Avalanches And Landslides :: essays research papers

Avalanches and Landslides OUTLINE 1. a.WHAT IS AN AVALANCHE OR LANDSLIDE? b.EXACTLY HOW DOES AN AVALANCHES OCCUR 2. a.I TALK A LITTLE ABOUT PAST AVALANCHES b.PAST DEATHS FROM AVALANCHES 3. a.CONCLUSION CLOSING OF MY REPORT What is an avalanche? , well it's a large mass of snow and ice or of earth or rock sliding down a mountain side or a cliff. And how does an avalanche occur, well mainly they happen by vibrations caused by movement of the earth such as an earthquake, gunfire, rainy weather, and many more. Now I would like to talk a little about past avalanches and landslides that have occurred like the 1903 Frank landslide and avalanche that happened at the same time, in Alberta Canada it destroyed the parks canyons it's beautiful trees' it's wonderful sights and killed nearly one hundred people, and covered a small town near Alberta with ice and snow. Another devastating avalanche incident is the 1964 Sherman slide, in which a huge avalanche was triggered by the 1964 Alaskan earthquake. The slide spilled out onto the Sherman glacier, during the big slide several other smaller slides happened and those were the one that took lives in Anchorage, and destroyed property There are a couple of types of avalanches and how the destroy so much this one is named "Loose Snow Avalanches"1, it starts' in a small area then grows in size and mass as it descends.Another type is the "Slab Avalanche" it actually starts in a large area of ice and snow and then begins to slide. On September 12 of 1717 crusaded down the Troilet, Italy glacier, gaining speed on a cushion of air reaching a falling velocity of km/hr over a 3600 m fall. Two towns were destroyed, with seven people killed and a 120 cows lost. The slosh of an avalanche ran up the far side of the valley at a speed of 125 km/hr. In developed areas such as ski resorts it is possible to predict avalanches because they are controlled with explosives and artillery. In a back-country areas it is possible to predict avalanches because the forecast relies on experience of the person making the observation. There are no computer models available to predict avalanches and therefore predictions are only accomplished by repetitive observations and knowledge of snow properties. Due to difficulty in reliable predictions method areas of avalanche hazards must rely on controlling or altering the effects of an avalanche. The back country explorer must be highly skilled in determining safe routes and rescue procedures over and above relying on predictions of avalanches for personal safety. Avalanches kill people many ways but the most common cause of death is

Dbq on Whether or Not Enlightenment Thinkers Based Ideas

DBQ When looking upon any thinkers in recorded history, we must analyze the influences, assuming there are some, that provide a foundation or stemmed the creation of the thinkers line of thought or view on a subject.For instance, the philosophes of the Enlightenment are often assumed to have formulated their ideas single-handedly but if we were to analyze their thoughts we would see all of them stem from other ideas, or directly oppose thinker’s views from the Scientific Revolution, such as the relationship or similarities of Humanity and Nature, the use of the Scientific Method, and the ongoing debate on religion and its place in human affairs.To begin with, the extensive use of the newly accepted Scientific Method, or the new form of investigation that stemmed from it made the Enlightenment’s revolutionary government ideas possible. These documents support this fact, Document one, Rene Descartes’ The Discourse on Method, Document five Holbach’s The Syste m of Nature, Rouseeau’s Social Contract and Newton’s Principia Mathematica.For instance In Rene Descartes’ The Discourse on Method he states his four steps of questioning which started with he could never accept what was truth accept what he had already determined to be, secondly divide into as many possible parts as he could, third start with the simple and work your way into the complex, and finally omit nothing and be certain of your work by painstaking records and reviews. These steps, when transferred into the research of finding the epitome of government, the interactions of a society, and human nature itself allowed a complex and encompassing view on the philosophe’s society and government.Also, by using this method a more realistic or practical form of philosophy was created. Whereas in Greek philosophy most ideas where looking at a current government or in Plato’s case creating an entirely new one with illogical and impractical theorems, t he Scientific Method allowed thinkers to piece by piece respond to society’s and humanity’s flaws and they realized government is the greatest reasonable compromise in a man’s life.It began to be understood that at the forefront of Man’s separation from base beasts is the ability to live in a society influenced by morals, reason, and ambition as opposed to the animalistic instinct of their lesser cousins in the animal kingdom. (Doc 1) In Baron d’Holbach’s The System of Nature Holbach states â€Å" The enlightened man, is his matury, in his perfection, who is capable of pursuing his own happiness, because he has learned to examine†¦Experience teaches Nature acts by simple, uniform, and invariable laws. † According to Holbach man may pursue happiness due to his reason, as opposed to Nature’s infinite cycle man may change. Doc 5) Another result of the Scientific Revolution’s Scientific Method is Rousseau’s The S ocial Contract in which he outlines the requirement of man to participate in a society of his fellow man. Rousseau states â€Å"†¦What man loses by the social contract is his natural liberty and unlimited right to everything†¦what he gains is civil liberty and proprietorship of all he possesses. † The implications of this idea would stem a new frame of mind, one that required self-realization and an individual’s logic, a once radical theory was now shared by many philosophers.However, in order to keep society from imploding on itself some freedoms must be curtailed, which was the basis of the so called â€Å"social contract† the largest compromise in human history and what allowed the pursuit of happiness, and the achievement of one’s full potential. (Doc 8) Adding to this frame of thinking, and perhaps a major reason it existed is detailed in Newton’s Principia Mathematica it states, â€Å"Nature does nothing in vain.. for Nature is ple ased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp or superfluous causes. Applying the idea that nothing happens without a cause in Nature to Man, drove the philosophes to analyze human nature, and it may be said that all ideas of human nature stem from Newton’s no reaction without cause statement, mirrored by the scientists of the Scientific Revolution (Doc 2). The opposition to thinkers of the Scientific Revolution from the Enlightenment thinkers is often in religious matters. In support of religion is Galileo and Pascal, opposing it are Didrot and Holbach. In support of religion Galileo wrote in his Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, â€Å"..It appears that nothing physical which sense-experience set before our eyes.. ought to be called into question upon the testimony of Biblical passages†¦ For the Bible is not chained in every expression to conditions as strict as those which govern all physical effects. † In this statement Galieleo attributes the breaks of log ic in the Bible and theology as a whole, To the fact that it is simply expressions, or that due to lack of complete omniscient human understanding things may be explained by the presence of a divine spirit.Which leads straight into Pascal’s Pensees in which he states â€Å"†¦What is a man in the infinite? † This simple statement sums up Pascal’s reasoning of religion, he is trying to get across the fact that no matter what Humanity will never fully understand every process in Nature or the Universe, and as such it is only logical that something must understand everything, which would mean that something would have had to created it, and thus the presence of God is explained.This was more or less the view of other Scientific Revolution thinkers, the common consensus was that science, even in its greatest form would never be able to fully explain everything it is just not humanly possible, and as such a divine force, greater than man must have a place in the creation of things. Another Scientific Revolutionary view was that science could explain Nature, which is created by God and allow the church to piece out the moral and theological concepts of religion and society.This train of thought was contradictory to Enlightenment thinkers, who believed it was their job to piece out every last piece of human society, and improve upon it. So when the topic of religion was introduced, having a certain bias due to the Catholic Church’s previous actions they were more than happy to either discount religion altogether, or introduce the idea of religious tolerance and freedom.Pascal was a deeply religious man himself, and having spent most of his time trying to justify religion, can theoretically be seen as an â€Å"expert† on the topic. (Doc 4) One such example of an atheistic world view is that of Baron d’Holbach in his The System of Nature he states â€Å"†¦In his perfection (the enlightened man) is capable of pursuing his own happiness, because he has learned to examine and think for himself and not to take the truth upon the authority of others. This frame of mind of Holbach that man is the epitome of life and perfection, as well as each individual must not take orders or value the ideas of others unless weighed and examined according to their own logic directly goes against the concept of most religion, and especially the Catholicism of France, the country Holbach resided in after moving from Germany. Simply put Christianity has two main ideals no one is perfect, and due to the imperfection of man faith must be place in God to forgive and allow certain truths to come to light.Holbach himself was an atheist, and stated that often and it was considered widely known he had no belief in a higher power. (Doc 5) Supporting Holbach’s viewpoint is Diderot in his Encyclopedia Diderot states â€Å" Reason is in the estimation of the philosopher what grace is to the Christian. Grace determines the Christian’s action; reason the philosopher’s. † It is quite apparent that Diderot is not attracted to what he sees as a sort of blind un-investigated faith of a Christian, ideas like this oppose the religious tolerance of the Scientific Revolution, however, some Enlightenment thinkers believed religion had a place in society.One such Enlightenment philosophe, Thomas Paine, supported religion, mainly in the way he stated in his Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens that â€Å"no man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even on account of religious opinions. † Essentially, religion was a choice and as such man had according to his natural rights, the ability to choose a religion provided it would not harm or threaten the commonwealth, and in theory freedom of religion works well, and benefits the whole.However, as shown in countless examples ages of strict government mandated religions would oppose this religious freedom, but neve rtheless, Paine did support religion and the freedom of choosing one as a Natural Right. Finally, the separation of man from Nature which allowed the age of Enlightenment and the economic success during the philosophe’s time was a direct result of the Scientific Revolution. Rousseau and Locke’s ideas stemmed from men like Newton and Descartes.The scientists focus on natures and development of ideas about possible uses and the complete understanding of Nature’s processes, such as Francis Bacon’s idea that nature was there for experimentation and practical implications which morally justified the brutal Imperialism of the period. Another enlightenment concept based of a Scientific Revolution idea is shown in this Imperialism simply, Man is greater than Nature, and as such must have certain contracts with one another to fully achieve his potential.In Jean Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract he states â€Å"As soon as the multitude is thus united i n one body, you cannot offend on of its members without attacking the whole† This details the mutual protection of numbers in a society, and society is what separates man from Nature, as society is a concept produced from logic and reason, and during the Scientific Revolution, logic and reason where also said to be what separated Man from Nature (Doc 12) Furthering this idea is John Locke in his Second Treatise on Government he writes â€Å" Political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of society, and therein to the governors†¦. that it shall be employed for their good and preservation of their property. † This proves the fact that society is a compromise which goes against our instinct but preserve more people as a whole, and by going against our instinct using logic, humanity is superior in every way to nature. Locke was a prominent physician and philosopher who had, since college, been interested in wh at at the time was considered modern philosophy. Doc 7) These ideas stemmed from Descartes four steps of reasoning (Doc 1) and Newton’s statement â€Å" To this purpose the philosophers say that Nature does nothing in Vain† (Doc 2) In conclusion, in many cases ideas are formed from pieces of many other ideas, to say the thinkers of the Enlightenment stood on the shoulders of men of the Scientific Revolution is true to a point. Yes, they did use a combination of their ideas in the Enlightenment but in many cases their ideas directly opposed them, or expanded upon them. So, while the Enlightenmnt thinkers may be indebted for the Scientific Method most of their ideas are new or conflicting concepts when compared to the ideas of the Scientific Revolution.

Famine, Affluence, and Morality Essay

In Singer’s article Famine, Affluence, and Morality, his main goal is to get the point across that there are people in the developing world that are starving and have a lack of healthcare and the lack of shelters. He argues about how affluent countries react to the issues like Bengal and the way they look at the moral issue surrounding it. He also argues that the way of life is taken for granted by affluence people. The first counter- argument in the article is â€Å"the view that numbers do make a difference† (Singer, 1971). It refers to if every affluent person would give 5 dollars to the Bengal Relief Fund that money would add up. Therefore, there is no reason to have to give more money than anyone else in the same position. Singer argues that this is based off a hypothetical situation. He, however, says in the article that there is no way for that work since no one would give more than 5 dollars then there would not be enough money to provide food, shelter, and medical care. He says by giving more than 5 dollars he will be able to end more suffering. The second counter argument people do not judge the way Singer suggested they should. Many people tend to keep their judgments to themselves unless they go overboard, step out bounds, and break some type of moral code. The example that Singer uses is taking someone else’s property. Most people tend not to look bad on owning expensive items instead of giving to people less fortunate. Singer’s response to this argument is, â€Å"unless that principle is rejected, or the arguments are shown to be unsound, I think the conclusion must stand however strange it appears. It might, nevertheless, be interesting to consider why our society, and most other societies, do judge differently from the way I have suggested they should. † (Singer, 1972) At what point do people draw the line at what should be done and what is good but not mandatory. Singer brings up a point that, â€Å"In a society which held that no man should have more than enough while others have less than they need. † (Utilitarian Philosophers, NDG) Many people are influenced by the people around them. If people are giving less than people around them are likely to give less, but if people give more than people around him are likely to give more. The third counter argument is the difference between duty and charity. The argument is that in some utilitarian theory that everyone should work full time to increase happiness over misery. Meaning that, if people work more, are paid more money than people would not be as miserable, many people say money cannot buy happiness. Singer’s reaction to this counter- argument is that, â€Å"we ought to be preventing as much suffering as we can without sacrificing something else of comparable moral importance. † (Utilitarian Philosophers, NDG) Singer defines marginal utility as the level at which giving more would result in suffering in his dependents or himself. The meaning of this is that one would limit their material possessions to less than nothing. He further explains that he proposed a more moderate version of marginal utility, â€Å"that we should prevent bad occurrences unless, to do so, we had to sacrifice something morally significant, for one might hold that to reduce oneself and one’s family to this level is to cause something significantly bad to happen. (Singer, 1972) It relates to his arguments because he insists that we need to limit our material possessions to that of the Bengal refugees. Singer compares the distinction between duty and charity as not an easy line to draw. However Singer gives an example as this, â€Å"The charitable man may be praised, but the man who is not charitable is not condemned. When we buy new clothes not to keep ourselves, warm but to look â€Å"well-dressed† we are not providing for any important need. We would not be sacrificing anything significant if we were to continue to wear our old clothes, and give the money to famine relief. By doing so, we would be preventing another person from starving. † (Singer, 1972) In other words, instead of buying expensive worthless stuff for yourself giving the extra money would benefit more people and make it more charitable; however, you do not give the extra money to charity you are not looked at any differently. I do agree with some parts of his article, however, I disagree with most of it. First, I think that his article come off with a major attitude in my mind. He does however make some good points like the way he talks about how some people are influenced by the people around them. Another good point that he made is it should not matter how far the distance is wither they are in the same area as you are thousands of miles away. I do not agree with how he insinuates that the richer you are the more you should give. I believe that a person should give as much as he or she wants. I also believe that a person giving charity should not be held at a higher pedestal then someone that is not able to give to charity.

Symbiotic Planet essays

Symbiotic Planet essays In Symbiotic Planet, author Lynn Margulis explains her Serial Endosymbiosis theory, which is a recent theory of how evolution occurred. While the book was rather dull at times the theory itself is very intriguing. Most people assume that humans are the most intelligent and capable inhabitants of Earth. However, Margulis SET theory gives a new insight of how humanity began. The theory says that it all began with four different kinds of bacteria. Each type of bacteria merged with another type and began the process of evolution. As different types of bacteria merged and joined together, different animals and plants emerged from the bacteria and became a new, more complex organism. Also in the book, Margulis expresses her belief that new genetic life forms arose and are still arising. It is as if she believes that humans emerged from bacteria. Because humans evolved from bacteria, bacteria can survive without humans. However, humans can not survive without bacteria. Although the book moved rather slowly, I enjoyed reading about Lynn Margulis theories and it gave new twist on evolution. When thinking about evolution, many people think of humans evolving from apes and animals evolving from dinosaurs. Most people do not think of bacteria as the source of how humans came to be. I would recommend this book to others who find the topic interesting or for people who are narrow minded. Symbiotic Planet is an eye-opener that will make people be more accepting to new ideas for old topics. ...

The Donner Party, Ill-Fated Settlers Turned to Cannibalism

The Donner Party, Ill-Fated Settlers Turned to Cannibalism The Donner Party was a group of American settlers heading to California who became stranded in heavy snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1846. Isolated in horrific conditions, about half of the original group of nearly 90 people died of starvation or exposure. Some of the survivors turned to cannibalism in order to survive. After those who managed to stay alive were rescued in early 1847, the story of horror in the mountains appeared in a California newspaper. The tale made its way east, circulated through newspaper articles, and became part of western lore. Fast Facts: The Donner Party About half of a group of nearly 90 settlers heading to California in 1846 starved when snowbound.Disaster was caused by taking an untested route which added weeks to the journey.Survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism.Story circulated widely through newspaper stories and books. Origin of the Donner Party The Donner Party was named for two families, George Donner and his wife and children, and George’s brother Jacob and his wife and children. They were from Springfield, Illinois, as was another family traveling with them, James Reed and his wife and children. Also from Springfield were various individuals associated with the Donner and Reed families. That original group left Illinois in April 1846 and arrived in Independence, Missouri, the following month. After securing provisions for the long trip westward, the group, along with other travelers from a variety of places, left Independence on May 12, 1846. (People would typically meet in Independence and decide to stick together for the journey westward, which is how some members of the Donner Party joined the group essentially by chance.) The group made good progress along the trail westward, and in about a week had met up with another wagon train, which they joined. The early part of the journey passed with no major problems. The George Donners wife had written a letter describing the early weeks of the trip which appeared in the newspaper back in Springfield. The letter also appeared in papers in the East, including the New York Herald, which published it on the front page. After passing Fort Laramie, a major landmark on the way west, they met up with a rider who gave them a letter which claimed that troops from Mexico (which was at war with the United States) might interfere with their passage ahead. The letter advised taking a shortcut called the Hastings Cutoff. Shortcut to Disaster After arriving at Fort Bridger (in present day Wyoming), the Donners, the Reeds, and others debated whether to take the shortcut. They were assured, falsely it turned out, that the traveling would be easy. Through a series of miscommunications, they did not receive warnings from those who knew otherwise. The Donner Party decided to take the shortcut, which led them into many hardships. The route, which took them on a southerly path about Great Salt Lake, was not clearly marked. And it was often very difficult passage for the groups wagon. The shortcut required passing over the Great Salt Lake Desert. The conditions were like nothing any of the travelers had seen before, with blistering heat by day and frigid winds at night. It took five days to cross the desert, leaving the 87 members of the party, including many children, exhausted. Some of the party’s oxen had died in the brutal conditions, and it became obvious that taking the shortcut had been a colossal blunder. Taking the promised shortcut had backfired, and put the group about three weeks behind schedule. Had they taken the more established route, they would have gotten across the final mountains before any chance of snowfall and arrived in California safely. Tensions in the Group With the travelers seriously behind schedule, anger flared in the group. In October the Donner families broke off to go ahead, hoping to make better time. In the main group, an argument broke out between a man named John Snyder and James Reed. Snyder struck Reed with an ox whip, and Reed responded by stabbing Snyder and killing him. The killing of Snyder happened beyond U.S. laws, as it was then Mexican territory. In such a circumstance, it would be up to the members of a wagon train to decide how to dispense justice. With the groups leader, George Donner, at least a day’s travel ahead, the others decided to banish Reed from the group. With high mountains still to cross, the party of settlers was in disarray and deeply distrustful of each other. They had already endured more than their share of hardships on the trails, and seemingly endless problems, including bands of Native Americans raiding at night and stealing oxen, continued to plague them. Trapped by Snow Arriving at the Sierra Nevada mountain range at the end of October, early snows were already making the journey difficult. When they reached the vicinity of Truckee Lake (now called Donner Lake), they discovered the mountain passes they needed to cross were already blocked by snowdrifts. Attempts to get over the passes failed. A group of 60 travelers settled into crude cabins which had been built and abandoned two years earlier by other settlers passing by. A smaller group, including the Donners, set up a camp a few miles away. Stranded by impassable snow, the supplies quickly dwindled. The travelers had never seen such snow conditions before, and attempts by small parties to walk onward to California to get help were thwarted by the deep snowdrifts. Facing starvation, people ate the carcasses of their oxen. When the meat ran out, they were reduced to boiling ox hide and eating it. At times people caught mice in the cabins and ate them. In December, a party of 17, consisting of men, women, and children, set out with snowshoes they had fashioned. The party found the traveling nearly impossible, but kept moving westward. Facing starvation, some of the party resorted to cannibalism, eating the flesh of those who had died. At one point, two Nevada Indians who had joined the group before they headed into the mountains were shot and killed so their flesh could be eaten. (That was the only instance in the story of the Donner Party where people were killed to be eaten. The other instances of cannibalism occurred after people had died of exposure or starvation.) One member of the party, Charles Eddy, eventually managed to wander into a village of the Miwok tribe. The Native Americans gave him food, and after he reached white settlers at a ranch, he managed to get a rescue party together. They found the six survivors of the snowshoe group. Back at the camp by the lake, one of the travelers, Patrick Breen, had started keeping a diary. His entries were brief, at first just descriptions of the weather. But over time he began noting the increasingly desperate conditions as more and more of those stranded succumbed to starvation. Breen survived the ordeal and his diary was eventually published. Rescue Efforts One of the travelers who had gone ahead in October became increasingly alarmed when the Donner Party never showed up at Sutter’s Fort in California. He tried to raise the alarm and eventually was able to inspire what eventually amounted to four separate rescue missions. What the rescuers discovered was disturbing. The survivors were emaciated. And in some of the cabins rescuers discovered bodies which had been butchered. A member of a rescue party described finding a body with the head sawed open so the brains could be extracted. The various mutilated bodies were gathered together and buried in one of the cabins, which was then burned to the ground. Of the 87 travelers who entered the mountains on the final phase of the journey, 48 survived. Most of them stayed in California. Legacy of the Donner Party Stories about the Donner Party began to circulate immediately. By the summer of 1847 the story had reached the newspaper in the East. The New York Tribune published a story on August 14, 1847, which gave some grim details. The Weekly National Intelligencer, a Washington, D.C. newspaper, published a story on October 30, 1847, which described the terrible suffering of the Donner Party. An editor of a local newspaper in Truckee, California, Charles McGlashan, became something of an expert on the story of the Donner Party. In the 1870s he talked to survivors and pieced together a comprehensive account of the tragedy. His book, History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of the Sierra, was published in 1879 and went through many editions. The story of the Donner Party has lived on, through a number of books and films based on the tragedy. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, many settlers heading to California took what happened as a serious warning not to lose time on the trail and not to take unreliable shortcuts. Sources: Distressing News. American Eras: Primary Sources, edited by Sara Constantakis, et al., vol. 3: Westward Expansion, 1800-1860, Gale, 2014, pp. 95-99. Gale Virtual Reference Library.Brown, Daniel James.  The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party. William Morrow Company, 2015.

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 22

Case Study - Essay Example be 250days with the total cost for the project being only $1,265,556.20 and an estimation of an increase in the total revenue for the company of between 10-12%. In this memo find attached Gantt chart with a time-line for the completion of the project and the critical path. From the attachment, you will also find our estimated activities with the greatest slack while at the same time a description of the sensitivity network with the points with the milestones and a comparison and contrast of Gantt chart versus a network diagram and a comparison with a schedule table. From the critical path analysis of our diagram, it is evident that the activities falling on the critical path include the Market analysis, Product design, Product design selection and Detailed Product design. Additionally, the other activities will include Test prototypes, the Finalized Product design, the Order production equipment and lastly celebrate. Sensitivity has been defined as the likelihood of the critical path remaining stable during the project completion. Network sensitivity is determined by both the amount of slack non-critical activities and the number of different critical paths. From our analysis, it is evident that the network is not very sensitive since there is only one critical path with the free slack ranging from 20 days to 159 days. The different milestones of the project include product design selection and the finalized product design. The fact that product design selection has multiple predecessors and multiple successors makes it a milestone (MilosÃŒÅ'evicÃŒ , 2003). The project design selection facilitates the narrowing down of the various options to pursue the project to work on. One of the major advantages attributed to the schedule table is its ability to clearly show the total time for the completion of the project and the fact that it clearly indicates the times for late start, late finish, and free slash of each (Timmreck, 2003). The main disadvantage attributed to

Dracula chapter 1-12 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dracula chapter 1-12 - Essay Example During his travels, he gets several hints that he is heading into great danger, but he tries to talk these fears away, even after he meets his host, a very creepy man who has many of the characteristics we today recognize as being vampires. Harker becomes a prisoner of the castle and has many disturbing experiences. His entries end with his desperate plan of escape, knowing he is about to lose his soul to an evil creature or creatures. The story then picks up through a variety of communication forms – letters, journal entries, newspaper articles, etc. These more fully flesh out Mina and introduce the characters Lucy Westenra, John Seward (a physician at the lunatic asylum near Dracula’s new London home), Dutch doctor Van Helsing, the lunatic Rensing and a few other minor characters. Through these pieces of correspondence, the reader learns about the arrival of Dracula to Britain and the mysterious illness that befalls Lucy, eventually leading to her death by the end of Chapter 12, as she is treated by Seward and Van Helsing. Mina escapes Lucy’s fate in these chapters because she is called away to Buda Pest in order to help nurse Harker, who was found suffering from brain fever. She returns to England just in time to hear about Lucy’s death. Reading through these chapters was enlightening. Although I thought I knew the story, I had never realized the strange way that it is delivered, as a series of writings made by the characters themselves. This approach continuously reminded me to view the story from the characters’ perspectives rather than my own. When I was reading about the warnings of the villagers and the description of Dracula, my own experience told me the character is obviously a vampire and Harker is already trapped. Looking at it from the character’s perspective though, I suddenly realized that everything I think I know about vampires