50 Years ago

Strange World of the Moon. An Enquiry into Lunar Physics. By V. A. Firsoff — Persistent observers of the Moon, many of them amateurs with small instruments and little scientific training, have often reported changes of various kinds in the appearance of the lunar surface; these have tended to be met with scepticism by most professional astronomers ... The present book, which attempts to interpret changes seen by the author and other observers in terms of known physical and chemical laws, is timely ... in view of the increased interest in the Moon resulting from the new facilities offered by space rockets ... Mr. Firsoff attributes ray systems to erosion by running water, fed from large deposits of ice accumulated below the spongy surface rocks, and he suggests that the maria, also, are filled by impure ice ... Basically, however, the author's arguments only show that his ideas are barely possible; he has certainly not shown that they are at all likely. In particular, the idea that water is present on the lunar surface is highly implausible.

From Nature 12 March 1960.

100 Years ago

Survival of Man. A Study in Unrecognised Human Faculty. By Sir Oliver Lodge — To most people the question of the survival of human personality is the greatest problem of life ... At present the chief interest of the subject centres round the theory of cross correspondences, emanating chiefly from the so-called controls that are manifested in certain well-known and much discussed automatic scripts, and claim to represent the surviving personalities of Myers, Hodgson, and others ... Similarly, indications of known personalities, examples of typical intellectual activities continuing after earthly existence has ceased, may accumulate to such intensity that no hypothesis is so simple or so effective as that which involves the acceptance of the belief in their manifest survival.

From Nature 10 March 1910.