50 Years Ago

The test tube baby has struck again. Several years, perhaps even decades, in advance of it being even theoretically possible to grow mammalian embryos to full term outside the uterus, the test tube baby has been forcibly delivered and morally agonized over. “The era of the test tube baby has begun” was the annunciation made by one newspaper to its readers … The genesis of the affair was the announcement last week … that a technique of in vitro fertilization was shortly to be attempted at Oldham General Hospital as a treatment for infertile patients … A curious feature of the public debate is that the letter writing segment of the public, at least, seemed to believe that human life was about to be created from nothing in the test tube … These are indeed dark atavistic fears which have been nurtured … that scientists have usurped the creative powers and should assume the moral responsibilities formerly attributed to gods … There is always the danger that lack of information or misinformation may convert legitimate public concern about new knowledge into a paranoia that impedes research.

From Nature 7 March 1970

150 Years Ago

The chief result of the examination of the Ancient British barrows of the south-west of England is their division into two great classes — (1) the Long Barrows, the primary interments of which have yielded implements of stone and bone only, and which are, therefore, confidently assigned to the Stone Age; and (2) the Round Barrows, affording implements of bronze as well as of stone, and occasionally, though rarely, of iron. The round barrows vary considerably in form, and Dr. Thurman thinks that these variations are not to be attributed to the individual fancy of the builders. He recognises three primary forms of round barrow — the bowl-shaped, the bell-shaped, and the disc-shaped … Remains of oxen … are often found in long barrows not far from the human remains … It would appear that oxen were slaughtered at the funeral feasts, and that the heads and feet (the bones of which parts are more frequently found), not being used for food, were buried in the barrow, perhaps as offerings to the gods or to the spirits of the dead.

From Nature 3 March 1870