50 Years Ago

Applications are invited for a scholarship sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, and open to young gardeners who are undergoing or have completed training at the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens, Wisley, or elsewhere, and who will have had at least four years' practical experience in horticulture ... The scholarship is restricted to male candidates who are unmarried and undertake to remain so during the tenure of the scholarship. The scholarship will be tenable for two years, beginning October 1, and is valued at £300 per annum.

From Nature 31 March 1962

100 Years Ago

The metals occurring most frequently are gold and copper. The former is much more widely distributed than the latter, and must have been the first metal to be known in many regions. It is, however, one of the most worthless metals for practical purposes, so that until the rise of Greek and Roman civilisation but little use was made of it. Copper, too, we only find in use to a very limited extent, as it was not well suited for the construction of weapons or useful implements. On the other hand, its alloy with tin afforded a metal which in many physical properties could only be surpassed by iron or steel. According to the views of several ancient writers, Lucretius and Poseidonius, so momentous a discovery as that of metals contained in ores must needs have been brought about by no uncommon cause. According to them, a conflagration consumed forests which covered the outcrop of metalliferous veins, reducing the metals and bringing them to the notice of man, but there are no grounds for such inference.

From Nature 28 March 1912