Scientists prophesy in 1901: what may happen by 2001
From an issue of the Ladies' Home Journal in 1901:
There will be five hundred million people.
Americans will be one to two inches taller.
There will be no C, X or Q in the alphabet which will be phonetic.
Hot and cold air will be available from spigots for temperature control.
There will be no more mosquitoes or flies.
Ready cooked meals will be readily available.
No food will be exposed to customers' breath and liquid-air refrigerators will preserve foods for a long time.
Coal will no longer be used and will be replaced by hydro-electric power from dams and from the ocean's waves.
There will be no streetcars in big cities because all public transport will be underground.
Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance.
Trains will run at a 100 miles per hour.
Automobiles will be cheaper than horses.
Everyone will walk ten miles for exercise.
There will be fast electric ships that will take only two days to go to England.
There will be airships.
There will be aerial warships and forts on wheels.
There will be no more wild animals except in zoos and rats and mice will have been completely exterminated.
Man will see around the world via cameras connected electrically to screens.
Wireless telephones will span the world.
University education will be free for everyone.
Store purchases will be delivered by pneumatic tubes.
Vegetables will be grown by electricity.
Oranges will be grown in Philadelphia and refrigeration will allow fruits to be imported from South Africa and South America in winter.
Strawberries will be as large as apples and so will all other fruits be bigger.
There will be black, blue and green roses as large as cabbages.
Drugs will not be swallowed but be delivered by electricity directly to the affected organs. Electric microscopes will make the body transparent.
Some pretty outlandish predictions, eh?
Although some of 'em are right on the mark.