100 YEARS AGO

The proposal to generate electricity on the Canadian side of the Niagara and to sell electric power on the American side, has caused a flutter of excitement among American electricians. The New York Electrical Review states that the question has been raised whether foreign-made electricity is not subject to a duty of ten per cent ad valorum as an “unenumerated manufactured article.” This question has produced a flood of debate, and while it is purely hypothetical as yet, the Merchants' Exchange of Buffalo and the Niagara Falls Power Company, have gone so far as to pass resolutions opposing such taxation. Those who desire discrimination in favour of home-made electricity argue that electric power is a vendable and valuable product of manufacture; that it can be measured easily and accurately, and that foreign-made electricity should pay duty equally with foreign-made cloth or wine. Those who believe in free trade in electricity point out that it is not an article, it is not valuable or sold or saleable, that it has no power to do work, but only serves as a means of transmitting power, and that it is utterly impossible to import it because it instantly returns to its source.

From Nature 8 February 1900.

50 YEARS AGO

Throughout Scandanavia most original scientific work is now published in the English language. Some authors write in English and others have their work translated locally; but in many cases it is advisable to obtain the services of an English-speaking man of science to check the manuscript. A most desirable course would be for such material to be checked by an English-speaking specialist who is working on almost identical lines and thereby has a natural interest in the work. The British Council has, therefore, initiated a scheme whereby it will endeavour to place each manuscript which has been submitted through its offices in Scandanavia with a scientific worker in Great Britain who is likely to have an interest in the subject in question and can carry out the checking. In general, the Scandanavians are willing to pay reasonable fees for such services, and the British Council has arranged to undertake the currency conversion for payment in sterling. The Council itself will make no charge for its services.

From Nature 11 February 1950.