50 Years Ago

The advantages of achieving the in vitro synthesis of active enzymes in a well characterized system are many ... All our evidence suggests that the appearance of lysozyme activity observed in the in vitro system has the characteristics of de novo synthesis ... the chief contribution ... is that the in vitro translation in a well characterized RNA dependent system can be sufficiently accurate to yield active proteins, and that this can be done using RNA extracted by standard techniques from cells infected by a DNA phage.

From Nature 5 August 1967

100 Years Ago

Soil Conditions and Plant Growth. By Dr. E. J. Russell — This book is, as the title implies, concerned with the relationship between soil and plant. After an introductory historical account of the subject the author describes the constitution of the soil and the various factors of plant growth. In the development of these topics and of the question of the relation of the plant to its soil environment, the reader is kept constantly in touch with the best original work at home and abroad. The author ... has also added a chapter on the colloidal properties of the soil, in which he brings the reader abreast of the recent ... work on the interaction of dilute acids and soil colloids ... The study of the relationship between soil and plant is exceedingly complex ... It is a pity that so much labour should have been expended during past years in haphazard manurial trials, designed to instruct the farmer, but yielding generally a scanty harvest of accurate information. Soil investigators owe a debt to Dr. Russell and his predecessors ... for enlarging the study of the soil into a respectable field of scientific activity.

From Nature 2 August 1917 Footnote 1