New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-22
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.
NEW AND GOOD POPULAR MANUAL.

HISTORY OF w gRTI EsTe T Wire Proposals
for sub-Aqueous Telegraphs; by c =. "a Ensi.
Member Of the Ins'St, ,6n;is g and iilustr
lions Octave. PIP. XVII S25 Dodo Mead ~
New-York
The lively interest which has been eNclteu D!
Narconrs achievements in telegraphy during tne
las, two or three years has created oei'@'iu
for a summary OF the history OF previous az
tennis in the same direction and MI rah'e
has supplied that requirement'in What VIII &c
recognized as a satisfactory manner MS oooA
10 well balanced Just and accurate. lie uiN'ueS
his narrative into three sections. one ue"''
with the endeavors Of stenheh in 1873 10 u.s.
the earth as a conductor without any Ie'"i"
wire at all the discovery by Morse 'ha' "e
could employ water or stream OF water a. :"
link in his chain. the experiments OF MANI"
1.oon,s in tapping the store OF elec'rleiN j"
tho upper air and several other early ventures
that promised well at the time
A period including the work OF four famous
Americans Trowbrdge. Bell Doloeare anu Nu
son between 1850 and lSSI. is covered DE l'Sei'
A conspicuous feature Of most OF IL was VI,
use Of the telephone as a detector Oh eNO'
jnglv feeble currents. Edisons successiu' ~
ure in teIegraphing from moving railway u an
exception 10 tIt lui's ii'''N
noss,hle-although Mr. Fable does not suggest
the idea directly-that Mr. Preece, chieI e'e0-
trojan % the British Postal Service. may nave
nrofted by Edisons example. In telegraphihs
from a train signals given on wire IN the
railway car were repeated by induction ID
stationary wire on poles beside the track
Preece resorted TO induction. hut separated Ms
wires far more widely. in some cases two mics
been 1uStDeQ,
perbaps. in including his description OF MI
Proece's work in the second period OF THIS MS
tory instead ~ the third. where ii Is associated
with the labors OF Wiloughby smith Maroon
and oliver Lodge.
Mr.. Smith employed cOnduction, not INDUCTION
He led a current Of electricity. for example
from a station on land out under water TO a
distance of seven miles. and TO the immediate
vicinity OF Fastnet Rock Lighthouse. There the
end OF his cable was anchored. and the anchor
was so arranged as 10 afford a return for the
current bv way Of the earth. a few rods away
on The rock and leading through proper nstru-
roents in the lighthouse a short circuit OF wire
was provided and into this, according 10 Mr..
Smiths belief some Of the electricity leaked
from, the adjacent terminus OF his long cable.
In view Of the nearness OF tho latter TO the
c,rcui, that included the receiving apparatus. II
hardly seems proper TO call this system wire
less" although it has distinct merits. The di-
aculty experienced in connecting a telegraph
cable with a lightship so as not to get afoui
OF the anchor has long been serious one. This
plan obviates the trouble.
Narconi was the first knowingly 10 work with
the Hertz wave instead OF a true electrical
current Dr. Slaby, Of Charlottenburg' and
others had been experimenting with that agent
but did not reach any important result until
after Marconi had conducted public tests in
England Mr.. Lodge has sought by somewhat
different apparatus to utilize the same sort OF
vibrations. and has hoped TO insure a secrecy
in correspondence which is not practicable with
Marconfs mechanism Mr. Fable mentions, by
the way. that the device known as the CO.
herer." which Marconi openly borrowed from
Brandy was really the invention OF an Italian
Calzecchi-Onesti and dates back to 1884 or
1885
group Of twelve small portraits OF men
famous in the development Of electrical science
serves as a frontispece for this volume The
list embraces Oersted, Ampere Faraday, Henry,
Clerk Maxwell, Hertz, Brandy. Lodge, Right
Preece. wiloughby Smith and MarconL