50 Years Ago

Thousands of people know the “Broads”... But how many holiday makers have ever asked themselves how these large lakes were formed?... Much research has been devoted to this problem in recent years, and it has been attacked from various points of view—geological, historical, philological, botanical, etc. As the outcome of these investigations it would seem that everything now points to the conclusion that the broads resulted from peat digging in the Middle Ages. Somewhere about the fourteenth century slight land sinkage, perhaps combined with a tidal break-through such as occurred a few years ago, flooded the peat workings, and this flood water could not drain away owing to the new lower level of the land relative to the sea... So whether the holiday maker is sailing over aristocratic Ranworth or stately Barton or proletarian Wroxham, let him spare a moment to remember the old peat workers, his forerunners, to whose labours his present enjoyment is due.

From Nature 20 August 1960.

100 Years Ago

In the year ending 1910, May 10, the average daily number of chronometers and watches being rated (at Greenwich) was 596 ... The average number of chronometers rated daily has, we learn, more than trebled since 1880, so that the burden of this work borne by the Observatory has enormously increased. The work is doubtless most valuable for the Navy, but is our great national Observatory exactly the place where it should be done?... In the present day, with the increase of speed, a ship is seldom isolated for any great length of time, and the breakdown of a single chronometer is unlikely to be a serious matter. Thus the case for a long trial does not seem so strong as it may have been a generation ago. Very probably ere long the development of wireless telegraphy may alter the whole situation.

From Nature 18 August 1910.