50 Years Ago

In an article on “Nuclear Knowledge and Christian Responsibility” in the London Quarterly for January 1957, Prof. C. A. Coulson emphasizes that if the under-developed countries are also to enjoy the benefits of civilization, or indeed if our civilization is to continue, a fair and reasonable distribution of nuclear energy is an absolute necessity... he argues that it is a Christian responsibility to see that nuclear energy, like any other scientific discovery, is rightly used... Urging that we should be profoundly grateful for our nuclear knowledge, Prof. Coulson indicates some of the ways in which we should share and develop nuclear energy and its applications... We should also rejoice in new possibilities for curing disease and improving health in parts of the world where disease is rampant and health poor and should see that no one makes personal profit out of this situation to the detriment of the world-wide distribution of the new products.

From Nature 2 March 1957.

100 Years Ago

On Leprosy and Fish Eating. A Statement of Facts and Explanations. By Jonathan Hutchinson — The object of this work is stated in the preface to be “to carry conviction to the reader that the fundamental cause of the malady known as true leprosy is the eating of fish in a state of commencing decomposition.”... Mr. Hutchinson would associate the former prevalence of leprosy in the British Isles and in Europe with the Roman Catholic ordinances prescribing fish-food on two out of every three weekdays... We think that Mr. Hutchinson goes much too far in thus ascribing all variations in the prevalence of leprosy as being correlated with those of a fish-diet; even in the fact that the disease is more prevalent among men than among women he sees support for his hypothesis, for he suggests that women are more fastidious feeders than men.

From Nature 28 February 1907.