New-York tribune., 1903-01-12
MARCONFS PREDECESSOR.
WORK OFJ4MES LINDSAY.
Wireless 7elegraphy an DUNDEE
Half a Century Ago.
I.nndnn necemher 81

,ru-n in his entertaining Memories OF Hun
dred Years. and gives illustration from the
opening years of the nineteenth century, when
Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr. Fisher Anes
John Bidwen and Tristan Burgess were making
good deal Of noise in the newspapers while
Robert Livingston was negotiating the Louisi-
ana Purchase Of half continent Eli
Whitney introducing the cotton gin in the
Southern States. and Robert Fulton expert
-nenting IN steam navigation on the Seine and
the Hudson The supreme epoch making events
were passing almost without observation. while
the men who fancied themselves great person
ages were filing the pauses Of dull politics with
ephemeral talk One IS tempted 10 conjecture
whether in the opening years Of the twentieth
century there may not be similar effect Of
contrast between the insignifcance Of the vocif-
erous figures crowding the centre and front Of
The stage and the real achievements Of workers
cut Of sight in the background A more inter
es1iug literary excursion could not be planned
FOR the last day Of the year than critical ex
animation Of this kind; but only philosopher
endowed with the Incompatible gift OF pre-
science could undertake it with deliberation and
self-confdence-
Ordinary observers. content 10 see through a
glass darkly cannot be sure Of finding any con-
tenporaneous events which have the promise
Of The potency Of the Louisiana Purchase, the
invention Of the cotton gin and the solution OF
the problem Of steam navigation The glory
Of coronation functions whether in London or
Delhi, speedily passes away; the Ansio-Japan-
sse alliance has not been tested; the reconcilia-
zion Of Jealous races after devastating warfare
in South Africa is a Hypothetical problem. and
g futile conference Of colonial Preniers is an
unstable warrant for 3 homogeneous system or
federation OF a worldwide empire II there be
eny conteuporaneous event Of epoch making
significance It would seem 10 be the establish
rlent Of The Hague arbitration tribunal. which
has been brought into operation for creating
precedents and regulating the relations OF the
Eastern and Western henispheres- A true
sense Of perspective is lacking for determining
the historic proportions Of these current events.
51st as il was when Mr.. Livingston minimlzed
the Louisiana Purchase by writing TO NJ Je1-
fsrson: IT have told ther that we should not
send al eTnigrant across the Mississippi IN one
hundred years." and when Napoleon alone
among statesmen could look long way aheao
spd declare Il have given England her rival
Equally uncertain must be current estimates
Of the values Of scientific discoveries and inven-
tious such as the R6ntgen rays or wireless teles-
-sphv. The exchange CT messages between high
towers in Cape Breton and Cornwall has been
hailed as an epoch making event, Ike the IN
~ention Of the cotton gin or the hrst voyage OF
the Clerrnont; but at its best il merely ohers q
more economical substitute cor TRANSATLANTIC
service and II Is tlS oSlaNeN ESNENo4 VI Oh
old idea Even if Sir William Preece is not TO
he taken seriously when he refers TO JOB as
sn electrician in possession Of q telephone with
ol1 wires and grimly cites the passage: 'CaTlst
thou send fightntnss that may go and say unto
thee Here We are'2" il is certain that a Scotch
enthusiast sent wireless messages through
water two generations ago. and that nothing
came Of II because the inve1 ion was not maze
at the proper time, when there was an urgent
necessity for it
James Bowman Lindsay is described by Sir
John Leng, who knew him half century ago,
as one Of the forerunners and prophets Of sci
ence He lacked the practical talent requisite
for systera tizing inventions and reducing them
70 commercial values, but he had Veritanle
gift Of prescience which enabled him to forecast
with precision scientific marvels- Born IN the
Scotch parish Of CarmyIlie in 1879. he received
in extreme poverty the bare rudinents Of edu-
cation and worked as q weaver at a hand loom
IN his early youth The taste for reading which
ero+ber Scorchraan, Mr.. Carnegie, is striving to
-7rornote among the working millions by puplc
benefactions for free libraries became MS ruiiIls
77zssion a book was invariably tied TO MS iooIn
during working hours, and he would reao al
--f-}r IS long as his candle fickered- With am
hilton stimulated by good literature, he worked
srd plodded until he was first student al 81
Andrews and then q teacher in Dundee DIVld-
ezneriraented as an electrician, and undertook to
ro-rrf1a 2 dictionary Of fifty languages. sny
--e~l1se threadbare and half starved. with books
end scientific apparatus as his companions ne
4otled and read year iafter year with doWncast
@seA sr6 Dreamy eyes; and when the end came
his 1sbors as a Engust were unfinished and MS
ezDerineuts had not led TO practical results.
T)~esr,er as ne was he had perceived clearly
What more practical inventors were to accom-
l-.z s- wireless tel6grapHy, l1S
rearing and lighting OF houses by electricity ana
-bA General Introduction of electric power II
,-as no- until two generations had passed and
,rsrcorj had perfected system Of teiegraphing
without wires that the prophecies OF this 0eo'cli
6rearer were recalled and two OF them lhscrloeu
On z monument erected over his neglected. grave
IN Dundee For all these facts am inoepleo 10
Sir John Leng and 10 Lndsay's biograpner' "A
Il. 3Lllar. eo,
NJ Tirasav,s electrical work began in 1871
and IN the. course Of four years ne oeNiseo Z
1elegrapric system. suggested welding by e4ec-
.-ios+ ,,5 rrcdt,ced q continuous electric light,
,r.,ioL he declared could be increased without
iir7ft Fza delivered during this period lectures
- --+scr he predicted that within q few years
c,res ard cities would be lighted by electricity
instead Of gas. and heated by II instead OF ceaI'
and be also demonstrated the facility with winch
wheels could be turned and pulIeys raised oy
electric rouzer and forecast the SUBSTITUTION ot
electricity fer steam motor Tor InaciIieiE y
after making these renarkabl propnecles as
cary 1S34 he resumed his experiments IN 1o+7'
and s,cceeded in telegraphing messages across
monde -,stbout wires. In 1853 he repeated these
der,o,s+rartors on q larger scale al PORTSMOUTH
and sent messages a quarter OF a mile @o4os
water without the use Of wires suOsequs