246 TELEGRAPHY ACROSS SPACE. 



less cost than that of a connecting submarine cable. I doubt very 

 greatly whether the wave method can be made applicable at all to 

 these so distant parts of the globe. But whether by conduction, by 

 induction, or by waves, I am firmly convinced that the immediate road 

 to commercial success lies in two things. Firstly, we must frankly 

 recognize that there is no such thing as telegraphing without wires ; 

 that the base line or the base area surrounded by wires is a 

 fundamental necessity. Secondly, we must look to establishing real 

 syntony between the sending and the receiving parts of the apparatus 

 to render it, as far as posdble, sensitive and independent, without 

 which conditions such systems will become too costly and too unman- 

 ageable for commercial ends. 



(The paper was illustrated by numerous slides illustrating the 

 methods and instruments used by Hertz, Lodge, Righi, Marconi, and 

 Slaby in their investigations, and the newest syntonic apparatus of 

 Lodge. Experiments were also shown illustrating the transmission of 

 electric waves and their reception and detection. A small Lodge 

 apparatus, constructed by Mr. Miller, was also exhibited in operation.) 



The chairman said no doubt all present had come with great expecta- 

 tions, anticipating much pleasure in hearing of the latest developments 

 of one of the most interesting and valuable applications of modern 

 science to useful purposes — electric telegraphy. But whatever their 

 expectations, they must have been more than realized by the exceed- 

 ingly lucid exposition by Professor Thompson of a most intricate and 

 difficult subject; so lucid in fact had it been that probably few realized 

 how intricate it was. He felt with Professor Thompson that perhaps 

 in the immediate future the application of wireless telegraphy to prac- 

 tical purposes was not quite so wide as some might have anticipated 

 and hoped; but at the same time there were purposes to which they 

 might reasonably hope it might be applied, such, for example, as com- 

 munication between the shore and lightships, and possibly between ship 

 and ship. It was satisfactory to learn that means were being sought for, 

 and had been to some extent found, of differentiating one telegraphic 

 signal sent through space by another tuning. That was to him a practi- 

 cally interesting point, and the explanations which had been given of the 

 methods adopted by Prof. Oliver Lodge for obtaining the transmission 

 of a particular message, and the receipt of that message by a particular 

 person intended to receive it, were especially valuable. Obviously it 

 would be very inconvenient if messages sent through space were indiffer- 

 ently receivable by everyone who chose to play the part of an eaves 

 dropper. That condition of things would somewhat resemble that 

 described in one of Hans Christian Andersen's stories, where the fumes 

 coming from a pipkin revealed to everyone who chose to smell them 

 what each particular person was having for dinner. It was not very 

 desirable that that kind of curiosity should be gratified in connection 



