SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS IN RADIOTELEGRAPHY 371 



sea and rendering more secure the position of those who have 

 to brave the perils of the deep, it has opened up scientific 

 questions of remarkable interest, which dovetail in with other 

 unsolved problems of terrestrial physics and invite the careful 

 consideration of expert students in many branches of physics. 

 It is curious how frequently the achievements of inventors 

 outrun all our powers of explaining the inventions in terms 

 of accepted knowledge. The unconscious cerebration of genius 

 attempts and succeeds but the exact reasons for success are 

 sometimes hard to find. Though we do not yet quite know 

 why it is possible to send electromagnetic waves across the 

 Atlantic, the fact that it can be done has increased to a most 

 valuable extent the means of communication on which the 

 conditions of our modern life and even our national welfare 

 incontestably depend. 



