To mark the 20 th anniversary of the commencement of [email protected] (now arXiv.org), I've adapted this article from one 1 that first appeared in Physics World and was later reprinted (with permission) in Learned Publishing. This version is closer to my original draft, with some updates for this occasion, plus an astounding 2 5 added footnotes. 2 [email protected] received its first email...

As President, it is my great privilege and honour to propose the toast of the Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland. The Association has only once previously met in Belfast; in 1927, twenty-two years ago to this very day (3rd June, 1949). The dinner on that occasion, presided over by the late Professor James A. Lindsay, a great clinical teacher, philosopher and classic, was ren...

In 1898, Tigerstedt and Bergman published their observation that kidney extracts produce pressor effects. They characterized the substance and named it "renin." Although this was the beginning of understanding the role of the kidney in hypertension and the renin-angiotensin system, their discovery lay dormant for nearly 40 years.

In Volume 4 of the Bristol Med-Chi Journal (1886)1 we find a report of a 13 year old boy who developed abdominal pain in the right iliac fossa. He was anorexic, had vomited and was noted to be pyrexial; examination revealed tenderness localised to the right iliac fossa. Treatment was conservative with turpentine, castor oil and local poultices. When he failed to improve over the next three days...

I N 1927 H. J. MULLER (1890-1967) published in Science a paper entitled “Artificial Transmutation of the Gene.” It reported the first experimental production of mutations and opened a new era in genetics. The title is curious. Why transmutation rather than mutation? The answer emerges from another paper (MULLER 1928a), written in 1926. After reviewing the repeated failure of efforts by many wor...