New-York tribune., 1903-01-12

or bank he placed two similar plates con-
nected by wire with coil and needle. In order
to send a message a mile across the water
he considered il necessary to have the plates
on each side a mile apart the same bank.
When he made his calculations for transat
lantic telegraphy he talked OF immersing and
connecting plates of three thousand square
feet at the northernmost and southernnlost
headIands of the United Kingdom, and of sup
plying a coil of two hundred pounds and a
battery of 80 square feet; and he considered
it necessary to duplicate this plant on the op-
posite side of the Atlantic. Mr.. Marconi from
his youthful days in the fields near Bologna,
when he capped poles with cubes Of timed
iron and connected them with instruments for
the exchange of Morse signals has operated
with vertical wires in the air rather than with
lateral wires in the water: and for his trans
atlantic system he has stations in Cornwall
and Cape Breton, with four towers 215 feet
high at the corners Of a square, each side OF
which measures seventy yards. Fifty wires
pass from the operating room to the cross
wires between the towers and the electric
energy generated by alternators is accumulated
for long distance work. The Lindsay and Mar
conf plants are dissimilar. and the latter ex-
perimenter has had the immense advantage OF
the development Of the art Of electrical en-
gineering during half century; but they had
without wires for long distances and of adapt
ing the system to the requirements of trans
atlantic service Mr.. Marconi himself, IN an
address delivered at Dundee, has done luil
justice TO the memory of the Scotch pioneer
as ''the first man who thoroughly oeheVeo III
the possibility and the utility Of long distance
wireless telegraphy.'' The promise OF the MAJ
conf seagirt towers was in the Lindsay plates
In the Dundee ponds Just as the potentalty
of the Lucania or the Deutschland was III 'ne
Clermont.
It Is clear therefore, that the sclentnc hl'eh-
ton in the early years of the twentieth century
which superficial observers would naturally De
inclined 10 conpare with the cotton gin ano the
solution of the problem Of steam naVlgauon d
hundred years ago, anticipated midway III
the nineteenth century. Sir William Freece' -
his early apprenticeship as an electlcaI en-
gineer met Mr.. Lindsay in London hfty years
ago. and conducted series of experiments 10
illustrate scheme for dispensing WIN wires
and telegraphing across water; and Few years
ago he received visit from young italian en-
thusiast who communicated to him the results
of another series of experiments IN wireless
+elagranhv The old idea, which made little I'M
nress;or upon the minds of the philosophers
or the British Association and the apprentices
OF Faraday. and was speedily 1orsol'eI' "@
revived after two generations; ana the lheh'oi'
of the Dundee dreamer and prophet "ho was
far In advance of his time, was rescued rom
oblivion through the genius of Mr.. Maroon anu
the nublic spirit OF Sir John Leng. Wireless
telegraphy was proposed when there were Ho
electrical facilities for adapting it TO the re-
oj;,irAroents of long distance ocean services Inc
: ,sion of the current now be increased
by- transformers: a lightning fash and a con-
cussion like the report Of a gun 1oilo" tile
movement Of the operators hanos ulluei LIZ
tall towers; and the transnitters ana recetEe+9
have gained as much in delcacy OF slgna4llns
and Interpretation as the generators anu a4'ei
majors have been intensified in potentlaI IoIce'
The Scotch electricians calculations anu hie'--
ods have been discarded but the messages are
exchanged between stations over Two lHoU
sand miles apart as he predicted would be DONE
The utflity of the system, except for vessels
ar sea or in a. fog, remains, however, 10 De oe-
rnonstrated on a large scale; and until culLuid-
tive evidence Of it's cheapness and accuracy IL
sunplied. generalizations are as elasuc anu uii-
certain as they were hundred years ago. "nen
Whitney was introducing the cotton gin ana ui-
ton was working out the problem OF steam nav
cation for the development and enrichment OF Il
continental empire which Napoleon and Living
.+o, be+ueen them had suddenly doubled II
+ha i-onor,ance of great events was underra1eo
then through sluggishness OF coHrnuhlcalioI'
and lack Of scientific knowledge, 1t Is hhe4y ~
ha overrated when the story of the worlds prog
ress IS told day by day in the Newspapers an"
- ;s as difficult now as it was then to form &C
curate judgments upon the ultimate values OF
details in the worlds progress 30 II Is d poio
o,,.ar,,er who will proclaim with authoritative
,~ ,,c, history the Scotch seer foretold,
= -, -,,,cb Mr. Marconi has made in an age
go, more earrrlous than the time OF Jefferson.
L n. F.