The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-01-31
EXPLAINED TO JAMES HENRY
His Grandfather Tries to Tell a Little
of What Marconi Has Done.

- NsudI WdCCOUI mas OOnSs Hta|
Kansas City Star: James Henry is q
boy who wants to know about things.
Now, James Henry has a grandfather
who is one of those people who always
want to tell people things. So James
Henry and his grandfather get on very
Well together, because James Henry
wants to know about things and he Is
Kind enough to his grandfather to let
him tell him about them.
For instance, James Henry gave his
grandfather a beautiful chance the
other day. He owned right up to him
hat he didn't see how Mr.. Marconi
Gould telegraph without wires, espe-
,ially across the Atlantic ocean. dc
you know just O they telegraph with
wires?" his grandfather asked.
NO" said James Henry, mot quite.
out I've always known they could dc
hat"
Yes, you've known that a good
while, haven't your" said his grand.
father. well. the most of us are sc
1sed to seeing machines do things that
we don't bother about just TO- they
10 them, and that is enough for us.
Now, do you know what ether is?"
THE stuff that puts you to Sleep
said James Henry.
II don't mean that kind. The kind
I mean Is quite different, and I don't
liliilh lAdN any UOuy uIlOSl oldiioS ~
very well. 1t Is a substance which is
everywhere; it is in the air and above
the air, and 1t reaches to the sun and
to the stars. and 1t is through all other
things, in the earth and the water n
all solid bodies. When we move about
and when the earth and planets move
they pass through IL, as If it were a
kind of jelly. No, of course, we don't
understand it. but 1t is the only way
that mon nf Sriaprn oar arpOlnt for q
good nan things. -
We'll, Mr.. Marconi has made a ma
chine-I can't tell you all about it, and
It isn't necessary-but the prettiest
part of it is where he makes great
electric sparks leap across from one
BRASS knob to another, with quite a
display Of fireworks. He car make
he sparks jump or stop jumping by
pressing a key or letting it 60, n
when the sparks come they set some
thing to vibrating, probably this same
ether.
$50 the ether vibrates, or pulsates. or
WaFeS-WhateVer you want to call it
and the waves of the ether spread out
IN all directions from Mr.. Marconi's
machine, just as the waves spread out
in all directions in q pond when you
throw a stone into it,
But they don't spread in all direc-
tons on the pond" said James Henry;
they only spread Sideways. not up or
down."
James Henry said his grandfather,
how do O know they don't spread
down through the water from whore
the stone strikes it. and up from where
1t touches the bottoms? Well, then,
these waves from Mr.. Marconi's ma
chine spread out, not in a circle, but
In the form Of a ball. The first wave
Widens and widens in all directions.
and while it is doing it another starts
m the same way, n so they all GO
out and out, one OTTER another. There
are a good many of them, TOPPER
haps 100, 900, 900 4 minute, more or less,
Now, remember. whenever Mr.. Mar
conf presses the key, off go these
waves, and whenever he let's go the
key they stop. Well, then, all that Is
needed is some machine which can feel
these vibrations a long way off, when
they come, and make n record Of them,
and then Mr.. Marconi can tick out any
message he likes. just as he would on
an ordinary telegraph machine.
which makes the sparks there is a
wire, which is hung as high up in the
air as they a get it. l, don't thin
that anybody knows, even Mr. Mar
conf himself, just how much this wire
is good for, but it does seem somehow
to help those waves to get off, and tc
help them to go farther when they arc
off. Then, somewhere away off, there
is another wire hung up, and thai
manages to catch the waves, and an
instrument attached to it says tick,
tick, tick and tells what Mr.. Marconi
has to say.
Mr.. Marconi thought for a while
that the higher he could hang his wire
the farther he could send his waves,
but he about gave that up the other
day, when he sent them right across
| the Atlantic. He used to think, too,
| that the waves went through the air,
but he doubted that when he found
that a few houses, or even a big hill
In the way did not seem to trouble his
ave at all. So. perhaps, they &C
through the earth instead of the air
And then. when they sent the waves
from Cornwall, in England, to New.
them on his kite string, the eartt
curved so much that there was g
piece Of it more than a hundred miles
thick between the two places. So, as
long as we don't know just what thu
waves do go through, we$say that they
go through the ether"
You don't seem to know much about
it, anyway, do your" said James Henry
There Is certainly a good deal Of
guesswork about it," his grandfather
answered. II think that the men wht
have lone all the work are a good dea
/ puzzled about a good many things. Blu
they have found that they can do
great deal, and I am sure that they
will soon do a great deal more
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