100 YEARS AGO

The death of Sir H. M. Stanley on Tuesday, at sixty-three years of age, deprives the world of a man of action, and geography of one of its greatest pioneer explorers. It can truly be said that he changed the map of Africa by the results of his expeditions, and his picturesque narratives created public interest in the problems of African exploration. Stanley's adventures in Central Africa while engaged in the search for Livingstone attracted great attention, and his famous book, “How I Found Livingstone,” in which the expedition is described, has become a classic work of travel. Commissioned to find Livingstone, of whom nothing had been heard for two years, Stanley reached Zanzibar in January, 1871, and on November 10 of the same year met the explorer at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, where Livingstone had just arrived from Nyangwe... In 1874, Stanley left England for the expedition to Central Africa which has immortalised him. The writer of the obituary notice in the Times, from which some of the particulars here given have been derived, points out that little more than the position of Victoria Nyanza was then known;... our knowledge of Albert Nyanza was incomplete; Lake Tanganyika was imperfectly defined; and nothing was known of the region that lies between Lakes Albert and Tanganyika. Stanley's expedition changed all that.

From Nature 12 May 1904.

50 YEARS AGO

While, however, from the point of view of advancing knowledge, the hydrogen bomb and like experiments are necessary and are being carried on with due regard to all reasonable safeguards, both legal and scientific, it may still be asked whether we have not in fact reached, or approximated to, the point of no return. The purpose of continued experiment is to prevent any potential enemy of the free world from gaining a completely decisive lead. It may be argued that atomic weapons have already reached a stage at which it is meaningless to speak of a decisive lead. Here it needs to be remembered again that the limited resources of Britain do not permit us to provide our Armed Forces with all those things which they would wish to have... The tests are extremely costly and laborious, and those responsible for carrying them out are acutely aware of the pressure for financial economies, which is just as strong in the United States as in Britain.

From Nature 15 May 1954.