NEW CONCEPTIONS IN SCIENCE 



miles, from London to Aberdeen five hundred 

 miles, the total distance being nearly as far as from 

 New York to Chicago. The rate is less than one- 

 third. So far as one can see, there is no good 

 reason why, with healthy competition, a twenty- 

 word message from New York to London, Paris, 

 or Manila should not be sent and delivered for a 

 dime; or, for that matter, anywhere in the United 

 States. 



The first cost is small. A wireless-telegraph sta- 

 tion is more complicated than an ordinary Morse 

 station, and costs more. But, needing neither 

 cables, wires, insulators, nor rows of poles, the 

 stations are practically the whole of the expense. 

 Such an installation as those of the Marconi com- 

 pany on board the ocean ships probably costs be- 

 tween two and three hundred dollars at retail. 

 The largest expense is a good induction coil, which, 

 for a twelve -inch spark, costs between one hun- 

 dred and fifty and two hundred dollars ; the rest 

 of the apparatus any clever mechanic, once he has 

 seen it and read the descriptions with which the 

 scientific journals teem, can rig up for himself. 



And the field is free. The shower of patents 

 has been large; Signor Marconi alone has taken 

 out one hundred and thirty-two. But they relate 

 chiefly to minor improvements and special devices, 

 which, while doubtless often of individual value, 



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