THE BECQUEREL RAYS 145 



Whatever be the true explanation of these mysteries, 

 it cannot be denied that they form the beginnings of 

 what may, and almost certainly will, affect the material 

 future of the human race. When we consider the begin- 

 nings made by Gilbert, by Franklin, by Volta, and by 

 Faraday, and contrast them with the outcome of these 

 discoveries, the electric telegraph, and the dynamo 

 machine, we cannot avoid the inference that the future 

 has in store even greater developments than these. It 

 is true that investigators like Hertz, Lenard, Becquerel, 

 and the Curies do not make practical application of their 

 discoveries; but there is never any lack of men who 

 discover their practical value, and apply them to ends 

 useful to mankind. All the more reason, therefore, that 

 every encouragement should be given to the investigator, 

 for it is to him that all our advances in physical and 

 material well-being are ultimately due. 



K 



