100 YEARS AGO

As is well known, Chinese tea is mainly made from Thea chinensis, whilst that from India is the produce of T. assamica. Mr. Crole calls the former variety “a poor, scrubby-looking shrub” and “a wretched plant.” From his remarks it would appear that the only service that Fortune rendered to the Indian tea industry by the introduction of the Chinese plant was the deterioration of the indigenous seed, giving rise to quantities of hybrids of various qualities, “from very rank stuff to fairly good.” According to the author, the most that can be said in favour of the China plant is that it is distinctly more hardy than the Assam variety. We are disposed to believe that Mr. Crole's prejudices affect his judgement. There is no question whatever that some of the finest and most wholesome tea the world produces is to be met with in China⃛. Mr Crole is of opinion that the value of a tea should be in direct proportion to the theine it contains. This is surely no more true than that the value of a wine depends upon its alcoholic strength.

From Nature 2 December 1897.

50 YEARS AGO

Robert Liston (1794-1847), who died in his prime of an aortic aneurysm on December 7, 1847, is chiefly remembered as the first surgeon in Europe to operate under ether anæsthesia. He remarked at the time: “This Yankee dodge beats mesmerism hollow”. He was not a good writer or speaker, and he contributed little to the science of surgery, but he was unsurpassed as a lightning and dexterous operator, whose methods of crushing stone and amputating thighs were the envy and despair of other surgeons.

‘Cultivation of the cricket bat willow’ — In the past, a number of private owners have tried to undertake the production of this high-quality willow timber, with the object of selling it as material for cricket bat production, and considerable failures have resulted. It is not that the cultivation of the willow itself is actually difficult, but a great deal of close attention is necessary, and more especially during its early life, and the right variety must be obtained at the start. It is for this reason that the Forestry Commission has had drawn up and issued this bulletin on the cultivation of this valuable product.

From Nature 6 December 1947.