Sir

Your report that an edited version of last year's Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution (RI) will be presented in Japan is gratifying (Nature 388, 221; 221 1997).

Abbreviated versions of RI annual lectures (initiated by Michael Faraday in 1826) started in Japan in 1990 and have attracted large numbers of schoolchildren. This is not surprising, as Japanese translations of Faraday's Chemical History of a Candle (RI Christmas Lectures 1859-60) have gone through more than 70 editions, and are recommended reading for Japanese schoolchildren.