100 YEARS AGO

There is only one class of zoologist that I would wish to blot out, and that is the class whose reckless naming of new “species” and “varieties” serves only to extend the work and the tables of the conscientious synonymy hunter. Other than this all classes will contribute to the advancement of the science. No doubt there are unlabled [sic] species and no doubt they must, as things are, be named. And no doubt genera and families must be “revised” and some groups split up and others lumped. So welcome to the old-fashioned systematist, though his day be short, and may he treat established genera gently. No doubt there are types of animals of whose structure we are woefully ignorant; no doubt we need to know their internal anatomy in great details. So welcome to the zootomist in this new century, and may he invent fewer long names for new organs. No doubt there are groups of whose relationships we know little, and which have been buffeted about from one class to another in a bewildering way. We need to have their places fixed. So welcome to the comparative anatomist and the embryologist, and may their judgment as to the relative value of the criteria of homology grow clearer. No doubt our knowledge of inheritance and development will be immensely advanced by the further study of centrosomes, asters and chromosomes. Welcome, therefore, to the cytologist, and may he learn to distinguish coagulation products and plasmolytic changes from natural structures. All these subjects have victories in store for them in the new century. To neglect them is to neglect the foundations of zoology.

From Nature 3 October 1901.

50 YEARS AGO

No scientific survey, however, would be complete without a visit to Sprotborough, near Doncaster, for here was Sprotborough Hall, the home of Sir Godfrey Copley, Bart. (d. 1709), who by his will left £100 to the Royal Society for “improving natural knowledge”... His £100 was allowed to lie idle for some time, but awards were made in 1731, 1732 and 1736, and then the money was used to found the Copley Gold Medal, now the oldest and most famous of prizes in the world of science... In 1749 the Medal was given to John Harrison, a native of Wragby, near Wakefield, for his “Curious Instruments invented and made by him for the exact Mensuration of Time”.

From Nature 6 October 1951.