100 YEARS AGO

We have received further correspondence relating to the two Societies in Lincolnshire, to which reference was made in our issues of December 30 and February 3. It appears that the older Society, the Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, does not regard with unmixed friendliness the newer and possibly more vigorous Science Society. Into this unfortunate conflict of interests it is not our province to enter, and we can only repeat with renewed emphasis that it is a serious mistake to allow the spirit of rivalry to enter into the matter at all. The welfare of both Societies can only suffer, and the progress of science in the county can only be retarded by friction. The Lincolnshire Science Society explains its origin by accusing the Union of failing to carry out the objects for which it was founded. There may or may not be truth in the accusation, but we are bound to admit that evidence of scientific activity on the part of the Union has not been obtainable. We cannot find the latter body among the corresponding societies of the British Association; neither can we learn that any publication has been issued under its auspices⃛. We can only hope that Lincolnshire will not present to the scientific world a divided front on a question in which both parties are really striving for the same end.

From Nature 17 February 1898.

50 YEARS AGO

On November 12, 1947, it came my way to spend, alone, a couple of hours in the evening with the late Prof. [Alfred North] Whitehead, and Mrs. Whitehead, in their apartment within a stone's throw of the centre of Harvard. It seems likely, therefore, that I was the last person from Britain to see the great man before he died. We talked of Trinity (“Such a good place”, he whispered) and its ‘characters’, of whom he spoke affectionately, coupled with an occasional sly dig, as entrancing as it was kindly. He was devoted to the country of his adoption: a remark stands out in my memory — “The Americans have a streak of tenderness, yes, how valuable that is these days”. Many people have used gracious words about our trans-Atlantic cousins, but it was left to him to state their noblest trait, and the one holding out hope for the world.

From Nature 21 February 1948.