100 YEARS AGO

News of the terrible volcanic eruption in Martinique reached this country on Thursday last, and the details which have since become known have shown that an appalling disaster has occurred. St. Pierre, the chief commercial centre of the island, has been totally destroyed, and about thirty thousand people have perished. The eruption of Mont Pelée began on the night of Saturday, May 3, when large quantities of scoriae and volcanic ash were thrown into the surrounding country. On Monday, May 5, a stream of lava is reported to have rushed down the side of Mont Pelée, following the dry bed of a torrent, and reaching the sea, five miles from the mountain, in three minutes. When the stream met the sea the water receded 300 feet on the west coast, returning with greater strength in a large wave. Two days later, on May 8, a similar torrent of incandescent lava engulfed the town of St. Pierre.

From Nature 15 May 1902.

50 YEARS AGO

In these days of specialist scientific societies, and with the calendar peppered with technical conferences and seminars, the British Association is no longer the place for the announcement of major new discoveries in science. In recent years the Association has been restored to its original purpose: to be a place where scientists in different fields interpret their work to one another and to the public. It might be argued that this original purpose has now been fulfilled. The public spends some £16 million a year on civilian scientific research, quite apart from £20 million a year spent on universities: surely it is no longer necessary to arouse public interest in science; and in any event have we not the Third Programme, and a flourishing popular scientific literature, to maintain interest? This is a topic which might well be discussed by the British Association itself; but there is not much doubt what the outcome would be. For scientists are now dependent on public support in a way they never were before ... Therefore the interpretation of science to the public has now become a major activity in modern society, not to be entrusted entirely to the efforts of scientific journalists; and the British Association remains the chief instrument for this activity.

Eric Ashby

From Nature 17 May 1952.