100 YEARS AGO

Mr. Herbert Spencer, exposing the various inconsistencies that occur so frequently in the ghost-stories of the savage races, says:—“How illogicalities so extreme are possible, we shall the more easily see on recalling certain of our own illogicalities. Instance … that familiar absurdity fallen into by believers in ghosts, who, admitting that ghosts are seen clothed, admit, by implication, that coats have ghosts—an implication they had not perceived.” It seems interesting to note that the same opinion was expressed about nineteen centuries ago by the Chinese philosopher, Wang Chung (circa, 27–97 A.D.), whose sceptic remarks on the traditions of all manners, handed down to his time in the Middle Kingdom, form a celebrated work named ‘Lun Han’ or ‘Balance of Discussions’. It is curious to observe that Wang Chung himself is quite illogical in esteeming it just to suppose a ghost able to appear only divested: for, according to his own proposition, the soul exists only in blood and breath; while the body, though very closely connected with them during life, is, after death, as severed from them as the ever lifeless and soulless clothes; so that, should it be necessary for a ghost to appear divested, it would be equally so to appear disembodied at the same time.

From Nature 12 April 1900.

50 YEARS AGO

There is a tendency nowadays to look unfavourably on any book about the production and supply of food. This is perhaps not so much because we are all acutely food conscious, but rather because we have come to regard food in the prosaic light of calorific content. That admirable principle, “a little of what you fancy does you good”, can no longer be applicable in an age of restricted choice. Our appetites have had to be modified by the limitation of our resources. Necessity has become our master and the written word the means of persuading us that though we may no longer fancy what we eat, what we do eat may still be good for us because it contains so many units of energy. If the literature about food reflects in some degree the economic background of the period in which it is written, we, who live in 1950, may be excused if we prefer nostalgic memories and are disinclined to read about foods which we are forced to eat to sustain our bodies but which leave our minds unaffected by their dullness.

From Nature 15 April 1950.