50 Years Ago

Medical geography could soon benefit considerably from computer graphics … Medical geography is concerned with variations in the incidence of disease in different areas and the link with possible causes connected with elements of the physical, biological and sociocultural environment. As such it is a topic in which maps should be valuable, but they are often of little use because of the time taken for such lengthy and repetitive processes as the calculation and statistical testing of attack rates, fatality rates, standardized mortality ratios and other disease indices. And it takes a long time to represent these indices in cartographic form. Computer graphics — the construction of maps and diagrams using the electronic computer — could have considerable potential in medical geography. They may, by the speed, efficiency and reliability of processing and mapping medical data, lead to a more effective use of maps.

From Nature 30 August 1969

100 Years Ago

The Medical Research Committee has issued a report … on the influence of alcohol on manual work and neuromuscular co-ordination. Accuracy and speed in typewriting and in using an adding machine, and accuracy in hitting spots on a target, were used as tests, and both pure alcohol and alcohol in the form of wine and spirit were employed. There was no distinct difference between the two forms of alcohol, and when very dilute (5 per cent.) the effect was about three-fourths as great as when taken strong (37–40 per cent.) for the same amount of alcohol … The degree of effect depended largely on whether the alcohol was taken on an empty stomach or with food; on an average it was twice as toxic under the former condition.

From Nature 28 August 1919