This article concerns legal problems relating to the delimitation of areas of water in Poland. The main question is the status of water as property. In Poland bodies of water are generally public prdperty. This means that Polish legislation is responsible for partitioning and delimiting all watercourses. An analysis of legal regulations indicates some irregularity in this matter. This problem should be addressed immediately.

The paper discusses problems arising in attempts to accurately represent dynamic processes of an electric arc by means of simple mathematical models. It describes the properties of the universal Pentegov model, employing any shape of static voltagecurrent characteristics of an arc. Next, it presents spectral and integral measuring methods for determining arc parameters in the Mayr, Cassie and Pentegov models of the electric arc with a forced sinusoid current circuit, with the raising static characteristics of hyperbolic-flat and hyperbolic-linear shape. The influence is discussed of the random power supply disturbances on errors of determining the mathematical model parameters.

ARGUMENTUM

Describuntur fata Aristophanis fabularum in theatris Russiae, praesertim tempore Vladimiri Lenin et Michaelis Gorbačov.

This paper presents a new edition and translation of the contract for the erection of the castle in Kórnik that was concluded in 1426 by and between a chancellor of the Poznań cathedral chapter, Mikołaj z Górki, owner of the Kórnik estate, and a Poznań carpenter Niklos (Nicholas). It is the oldest known document of the history of the first, medieval wooden castle. Written down in Latin, it has survived in the book of the Poznań Consistory. It has a special value as a source of information, but it is also unique from the point of view of diplomatics as the so-called chirograph (a document marked by its characteristic way in which it is written down and its manner of authentication). The contract is not only a first-rate source for research into the history of wooden and defensive architecture in late medieval Poland, but also, in view of the Polish words used to explain Latin terminology in the text, can be considered a memorial to the Polish language of the past. The four German words have a similar value, too.

The research task of the essay is to answer the question of what is the face of the nation in the ethnic enclaves situated at the peripheries of national states. The subject of the analyses is the local population of the village Jaworzynka. In 1922, the settlement Herczawa was founded as a local unit independent from Jaworzynka. Since then Herczawa began to belong to Czechoslovakia. The state-owned status of Jaworzynka, which started to be a part of the Republic of Poland, was recognized after the World War I. The author takes into account the longue durre of folk and national culture generated in the Silesian Beskidy in the second half of the 18th century. The national culture is the main term applied to the investigations of the borderland regions. According to the ethno-symbolic approaches (Anthony D. Smith) and culturalism methods in sociology (Antonina Kłoskowska), the author analyses in his research: 1) language, 2) religion, 3) folkways and mores 4) arts, 5) local knowledge and literature. These elements delineate the sphere of symbolic culture. Based on the common folk culture, two national cultures have been formed nowadays – the Polish and Czech ones. Both Polish and Czech Census Bureau data and objective elements of national culture discussed in the essay indicate the process of national revival. The local people of Jaworzynka identify themselves as Poles and the population of Herczawa define themselves as Czechs. The content and the form of the local culture are visible in Jaworzyna, but they seem to be latent or diminishing in Herczawa.

In these remarks I make an attempt to understand and present the functioning of authorities in science. I do use in the first place the earlier claims which present this issue in a historical perspective. This allows to grasp the social process of emergence of the authorities as well the changing of their position in the way they are functioning. Especially the thoughts of Max Weber are being considered by my as useful in this matter. I do share his general thesis saying that even the greatest of scientific authorities – called by me in these remarks ”centennial” – couldn't occur and function without their social and cultural ”background”. This had led in large extent to the situation where these authorities fist played a significant role in the development of science and then went over to a more or less dignified ”retirement”. In this and other issues I present some of my own remarks and sugestions.