50 Years Ago

On the whole the average alcohol consumption within a species of animal is constant. It can be said that each species has its own specific liking for alcohol ... In this work the consumption of 10 per cent alcohol and water in free-choice experiments in six animal species has been studied ... The hedgehogs preferred water to alcohol solution. Sometimes, however, the animals drank considerable amounts of alcohol, and it could at times be judged from their movements that they were slightly drunk. The hamsters preferred alcohol. They seldom tasted the water and, when they did so, only until they found out that they were drinking from the wrong bottle.

From Nature 19 August 1961

100 Years Ago

On the publication of the final report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis the view was frequently expressed that those in authority ought, long ago, to have taken precautions against the dangers arising out of the use of milk containing tubercle bacilli ... Now that the commissioners have reported, and in no uncertain voice, that tuberculosis, especially in the child, may be the result of infection with tubercle bacilli conveyed in the cow's milk, it is essential that the question of regulations relating to milk and meat supply should be carefully reconsidered, and that, as the commissioners put it, “Government should cause to be enforced throughout the kingdom food regulations, planned to afford better security against the infection of human beings through the medium of diet derived from tuberculous animals.”

From Nature 17 August 1911