Foundering Theory

From fifty years ago in Scientific American:

NOVEMBER 1955 FOUNDERING THEORY—The size and peculiar shape of the Pacific trenches stir our sense of wonder. What implacable forces could have caused such large-scale distortions of the sea floor? And what is the significance of the fact that they lie along the Pacific ‘ring of fire’—the zone of active volcanoes that encircles the vast ocean? Speculating from what we know, we may imagine that forces deep within the earth cause a foundering of the sea floor, forming a V-shaped trench. The depth stabilizes at about 35,000 feet, but crustal material, including sediments, may continue to be dragged downward into the earth. This is suggested by the fact that the deepest trenches contain virtually no sediments, although they are natural sediment traps.

One hundred years ago, this appeared:

NOVEMBER 1905 TORPEDO MISS—...it cannot be denied that the torpedo has, at times, been greatly overrated. Indeed, the experience of the recent war seems to prove that only under exceptional and very favorable conditions can the torpedo get in its blow. In the fleet engagements on the high seas it seems to have exercised very little, if any, influence upon battle formations. Consequently, we think it unlikely that torpedo tubes will be fitted into future warships.