1905.] o?i Recent Advances in Wireless Telegraphy. 45 



stations with which to communicate. During 1904, 67,625 com- 

 mercial messages were sent and received at the ship and shore stations 

 controlled by the author's company. 



It is also used as a branch of the Italian telegraphic system for 

 ordinary commercial purposes across the Adriatic Sea, namely, be- 

 tween Bari (in Italy) and Antivari (in Montenegro), and in the 

 Straits of Messina at Messina, Reggio and Giovanni. Also, in 

 connection with the British Post Office, from Cornwall to the Scilly 

 Islands, on the not infrequent occasions of the breaking down of the 

 cables. 



As to the future of wireless telegraphy, the author expresses his 

 confidence in its abihty to furnish a more economical means for the 

 transmission of telegrams from England to America, and from England 

 to the Colonies, than the present service carried on by the cables. 



It is true that many scientific men are dubious of the practica- 

 bility of sending electric waves to great distances. Others are not. 

 On a recent memorable occasion at Glasgow University, Lord Kelvin 

 publicly stated that he not merely believed that messages could be 

 transmitted across the Atlantic, but that some day it would be possible 

 to send messages to the other side of the globe. Apart from the 

 practical and economical possibilities of this step, when realised, the 

 transmission of messages to the Antipodes would open up the possi- 

 biUty of carrying out tests of very great scientific interest. For 

 example, if transmission to the Antipodes were possible, the energy 

 ought to go over or travel round all parts of the globe from one 

 station to the other, and perhaps concentrate at the Antipodes, and 

 in this way it might perhaps be possible for messages to be sent to 

 such distant lands by means of a very small amount of electrical 

 energy, and, therefore, at a correspondingly small expense. 



[G. M.] 



