The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-12-29

and anything lessIthan a gale is re-
garded by him as favorable-that all
of his important plans are formed and
preliminary experiments made.
He has never written a letter to a
newspaper or directly sought publicity
in any way. In fact, publicity is a
thing he breads and he is not without
fear that the continued praise which
has been coming to him for four years
will injure his capacity for serious and
patient work. Yet, in the London Of
fees of his company, several huge
scrap books are filled with newspaper
clippings about him. The present con-
tribution is doubtless subject to this
fate, for one employee does nothing but
care for the stories that are printed
about him. From all over the world
these clippings come. Some are in Chi
nese and Japanese. There is not a sim
gle civilized country which is not rep
resented in the vast collection.
Marconi is modest, rather self-center-
ed and very quiet and retiring in his
manner. He does not claim priority in
wireless biography. 81 am sure, ne
saws. that if l should ascribe the or
iginal idea of electric telegraphy with
out wires to any man, even back as
far as Thales, some historian would
produce evidence of an earlier method.
1t is not my duty to determine the
credit for originality. Such large
norton of every investigator is a re-
aection of.the lives of previous investi-
GATOR that one one should be prepared
to regard himself and his ideas as prod
nets of a universal evolution. II we
had to depend alone upon our only
source of revelation of scientific facts'
the senses, starting always anew, we
should not have accomplished any great
invention. More than anything else,
an inventor must possess the capacity
to profit by experience"
But to Marconi must be given the
credit for the combination OF INFINITE
natience, acute observation, practlcal
skill and an active IMAGINATION,
which brought about his great
tr,,,nnnh. He was the first to
send a recorded message through space
hv electromagnetic waves, which he
accomplished in 1894, the first to tele-
graph from a ship in motion Qtalian
navy. 1870 and now the first to send a
wireless signal across the Atlantic.
Very few Americans are familiar
with the previous attempts to attain
transatlantic telegraphy Without
wires. but as long ago as 1890 Two
Eranchmen had a plan OF sympetnetic
telegraphy by which they hoped 10 COM
rounicate between Paris and New YORK.
Machines were actually erected IN the
two cities and thousands OF dollars
snent in experiments. A public exhiDi-
lion was arranged for, but before the
great day arrived one of the projectors
disappeared and when he was aiter-
wards found he had gone insane. Eight
wears before this French trial Morse
made an attempt to telegraph from
c.overnon-'s Island TO Castle GARDEN
,,,tbout wires, but was unsuccessful.
Three years later, however. his assls ST.
ant succeeded in getting wireless sig
naia across the Susquehanna river
where IL was nearly a mile wide
Perhaps one OF the most astonishing
,ians of wireless transatlantic com
munication was that proposed by D. "a.
Mover n 1868. Al the inconsiderable
cost OF $40 900 this inventor expected 40
establish communication between Mon
tank Point and Oporto, Portugal MS
nian was based on the theory that
electric currents can be transmitted
through water In a straight line ana
he mad evidently forgotten that the
curvature OF the earth between the two
temispheres made hill Of ninety
miles hight in the center. In 1872 Amer
lee was again excited over the theory
OF Loomis, a dentist, who proposed 70
utilize electricity from the earth and