Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-01-14
CURRENT COMMENT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A Years Scientific Progress.

Among the we'll authenticated scien-
tific achievements of the last twelve
months most people would probably
give the first place to trans-oceanic
wireless telegraphy. Like Lord KEEL
win and Sir William Preece, Marconi
believes that the system with which he
is so honorably identified will not re-
place the submarine cable, but simply
supplement it. Still, it is too soon to
say just how large a field of practical
usefulness it will occupy, or how
greatly it will inspire theoretical re-
search into the phenomena of vibra-
ton. Another event whose genuineness
and promise are beyond question is the
establishment of an industry at Mag
ara for making nitric acid and fertiliz-
ing salts out of atmospheric nitrogen
by means of electricity. 1t would not
be surprising if a quarter of century
hence the world ranked this perform
ance beside or above the opening OF
communication between Glace Bay and
Poldhu a week or two ago.
The most superficial glance at the
record of the last year reveals num-
Der of movements which, while by no
means new, have developed significant
and growing popularity. One is the
use of alternating currents for traction
purposes. Another is the endeavor to
control explosive vapors so that an al
most continuous pressure may be de-
rived therefrom. If this attempt fully
succeeds, and a satisfactory gas engine
of the turbine type is once evolved, the
steam engine will have more formid-
| able rival than ever before. In aerial
navigation no conspicuous advances
have been announced. The men who
have given public demonstrations of
their ideas have stuck too closely to the
Santos Dumont model. There are signs
though, that the aeroplane, which
| Langley, Bell, Maxim and Lilienthal
have sought to develop, is now receiv-
! ing fresh attention. A law relative to
cross breeding, originally discovered by
Mendel years ago, but recently revived,
can hardly fail to prove useful to the
agriculturist. The principle itself now
seems to be fairly well established.
though little has yet been done to ap-
ply it. The particular operation to the
perfection of which LorenZ has given
so much effort dates back several years.
Bloodless surgery is still older. But
both have been commended to his pro-
fessional brethren in this country in a
lremarKaOie manner Dy MS VISIT during
the last two or three months.
| Special atteatiol has been directed
of late, too. by the anthracite coal
strike to the virtues of crude oil
and briquettes as fuel, neither of them
a novelty, but both likely to gain great
ly in favor in the near future.
| Concerning DR.. Loeb's intensely in
teresting but obscurely defined work,
it is yet too soon to speak. Some of
the sanguine expectations created by il
are probably doomed to disappoint-
ment. Other investigators think that
they have found fallacies and over
sights in at least two OF his most SEN
sational experiments. The inquiry must
be pushed much further, therefore, be-
fore substantial results are secured
Similarly Edison is not ready to utter
the last word in regard to his storage
battery. The hunt for the yellow few
er microbe has been renewed with 3
during the last year, but with singu-
larly contradictory and inconclusive
consequences. The supposed discovery
of the germ of cancer and Koch's no.