50 Years Ago

'Education and the humanist revolution'. By Sir Julian Huxley — The knowledge explosion of the past hundred years has given us a new vision of human identity — of the world, of man, and of man's role in the world ... It leads inevitably to a new dominant organization of thought and belief, and, after centuries of ideological fragmentation, to a new comprehensive idea-system, which I call 'evolutionary humanism' ... Our new system must itself be evolutionary, not change-resistant but change-promoting; it must transform as well as transmit. In part, it can be achieved by making girls and boys understand the moral duty of helping and guiding the evolutionary process in a desirable direction. But something more practical is also needed. If our aim be greater fulfilment, the next step in psychosocial evolution must be from the Welfare State towards a 'Fulfilment Society'. A humanist educational system will put the idea of a fulfilment society before children, and will provide them with opportunities for actual personal fulfilment.

From Nature 5 January 1963

100 Years Ago

Perfect Health For Women and Children. By Elizabeth S. Chesser — Miss Chesser has to be commended for having treated a wide subject in such a sound, common-sense and practical manner as will make the book appeal to every class of reader, both lay and medical. The author does not mince matters when she finds fault with the unhygienic practices of the present day; and the work is full of good, telling sentences, such as, “if women paid as much attention to their teeth as they do to their complexions, they would be 50 per cent healthier and better looking.”

From Nature 2 January 1913