The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-16
SIGNALED BY MARS
Strange Sounds Which Might 20
Cele stial Messages.
Electrical Experiments b. Edison on
Mount Observation-Disclosures of the
Future In Aerial Com
munication-

London, where Mr.. W. II. Preece, engi-
neer to the telegraphs department of
the British post Office. read paper on
Electric Signaling Without Wires. T"
Mr.. Preece explained how he had re-
Gently demonstrated that wires were
not at all necessary to establish tele-
phonic communication, says the New
York World.
Under the supervision of q royal
commission appointed between the
shore and lighthouses he had conducted
a series of experiments which amply
demonstrated this fact. There was no
difficulty In speaking between the
shore and Flat Holm, three miles dis
lance from the place of experiment.
MIR. Preece then went on to say that
strange, mysterious sounds" are
heard on all long telephone lines when
the earth is used as return, especially
In the calm stiffness Of the night.
Earth currents" said he, ''are found
| in telegraph circuits and the aurora
boreaGs lights up our northern sky
when the suns photosphere is dis
turbed by spots. The suns surface
must at such times be violently dis
turbed by electrical storms and if os-
citations are set up and radiated
through space in sympathy with those
required to affect telephones 1t is not
a wild dream to say that we may hear
on this earth a thunderstorm IN the
sum-"
After further describing the mys-
1 Gc IL oh h,1 "a L.
attention in the still watches of the
night, Mr.. Preece said: ''If any of these
planets be populated with beings like
ourselves, having the gift of language
and the knowledge to adapt the great
forces of nature to their wants, then IL
they could oseillate immense stores of
electrical energy to and fro In te1e-
graphic order, 1t would be possible for
us to hold commune by telephone with
the people Of Mars"
These mysterious sounds which so
puzzle Mr.. Preece seem to correspond
with those noticed by Thomas A.
Edison, who has turned Ogden noun
tain, in New Jersey, into a great mag
net aud coiled miles of wire about it.
AT the time of the last opposition of
Mars be noticed an increase of the
seismic mutterings, which have recent
IL been so violent. Mr.. Edison and Mr..
Preeee are the only two of the sell
entists who are now experimenting
along these lines, and the whole scien-
tific world Is watching the progress
being made. Neither Mr.. Edison nor
Mr.. Preece has been so bold as to say
that the strange sounds referred to are
messages sent by the Inhabitants Of
Mars TO those of earth, but they have
not otherwise explained them.
On the other haEd there are many
scientists firm In the belief that the
next few years will witness the OPEN
ing up of communication between
the people of the two planets. This
conviction has been enormously
strengthened by the strange lights
seen at the Lick observatory when
Mars was under observation during it's
opposition little over a year ago.
The three lights were arranged in a
triangle, flashed out as soon as dark
ness had set IN and In the immense
lens of the Lick telescope they glowed
with steady and continued effulgenee.
Was this an effort of the inhabitants
of Mars to attract the attention OF
those of earth?
Such had been the opinion Of Flam-
marion, who had argued in favor Of ,
earth signaling back with a triangle of
lights thirty miles across. 1t was
shown that the conditions Of Mars
were more nearly those Of earth than
of any other planet Both Of the snow
caps could be plainly seen and may be !
seen now in any frst-class telescope,
for Mars Is now to be observed in the |
morning about thirty degrees west and |
fourteen degrees south from Venus in |
the constellation Capricorn. The WELL |
defined atmosphere Of Mars is also |
plainly visible, and astronomers can |
tell by the increase or decrease Of its |
snow caps and Its position in regard 70 |
the sun the progress of its seasons and |
whether or not the Marsians are hay
ing cold winter. The canal theory |
of Schiapperelh has likewise many be-
levers, who assert that the strange |
straight lines on Mars are canals /
which have been built by its highly |
civilized inhabitants.
Mr.. Preece says he has kept record
of the strange, mysterious sounds
which have attracted his attention,
while Edison has done likewise. These
will require much study to decipher. if
they are messages from Mars. The
Preece discovery, on the other hand,
puts it in the power of the people of
earth to send direct electrical currents
IN advance Of ourselves that they may
be able to help US out in the work OF
opening Up converse. A pantominic
electrical interchange will be necessary
for some time, but what will be the
emotions of the scientific world when
the message is sent ont that commune
cation has been esta blished?
There are those who firmly assert
that this is an experience of the imne-
date future; that electricity is the
universal force and the one whereby
the planets will come into com
with each other II they
ever do. The mystery of electricity Is
the strange fluctuations It undergoes.
II 1t were an earth property solely il
would be steady, as il would be were il
common TO all the universe and not in
terfered with But its strange goings
and comings, its apparent relations to
the SIN. and yet its known sympathy
with other heavenly bodies. seem %
show that somebody somewhere Is
focling with the dynamo and cutting