ABSTRACTS OF TECHNICAL ARTICLES 231 



telephone industry, for it supplies them with an accurate picture of the 

 technical background of a great industry. It is greatly to the ad- 

 vantage of an individual to know the history of his own business, and 

 Mr. Rhodes has supplied it in an interesting form, thoroughly accurate 

 and readable. No effort has been made to set down the more recent 

 achievements in the world of telephony, but only to carry each chapter 

 to what might be termed the "middle period" in development. There 

 are many phases of the telephonic art which have not been touched 

 upon in the volume, but at the same time, one is not conscious of any 

 lack in this respect as one reads through its interesting pages. 



Any volume is the better off for illustrations, and Mr. Rhodes' book- 

 is generous in that it carries fifty-four illustrations scattered through 

 260 pages. 



The first portion of the book naturally deals with Alexander Graham 

 Bell and occupies three chapters. Following this we have two chapters 

 called "The Bell Patents." As General John J. Carty, Vice President 

 of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, says: "Never 

 before had the claims of an inventor been subjected to such exhaustive 

 litigation and judicious scrutiny, and never before d'd an inventor 

 receive such a complete and dramatic vindication." The remainder 

 of the fourteen chapters deals with the truly romantic progress of 

 telephone plant, its improvements and expansion over a term of years 

 when telephony was young and the road was fraught with difficulty. 

 Of special interest are the numerous references to original and authentic 

 sources, and in this regard the author has unquestionably used great 

 care and much labor in order to give his reader the most accurate 

 information possible, thus more truly gaining his end of supplying a 

 concrete picture of the younger days of a great industry. 



Mr. Rhodes' volume is a great contribution, not only to the literature 

 of telephony, but also to that rapidly growing library which contains 

 in its pages the romance of business in America. As a library reference 

 book it will be valuable to the technical student. Any member of the 

 Bell System would do well to familiarize himself with this work, not 

 only because it will help him in his job, but because he will find it a 

 really interesting story. 



Further Note on the Ionization in the Upper Atmosphere.^ J. C. 

 ScHELLENG. In this paper Mr. Schelleng records certain considera- 

 tions that were omitted from a previous paper, which omission resulted 

 in some difficulty. 



* Proceedings of the Inslilute of Radio Engineers, August, 1929. 



