50 Years Ago

Repeated investigations by the Medical Research Council have shown no evidence of a higher incidence of lung cancer or respiratory disease among persons exposed to increased amounts of Diesel exhaust fumes ... Mr. Freeth [the Parliamentary Secretary for Science] also said that the Warren Spring Laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research has examined methods for removing smoke from the exhausts of Diesel-propelled road-vehicles, but no device yet tested has proved satisfactory. The British Internal Combustion Engine Research Association is undertaking fundamental work on the combustion process in Diesel cylinders which it is hoped may lead to remedial measures. Mr. Freeth said it is a fact that correct setting of the injectors and their proper maintenance and operation provide a simple and effective remedy.

From Nature 26 August 1961

100 Years Ago

As a supplement to the literary and historical Biblical exhibition which has been arranged at Bloomsbury for the tercentenary of the Authorised Version, an exhibition of the animals, plants, and minerals mentioned in the Bible has been arranged in one of the bays of the Central Hall of the Natural History Museum, South Kensington ... The collection, and the guide to it, will be of special interest to those to whom the Bible plants and animals are rich in picturesque associations; but it is, of course, part of a liberal education to know that the “unicorn” was probably the extinct wild ox or aurochs, “behemoth” the hippopotamus, the “coney” the hyrax, and the “leviathan” of Job the crocodile.

From Nature 24 August 1911