100 YEARS AGO

In a paper on the energy of the universe in the Revue scientifique, M. I. Skvortzow discusses the influence of electrical phenomena in cosmogony. He considers that in the past history of the earth, and of other celestial bodies, electrical and chemical energy have originally played the most important part, and that heat energy has become more and more important in proportion as the earth has assumed a more material form... The heat of the earth M. Skvortzow attributes to electric currents circulating mostly near the surface; the interior of the earth, on the other hand, he thinks may be as cold as the greatest depths of the ocean. Changes in the aspect of the earth, as well as meteorological phenomena, are attributed to electric currents induced by solar influence. The temperatures of different planets are considered to depend less on their distance from the Sun than on their reserve of energy and on the currents which the Sun induces in them in virtue of their axial and orbital motions. Will this theory of the electromagnetic origin of the earth's heat reconcile the two opposing views on the age of the earth?

From Nature 30 January 1902.

50 YEARS AGO

A new periodical is apt to arouse suspicion and evoke the question, “Is it really necessary?” It may be said that two conditions must be fulfilled for a newcomer to be regarded as a journal of importance: the first is that the contents must be of high quality; and the second that it serves as a medium for publishing work which might not otherwise reach those to whom it is of interest. As regards the first requirement, there can be little doubt of its fulfilment by Chemical Engineering Science: Genie Chimique, an international monthly the first number of which appeared last October... There are seven editors, all chemical engineers of high standing, residing in France, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Norway, and an advisory board of nineteen from eleven countries. Six original papers of high quality occupy fifty quarto pages very clearly printed by the Würzburg University Press, and it is hoped to publish in English, French or German not only papers dealing with the principles of chemical engineering but also detailed notes on advances in industrial processes.

From Nature 2 February 1952.