On this day in 1952
Biological weapons tests begin in the Outer Hebrides
Government researchers arrived off the coast of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, on 8 May 1952, ready to start experiments with a variety of infectious pathogens. Their samples included the bubonic plague – otherwise known as Black Death.
The experiments were part of Operation Cauldron, a series of biological weapons trials carried out in the early days of the cold war, much like the anthrax trials that had been conducted in 1942 at Gruinard Island.
Operation Couldron
The experiments were a significant undertaking, involving dozens of personnel working across a research vessel called Ben Lomond, and a 61- by 18m pontoon. The pontoon was designed to sit low in the water and able to tilt so the researchers could set it up to face into the prevailing wind.
Test animals, confined to cages, would be secured to the pontoon and the biological agents released, either by spraying them into the air, or detonating small bombs. The wind would then carry the agents to the test subjects so they would be naturally infected. Once they had been exposed, the animals were taken back to the Ben Lomond and kept under observation. Those that died were then autopsied to determine exactly what had killed them, and how.
Unintended consequences
Several hundred animals were subjected to the tests, including monkeys and guinea pigs. On average, three trials were conducted every day throughout the test period, with each one requiring around 225 guinea pigs.
Not everything went according to plan. Locals and boats in the area were told to stay away, but one fishing trawler called the Carella sailed directly through a cloud of plague. It was allowed to continue to sea but monitored by a warship to ensure nobody aboard showed signs of infection before coming back to land.
...and on this day in 1826
Cancer pioneer Henry Littlejohn is born
At a time when smoking was seen either as elegant or – in some quarters – healthy, Henry Littlejohn was the first to explicitly link the consumption of nicotine with the subsequent development of lung cancer.
The 27 April 1900 edition of the Huntly Express printed his findings, noting that “it is a most disastrous result, too, if one is to believe Sir Henry Littlejohn [who] has just penned a formidable indictment against juvenile smoking”. His complaints against smoking were many and varied, including that it damaged the teeth and caused indigestion. “The practice is fraught with other dangers to society at large, owing to the secrecy with which the habit is carried on, the assembling at night, the tendency to visit ice-cream shops to assuage the heat of the mouth that has been engendered by the filthy practice…”
Smoking and cancer linked
His comments were also carried by the Shields Daily News three days later, with Littlejohn stating that “much is said at present to the increase of cancer and its causes; but there can be little doubt that the use of poisonous heated cigarettes must have a most pernicious effect on the lips and glands of the mouth”.
As well as a general practitioner and medical lecturer, Littlejohn was Edinburgh’s Medical Officer of Health for almost 50 years, as well as contributing greatly as a forensic pathologist. In this latter role, he was frequently called upon to testify in important cases, including that of the death of Elizabeth Chantrelle, who was murdered by her husband, Eugene. That case is said to have inspired the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Littlejohn’s death
Littlejohn died on 30 September 1914. The Midlothian Advertiser of 2 October noted that in his passing “one of the personalities of Edinburgh has been removed, one who may be said in his person to have connected the Edinburgh of a former age with the present day. The period embraced in his public life in the city marks an epoch of greater change in public matters of sanitation and health than any other period of our history.”
Many of the improvements to which the Midlothian Advertiser referred were thanks to Littlejohn himself. In his role as the city’s Medical Officer of Health, he had conducted extensive surveys of the city, the way its inhabitants lived and the effect this had on their health. Many improvements to sanitation, housing and food regulations were made on the back of his subsequent recommendations.
Yesterday…
Mhairi Black becomes Britain’s youngest MP
When the SNP’s 20-year-old Mhairi Black was elected for the SNP, she became the youngest ever member of the House of Commons.
Massacre at the Battle of Spoiling Dyke
The first Sunday of May 1578 saw a bloody massacre carried out by the MacDonalds of Uist on the Clan MacLeod.
Tomorrow…
James Matthew Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, and is best remembered as the author of the stage play Peter Pan.