100 years ago

From time to time disquieting statements had been made by medical men and others as to the possibility of the transmission of disease by the use of telephones.

The suggestion had frequently been put forward that danger might lurk in the mouthpieces of the instruments, especially in the case of those used in busy call offices, and the theory had been propounded that they might become active agents in the communication of such a dread malady as tuberculosis.

The Postmaster-General had caused an exhaustive investigation to be carried out, the result of which would, no doubt, allay any fears previously entertained. Dr Spitta, bacteriologist to the King, had examined a number of telephones which had been in regular use at London call offices, and which had received no special cleansing treatment beyond that normally given.

In accordance with the method usually followed in such investigations, washings had been prepared from the mouthpieces of the telephone, and tests were made in each case by the inoculation of guinea pigs to ascertain the presence of tubercle bacilli.

Dr Spitta’s report on these experiments showed that the results were most satisfactory, and that the mouthpieces examined were free from tubercle bacilli.

50 years ago

The Cabinet were considering what to do about the Leonardo da Vinci charcoal cartoon The Virgin and Child, which was to be put up for sale at Sotheby’s, London, by the Royal Academy.

The Government was being pressed both inside and outside Parliament to buy the picture to prevent it going out of the country. The Royal Academy had offered the drawing to the Treasury for much less than the £1m it was expected to fetch at auction.

Meanwhile, a Labour MP, Mr John Parker, had given notice of a Private Member’s Bill which he hoped to introduce. This would prohibit the sale of all pictures owned by the Royal Academy.

25 years ago

History would shortly be made in York when Deacon Sylvia Mutch became the first woman in the Anglican Church’s 450-year history to conduct a wedding in Britain.

Miss Mutch admitted that she would be as nervous as the couple she would marry and was busy learning her lines. “It’s a privilege of ministry to take wedding services as it is to take baptisms and funerals,” said Miss Mutch, aged 50.

Women could already marry people within the Anglican Church in Canada and America. She had become eligible to conduct marriages when she was ordained as a deacon by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Habgood, at a ceremony in York Minster the previous Saturday.