September io, 1903] 



NATURE 



437 



LETTER TO THE EDITOR. 

 [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of Nature. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.] 



A Mite whose Eggs survive the Boiling Point. 



In several preparations of boiled flax seeds for fungus- 

 rulture it was observed that numbers of mites (Tyroglyphus 

 histiostoma) made their appearance. A petri dish contain- 

 ing mites was boiled, and in about three weeks there were 

 again large numbers of them present, though the cover had 

 never been removed since boiling. 



On June 6 a decoction of flax seeds containing mites in 

 a test tube was boiled for five minutes, and the neck 

 plugged with cotton wool. On Jime 15 a similar pre- 

 paration was made, but the test tube was covered with 

 ail indiarubber cap in addition to the plug of cotton wool. 

 On August 24 both test tubes contained living mites. So 

 the inference seems justified that the eggs, though saturated 

 with water, must have survived the boiling point. 



The mite is about 2/5mm. in length. The bean-shaped 

 eggs (108-5^ x66-5/i) are enclosed in two transparent valves 

 like watch glasses. 



I am much indebted to Mr. G. H. Carpenter for identify- 

 ing the species. J. Adams. 



Royal College of Science, Dublin, September 2. 



THE BERLIN CONFERENCE ON WIRELESS 

 TELEGRAPHY. 



■\\7'E have on two or three occasions referred in 

 * * these columns to the International Conference 

 on Wireless Telegraphy which was held last month at 

 Berlin. The conclusions at which the conference 

 arrived have now been published in the Cologne 

 Gazette, and were summarised in the Times last 

 week. In considering these conclusions it is as well 

 to bear in mind that the conference was only pre- 

 liminary ; though representatives of nearly all the 

 important States were present, it was not intended 

 that the recommendations should be final, but rather 

 that they should serve as a basis for discussion at a 

 future conference with more definite powers. Still, 

 the decisions are of interest as they indicate more 

 or less clearly the general state of opinion on the 

 present position of wireless telegraphy. 



We have frequently pointed out in Nature that 

 for the present at any rate it should be the aim of 

 those directly interested in the development of wire- 

 less telegraphy to perfect it as far as possible as a 

 means of communication between ships at sea and 

 between ship and shore. This is really an infinitely 

 more important object than the more ambitious and 

 more striking attainment of Transatlantic com- 

 munication, and such seems to have been the opinion 

 of the conference. Within the last few days it has 

 been announced that Mr. Marconi is now practically 

 in a position to reopen Transatlantic communication on 

 a commercial basis, but even if the attempt proves 

 successful on this occasion less will have been gained 

 than seems to be the case at first sight. We have 

 already means of communicating telegraphically 

 across the Atlantic, and though wireless telegraphy 

 may add another, and possibly a cheaper, method, 

 the gain will be trifling compared with the advantage 

 of perfecting it in a direction in which we have no 

 other resources, whereas should the working of the 

 high power long-distance stations in any way inter- 

 fere with or hinder the development of the less pre- 



NO. 1767, VOL. 68] 



tentious short-distance signalling, the loss to the 

 community generally will be very great. Un- 

 fortunately, the actual condition of affairs at the 

 present time is difficult to determine ; important facts 

 are kept quiet for what are doubtless sound com- 

 mercial reasons, and assertions and counter assertions 

 are rife. On the one hand we are assured that the 

 big stations do not interfere with the small ones, and 

 on the other we have undeniable evidence that these 

 monstrous etheric disturbances may affect all ap- 

 paratus in their neighbourhood. It may be possible 

 to avoid this interference by suitable adjustment, but 

 it ought not to be permissible to make this necessary 

 any more than it should be permissible for a factory 

 to belch forth smoke from its chimneys on the ground 

 that those who wish for cleanliness and health can 

 move their firesides to the country. 



W'ireless telegraphy, indeed, presents a somewhat 

 peculiar and difficult problem ; in the first place its 

 medium of communication is one to which all people 

 have an equal right, and which, therefore, one person 

 or set of persons must not be allowed to use to the 

 detriment of others ; secondly, its utility depends 

 directly on its availability under all conditions, and 

 at all places, so that to be most useful there must be 

 either a world monopoly or else a perfectly free inter- 

 change between competing systems. The second 

 consideration is a strong argument in favour of State 

 monopoly of any means of communication, whilst 

 the first is an additional reason for international 

 control of wireless communication. At the same time 

 it is naturally unjust that those who have spent time 

 and money and energy in pioneering development 

 should be deprived of the legitimate reward of their 

 labours. It is obvious that a solution to the difficulties 

 is only to be found by a fair compromise between 

 conflicting interests, that of the public at large on 

 the one hand and those of the various wireless tele- 

 graphy companies on the other. The resolutions of 

 the Berlin conference indicate the only way we can 

 see in which such a compromise can be arranged. 

 Two of these, which are concerned with rates and 

 the method of charging, are not of particular im- 

 portance ; the others propose that coast stations shall 

 be obliged to receive and forward all telegrams from 

 vessels at sea by whatever system transmitted, that 

 telegrams referring to wrecks or calling for assist- 

 ance shall have precedence, that stations shall be ar- 

 ranged to give the minimum of interference, and that 

 any necessary technical details of the working of 

 apparatus shall be published. The first of these is 

 naturally the most important, and at the same time 

 is the one which it will be most difficult to ratify. It 

 is, of course, well known that the Marconi Company 

 has refused to acquiesce in such an arrangement, 

 by which, as far the largest and most powerful wire- 

 less telegraphy company, they have least to gain and 

 most to lose ; their position as undeniably the pioneers 

 o! practical wireless telegraphy entitles them to special 

 consideration. For this reason the delegates of Italy 

 and Great Britain did not sign this recommendation. 

 The Italian Government is bound by a fourteen years' 

 agreement with the Marconi Co., so that all the 

 delegates could do was to undertake to suggest to 

 the company the amendment of the agreement in 

 the desired direction. The British Government is in 

 an almost equally difficult position, for the Marconi 

 Co. is a British company, and holds already a prac- 

 tical monopoly in this countrj-. Still, it is to be 

 hoped that these difficulties will not stand in the 

 way of an ultimate settlement. There is not un- 

 naturally a suspicion that so far as other countries 

 are concerned there is a desire to benefit, if possible, by 



