The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-16

,vav n can he made as sensitive and as
effective as the thermopile- The exter-
nal operation is similar to the lnStru-
ment described in the foregoing para
graph.
A few weeks ago. during boat race
on the Thames, Marconi, the Italian
inventor, demonstrated one of the prac-
teal points of wireless biography by
transmitting the news of the race rom
a small steam yacht to the shore he
operated his instrument in the cabin
of his yacht and the result was alto
gether satisfactory. Here, it seems,
might be found at once, the solution or
the difficulty as to avoiding collisions,
but there are a few objections TO CIV
ing the system approval Tor all cases.
Expensive apparatus would have TO be
installed on every vessel on the ocean,
and the safety OF every vessel would
depend on the alertneSS OF the obSerV-
ers on every other vessel But grant
ing the installation and the alertneSS,
the question of icebergS and wrecks
would not be settled. This question OF
the derelict however, is serious one
in any event. as it is difficult to see
how a waterlogged wreck floating even
with the surface, is to be detected even
by the most delicate of instruments
Most remarkable is the suggestion or
Professor Oliver Lodge of Liverpool
university to dissipate fog by means OF
electric discharges on vessels. AleXan-
der McAdie, the American electrician
has investigated this project, out the
idea originated with Professor Lodge
while he was crossing the Atlantic
some years ago. During the passage
the vessel was detained several hours
by fog. Afterward Professor Lodge
wrote as follows:
Fog is an Unmitigated nuisance.
Electric light is pOwerleSS to penetrate
it, and as we lay there idle it was i'm
possible not to be struck with the ad-
visibility of dissipating it. 1t is rash
TO predict what can be done. 1t is sun
more rash to predict what cannot De
done. 1 would merely point out that on
board q steamer are donkey engines
and that these can drive a very power
full holtz or wimshurst machine, one
pole of which may be led to points on
the masts When electricity is dis
charged into fog on a small scale, the
fog coagulates into globules, and falls
as rain. Perhaps it will on large
scale too
On his return to England Pro-
fessor Lodge carried on a series of ex-
periments in dissipating fog. His spe-
cial search was for a means of getting
rid of the dust fog that frequently
gathers in cities. He succeeded in clear
ing a reservoir of magnesium smoke,
and afterWard of steam, by means or .
electric discharges He even succeeded
in clearing room of thick turpentine
smoke by the same means. He an
nounced these results at a meeting of
the British Association For the Adj
vancement of Science. DR.. Meade
now urges the practical application of
Professor Lodges suggestions He
calls attention to the fact that nearly
every steamer and ferryboat carries
dynamos which could be used to charge
transformers so that a voltage of $4,000
might be obtained. This, he thinks,
could be used to dissiDate fog in the
manner indicated by Professor Lodge.
Just how this great power is to be
handled safely, or, at least, directed
in the proper manner, has not been
stated. A $4,000 volt bolt of static cleo
tricity is, in fact, a lightning flash Of
no mean power. St. ElmO'S fire or any
of the other phOsphorescent manifesto
lions which deSDort around mastS and
sDars at sea would be as nothing in
comparison, and a vessel carrying ap-
paratus for hurting it at the mist would
be a picturesque sight. indeed. Still,
as Professor Lodge points out, cit is
rash to predict what cannot be done"
so that in the near future we may have
an electric fog disDeller going about
clearing the ocean of mist, and thus de-
stroying one of the most potent factors
in collisions at sea.
THEODORE WATERS.