WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 
113 
before you tbe two systems by means of which a certain degree of 
success has up to the present time been achieved. I must myself own 
to a certain degree of diffidence in bringing the subject forward, as 
being by no means the individual best suited to do so. Partly from 
curiosity, bat mainly with a view to investigating the possibilities of 
wireless telegraphy from a service point of view, I was induced to 
make some experiments with apparatus of my own design, and con¬ 
structed under my own supervision, following as best I could any in¬ 
structions I could obtain, the best of which, however, were somewhat 
meagre. The results obtained were encouraging, and the subject soon 
exerted a fascination, so that I placed myself in communication with 
those experimenting on the same lines, from all of whom I received 
the greatest assistance. Much of the apparatus you see in the room 
was lent me by various people. Amongst others I might mention Mr. 
Preece, of the General Post Office, Mr. Gavey, of the General Post 
Office, Professor Sylvan us Thompson, who lent me that most in¬ 
genious wave model of his which he showed at the Royal Institution; 
Signor Marconi, who is unfortunately prevented by indisposition from 
being here to night; Captain Kennedy, R.E., who has taken up the 
subject very keenly indeed; and, last of all. Major Carr, R.E. I was 
fortunate in having the services of Q.M.S. Faussett, R.E., to whose 
mechanical skill 1 am much indebted (applause). It may be inter¬ 
esting for you to know that the War Office authorities are alive to the 
importance of the subject, as shown by the fact that they have ap¬ 
pointed an officer to watch the experiments carried out under the 
auspices of the G.P.O. Some think that the time has arrived for the 
War Office to institute a few experiments on their own lines, carried 
out under purely military conditions and for purely military purposes. 
After this, I am afraid, rather long and tedious introduction, I must 
at once proceed to explain to you one of the systems under considera¬ 
tion. Taking the subject in historical order, I shall first describe 
what is known as “ Preece* s system. 5 * 
Early in 1895 the cable between Oban and the Isle of Mull broke 
down. Here was the opportunity of putting this system to a practical 
test; it was at once seized upon, the apparatus was installed, and 
communication established by using parallel wires on each side of the 
channel (I believe about 3 miles across), and transmitting signals 
across this space by means of these (so-called) electro-magnetic 
waves. Previous to this, in 1892, intelligible signals were experi¬ 
mentally transmitted from Penarth to Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel 
—a distance of a little over 3 miles. It was the experience gained in 
those experiments which led to the particular arrangements adopted 
at Oban, and these arrangements I shall describe shortly. It was 
not by utilising any new scientific discovery that Mr. Preece was able 
to do this, but, making use of certain scientific facts shown by 
Faraday and Henry as laboratory experiments, and bringing them 
up to date by using the telephone as a detector, he was able to 
achieve success over distances previously considered impossible. (If 
Faraday had known the telephone what would he not have discovered !) 
