100 YEARS AGO

Sir Courtenay Boyle objects, in the March number of Macmillan's Magazine, to many words in common use in science. His objections are partly etymological and partly to the vagueness of connotation of the words. Pliocene, miocene and phonolite are incorrectly formed; and the first two, together with palaeozoic, mesozoic, kainozoic, jurassic and triassic are condemned because they are purely relative terms. Electron is objected to because there is sometimes a doubt whether it signifies a minute corpuscle having an electric charge or an electric charge without the corpuscle. Kion and autokion are suggested as preferable to the unsatisfactory words motor and the hybrid automotor.

From Nature 14 March 1901.

50 YEARS AGO

Mr. Ritchie Calder, the science editor of the News Chronicle, was sent by Unesco to North Africa and the Middle East to report on what is being done to reclaim the deserts. The strange aura of romance and the mystery that surrounds the desert attracted much attention to the assignment, which was reported (according to the publisher's note) in thirty-two countries. . . In Israel. . . and to a lesser extent in Iraq and Persia, desert reclamation is a matter of urgent practical politics. Those beings whom Mr. Calder calls “the scientists” and who correspond to the gods who wrought wonders in former ages are being called upon to shower their blessings on mankind. Iraq and Persia have in their oil great wealth, some of which can be diverted to restoring the productivity of the land by modern adaptation of ancient methods. Israel has no mineral wealth, and her greatest resource in conquering the desert is the ingenuity of her people, and particularly of “the scientists” who are not only planning great irrigation and hydroelectric schemes but also are working on the large-scale desalinization of salt water by ionic exchange and by distillation through nylon. Promising experiments are being made to use the opacity of flake nylon to light and heat to reduce evaporation from reservoirs. There seem to be possibilities that nylon may become a key material in the conservation of water in Israel, and schemes are being considered for the large-scale cultivation of the castor-oil plant as a source of raw material for nylon manufacture.

From Nature 17 March 1951.