Hemisphere only four countries are wholly south of the Tropic of Capricorn (which contrasts with 74, about one third of the current total, wholly north of the Tropic of Cancer):

The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. Its northern equivalent is the Tropic of Cancer.

Obratník Kozoroha je na Zemi obratník na jižní polokouli, který se nachází na 23° 26' 14.440" jižní šířky. Jedná se o nejjižnější rovnoběžku, kde Slunce může být v zenitu. K tomu zde dochází právě jednou za rok, a to v době zimního slunovratu.


History.

Santa Monica was inhabited by the Tongva people. Santa Monica was called Kecheek in the Tongva language. The first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3, 1769. Named after the Christian saint Monica, there are two different accounts of how the city's name came to be. One says it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica (mother of Saint Augustine), but her feast day is May 4. Another version says it was named by Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs (Serra Springs), that were reminiscent of the tears Saint Monica shed over her son's early impiety.  Following the Mexican–American War, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights. US government sovereignty in California began on February 2, 1848. In the 1870s, the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad connected Santa Monica with Los Angeles, and a wharf out into the bay. The first town hall was an 1873 brick building, later a beer hall, and now part of the Santa Monica Hostel. It is Santa Monica's oldest extant structure. By 1885, the town's first hotel was the Santa Monica Hotel.  Amusement piers became popular in the first decades of the 20th century and the extensive Pacific Electric

Attractions and cultural resources.

The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome (carousel) is a National Historic Landmark. It sits on the Santa Monica Pier, which was built in 1909. The La Monica Ballroom on the pier was once the largest ballroom in the US and the source for many New Year's Eve national network broadcasts. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was an important music venue for several decades and hosted the Academy Awards in the 1960s. McCabe's Guitar Shop is a leading acoustic performance space as well as retail outlet. Bergamot Station is a city-owned art gallery compound that includes the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The city is also home to the California Heritage Museum and the Angels Attic dollhouse and toy museum. The New West Symphony is the resident orchestra of Barnum Hall. They are also resident orchestra of the Oxnard Performing Arts Center and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.  Santa Monica has three main shopping districts: Montana Avenue on the north side, the Downtown District in the city's core, and Main Street on the south end. Each has its own unique feel and personality. Montana Avenue is a stretch of luxury boutique stores, restaurants, and small offices that generally features more upscale shopping. The Main Street district offers an eclectic mix of clothing, restaurants, and other specialty retail.  The Downtown District is the home of the

Geography.

The city of Santa Monica rests on a mostly flat slope that angles down towards Ocean Avenue and towards the south. High bluffs separate the north side of the city from the beaches. Santa Monica borders the L.A. neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades to the north and Venice to the south. To the west, Santa Monica has the 3-mile coastline fronting the Santa Monica Bay, and to the east of the city borders are the Los Angeles communities of West Los Angeles and Brentwood.

Climate.

Santa Monica has a coastal Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csb"). Santa Monica enjoys an average of 310 days of sunshine a year. It is in USDA plant hardiness zone 10a. Because of its location, nestled on the vast and open Santa Monica Bay, morning fog is a common phenomenon in May, June, July and early August (caused by ocean temperature variations and currents). Like other inhabitants of the greater Los Angeles area, residents have a particular terminology for this phenomenon: the "May Gray", the "June Gloom" and even “Fogust”. Overcast skies are common during June mornings, but usually the strong sun burns the fog off by noon. In the late winter/early summer, daily fog is a phenomenon too. It happens suddenly and it may last some hours or past sunset time. Nonetheless, it will sometimes stay cloudy and cool all day during June, even as other parts of the

Environment.

The city first proposed its Sustainable City Plan in 1992 and in 1994, was one of the first cities in the nation to formally adopt a comprehensive sustainability plan, setting waste reduction and water conservation policies for both public and private sector through its Office of Sustainability and the Environment. Eighty-two percent of the city's public works vehicles run on alternative fuels, including most of the municipal bus system, making it among the largest such fleets in the country. Santa Monica fleet vehicles and

Demographics.

Santa Monica's population has grown from 417 in 1880 to 89,736 in 2010.

2010.

The 2010 United States Census reported Santa Monica had a population of 89,736. The population density was 10,662.6 people per square mile (4,116.9/km). The racial makeup of Santa Monica was 69,663 (77.6%) White (70.1% Non-Hispanic White), 3,526 (3.9%) African American, 338 (0.4%) Native American, 8,053 (9.0%) Asian, 124 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 4,047 (4.5%) from other races, and 3,985 (4.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11,716 persons (13.1%), with Mexican Americans, Spanish Americans, and Argentine Americans making up 64.2%, 6.4%, and 4.7% of the Hispanic population respectively.  The Census reported 87,610 people (97.6% of the population) lived in households, 1,299 (1.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 827 (0.9%) were institutionalized.  There were 46,917 households, out of which 7,835 (16.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 13,092 (27.9%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,510 (7.5%) had a female householder with no husband

2000.

As of the census of 2000, there were 84,084 people, 44,497 households, and 16,775 families in the city. The population density was 10,178.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,930.4/km). There were 47,863 housing units at an average density of 5,794.0 per square mile (2,237.3/km). The racial makeup of the city was 78.29% White, 7.25% Asian, 3.78% African American, 0.47% Native American, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 5.97% from other races, and 4.13% from two or more races. 13.44% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 44,497 households, out of which 15.8% had children under the age of 18, 27.5% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 62.3% were non-families. 51.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6%

Crime.

In 2006, crime in Santa Monica affected 4.41% of the population, slightly lower than the national average crime rate that year of 4.48%. The majority of this was property crime, which affected 3.74% of Santa Monica's population in 2006; this was higher than the rates for Los Angeles County (2.76%) and California (3.17%), but lower than the national average (3.91%). These per-capita crime rates are computed based on Santa Monica's full-time population of about 85,000. However, the Santa Monica Police Department has suggested the actual per-capita crime rate is much lower, as tourists, workers, and beachgoers can increase the city's daytime population to between 250,000 and 450,000 people.  Violent crimes affected 0.67% of the population in Santa Monica in 2006,

Gang activity.

The Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica (south of the Santa Monica Freeway) experiences some gang activity. The city estimates there are about 50 gang members based in Santa Monica, although some community organizers dispute this claim. Gang activity has been prevalent for decades in the Pico neighborhood.  In October 1998, alleged Culver City 13 gang member Omar Sevilla, 21, of Culver City was killed. A couple of hours after the shooting of Sevilla, German tourist Horst Fietze was killed. Several days later Juan Martin Campos, age 23, a Santa Monica city employee, was shot and killed. Police believe this was a retaliatory killing in response to the death of Omar Sevilla. Less than twenty-four hours later, Javier Cruz was wounded in a drive-by shooting outside

Education.

Elementary and secondary schools.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. In addition to the traditional model of early education school houses, SMASH (Santa Monica Alternative School House) is "a K-8 public school of choice with team teachers and multi-aged classrooms".

Elementary schools.

The district maintains eight

Middle schools.

The district maintains three public middle schools in

High schools.

The district maintains three high schools in Santa

Private schools.

Private schools

Miscellaneous education.

Asahi Gakuen, a weekend Japanese supplementary school system, operates its Santa Monica campus (サンタモニカ校・高等部 "Santamonika-kō kōtōbu") at Webster Middle in the Sawtelle neighborhood of Los Angeles. All high school classes in the Asahi Gakuen system are held at the Santa Monica campus. As of 1986, students take buses from as far away as Orange County to go to the high school classes of the Santa Monica campus.

Post-secondary.

Santa Monica College is a community college founded in 1929. Many SMC graduates transfer to the University of California system. It occupies 35 acres (14 hectares) and enrolls 30,000 students annually. The Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, associated with the RAND Corporation, is the U.S.'s largest producer of public policy PhDs. The Art Institute

Public library system.

The Santa Monica Public Library consists of a Main Library

Transportation.

Bicycles.

Santa Monica has a bike action plan and launched a bicycle sharing system in November 2015. The city is traversed by the Marvin Braude Bike Trail. Santa Monica has received the Bicycle Friendly Community Award (Bronze in 2009, Silver in 2013) by the League of American Bicyclists. Local bicycle advocacy organizations include Santa Monica Spoke, a local chapter of the Los Angeles County

Scooters.

In August 2018, Santa Monica issued permits to Bird,

Motorized vehicles.

The Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) begins in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean and heads east. The Santa Monica Freeway between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles has the distinction of being one of the busiest highways in all of North America. After traversing the Greater Los Angeles area, I-10 crosses seven more states, terminating at Jacksonville, Florida. In Santa Monica, there is a road sign designating this route as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. State Route 2 (Santa Monica Boulevard) begins in Santa Monica, barely grazing State Route 1 at Lincoln Boulevard,

Bus.

The city of Santa Monica runs its own bus service, the Big Blue Bus, which also serves much of West Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). A Big Blue Bus was featured

Light rail.

Design and construction on the of the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica started in September 2011, with service beginning on May 20, 2016. Santa Monica Metro stations include 26th Street/Bergamot, 17th Street/Santa Monica College, and Downtown Santa Monica. Travel time between the downtown Santa Monica and the downtown Los Angeles termini is approximately 47 minutes.  Historical aspects of the Expo line route are noteworthy. It uses the former Los Angeles region's electric interurban Pacific Electric Railway's right-of-way

Subway.

Since the mid-1980s, various proposals have been made to extend the Purple Line subway to

Airport and ports.

The city owns and operates a general aviation airport, Santa Monica Airport, which has been the site of several important aviation achievements. Commercial flights are available for residents at LAX, a few miles south of Santa Monica.

City services.

Emergency services.

Two major hospitals are within the Santa Monica city limits, UCLA Santa Monica Hospital and St. John's Hospital. There are four fire stations providing medical and fire response within the city staffed with 6 Paramedic Engines, 1 Truck company, 1 Hazardous Materials team and

Internet services.

Santa Monica has a municipal wireless network

Government.

Santa Monica is governed by the Santa Monica City Council, a Council-Manager governing body with seven members elected at-large. The

Representation.

In the California State Legislature, Santa Monica is in,

Politics.

In recent years, Santa Monica has voted Democratic in presidential elections, with the Democrats winning over 70% of the vote in all five presidential elections since 2000. The Republican party by contrast, failed to reach 25% of the vote in any

Economy.

Santa Monica is home to the headquarters of many notable businesses, such as Beachbody, Fatburger, Hulu, Illumination Entertainment, Lionsgate Films, Macerich, Miramax, the RAND Corporation, Saban Capital Group, The Recording Academy (which presents the annual Grammy Awards), TOMS Shoes, and Universal Music Group. Atlantic Aviation is at the Santa Monica Airport. The National Public Radio member station KCRW is at the Santa Monica College campus. VCA Animal Hospitals is just outside the eastern city limit.  A number of game development studios are based in Santa Monica, making it a major location for the industry. These include:  Recently, Santa Monica has emerged as the center of the Los Angeles region called Silicon Beach, and serves as the home of hundreds of venture capital funded startup companies.  Former Santa Monica businesses include Douglas Aircraft (now merged with Boeing), GeoCities (which in December 1996 was headquartered on the third floor of 1918 Main Street in Santa Monica), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and MySpace (now headquartered in Beverly Hills).

Top employers.

According to the City's 2012–2013 Comprehensive

Sport.

The men's and women's marathon ran through parts of Santa Monica during the 1984 Summer Olympics. The Santa Monica Track Club has many prominent track athletes, including many Olympic gold medalists. Santa Monica is the home to Southern

In popular culture.

Film and television.

Hundreds of moving pictures have been shot or set in part within the city of Santa Monica.

Films.

One of the oldest exterior shots in Santa Monica is Buster Keaton's "Spite Marriage" (1929) which shows much of 2nd Street. The comedy "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963) included several scenes shot in Santa Monica, including those along the California Incline, which led to the movie's treasure spot, "The Big W". The Sylvester Stallone film "Rocky III" (1982) shows Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed training to fight Clubber Lang by running on the Santa Monica Beach, and Stallone's "Demolition Man" (1993) includes Santa Monica settings. In "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" (1985), the theft of Pee-wee's bike occurs on the Third Street Promenade. Henry Jaglom's indie "Someone to Love" (1987), the last film in which Orson Welles appeared, takes place in Santa Monica's venerable Mayfair Theatre. "Heathers" (1989) used Santa Monica's John Adams Middle School for many exterior shots. "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" (1996) is set entirely in Santa Monica, particularly the Palisades Park area, and features

Television.

A number of television series have been set in Santa Monica, including "Baywatch", "Goliath", "Pacific Blue", "Private Practice", and "Three's Company". The Santa Monica pier is shown in the main theme of CBS series "". In "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", the main exterior set of the town of Sunnydale, including the infamous "sun sign", was in Santa Monica in a lot on Olympic Boulevard.

Literature.

The main character from Edgar Rice Burroughs' fantasy novel, "The Land That Time Forgot" (serialized in 1918 and published in book form in 1924) was a shipbuilder from Santa Monica.  Horace McCoy's 1935 novel "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is set at a dance marathon held in a ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier.  Raymond Chandler's most famous character, private detective Philip Marlowe, frequently has a portion of his adventures in a place called "Bay City", which

Video games.

Santa Monica is featured in the video games: "Driver" (1999), "" (2003), " Destroy All Humans! " (2004), "Grand Theft Auto San Andreas" (2004) as a fictional district – Santa Maria Beach, "" (2004),

Santa Monica () is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is bordered on three sides by different neighborhoods of the city of Los Angeles: Pacific Palisades to the north, Brentwood on the northeast, West Los Angeles on the east, Mar Vista on the southeast, and Venice on the south. The 2010 U.S. Census population was 89,736. Due in part to a favorable climate, Santa Monica became a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its downtown core, significant job growth and increased tourism. Popular tourists sites include the Santa Monica Pier and Pacific Park.

Santa Monica je přímořské město v západní části Los Angeles County. Město je pojmenováno podle Svaté Moniky. Santa Monica sousedí ze tří světových stran s městem Los Angeles; na severu s čtvrtí Pacific Palisades, na severovýchodě s čtvrtí Brentwood, na východě se čtvrí Sawtelle, na jihovýchodě s čtvrtí Mar Vista, a na jihu se čtvrtí Venice. K roku 2010 žilo v Santa Monice 89 736 obyvatel.


Chemistry.

Uric acid was first isolated from kidney stones in 1776 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. In 1882, the Ukrainian chemist Ivan Horbaczewski first synthesized uric acid by melting urea with glycine.  Uric acid displays lactam–lactim tautomerism (also often described as keto–enol tautomerism). Although the lactim form is expected to possess some degree of aromaticity, uric acid crystallizes in the lactam form, with computational chemistry also indicating that tautomer to be the most stable. Uric acid is a diprotic acid with p"K" = 5.4 and p"K" = 10.3, thus at physiological pH, it predominately exists as the monoionic urate ion.

Solubility.

In general, the water solubility of uric acid and its alkali metal and alkaline earth salts is rather low. All these salts exhibit greater solubility in hot water than cold, allowing for easy recrystallization. This low solubility is significant for the etiology of gout. The solubility of the acid and its salts in ethanol is very low or negligible. In ethanol/water mixtures, the solubilities are somewhere between the end values for pure ethanol and pure water.  The figures given indicate what mass of water is required to dissolve a unit mass of compound indicated. The lower the number the more soluble the substance in the said solvent.

Biochemistry.

Xanthine oxidase is an enzyme which catalyzes the formation of uric acid from xanthine and hypoxanthine, which in turn are produced from other purines. Xanthine oxidase is a large enzyme whose active site consists of the metal molybdenum bound to sulfur and oxygen. Within cells, xanthine oxidase can exist as xanthine dehydrogenase and xanthine oxireductase, which has also been purified from bovine milk and spleen extracts. Uric acid is released in hypoxic conditions (low oxygen saturation).

Genetic and physiological diversity.

Primates. In humans and higher primates, uric acid (actually hydrogen urate ion) is the final oxidation (breakdown) product of purine metabolism and is excreted in urine, whereas in most other mammals, the enzyme uricase further oxidizes uric acid to allantoin. The loss of uricase in higher primates parallels the similar loss of the ability to synthesize ascorbic acid, leading to the suggestion that urate may partially substitute for ascorbate in such species. Both uric acid and ascorbic acid are strong reducing agents (electron donors) and potent antioxidants. In humans, over half the antioxidant capacity of blood plasma comes from hydrogen urate ion.  Humans. The normal concentration range of uric acid (or hydrogen urate ion) in human blood is 25 to 80 mg/L for men and 15 to 60 mg/L for women (but see below for slightly different values). An individual can have serum values as high as 96 mg/L and not have gout. In humans, about 70% of daily uric acid disposal occurs via the kidneys, and in 5–25% of humans, impaired renal (kidney) excretion leads to hyperuricemia. Normal excretion of uric acid in the urine is 250 to 750 mg per day (concentration of 250 to 750 mg/L if one litre of urine is produced per day – higher than the solubility of uric acid because it is in the form of dissolved acid urates).  Dogs. The Dalmatian dog has a genetic defect in uric acid uptake by the liver and kidneys, resulting in decreased conversion to allantoin, so this breed excretes uric acid, and not allantoin, in the urine.  Birds and reptiles. In birds and reptiles, and in some desert dwelling mammals (such as the kangaroo rat), uric acid also is the end-product of purine metabolism, but it is excreted in feces as a dry mass. This involves a complex metabolic pathway that is energetically costly in comparison to processing of other nitrogenous wastes such as urea (from the urea cycle) or ammonia, but has the advantages of reducing water loss and preventing dehydration.  Invertebrates. "Platynereis dumerilii", a marine polychaete worm, uses uric acid as a sexual pheromone. The female of the species releases uric acid into the water during mating, to induce males to release sperm.

Genetics.

A proportion of people have mutations in the proteins responsible for the excretion of uric acid by the kidneys. Variants within a number of genes have so far been identified: "SLC2A9"; "ABCG2"; "SLC17A1"; "SLC22A11"; "SLC22A12"; "SLC16A9"; "GCKR"; "LRRC16A"; and "PDZK1". "SLC2A9" is known to transport both uric acid and fructose.

Clinical significance and research.

In human blood plasma, the reference range of uric acid is typically 3.4–7.2 mg per 100 ml (200–430 μmol/l) for men, and 2.4–6.1 mg per 100 ml for women (140–360 μmol/l). Uric acid concentrations in blood plasma above and below the normal range are known as, respectively, hyperuricemia and hypouricemia. Likewise, uric acid concentrations in urine above and below normal are known as hyperuricosuria and hypouricosuria. Uric acid levels in saliva may be associated with blood uric acid levels.

High uric acid.

Hyperuricemia (high levels of uric acid), which induces gout, has various potential origins:

Gout.

Excess blood uric acid can induce gout, a painful condition resulting from needle-like crystals of uric acid precipitating in joints, capillaries, skin, and other tissues. Gout can occur where serum uric acid levels are as low as 6 mg per 100 ml (357 μmol/l), but an individual can have serum values as high as 9.6 mg per 100 ml (565 μmol/l) and not have gout.  In humans, purines are metabolized into uric acid which is then excreted in the urine. Consumption of some types of purine-rich foods, particularly meat and seafood, increases gout risk. Gout may arise from regular consumption of meats, such as liver, kidney, and sweetbreads, and certain types of seafood including anchovies, herring, sardines, mussels, scallops, trout, haddock, mackerel and tuna. Moderate intake of purine-rich vegetables, however, is not associated with an increased risk of gout.  One treatment for gout in the 19th century was administration of lithium salts; lithium urate is more soluble. Today, inflammation during attacks is more commonly treated with NSAIDs, colchicine, or corticosteroids, and urate levels are managed with allopurinol. Allopurinol, which weakly inhibits xanthine oxidase, is an analog of hypoxanthine that is hydroxylated by xanthine oxidoreductase at the 2-position to give oxipurinol.

Tumor lysis syndrome.

Tumor lysis syndrome, an emergency condition that may result from blood cancers, produces high uric acid levels in blood when tumor cells release their contents into the blood, either spontaneously or following chemotherapy. Tumor lysis syndrome may lead to acute kidney injury when uric acid crystals are deposited in the kidneys. Treatment includes hyperhydration to dilute and excrete uric acid via urine, rasburicase to reduce levels of poorly soluble uric acid in blood, or allopurinol to inhibit purine catabolism from adding to uric acid levels.

Lesch–Nyhan syndrome.

Lesch–Nyhan syndrome, a rare inherited disorder, is also associated with high serum uric acid levels. Spasticity, involuntary movement, and cognitive retardation as well as manifestations of gout are seen in this syndrome.

Cardiovascular disease.

Hyperuricemia may increase risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Type 2 diabetes.

Hyperuricemia may be a consequence of insulin resistance in diabetes rather than its precursor. One study showed high serum uric acid was associated with higher risk of type 2 diabetes, independent of obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Hyperuricemia is associated with components of metabolic syndrome, including in children.

Uric acid stone formation.

Kidney stones can form through deposits of sodium urate microcrystals.  Saturation levels of uric acid in blood may result in one form of kidney stones when the urate crystallizes in the kidney. These uric acid stones are radiolucent and so do not appear on an abdominal plain X-ray. Uric acid crystals can also promote the formation of calcium oxalate stones, acting as "seed crystals".

Low uric acid.

Low uric acid (hypouricemia) can have numerous causes. Low dietary zinc intakes cause lower uric acid levels. This effect can be even more pronounced in women taking oral contraceptive medication. Sevelamer, a drug indicated for prevention of hyperphosphataemia in people with chronic kidney failure, can significantly reduce serum uric acid.

Multiple sclerosis.

Meta-analysis of 10 case-control studies found that the serum uric acid levels of patients with multiple sclerosis were significantly lower compared to those of healthy controls, possibly indicating a diagnostic biomarker for multiple sclerosis.

Normalizing low uric acid.

Correcting low or deficient zinc levels can help elevate serum uric acid.

Uric acid is a heterocyclic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen with the formula CHNO. It forms ions and salts known as urates and acid urates, such as ammonium acid urate. Uric acid is a product of the metabolic breakdown of purine nucleotides, and it is a normal component of urine. High blood concentrations of uric acid can lead to gout and are associated with other medical conditions, including diabetes and the formation of ammonium acid urate kidney stones.

Kyselina močová neboli 2,6,8-trioxypurin, sumární vzorec CHNO, je bezbarvá krystalická látka s teplotou tání 400 °C, při které se však rozkládá. Je velmi málo rozpustná ve vodě a jiných rozpouštědlech. Zatímco u plazů a ptáků je běžným produktem detoxikace amoniaku, u savců je koncovým produktem metabolismu purinů, mezi důsledky poruch jejího metabolismu patří močové či ledvinové kameny nebo dna. Patří mezi nejdůležitější finální produkty dusíkového metabolismu. Může být produktem rozkladu inositol monofosfátu. Její soli se nazývají uráty.


History.

Both city names, Bielsko and Biała refer to the Biała River, with etymology stemming from either "biel" or "biała", which means "white" in Polish.

Bielsko.

The remnants of a fortified settlement in what is now the Stare Bielsko (Old Bielsko) district of the city were discovered between 1933 and 1938 by a Polish archaeological team. The settlement was dated to the 12th - 14th centuries. Its dwellers manufactured iron from ore and specialized in smithery. The current centre of the town was probably developed as early as the first half of the 13th century. At that time a castle (which still survives today) was built on a hill.  In the second half of the 13th century, the Piast dukes of Opole invited German settlers to colonize the Silesian Foothills. As the dukes then also ruled over the Lesser Polish lands east of the Biała River, settlements arose on both banks like "Bielitz" (now Stare Bielsko), "Nickelsdorf" (Mikuszowice Śląskie), "Kamitz" (Kamienica), "Batzdorf" (Komorowice Śląskie) and "Kurzwald" in the west as well as "Kunzendorf" (Lipnik), "Alzen" (Hałcnów) and "Wilmesau" (Wilamowice) in the east. Nearby settlements in the mountains were "Lobnitz" (Wapienica) and "Bistrai" (Bystra).  After the partition of the Duchy of Oppeln in 1281, Bielsko passed to the Dukes of Cieszyn ("Teschen"). The town was first documented in 1312 when Duke Mieszko I of Cieszyn granted a town charter. The Biała again became a border river, when in 1315 the eastern Duchy of Oświęcim split off from Cieszyn as a separate under Mieszko's son Władysław. After the Dukes of Cieszyn had become vassals of the Bohemian kings in 1327 and the Duchy of Oświęcim was sold to the Polish Crown in 1457, the Biała River for centuries marked the border between the Bohemian crown land of Silesia within the Holy Roman Empire and the Lesser Polish region of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.  With Bohemia and the Upper Silesian Duchy of Cieszyn, Bielsko in 1526 was inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg and incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy. From 1560 Bielsko was held by Frederick Casimir of Cieszyn, son of Duke Wenceslaus III Adam, who due to the enormous debts his son left upon his death in 1571, had to sell it to the Promnitz noble family at Pless. With the consent of Emperor Maximilian II, the Promnitz dynasty and their Schaffgotsch successors ruled the Duchy of Bielsko as a Bohemian state country; acquired by the Austrian chancellor Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz in 1752, the ducal status was finally confirmed by Empress Maria Theresa in 1754.  After the Prussian king Frederick the Great had invaded Silesia, Bielsko remained with the Habsburg Monarchy as part of Austrian Silesia according to the 1742 Treaty of Breslau.  In late 1849 Bielsko became a seat of political district. In 1870 it became a statutory city.

Biała.

The opposite bank of the Biała River, again Polish since 1475, had been sparsely settled since the mid-16th century. A locality was first mentioned in a 1564 deed, it received the name Biała in 1584, and belonged at that time to Kraków Voivodeship. Its population increased during the Counter-Reformation in the Habsburg lands, when many Protestant artisans from Bielsko (which did not belong to Poland) moved across the river. Though already named a town in the 17th century, Biała officially was granted city rights by the Polish king Augustus II the Strong in 1723.  In the course of the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Biała was annexed by the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and incorporated into the crownland of Galicia. The Protestant citizens received the right to establish parishes according to the 1781 Patent of Toleration by Emperor Joseph II. "BIALA" was head of the district with the same name, one of the 78 "Bezirkshauptmannschaften" in the Galicia crownland.

Modern times.

With the dissolution of Austria–Hungary in 1918 according to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, both cities became part of the reconstituted Polish state, although the majority of the population was ethnic German, forming a German language island.  The ethnic German citizens formed an aggressively anti-Polish, rabidly racist and anti-Jewish "Jungdeutsche Partei" sponsored financially by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich and trained in propaganda, sabotage and espionage activities against the Polish state. Its members smuggled military weapons, and waged a campaign of intimidating other members of the community to leave for Nazi Germany, with tangible incentives. A considerable number of young ethnic Germans joined the rank-and-file of the Party during the mid-1930s as a result of the Nazi indoctrination and aggressive recruitment. During World War II the city was annexed by Nazi Germany. Many of its Jewish population was sent aboard Holocaust trains to nearby Auschwitz extermination camp never to return. After the defeat of Germany in 1945, the remaining German population, which had formed the majority of the town's population, fled westward. Those who had stayed in their home or had returned were expelled by the Soviet-installed communist government. The town was polonized and new Polish settlers replaced the previous German-speaking inhabitants of the town.  Several well-known Holocaust survivors from Bielsko-Biała are Roman Frister, Gerda Weissmann Klein and Kitty Hart-Moxon. All have written autobiographies about their experiences during World War II.  The combined city of Bielsko-Biała was created administratively on 1 January 1951 when the two cities of Bielsko, and Biała (known until 1951 as Biała Krakowska), were unified.

Geography.

The city is situated on the border of historic Upper Silesia and Lesser Poland at the eastern rim of the smaller Cieszyn Silesia region, about south of Katowice. Administrated within Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, the city was previously capital of Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship (1975–1998).  Bielsko-Biała is one of the most important cities of the Beskidy Euroregion and the main city of the Bielsko Industrial Region (), part of the Upper Silesian metropolitan area.

Climate.

Bielsko-Biała has an oceanic climate (Köppen :"Cfb") with cold, damp winters and warm, wet summers. However, using the 0 °C isotherm, the climate is a Dfb-type called of humid continental climate, which explains its considerable thermal amplitude for Central Europe. However, unlike Russian and northeastern Ukrainian climates, the extremes may still be moderated by the western patterns and winds of this direction, which still maintains hybrid characteristics in the city's climate. Foëhn winds help maintain a milder winter in Bielsko-Biała and average about 4 °C lower than the surrounding mountains each year. The sunniest days are between late summer and early fall, with a few months reaching 9 sunny days. In the 1960s 55 cm of snow cover was recorded.

Economy and Industry.

Bielsko-Biała is one of the most business friendly medium size cities in Poland. In the 2014 ranking of the 'Most Attractive Cities for Business' published yearly by Forbes the city was ranked 3rd in the category of cities with 150,000–300,000 inhabitants. About 2% of people are unemployed (compared 5.8% for Poland). Bielsko-Biała is famous for its textile, machine-building, and especially automotive industry. Four areas in the city belong to the Katowice Special Economic Zone. The city region is a home for several manufacturers of high-performance gliders and aircraft.

Transport.

Road transport.

Bielsko-Biała is located within a short distance to Czech and Slovakian borders on the crossroads of two Expressways (S1 and S52) connecting Poland with Southern Europe: Bielsko-Biała is connected with the rest of Poland by the dual carriageway DK1 road running to Tychy where it intersects the Expressway S1 and further to Katowice where it intersects the Motorway A4.  It is planned to extend S1 north along the existing dual carriageway DK1 from Bielsko-Biała to Tychy and Katowice, thus building an expressway connection of the city with the national motorway network of Poland. National Road DK52 connects Bielsko-Biała with Kraków in the east. The most important interchange in the area is the cloverleaf north of Bielsko-Biała where S1, DK1 and S52 meet.

Rail transport.

Bielsko-Biała is connected by direct train services with the following large Polish cities (November 2014): Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Katowice, Kraków (Cracow), Łódź, Olsztyn, Opole, Szczecin, Toruń, Warszawa (Warsaw), Wrocław.

Airports.

There are 3 international airports within the 90 km distance from Bielsko-Biała, all serving connections with major European cities: Katowice International Airport, Kraków John Paul II International Airport, Ostrava Leoš Janáček Airport.

Sights.

Bielsko-Biała is known for its Art Nouveau architecture and is often referred to as Little Vienna. Sights include:  Apart from being an attractive destination itself the city is a convenient base for hiking in Silesian Beskids and Żywiec Beskids as well as for skiing in one of the most popular Polish ski resorts Szczyrk (located from the city centre) and in a couple of smaller nearby ski resorts.

Politics.

Bielsko-Biała constituency.

Senators from Bielsko-Biała constituency:  Members of Sejm from Bielsko-Biała constituency:

Sports.

The city will host some matches for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup taking Lubin's place.

Twin towns – sister cities.

Bielsko-Biała is twinned with:

Bielsko-Biała (; ; ) is a city in southern Poland with a population of approximately 171,259 as of 2018. The city is a centre of the Bielsko Urban Agglomeration with 325,000 inhabitants and is an industrial (automotive), transport, and tourism hub. Located north of the Beskid Mountains, Bielsko-Biała is composed of two former cities on opposite banks of the Biała River, Silesian Bielsko and Lesser Poland's Biała, which merged in 1951.

Bílsko-Bělá (,,, ) je město v jižním Polsku ve Slezském vojvodství ležící na úpatí Slezských a Malých Beskyd. Formálně vzniklo spojením Bílska a Bělé v roce 1951, dějiny těchto dvou měst jsou však mnohem starší. Souměstí rozděluje řeka Bělá, která je zároveň historickou hranicí mezi Těšínským Slezskem, kam patří Bílsko, a Malopolskem, resp. západní Haličí, jehož součástí je Bělá.


Physiology of smell.

Sense of smell.

The perception of odors, or sense of smell, is mediated by the olfactory nerve. The olfactory receptor (OR) cells are neurons present in the olfactory epithelium, which is a small patch of tissue at the back of the nasal cavity. There are millions of olfactory receptor neurons that act as sensory signaling cells. Each neuron has cilia in direct contact with the air. Odorous molecules bind to receptor proteins extending from cilia and act as a chemical stimulus, initiating electric signals that travel along the olfactory nerve's axons to the brain.  When an electrical signal reaches a threshold, the neuron fires, which sends a signal traveling along the axon to the olfactory bulb, a part of the limbic system of the brain. Interpretation of the smell begins there, relating the smell to past experiences and in relation to the substance(s) inhaled.

Smell acuity by age and sex.

The ability to identify odor varies among people and decreases with age. Studies show there are sex differences in odor discrimination, and women usually outperform men.  Pregnant women have increased smell sensitivity, sometimes resulting in abnormal taste and smell perceptions, leading to food

Smell acuity compared to other animals.

For most untrained individuals, the act of smelling acquires little information concerning the specific ingredients of an odor. Their smell perception primarily offers information that elicits an emotional response. Experienced individuals, however, such as flavorists and perfumers, can identify discrete chemicals in complex mixtures using only the sense of smell.  Odor perception is a primary evolutionary sense. The sense of smell

Habituation or adaptation.

Odors that a person is used to, such as their own body odor, are less noticeable than uncommon odors. This is due to "habituation". After continuous odor exposure, the sense of smell is fatigued, but recovers if the stimulus is removed for a time. Odors can change due to environmental conditions: for example, odors tend to be more distinguishable

Genetic component.

The primary gene sequences for thousands of olfactory receptors are known for the genomes of more than a dozen organisms. They are seven-helix-turn transmembrane proteins. But there are no known structures for any olfactory receptor. There is a conserved sequence in roughly three quarters of all ORs. This is a tripodal metal-ion binding site, and Suslick has proposed that the ORs are in fact metalloproteins (most likely with zinc, copper, and manganese ions) that serve as a Lewis Acid site for the binding of

Evolutionary impact.

Gordon Shepherd proposed that the retro-nasal route of olfaction (odorants introduced to the olfactory mucosa through the oral cavity often as food) was partially responsible for the development of human olfactory acuity. He suggested the evolutionary pressure of diversification of food sources

Measuring techniques.

Olfaktometrie.

In Germany, the concentrations of odorants have since the 1870s been defined by "Olfaktometrie", which helps to analyze the human sense of smell according to odor substance concentration, intensity of odor, odor quality, and hedonic assessment.  The most accurate smell sensing is when a smell is first encountered, before habituation begins to change perception of odor.

Concentration.

Odor concentration is an odor's pervasiveness. To measure odor sensation, an odor is diluted to a detection or recognition threshold. The detection threshold is the concentration of an odor in air when 50% of a population can distinguish between the odorous sample and an odor-free reference sample. The recognition odor threshold is usually a factor of 2

Olfactometer.

To establish the odor concentration, an olfactometer is used which employs a group of human panelists. A diluted odorous mixture and an odor-free gas—n-Butanol—as a reference are presented from sniffing ports to a group of panelists who are sensitive in their perception of odor. To collect an odor sample, the samples must be collected using specialized sample bags, which are made from an odor free material, e.g. Teflon. The most accepted technique for collecting odor samples is the lung technique, where the sample bag is placed in a sealed drum, where a vacuum is created outside the bag, which fills under expansion, and draws into itself the sample from the source. Critically, all components which touch the odor sample, must be odor free, which includes lines and

Other analytical methods.

Other analytic methods can be subdivided into the physical, the gas chromatographical, and the chemosensory method.  When measuring odor, there is a difference between emission and immission measurements. Emission measurement can be taken by olfactometry using an olfactometer to dilute the odor sample. Olfactometry is rarely used for immission measurement because of low odor concentrations involved. The same measuring principles are used, but the judgment of the air-assay happens without diluting the samples.  Odor measurement is essential for odor regulation and control. An odor emission often consists of

Intensity.

Odor intensity is the perceived strength of odor sensation. This intensity property is used to locate the source of odors and perhaps most directly related to odor nuisance.  The perceived strength of the odor sensation is measured in conjunction with odor concentration. This can be modeled by the Weber-Fechner law: I = a × log(c) + b, where "I" is the perceived psychological

Hedonic tone assessment.

Hedonic assessment is the process of rating odors according to a scale ranging from extremely unpleasant to extremely pleasant. It is important to note that intensity and hedonic tone, whilst similar, refer to different things: that is, the strength of the odor (intensity) and the pleasantness of an odor (hedonic tone). Moreover, it is important to note that perception of an odor may change from pleasant to unpleasant with increasing concentration, intensity, time, frequency, and previous experience with a specific odor—all factors in determining a response.

FIDOL factors.

The overall set of qualities are sometimes identified as the "FIDOL factors", (short for Frequency, Intensity, Duration, Offensiveness and Location).  The character of an odor is a critical element in assessing an odor. This property is the ability to distinguish different odors and is only descriptive. First, a basic description is used—such as sweet, pungent, acrid, fragrant, warm, dry, or sour. The odor is then referenced to a source such as sewage or apple which can then be followed by a reference to a specific chemical such as acids or gasoline.  Most commonly, a set of standard descriptors is used, which may range from "fragrant" to "sewer odor". Although the method is fairly simplistic, it is important for the FIDOL factors to be understood by the person rating the smell. This method is most commonly used to define the character of an odor which can then be compared to other odors. It is common for olfactometry laboratories to report character as an additional factor post sample-analysis.

Categorization.

Different categorizations of primary odors have been proposed, including the following, which identifies seven primary odors:  Although recent progress has been made, the idea of primary perceptions is disputed, and more so the concept of primary odors.

Interpretive dispersion modeling.

In many countries odor modeling is used to determine the extent of an impact from an odor source. These are a function of modeled concentration, averaging

Sampling from area sources.

There are two main odor sampling techniques: direct and indirect odor sampling techniques.

Direct sampling.

Direct refers to the placement of an enclosure on or over an emitting surface from which samples are collected, and an odor emission rate is determined.  The most commonly used direct methods include the flux chamber and wind tunnels which include the UNSW wind tunnel. There are many other available techniques, and consideration

Indirect sampling.

Indirect sampling is often referred to as back calculation. It involves the use of a mathematical formula to predict an emission rate.  Many methods are used, but all make use of the same inputs which include surface roughness, upwind and downwind concentrations, stability class (or other similar factor), wind speed, and wind direction.

Health risks.

The human sense of smell is a primary factor in the sensation of comfort. Olfaction as a sensory system brings awareness of the presence of airborne chemicals. Some inhaled chemicals are volatile compounds that act as a stimulus, triggering unwanted reactions such as nose, eye, and throat irritation. Perception of odor and of irritation is unique to each person, and varies because of physical conditions or memory of past exposures to similar chemicals. A person's specific threshold, before an odor becomes a nuisance, depends also on the frequency, concentration, and duration of an odor.  The perception of irritation from odor sensation is hard to investigate because exposure to a volatile chemical elicits a different response based on sensory and physiological signals, and interpretation of these signals is influenced by experience, expectations, personality, or situational factors. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Types.

Some odors are sought after, such as from perfumes and flowers, some of which command high prices. Whole industries have developed around products to remove unpleasant odors (see deodorant).  Odor molecules transmit messages to the limbic system, the area of the brain that governs emotional responses. Some believe that these messages have the power to alter moods, evoke distant memories, raise their spirits, and boost self-confidence. This belief has led to the concept of "aromatherapy" wherein fragrances are claimed to cure a wide range of psychological and physical problems. Aromatherapy claims that fragrances can positively affect sleep, stress, alertness, social interaction, and general feelings of well-being. However, the evidence for the effectiveness of aromatherapy consists mostly of anecdotes and lacks controlled scientific studies to back up its claims.  With some fragrances, such as those found in perfume, scented shampoo, scented deodorant, or similar products, people can be allergic to the ingredients. The reaction, as with other chemical allergies, can be anywhere from a slight headache to anaphylactic shock, which can result in death.  Unpleasant odors play various roles in nature, often to warn of danger, though this may not be known to the subject who smells it. An odor that is viewed as unpleasant by some people or cultures can be viewed as attractive by others where it is more familiar or has a better reputation.  It is commonly thought that those exuding an unpleasant body odor will be unattractive to others. But studies have shown that a person who is exposed to a particular unpleasant odor can be attracted to others who have been exposed to the same unpleasant odor. This includes smells associated with pollution.  What causes a substance to smell unpleasant may be different from what one perceives. For example, perspiration is often viewed as having an unpleasant odor, but it is odorless. It is the bacteria in the perspiration that cause the odor.  Unpleasant odors can arise from specific industrial processes, adversely affecting workers and even residents downwind of the source. The most common sources of industrial odor arise from sewage treatment plants, refineries, animal rendering factories, and industries processing chemicals (such as sulfur) which have odorous characteristics. Sometimes industrial odor sources are the subject of community controversy and scientific analysis.  Body odor is present both in animals and humans and its intensity can be influenced by many factors (behavioral patterns, survival strategies). Body odor has a strong genetic basis both in animals and humans, but it can be also strongly influenced by various diseases and psychological conditions.

Behavioral cues.

Odor perception is a complex process involving the central nervous system and can evoke psychological and physiological responses. Because the olfactory signal terminates in or near the amygdala, odors are strongly linked to memories and can evoke emotions. The amygdala participates in the hedonic or emotional processing of olfactory stimuli. Odors can disturb our concentration, diminish productivity, evoke symptoms, and in general increase a dislike for an environment. Odors can impact the liking for a person, place, food, or product as a form of conditioning. Memories recalled by odors are significantly more emotional and evocative than those recalled by the same cue presented visually or auditorily. Odors can become conditioned to experiential states and when later encountered have directional influences on behavior. Doing a frustrating task in a scented room decreases performance of other cognitive tasks in the presence of the same odor. Nonhuman animals communicate their emotional states through changes in body odor, and human body odors are indicative of emotional state.  Human body odors influence interpersonal relationships and are involved in adaptive behaviors, such as parental attachment in infants or partner choice in adults. "Mothers can discriminate the odor of their own child, and infants recognize and prefer the body odor of their mother over that of another woman. This maternal odor appears to guide infants toward the breast and to have a calming effect." Body odor is involved in the development of infant–mother attachment and is essential to a child’s social and emotional development and evokes feelings of security. Reassurance created by familiar parental body odors may contribute significantly to the attachment process. Human body odors can also affect mate choice. Fragrances are commonly used to raise sexual attractiveness and induce sexual arousal. Researchers found that people choose perfume that interacts well with their body odor.  Body odor is a sensory cue critical for mate selection in humans because it is a signal of immunological health. Women prefer men with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genotypes and odor different from themselves especially during ovulation. Different MHC alleles are favorable because different allele combinations would maximize disease protection and minimize recessive mutations in offspring. Biologically females tend to select mates "who are most likely to secure offspring survival and thus increase the likelihood that her genetic contribution will be reproductively viable."  Studies have suggested that people might be using odor cues associated with the immune system to select mates. Using a brain-imaging technique, Swedish researchers have shown that gay and straight males' brains respond in different ways to two odors that may be involved in sexual arousal, and that the gay men respond in the same way as straight women, though it could not be determined whether this was cause or effect. The study was expanded to include lesbian women; the results were consistent with previous findings that lesbian women were not as responsive to male-identified odors, while their response to female cues was similar to that of straight males. According to the researchers, this research suggests a possible role for human pheromones in the biological basis of sexual orientation.  An odor can cue recall of a distant memory. Most memories that pertain to odor come from the first decade of life, compared to verbal and visual memories which usually come from the 10th to 30th years of life. Odor-evoked memories are more emotional, associated with stronger feelings of being brought back in time, and have been thought of less often as compared to memories evoked by other cues.

Scent preferences.

Effect of perfume on sexual attractiveness.

Both men and women use perfume to boost their sexual attractiveness to members of the opposite, or same, sex. When people find that a particular perfume or aftershave is perceived positively, they may be hard-pressed to change it. Olfactory communication is natural in humans. Without perfume or aftershave, humans unconsciously detect people's natural scents: in the form of pheromones. Pheromones are usually detected unconsciously, and it is believed that they have an important influence on human's social and sexual behaviour There are a number of hypotheses concerning why humans wear perfume or aftershave, and whether it amplifies or reduces their natural scents.  In 2001, a study found that the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (a polymorphic set of genes which is important for immune-function in humans) is correlated with the ingredients found in perfume. This suggests that humans do, in fact, choose perfumes that complement or enhance their

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and body odor preferences.

Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a genotype found in vertebrates, including humans. MHC is thought to contribute to mate choice in animals and humans. In sexual selection, females opt for mates with an MHC which differs from their own, optimising genes for their offspring. The "heterozygote advantage" and "Red Queen" explanations for these findings fall under the "pathogen hypothesis". Due to differences in MHC alleles' resistance to pathogens, a preference for mates with a dissimilar MHC composition has been argued to act as a mechanism to avoid infectious diseases. According to the heterozygotes-advantage hypothesis, diversity within the MHC genotype is beneficial for the immune system due to a greater range of antigens available to the host. Therefore, the hypothesis proposes that MHC heterozygotes will be superior to MHC homozygotes in fighting off pathogens. Experimental

Women's scent preferences and the menstrual cycle.

Women’s preferences for body odor change with their menstrual cycles. The ovulatory-shift hypothesis argues that women experience elevated immediate sexual attraction, relative to low-fertile days of the cycle, to men with characteristics that reflect good genetic quality. Body odor may provide significant cues about a potential sexual partner's genetic quality, reproductive status, and health, with a woman's preferences for particular body odors becoming heightened during her most fertile days. As certain body odors can reflect good genetic quality, woman are more likely to prefer these scents when they are fertile, as this is when they are most likely to produce offspring with any potential mates, with conception-risk being related to a preference for the scent of male symmetry. Men also prefer the scent of women at their fertile cycle points.  There are several scents that reflect good genetic quality that females prefer during the most fertile phase

An odor (American English) or odour (British English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive by their sense of smell. An odor is also called a "smell" or a "scent", which can refer to either a pleasant or an unpleasant odor.

Vůně nebo pach je čichový vjem, který lze získat pomocí čichových receptorů. Je to smyslová informace o chemickém složení aerosolu nebo plynu.


History.

Mercantilism became the dominant school of economic thought in Europe throughout the late Renaissance and the early-modern period (from the 15th to the 18th centuries). Evidence of mercantilistic practices appeared in early-modern Venice, Genoa, and Pisa regarding control of the Mediterranean trade in bullion. However, the empiricism of the Renaissance, which first began to quantify large-scale trade accurately, marked mercantilism's birth as a codified school of economic theories. The Italian economist and mercantilist Antonio Serra is considered to have written one of the first treatises on political economy with his 1613 work, "A Short Treatise on the Wealth and Poverty of Nations".  Mercantilism in its simplest form is bullionism, yet mercantilist writers emphasize the circulation of money and reject hoarding. Their emphasis on monetary metals accords with current ideas regarding the money supply, such as the stimulative effect of a growing money-supply. Fiat money and floating exchange rates have since rendered specie concerns irrelevant. In time, industrial policy supplanted the heavy emphasis on money, accompanied by a shift in focus from the capacity to carry on wars to promoting general prosperity. Mature neomercantilist theory recommends selective high tariffs for "infant" industries or the promotion of the mutual growth of countries through national industrial specialization.  England began the first large-scale and integrative approach to mercantilism during the Elizabethan Era (1558–1603). An early statement on national balance of trade appeared in "Discourse of the Common Weal of this Realm of England", 1549: "We must always take heed that we buy no more from strangers than we sell them, for so should we impoverish ourselves and enrich them." The period featured various but often disjointed efforts by the court of Queen Elizabeth (reigned 1558-1603) to develop a naval and merchant fleet capable of challenging the Spanish stranglehold on trade and of expanding the growth of bullion at home. Queen Elizabeth promoted the Trade and Navigation Acts in Parliament and issued orders to her navy for the protection and promotion of English shipping. A systematic and coherent explanation of balance of trade emerged in Thomas Mun's argument "England's Treasure by Forraign Trade or the Balance of our Forraign Trade is The Rule of Our Treasure" - written in the 1620s and published in 1664.  Elizabeth's efforts [needs a quote to verify]organized national resources sufficiently in the defense of England against the far larger and more powerful Spanish Empire, and in turn, paved the foundation for establishing a global empire in the 19th century. Authors noted most for establishing the English mercantilist system include Gerard de Malynes ( 1585–1641) and Thomas Mun (1571-1641), who first articulated the Elizabethan system ("England's Treasure by Forraign Trade or the Balance of Forraign Trade is the Rule of Our Treasure"), which Josiah Child ( 1630/31 – 1699) then developed further. Numerous French authors helped cement French policy around mercantilism in the 17th century. Jean-Baptiste Colbert (Intendant général, 1661–1665; Contrôleur général des finances, 1661–1683) best articulated this French mercantilism. French economic policy liberalized greatly under Napoleon (in power from 1799 to 1814/1815)  Many nations applied the theory, notably France, which was the most important state economically in Europe at the time. King Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715) followed the guidance of Jean Baptiste Colbert, his Controller-General of Finances from 1665 to 1683. It was determined that the state should rule in the economic realm as it did in the diplomatic, and that the interests of the state as identified by the king were superior to those of merchants and of everyone else. Mercantilist economic policies aimed to build up the state, especially in an age of incessant warfare, and theorists charged the state with looking for ways to strengthen the economy and to weaken foreign adversaries.  In Europe, academic belief in mercantilism began to fade in the late-18th century after the British seized control of the Mughal Bengal, a major trading nation, and the establishment of the British India through the activities of the East India Company, in light of the arguments of Adam Smith (1723-1790) and of the classical economists. The British Parliament's repeal of the Corn Laws under Robert Peel in 1846 symbolized the emergence of free trade as an alternative system.

Theory.

Most of the European economists who wrote between 1500 and 1750 are today generally considered mercantilists; this term was initially used solely by critics, such as Mirabeau and Smith, but was quickly adopted by historians. Originally the standard English term was "mercantile system". The word "mercantilism" was introduced into English from German in the early 19th century.  The bulk of what is commonly called "mercantilist literature" appeared in the 1620s in Great Britain. Smith saw the English merchant Thomas Mun (1571–1641) as a major creator of the mercantile system, especially in his posthumously published "Treasure by Foreign Trade" (1664), which Smith considered the archetype or manifesto of the movement. Perhaps the last major mercantilist work was James Steuart's "Principles of Political Economy", published in 1767.  Mercantilist literature also extended beyond England. Italy and France produced noted writers of mercantilist themes, including Italy's Giovanni Botero (1544–1617) and Antonio Serra (1580–?) and, in France, Jean Bodin and Colbert. Themes also existed in writers from the German historical school from List, as well as followers of the American system and British free-trade imperialism, thus stretching the system into the 19th century. However, many British writers, including Mun and Misselden, were merchants, while many of the writers from other countries were public officials. Beyond mercantilism as a way of understanding the wealth and power of nations, Mun and Misselden are noted for their viewpoints on a wide range of economic matters.  The Austrian lawyer and scholar Philipp Wilhelm von Hornick, one of the pioneers of Cameralism, detailed a nine-point program of what he deemed effective national economy in his "Austria Over All, If She Only Will" of 1684, which comprehensively sums up the tenets of mercantilism:  Other than Von Hornick, there were no mercantilist writers presenting an overarching scheme for the ideal economy, as Adam Smith would later do for classical economics. Rather, each mercantilist writer tended to focus on a single area of the economy. Only later did non-mercantilist scholars integrate these "diverse" ideas into what they called mercantilism. Some scholars thus reject the idea of mercantilism completely, arguing that it gives "a false unity to disparate events". Smith saw the mercantile system as an enormous conspiracy by manufacturers and merchants against consumers, a view that has led some authors, especially Robert E. Ekelund and Robert D. Tollison, to call mercantilism "a rent-seeking society". To a certain extent, mercantilist doctrine itself made a general theory of economics impossible. Mercantilists viewed the economic system as a zero-sum game, in which any gain by one party required a loss by another. Thus, any system of policies that benefited one group would by definition harm the other, and there was no possibility of economics being used to maximize the commonwealth, or common good. Mercantilists' writings were also generally created to rationalize particular practices rather than as investigations into the best policies.  Mercantilist domestic policy was more fragmented than its trade policy. While Adam Smith portrayed mercantilism as supportive of strict controls over the economy, many mercantilists disagreed. The early modern era was one of letters patent and government-imposed monopolies; some mercantilists supported these, but others acknowledged the corruption and inefficiency of such systems. Many mercantilists also realized that the inevitable results of quotas and price ceilings were black markets. One notion that mercantilists widely agreed upon was the need for economic oppression of the working population; laborers and farmers were to live at the "margins of subsistence". The goal was to maximize production, with no concern for consumption. Extra money, free time, and education for the lower classes were seen to inevitably lead to vice and laziness, and would result in harm to the economy.  The mercantilists saw a large population as a form of wealth that made possible the development of bigger markets and armies. Opposite to mercantilism was the doctrine of physiocracy, which predicted that mankind would outgrow its resources. The idea of mercantilism was to protect the markets as well as maintain agriculture and those who were dependent upon it.

Policies.

Mercantilist ideas were the dominant economic ideology of all of Europe in the early modern period, and most states embraced it to a certain degree. Mercantilism was centred on England and France, and it was in these states that mercantilist policies were most often enacted.  The policies have included:

France.

Mercantilism arose in France in the early 16th century soon after the monarchy had become the dominant force in French politics. In 1539, an important decree banned the import of woolen goods from Spain and some parts of Flanders. The next year, a number of restrictions were imposed on the export of bullion.  Over the rest of the 16th century, further protectionist measures were introduced. The height of French mercantilism is closely associated with Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister for 22 years in the 17th century, to the extent that French mercantilism is sometimes called Colbertism. Under Colbert, the French government became deeply involved in the economy in order to increase exports. Protectionist policies were enacted that limited imports and favored exports. Industries were organized into guilds and monopolies, and production was regulated by the state through a series of more than one thousand directives outlining how different products should be produced.  To encourage industry, foreign artisans and craftsmen were imported. Colbert also worked to decrease internal barriers to trade, reducing internal tariffs and building an extensive network of roads and canals. Colbert's policies were quite successful, and France's industrial output and the economy grew considerably during this period, as France became the dominant European power. He was less successful in turning France into a major trading power, and Britain and the Netherlands remained supreme in this field.

New France.

France imposed its mercantilist philosophy on its colonies in North America, especially New France. It sought to derive the maximum material benefit from the colony, for the homeland, with a minimum of imperial investment in the colony itself. The ideology was embodied in New France through the establishment under Royal Charter of a number of corporate trading monopolies including La Compagnie des Marchands, which operated from 1613 to 1621, and the Compagnie de Montmorency, from that date until 1627. It was in turn replaced by La Compagnie des Cent-Associés, created in 1627 by King Louis XIII, and the Communauté des habitants in 1643. These were the first corporations to operate in what is now Canada.

Great Britain.

In England, mercantilism reached its peak during the Long Parliament government (1640–60). Mercantilist policies were also embraced throughout much of the Tudor and Stuart periods, with Robert Walpole being another major proponent. In Britain, government control over the domestic economy was far less extensive than on the Continent, limited by common law and the steadily increasing power of Parliament. Government-controlled monopolies were common, especially before the English Civil War, but were often controversial.  With respect to its colonies, British mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires. The government protected its merchants—and kept others out—through trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries in order to maximize exports from and minimize imports to the realm. The government had to fight smuggling, which became a favorite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish, or Dutch. The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses so that gold and silver would pour into London. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in Britain. The government spent much of its revenue on a superb Royal Navy, which not only protected the British colonies but threatened the colonies of the other empires, and sometimes seized them. Thus the British Navy captured New Amsterdam (New York) in 1664. The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country.  British mercantilist writers were themselves divided on whether domestic controls were necessary. British mercantilism thus mainly took the form of efforts to control trade. A wide array of regulations were put in place to encourage exports and discourage imports. Tariffs were placed on imports and bounties given for exports, and the export of some raw materials was banned completely. The Navigation Acts expelled foreign merchants from England's domestic trade. The nation aggressively sought colonies and once under British control, regulations were imposed that allowed the colony to only produce raw materials and to only trade with Britain. This led to friction with the inhabitants of these colonies, and mercantilist policies (such as forbidding trade with other empires and controls over smuggling) were a major irritant leading to the American Revolution.  Mercantilism taught that trade was a zero-sum game, with one country's gain equivalent to a loss sustained by the trading partner. Overall, however, mercantilist policies had a positive impact on Britain helping turn it into the world's dominant trader and the global hegemon. One domestic policy that had a lasting impact was the conversion of "wastelands" to agricultural use. Mercantilists believed that to maximize a nation's power, all land and resources had to be used to their highest and best use, and this era thus saw projects like the draining of The Fens.

Other countries.

The other nations of Europe also embraced mercantilism to varying degrees. The Netherlands, which had become the financial centre of Europe by being its most efficient trader, had little interest in seeing trade restricted and adopted few mercantilist policies. Mercantilism became prominent in Central Europe and Scandinavia after the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), with Christina of Sweden, Jacob Kettler of Courland, and Christian IV of Denmark being notable proponents.  The Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors had long been interested in mercantilist policies, but the vast and decentralized nature of their empire made implementing such notions difficult. Some constituent states of the empire did embrace Mercantilism, most notably Prussia, which under Frederick the Great had perhaps the most rigidly controlled economy in Europe.  Spain benefited from mercantilism early on as it brought a large amount of precious metals such as gold and silver into their treasury by way of the new world. In the long run, Spain's economy collapsed as it was unable to adjust to the inflation that came with the large influx of bullion. Heavy intervention from the crown put crippling laws for the protection of Spanish goods and services. Mercantilist protectionist policy in Spain caused the long-run failure of the Castilian textile industry as the efficiency severely dropped off with each passing year due to the production being held at a specific level. Spain's heavily protected industries led to famines as much of its agricultural land was required to be used for sheep instead of grain. Much of their grain was imported from the Baltic region of Europe which caused a shortage of food in the inner regions of Spain. Spain limiting the trade of their colonies is one of the causes that lead to the separation of the Dutch from the Spanish Empire. The culmination of all of these policies lead to Spain defaulting in 1557, 1575, and 1596.  During the economic collapse of the 17th century, Spain had little coherent economic policy, but French mercantilist policies were imported by Philip V with some success. Russia under Peter I (Peter the Great) attempted to pursue mercantilism, but had little success because of Russia's lack of a large merchant class or an industrial base.

Wars and imperialism.

Mercantilism was the economic version of warfare using economics as a tool for warfare by other means backed up by the state apparatus and was well suited to an era of military warfare. Since the level of world trade was viewed as fixed, it followed that the only way to increase a nation's trade was to take it from another. A number of wars, most notably the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Franco-Dutch Wars, can be linked directly to mercantilist theories. Most wars had other causes but they reinforced mercantilism by clearly defining the enemy, and justified damage to the enemy's economy.  Mercantilism fueled the imperialism of this era, as many nations expended significant effort to conquer new colonies that would be sources of gold (as in Mexico) or sugar (as in the West Indies), as well as becoming exclusive markets. European power spread around the globe, often under the aegis of companies with government-guaranteed monopolies in certain defined geographical regions, such as the Dutch East India Company or the British Hudson's Bay Company (operating in present-day Canada).  With the establishment of overseas colonies by European powers early in the 17th century, mercantile theory gained a new and wider significance, in which its aim and ideal became both national and imperialistic.  Mercantilism as a weapon has continued to be used by nations through the 21st century by way of modern tariffs as it puts smaller economies in a position to conform to the larger economies goals or risk economic ruin due to an imbalance in trade. Trade wars are often dependent on such tariffs and restrictions hurting the opposing economy.

Origins.

The term "mercantile system" was used by its foremost critic, Adam Smith, but Mirabeau (1715–1789) had used "mercantilism" earlier.  Mercantilism functioned as the economic counterpart of the older version of political power: divine right of kings and absolute monarchy.  Scholars debate over why mercantilism dominated economic ideology for 250 years. One group, represented by Jacob Viner, sees mercantilism as simply a straightforward, common-sense system whose logical fallacies remained opaque to people at the time, as they simply lacked the required analytical tools.  The second school, supported by scholars such as Robert B. Ekelund, portrays mercantilism not as a mistake, but rather as the best possible system for those who developed it. This school argues that rent-seeking merchants and governments developed and enforced mercantilist policies. Merchants benefited greatly from the enforced monopolies, bans on foreign competition, and poverty of the workers. Governments benefited from the high tariffs and payments from the merchants. Whereas later economic ideas were often developed by academics and philosophers, almost all mercantilist writers were merchants or government officials.  Monetarism offers a third explanation for mercantilism. European trade exported bullion to pay for goods from Asia, thus reducing the money supply and putting downward pressure on prices and economic activity. The evidence for this hypothesis is the lack of inflation in the British economy until the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, when paper money came into vogue.  A fourth explanation lies in the increasing professionalisation and technification of the wars of the era, which turned the maintenance of adequate reserve funds (in the prospect of war) into a more and more expensive and eventually competitive business.  Mercantilism developed at a time of transition for the European economy. Isolated feudal estates were being replaced by centralized nation-states as the focus of power. Technological changes in shipping and the growth of urban centers led to a rapid increase in international trade. Mercantilism focused on how this trade could best aid the states. Another important change was the introduction of double-entry bookkeeping and modern accounting. This accounting made extremely clear the inflow and outflow of trade, contributing to the close scrutiny given to the balance of trade. Of course, the impact of the discovery of America cannot be ignored. New markets and new mines propelled foreign trade to previously inconceivable volumes, resulting in "the great upward movement in prices" and an increase in "the volume of merchant activity itself".  Prior to mercantilism, the most important economic work done in Europe was by the medieval scholastic theorists. The goal of these thinkers was to find an economic system compatible with Christian doctrines of piety and justice. They focused mainly on microeconomics and on local exchanges between individuals. Mercantilism was closely aligned with the other theories and ideas that began to replace the medieval worldview. This period saw the adoption of the very Machiavellian realpolitik and the primacy of the "raison d'état" in international relations. The mercantilist idea of all trade as a zero-sum game, in which each side was trying to best the other in a ruthless competition, was integrated into the works of Thomas Hobbes. This dark view of human nature also fit well with the Puritan view of the world, and some of the most stridently mercantilist legislation, such as the Navigation Ordinance of 1651, was enacted by the government of Oliver Cromwell.  Jean-Baptiste Colbert's work in 17th-century France came to exemplify classical mercantilism. In the English-speaking world, its ideas were criticized by Adam Smith with the publication of "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776 and later by David Ricardo with his explanation of comparative advantage. Mercantilism was rejected by Britain and France by the mid-19th century. The British Empire embraced free trade and used its power as the financial center of the world to promote the same. The Guyanese historian Walter Rodney describes mercantilism as the period of the worldwide development of European commerce, which began in the 15th century with the voyages of Portuguese and Spanish explorers to Africa, Asia, and the New World.

End of mercantilism.

Adam Smith and David Hume were the founding fathers of anti-mercantilist thought. A number of scholars found important flaws with mercantilism long before Smith developed an ideology that could fully replace it. Critics like Hume, Dudley North and John Locke undermined much of mercantilism and it steadily lost favor during the 18th century.  In 1690, Locke argued that prices vary in proportion to the quantity of money. Locke's "Second Treatise" also points towards the heart of the anti-mercantilist critique: that the wealth of the world is not fixed, but is created by human labor (represented embryonically by Locke's labor theory of value). Mercantilists failed to understand the notions of absolute advantage and comparative advantage (although this idea was only fully fleshed out in 1817 by David Ricardo) and the benefits of trade.  For instance, imagine that Portugal was a more efficient producer of wine than England, yet in England, cloth could be produced more efficiently than it could in Portugal. Thus if Portugal specialized in wine and England in cloth, "both" states would end up "better off" if they traded. This is an example of the reciprocal benefits of trade (whether due to comparative or absolute advantage). In modern economic theory, trade is "not" a zero-sum game of cutthroat competition, because both sides can benefit from it.  Hume famously noted the impossibility of the mercantilists' goal of a constant positive balance of trade. As bullion flowed into one country, the supply would increase, and the value of bullion in that state would steadily decline relative to other goods. Conversely, in the state exporting bullion, its value would slowly rise. Eventually, it would no longer be cost-effective to export goods from the high-price country to the low-price country, and the balance of trade would reverse. Mercantilists fundamentally misunderstood this, long arguing that an increase in the money supply simply meant that everyone gets richer.  The importance placed on bullion was also a central target, even if many mercantilists had themselves begun to de-emphasize the importance of gold and silver. Adam Smith noted that at the core of the mercantile system was the "popular folly of confusing wealth with money", that bullion was just the same as any other commodity, and that there was no reason to give it special treatment. More recently, scholars have discounted the accuracy of this critique. They believe Mun and Misselden were not making this mistake in the 1620s, and point to their followers Josiah Child and Charles Davenant, who in 1699 wrote, "Gold and Silver are indeed the Measures of Trade, but that the Spring and Original of it, in all nations is the Natural or Artificial Product of the Country; that is to say, what this Land or what this Labour and Industry Produces." The critique that mercantilism was a form of rent seeking has also seen criticism, as scholars such Jacob Viner in the 1930s pointed out that merchant mercantilists such as Mun understood that they would not gain by higher prices for English wares abroad.  The first school to completely reject mercantilism was the physiocrats, who developed their theories in France. Their theories also had several important problems, and the replacement of mercantilism did not come until Adam Smith published "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776. This book outlines the basics of what is today known as classical economics. Smith spent a considerable portion of the book rebutting the arguments of the mercantilists, though often these are simplified or exaggerated versions of mercantilist thought.  Scholars are also divided over the cause of mercantilism's end. Those who believe the theory was simply an error hold that its replacement was inevitable as soon as Smith's more accurate ideas were unveiled. Those who feel that mercantilism amounted to rent-seeking hold that it ended only when major power shifts occurred. In Britain, mercantilism faded as the Parliament gained the monarch's power to grant monopolies. While the wealthy capitalists who controlled the House of Commons benefited from these monopolies, Parliament found it difficult to implement them because of the high cost of group decision making.  Mercantilist regulations were steadily removed over the course of the 18th century in Britain, and during the 19th century, the British government fully embraced free trade and Smith's laissez-faire economics. On the continent, the process was somewhat different. In France, economic control remained in the hands of the royal family, and mercantilism continued until the French Revolution. In Germany, mercantilism remained an important ideology in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the historical school of economics was paramount.

Legacy.

Adam Smith rejected the mercantilist focus on production, arguing that consumption was paramount to production. He added that mercantilism was popular among merchants because it was what is now called rent seeking. John Maynard Keynes argued that encouraging production was just as important as encouraging consumption, and he favored the "new mercantilism". Keynes also noted that in the early modern period the focus on the bullion supplies was reasonable. In an era before paper money, an increase in bullion was one of the few ways to increase the money supply. Keynes said mercantilist policies generally improved both domestic and foreign investment—domestic because the policies lowered the domestic rate of interest, and investment by foreigners by tending to create a favorable balance of trade. Keynes and other economists of the 20th century also realized that the balance of payments is an important concern. Keynes also supported government intervention in the economy as necessity, as did mercantilism. , the word "mercantilism" remains a pejorative term, often used to attack various forms of protectionism. The similarities between Keynesianism (and its successor ideas) and mercantilism have sometimes led critics to call them neo-mercantilism.  Paul Samuelson, writing within a Keynesian framework, wrote of mercantilism, "With employment less than full and Net National Product suboptimal, all the debunked mercantilist arguments turn out to be valid."  Some other systems that copy several mercantilist policies, such as Japan's economic system, are also sometimes called neo-mercantilist. In an essay appearing in the 14 May 2007 issue of "Newsweek", business columnist Robert J. Samuelson wrote that China was pursuing an essentially neo-mercantilist trade policy that threatened to undermine the post–World War II international economic structure.  Murray Rothbard, representing the Austrian School of economics, describes it this way:  In specific instances, protectionist mercantilist policies also had an important and positive impact on the state that enacted them. Adam Smith, for instance, praised the Navigation Acts, as they greatly expanded the British merchant fleet and played a central role in turning Britain into the world's naval and economic superpower from the 18th century onward. Some economists thus feel that protecting infant industries, while causing short-term harm, can be beneficial in the long term.

Mercantilism is an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. It promotes imperialism, tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal. These policies aim to reduce a possible current account deficit or reach a current account surplus. Mercantilism includes measures aimed at accumulating monetary reserves through a positive balance of trade, especially of finished goods. Historically, such policies frequently led to war and also motivated colonial expansion. Mercantilist theory varies in sophistication from one writer to another and has evolved over time.

Merkantilismus je směr hospodářské politiky, kladoucí důraz na maximalizaci ekonomického vývozu (exportu) státu do jiných ekonomik. Je považován za první buržoazní ekonomickou teorii, která vznikla na přelomu 16. a 17. století v západní Evropě, v modernizovaných částech Evropy byla dominantní od 16. do 18. století.