50 Years Ago

Two sharply divergent points of view are held with regard to children's films. The Soviet bloc and most of Europe believe that children at the cinema should be sheltered from the actualities of life. They should be provided with cartoon or puppet films which show them a fairy-tale world of fantasy or else with films with a direct moral purpose such as “stressing the value of human labour?”. On the other hand, the Americans, who do not make special children's films, believe that children are essentially little adults and are perfectly ready to take adult screen entertainment. Neither of these divergent points of view is accepted in Britain, where it is believed that, to get the greatest pleasure and profit in the cinema, children should see specially produced films within their understanding and experience, and these should be mainly realistic... Children are really interested only in children like themselves or in attractive animals; they have little interest in adults and few cowboys would be popular if deprived of their horses. However, very old people who are approaching their second childhood compel attention.

From Nature 18 May 1957.

100 Years Ago

The problem of establishing a connection between the mineral ingredients of the tea plant and the quality and strength of the tea is under investigation, with a prospect of obtaining definite results. From a study of the methods of preparing Oolong tea in Formosa, it is concluded that the quality and characteristics are due to an aroma produced by faint oxidation in drying and a slight scorching during roasting of the leaf, as well as to the mild decomposition caused by a fungus, and it is suggested that the fungus acting on the legumin in the leaf produces flavouring bodies similar to the action of moulds in cheese.

From Nature 16 May 1907.