50, 100 & 150 YEARS AGO ■

Compiled by Daniel C. Schlenoff

Innovation and discovery as chronicled in Scientifi c American

12 SC IENT IF IC AMERIC AN Februar y 2010

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FEBRUARY 1960METEOR DUST— “The recent extension of geophysical investigations into nearby space has given emphasis to the fact that life on earth is shielded by the earth’s at-mosphere. Death from ‘meteoritic stroke’ might be a not-uncommon coroner’s ver-dict if the protective canopy of the atmo-sphere were not spread above our heads. During the past 13 years I have been en-gaged in efforts to secure direct measure-ment of the meteoritic fallout. My samples of meteoritic dust and cosmic spherules have come from the tops of high mountains remote from industrial civilization, and from the bottom of the ocean. The data now show that meteoritic material comes down to earth in much larger quantity (about fi ve million tons per year) than ear-lier estimates. Moreover, it appears that the rate of fall has varied during the past 10 or 15 million years. —Hans Pettersson”

FEBRUARY 1910BACTERIA FERTILIZERS— “The discovery of the mechanism of nitrifi cation and the fi x-ation of atmospheric nitrogen by the bacte-ria of root nodules soon led to attempts to aid the process by the addition of nitrogen-fi xing bacteria. In 1895 Nobbé and Hiltner patented a process of inoculating peas and beans and the soil in which they grow by soaking the seed with an infusion of a gela-tin culture of the bacteria of the root nod-ules. In 1904 the United States Bureau of Agriculture distributed 12,000 boxes of bacterial cultures, which appear to have produced good results. But the effect of these preparations is uncertain. The soil naturally swarms with nitrifying bacteria, but their growth may be checked by vari-ous causes.”

FLOODS— “The inundation of Paris made many of the streets of that metropolis as navigable as the canals of Venice [see pho-tograph]. The highest point reached by the

water was 31 feet 4 inches above the nor-mal at the Pont Royal. Not since the his-toric fl ood of 1615 has Paris been visited by such an inundation. The banks have been overfl owed for up to a mile on either side. The actual cause of the fl ood has not been fully revealed. Some explain it geologically by arguing that the basin of the Seine had become saturated during a mild winter, characterized by heavy rains and little evaporation. It will be safer to await the in-vestigation of the municipal engineers.”

AGE OF STEAM— “The rapid elimination of the sailing vessel is shown by statistics re-cently given by a German paper. In the twenty years between 1888 and 1908, the percentage of sailing vessels has declined in the merchant marine of Great Britain from 44.1 to 12.6; of Germany, from 62.1 to 19.1; of the United States, from 80.7 to 30.9. In the merchant marine of France, however, but little change has occurred, the respective percentages being 47.9 to 47.2.”

FEBRUARY 1860BEST THING SINCE . . .— “Within the past 10 years there has been a revolution in making bread. The ancient leaven bread was made

by the dough being left in a warm place till it began to ferment. The chemical progress is the starch into sugar, then carbonic acid and alcohol, which forms between the par-ticles of fl our and swells them up. But great care was required in the operation lest it be decomposed, and therefore the modern process by yeast is much more preferable. Within the past 10 years, besides yeast in making bread, we have had ‘baking pow-ders’ and ‘self-raising fl our,’ and such, and 99 families in 100 use some of these.”

A PRACTICAL MAN— “Out West, they are going beyond anything ever attempted in reckless construction of railways. A west-ern man, who, in his time, had been a mer-chant, a surveyor, an engineer, a land agent, a railway president and a profes-sional politician (on more sides than one, by way of variety), once remarked to me, concerning a mutual acquaintance who was an engineer, ‘a good theoretical man, sir, but requires millions [of dollars] to car-ry out his plans; he might do well in Eng-land, with an unlimited supply of money, but he is not calculated for our western country; not practical, sir, not practical! We want men that can build railroads of corn cobs, if necessary!’”

Cosmic Dust ■ Working Bacteria ■ Yeast for Bread

CITY OF LIGHT becomes a city of water: Paris fl oods, 1910