100 YEARS AGO

Mr. H. G. Wells returns to the more serious side of his work in “A Modern Utopia,” which is being published month by month in the Fortnightly Review. As in “Anticipations” and “Mankind in the Making,” Mr. Wells concerns himself with sociological problems, and pictures the probable manners and customs of society in a Utopia, situated on a distant planet, which is the natural outcome of continued development on modern lines.

The Journal of Anatomy and Physiology for October (xxxix., part i.) contains a number of valuable papers, but of purely anatomical interest. The principal contribution is by Dr. Huntington on the derivation and significance of certain supernumerary muscles of the pectoral region, illustrated with fourteen excellent coloured plates.

Messrs. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., have added to their series of “Country Books” a profusely illustrated edition of Charles Kingsley's “Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Seashore.” The volume is published at 3s. 6d.

From Nature 3 November 1904.

50 YEARS AGO

Although it is impossible for one group of workers to examine more than a few fundamental features of so complex a biological system, I wish to emphasize the need for an integrated outlook if we are to reach a proper understanding of the nature, structure and function of connective tissues. The physicist, in thinking of connective tissues, almost automatically concentrates his attention on the structural properties of the fibrous collagen; the biochemist likewise tries to characterize the protein by a precise analysis or to determine, perhaps, what sugars are present in the ground substance. The histologists and pathologists are aware more than any of us that these are but facets of the whole problem. Collagen fibres are a characteristic feature of all connective tissues and their derivatives... But all connective tissues are composed of four main constituents: cells, fibres, matrix or ground substance, and intercellular fluid. It is too often forgotten that the cell is the focus and origin of all tissues. If we are to reach a better understanding of the collagen system, more attention must be paid to the fibrogenic cells, to which the fibres and ground substance in all probability owe their origin.

J. T. Randall

From Nature 6 November 1954.