100 YEARS AGO

The widespread invasion and persistent devastations of locusts in so many parts of Africa give interest to all trials and experiments, as well as the ordinary remedies, employed for the alleviation of this ruinous plague of the farmer. The following notes from Mr. W. C. Robbins, Stock Inspector of the Lower Tugela and Mapumulo Districts, are published in the Cape official Agricultural Journal:- “For the past three days I have been over the ground where my men have been infecting locusts with Government fungus, and the result was that I found dead locusts everywhere. I send you a sample; you will notice they are full of worms, and we know from experience that when locusts are found in this state whole swarms die off. Some you will see, are half eaten; these were eaten by their fellows. I have seen many clusters of locusts eating dead ones.” The feeding upon bodies of dead locusts suggests that diseased locusts may be utilised as a substitute for locust fungus.

From Nature 7 June 1900.

50 YEARS AGO

The gestural or ‘ta-ta’ theory of the origin of language has a long pedigree, beginning with Plato and achieving its most notable modern exponent in Sir Richard Paget. That Prof. Jóhannesson had been attracted to this theory was evident from his earlier work, “Um Frumtungu Indógermana og Frumheimkynni”; and the dedication of this new volume to Sir Richard sets the author decisively among those who believe themselves capable of demonstrating that language originated in the imitation by the vocal organs of physical shapes and movement. This theory represents one branch of the more general doctrine which sees a natural connexion between things and their names: and it is not to be denied that certain sound-complexes seem, in fact, to be particularly appropriate to the representation of certain shapes — a field of study in which Koehler and the Gestalt psychologists have collected some interesting data. But even supposing that these sound-complexes could be shown to involve vocal movements related to the shapes concerned, this would teach us nothing about the origin of language, which must be far remote from the attested or ‘reconstructed’ forms on which the theory is based — though Prof. Jóhannesson gives one the impression that he believes his hypothetical Indo-European forms at least to approximate to a primitive tongue.

From Nature 10 June 1950.