100 years ago

It is evident that the moors, valleys and plains of Yorkshire have been depopulated in comparatively recent times. The disappearance of so many conspicuous species is commonly attributed to the glacial period, but I think that the action of man has been still more influential. The extinct animals are such as man hunts for profit or for his own safety. Many of them, among others the cave-bear, Machairodus, Irish elk, mammoth and straight-tusked elephant, are known to have lasted into the human period. That so many of them were last seen in the company of man is some proof that he was concerned in their death.

The journey to Tomsk, in Siberia, promises to become quite a pleasant one under the new organisation of the direct trains. The train, which left St. Petersburg on July 31, offered even more comforts to the travellers than the best American trains⃛ It had also, in addition to the usual luxurious fittings of the best Pullman saloon cars, a piano in the first class saloon, a free library provided with a good selection of works on Siberia, as well as with all papers which appear in the towns passed by the train during the journey; a pretty outlook-saloon at the back of the train, with meteorological instruments in it; and even a dark room for amateur photographers, arranged in the second class lavatory. All the furniture is covered with a special material which can be washed with a disinfecting fluid without being injured.

From Nature 25 August 1898.

50 years ago

The curriculum for ‘applied medicine’, if it can so be called, is always immediately affected by changes in fundamental medical knowledge⃛ Not surprisingly, the medical course has in consequence increased over the past thirty years or so from four to six years. If the same process were to continue, and the strong claims of new interests were admitted, there is no saying how many years would have to be allowed for the training of a doctor in twenty years time.

From Nature 28 August 1948.