50 Years Ago

In the market of Fort Lamy (Chad) one can purchase a greenish edible substance called Dihe which is sold as a flat cake. ... It appears to be an alga collected on the bottoms of seasonally dried-up ponds and shallow waters in the north of Lake Chad and consumed by the local population.

However, on arriving in ... Ounianga Kebir ... more than 750 miles to the north-east of Fort Lamy, the botanist was struck by the abundance of a microscopic alga in some lakes. ... Although the local population appears to be unaware that it might have a food value, the botanist ... prepared some cakes according to the recipe obtained.

Both cakes ... are almost exclusively composed of a Cyanophycea: Spirulina platensis. According to chemical analysis it appears that it is a food-plant very rich in proteins.

From Nature 8 January 1966

100 Years Ago

The popularisation of Science.

It is scarcely surprising that scientific knowledge is so little disseminated in this country considering the difficulties which hinder its acquisition. If science is to become widespread, it seems to me essential that it should be democratic both in its higher and in its lower branches. In England, however, science may be said to be aristocratic. Scientific societies demand more or less high subscriptions. Public lectures on science are rarely free. In London an institution exists where advanced lectures are given, but the subscription to which is considerable, and to become members of which people actually have to be recommended—recommended to be allowed to learn!

From Nature 6 January 1916 Footnote 1