50 Years Ago

If many zoologists and plant pathologists have given scant attention to the soil-inhabiting and plant-parasitic nematodes, the main reason must be that they are difficult to handle. This is due partly to an awkward size and shape and partly to a marked fragility before mechanical and osmotic forces, so that implements and reagents must be used with care and skill. Hence the appearance in 1949, as the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Technical Bulletin No. 2, of Laboratory Methods for Work with Plant and Soil Nematodes ... New editions followed in 1951 and ... 1957, and recently a fourth edition has been published ... This justly reflects the increasing interest in the group now taken by workers in many countries.

From Nature 2 May 1964

100 Years Ago

The April number of Science Progress contains an editorial article of nine pages, entitled “Sweating the Scientist.” During the past year an inquiry has been conducted by our contemporary as to the emoluments of scientific workers ... As might, perhaps, have been anticipated, the replies received suffice to prove the “low scale of payment given throughout the British Empire for such work.” ... The article is a timely one, and deserves the careful attention of all scientific workers, as the question of remuneration is one of paramount importance to the future welfare of science in this country. Particular reference is made to the unpaid services of men of science upon Government Committees, and to the custom of Government departments going to learned societies for expert advice for which no payment is made. “In other words, the State exploits the man of science on account of his enthusiasm for his work and his patriotism.”

From Nature 30 April 1914