50 Years ago

The report of the committee appointed in June 1958 ... “to consider the present system of awards from public funds to students attending the first degree courses at universities and comparable courses at other institutions and to make recommendations” was published on June 2. Eleven out of its sixteen members reported in favour of abolishing any means test for parents ... The Committee is convinced that, while Britain urgently needs the greatest possible number of highly skilled men and women, it should not depart from the ancient and sound tradition that young men and women go to a university to become all-round citizens and not merely to learn a special skill.

From Nature 1 October 1960

100 Years ago

So little is known about the habits of worms that it seems desirable to place on record any new observation calculated to throw light on the subject. On September 17 I received from Mr. Edwards, curator of the Worcester Museum, a small tube containing about half a score of living worms. The letter which accompanied the tube informed me that the worms were found in a lavatory basin. It was assumed that they had found their way up through the waste-pipe, as none had been found when the plug was fixed in the bottom of the basin ... Each worm was about three-quarters of an inch in length, possessed of red blood, and having five to eight setae in each bundle. These features ... show the species to be Pachydrilus subterraneus ... It has more than once been sent to me by irate persons who complained that it had been found in their drinking water.

From Nature 29 September 1910