May 30, 1 901] 



NA TURE 



109 



paper at his end and also, through the operation of the 

 relay n, shifts that at the receiving end. At the same 

 time the pen b returns to the ink bath and takes a fresh 

 supply of ink : the ink bath is not shown in Fig. 2, but can 

 be seen, with the pen resting in it, in Fig. i in front of the 



T£ 



Fig. 2. — Diagram of telautograph connections. 



galvanometer on the left. The pen, which is shaped like 

 a small pipe, the bowl being a reservoir for the ink, holds 

 sufficient ink to cover the amount of paper e.xposed at 

 one time. The relay D' controls a local bell circuit and 

 is used for ringing up. Neither the connections of this 

 bell circuit nor of the paper shifting magnet are shown in 

 Fig. 2, the relays only being shown in order to avoid un- 

 necessary complication. 



A specimen of the writing transmitted by the telauto- 

 graph is shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 3 shows the words 

 as written in pencil at the transmitting end, and Fig. 4 as 

 received at the far end. These words were transmitted 

 over an artificial line nearly 300 miles long ; it will be 



NO. 1648, VOL. 64] 



seen that although the writing is somewhat distorted it 

 does not lose its character and is indeed a very fair repro- 

 duction. The words were written on the first telauto- 

 graph that Mr. Ritchie has constructed ; in future 

 instruments it is to be expected that the reproduction will 

 be even more accurate, as several improvements in detail 

 have been introduced, but it must be admitted that the 

 performance of the present apparatus leaves little to be 

 desired. There is no difficulty in writing, in spite of the 

 pencil being attached to the rheostats and having to move 



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them ; everything seems to move very freely and it is 

 almost as easy to write as with an ordinary pen. More- 

 over, as long as the paper is not shifted, the writer can go 

 back and make alterations and additions with perfect 

 accuracy. 



We are much indebted to the Telautograph Co. for 

 allowing us to e.xamine the instrument, and to Mr. Foster 

 Ritchie for very kindly explaining to us the details of its 

 construction. 



NOTES. 



Mr. Balfour has often pleaded for the increase of facilities 

 for scientific research, and has pointed out how, in this respect, 

 our country compares unfavourably with some others. The 

 festival dinner of the Medical firaduates' College and Polyclinic, 

 on May 22, gave him another opportunity to remind the public 

 of existing deficiencies and the duties of wealthy citizens towards 

 them. As purely scientific research can never be self-supporting, 

 and as, moreover, every addition to knowledge is of value, it 

 has peculiar claims upon the public and the nation. How small, 

 comparatively, is the response to these claims is known to all of 

 us. Here science is tolerated but it cannot be said to be 

 encouraged ; and this because the people who have the means 

 to further scientific interests are not in sympathy with them. The 

 State leaves the adequate provision for scientific research to 

 private benevolence, but liberal benefactions are few and far 

 between, so work which would be done here if means were 

 available is left to other nations. Many men of science spend 

 their private incomes to carry on investigations which elsewhere 

 would be afforded generous support, and they often have to leave 

 work unfinished because such assistance is not forthcoming. 

 " I do not believe," said Mr. Balfour, "that any man who looks 

 round the equipment of our universities or medical schools, or 

 other places of education, can honestly say in his heart that we 

 have done enough to equip research with all the costly armoury 

 which research must have in these modern days. We, the richest 

 country in the world, lag behind Germany, France, Switzerland, 

 and Italy. Is it not disgraceful ? Are we too poor or are we 

 too stupid? Do we lack the imagination required to show what 

 these apparently remote and abstract studies do for the happiness 

 of mankind ? We can appreciate that which obviously and 

 directly ministers to human advancement and facility, but seem, 

 somehow or another, to be deficient in that higher form of 

 imagination, in that longer sight, which sees in studies which 

 have no obvious, necessary or immediate result the foundation 

 of the knowledge which shall give far greater happiness to man- 

 kind than any immediate, material, industrial advancement can 

 possibly do ; and I fear, and greatly fear, that, lacking th 



