100 YEARS AGO

The native arithmetic of Murray Island, Torres Strait, is described by the Rev. A. E. Hunt in the latest Journal (New Series, vol. I Nos. 1 and 2) of the Anthropological Institute. The only native numerals are netat (one) and neis (two). Higher numbers would be described either by reduplication, as neis netat, literally, two-one for three; neis-i-neis, or two-two for four, &c., or by reference to some part of the body. By the latter method a total of thirty-one could be counted. The counting commenced at the little finger of the left-hand, thence counting the digits, wrist, elbow, armpit, shoulder, hollow above the clavicle, thorax and thence in reverse order down the right arm, ending with little finger or right hand. This gives twenty-one. The toes are then resorted to, and these give ten more. Beyond this number the term gaire (many) would be used. English numerals are now in general use in the Islands.

From Nature 5 January 1899.

50 YEARS AGO

Fertilized mouse ova have been cultivated in vitro, and their development filmed, by Friedrich-Freska and Kuhl, who used as medium a clot of guinea pig plasma and mouse embryo extract containing segments of Fallopian tube. Like Chang, I have been working on ovum culture with a view to transplantation of ova. Chang has used rabbits, with serum as a culture medium; I have chosen to use mice, as more readily available, and because (like most domestic animals) they have naked eggs. Seeking a medium readily prepared in large quantities, I have tried saline hen-egg extracts. The procedure adopted revealed an unanticipated difference between the viabilities of two-cell and later tubal stages; eight-cell ova survived and developed in culture, whereas two-cell ova did not. ⃛ A few became blastocysts either completely separated from the zona, or spherical and still half-enclosed in the split and distended membrane. ⃛ A physiological difference between two-cell and eight-cell stages seems clearly established; the reason for the difference remains obscure. The result recalls a similar one of Chang's, namely, survival of morulae, but not two-cell ova, when transplanted into the rabbit uterus, though both survived when cultivated in serum.

From Nature 1 January 1949.