NOVEMBER I5, 1906 | 
NATORE 
59 
fly’s proboscis. But the manner in which this 
trypanosome at first multiplies and develops into male 
and female forms in the fly’s intestine is very re- 
markable, and suggests the commencement of a life- 
cycle which is not completed, but which might be so 
under other conditions. In the case of the trypano- 
somes of fishes, Brumpt has shown that a given 
species will go through a complete development in 
a particular species of leech, but only through a part 
of the development in another species of leech. There 
may be conditions, therefore, in which T. gambiense 
would complete the developmental cycle which is seen 
to begin, but appears to be inhibited, in the tsetse- 
fly in Uganda. It must be borne in 
sleeping sickness is a new thing, apparently, on the 
Victoria Nyanza, and has broken out there com- 
paratively recently in epidemic form. 
In conclusion, there remains only the sad duty of 
referring to the untimely death of the youngest of 
the three collaborators in this work, who became 
himself in some way infected with the trypanosomes 
which he was studying, and passed away before the 
results of the investigation were published. Only 
those who knew Forbes Tulloch can gauge the loss 
and bereavement occasioned by his tragic end. 
6 Aagyis €Ba pdov: ExAvce Siva 
Toy Maéoas pidrov avpa. 
E. A. Mincutn. 
THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY 
CONFERENCE. 
HE second International Conference on Wireless 
Telegraphy, which has been sitting during the 
past few weeks at Berlin, concluded its labours on 
Saturday, November 3, when the first ‘‘ Convention 
radiotélégraphique internationale’? was signed by 
all the representatives of the Powers. The States 
which have signed the convention are the following :— 
Great Britain, Germany, the United States of 
America, Argentina, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, 
Brazil, Bulgaria, Chili, Denmark, Spain, France, 
Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, the 
Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, 
Sweden, Turkey, and Uruguay. 
The first conference, which, it will be remembered, 
was only of a preliminary nature, was held in Berlin 
in August, 1903, and a summary of the results then 
attained was given in Nature at the time (NaTuRE, 
vol. Ixvili., p. 437). It was there pointed out that 
by far the most important resolution which the con- 
ference had to consider was that making it compulsory 
on all coastal stations to receive from and transmit 
to ships at sea all messages irrespective of system, 
and the hope was expressed that private interests 
would not be allowed to stand in the way of the 
development of one of the most beneficial of the 
recent practical applications of science. Three years 
have passed since that conference was held, but the 
correspondence and articles which have lately been 
so prominent in the daily Press show that this period 
has served neither to allay private jealousies nor to 
enlighten public opinion on the true merits of the 
case; the same appeals to ignorance and prejudice 
have been made now by both parties to the dispute 
as were made then. 
As the whole question of the justice or injustice 
of the provisions of the present conference turns on 
the claims of Signor Marconi, it will not, perhaps, be | 
out of place to recapitulate very briefly the early 
history of wireless telegraphy. In using the expres- 
sion ‘‘ wireless telegraphy,’’ we use it in the sense 
now almost universally accepted of telegraphy by 
Hertzian waves, as any consideration of earth con- 
NOWO33, VOL. 75)| 
mind that the | 
duction or magnetic induction methods has naturally 
nothing to do with the present conference. The 
foundations of wireless telegraphy were laid, as every- 
one knows, by Clerk Maxwell in the theory which 
gave rise to the experimental researches of Hertz. At 
the Bath meeting of the British Association in 1888, 
when the results of Hertz’s work were brought to the 
notice of British men of science by Prof. Fitzgerald, 
some experiments by Sir Oliver Lodge on the same 
subject were also described which showed that he was 
within an ace of making the same discoveries himself. 
For some time after this experimental work was 
chiefly devoted to the confirmation and extension of the 
work of Hertz. It was early recognised that there 
were possibilities about the new discovery which might 
render it a useful means of telegraphic communica- 
tion, and suggestions to this effect appeared in 189r 
in The Electrician, and in 1802 in the Fortnightly 
Review (from the pen of Sir William Crookes). 
The practical application of Hertz waves to tele- 
graphic purposes needed, however, the invention of a 
delicate detecting mechanism. What Lord Kelvin 
did for submarine telegraphy by the invention of the 
syphon recorder, Lodge and Branly did for wireless 
telegraphy by the invention of the coherer (1889-1891). 
From this time onward progress was rapid. In 1894 
Sir Oliver Lodge demonstrated at the Royal Institu- 
tion the transmission of signals over considerable dis- 
tances and through several obstacles. But the credit 
| for first establishing the practical utility of the system, 
for demonstrating that it was not merely a new 
scientific toy, lies with Signor Marconi, and to his 
energy and perseverance we owe it that wireless 
telegraphy as an art was born in 1896. To his energy, 
also, and to that of those associated with him, we 
undoubtedly owe, not only the most extended system 
of wireless telegraphy of to-day, but also to a large 
extent the extension of other systems which but 
for his lead would never have reached their pre- 
sent development. Yet no student of scientific 
progress can doubt for a moment that if Marconi had 
not stepped in at the critical point some other would 
have talken his place. The worl of the true pioneers 
was done, the way into the new country was dis- 
covered, and it remained only for the most energetic 
and resourceful to till the virgin soil and reap the 
plentiful harvest. 
Now that the reaping of the harvest is in sight we 
are confronted with the rival claims of the sowers. 
With a wisdom characteristic of the times, the Powers 
have decided that though each may sow and reap 
for himself, he shall conduct his operations in the 
way most advantageous to civilisation. This decision 
1s embodied in the third article of the convention, 
which provides that ‘‘ coastal stations and stations on 
shipboard are bound to interchange telegrams with- 
out distinction of the system of wireless telegraphy 
adopted by them.’’ On behalf of the Marconi Com- 
pany it has been urged that this provision was de- 
vised with the express purpose of obtaining for all 
systems—and especially the Telefunken system—the 
immense advantages of the Marconi Company’s ex- 
tended organisation. On the other hand, there could 
be no other reason for objecting to this clause than a 
desire on the part of the objector to establish a 
monopoly. As was pointed out in the article in 
Nature to which reference has already been made, the 
peculiarities of wireless telegraphy render it essential 
for public utility that there should be either a world 
monopoly or a perfectly free interchange between com- 
peting systems. It is not difficult to choose between 
these alternatives, and no one, we venture to think, 
ten years hence will question the correctness of the 
decision now made. 
