Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-06-15
SCIENCE HAS PLAYED
UNUSUAL PART IN WAR

Paris.-Paul Painleve. a member of
the French institute. eminent in mathe-
mates, deputy for the Latin quarter.
and until recently minister of public
instruction and Inventions, declares
that Thomas Edison was rather severe
in his Judgment when he expressed in.
a recent interview his surprise that
science had played SO small a part in
the war;"
THE o important scientific an
plications made since the war began
are still military secrets" said NJ. Pain
is all over and details of new inyen-
lions and new developments of old ones.s
discovered and put into practice, used
at the front, may be revealed, think
MIR. Edison will revise his opinion, and
that the world generally will admit
that science has done it's part.
ITO mention only isolated cases. tho
processes of wireless communication
and for the registering of sounds at
distances, that is by the ordinary wire
less currents and by ground induction.
have been marvelously perfected
through the requirements of the a
All the armies are rivalling each other
IN sklliul methods for tapping the enc
my's lines of telephone communication
from a considerable distance; not tap
ping as it is generally understood. but
by the use OF q marvellous instrument
that enables the sentinel in his adj
vanced listening post out beyond the
front line of trenche to hear the enemy
communications by telephone going
over wires that are several hundred
yards away"
NO more than an allusion to these
things may be made" said NJ. Painleye.
who, as minister of munitions. orr
ganized a veritable mobilization of SCI
entists and scientific laboratories in
France. The technical section OF his
ministry collaborated with inventors to
bring to practical use the interesting
propositions that were found worth
considering. He himself presided over
a special commission of men of science.
charged with the examination of. all
new inventions and processes proposed
for use in the national defense. and
must consequently be regarded as in
a better position than any other mar in
France to know what science has done
for the war.
II would mention also" he said. "a
system that we perfected and put into
use Tor locating the enemy's batteries
before the war, but it was regarded as
lmpracticable. 1t has. since the war.
beer brought to the highest state Of
perfection and efficiency and for
months has been in use over the entire
front. 1t has proven SO effective that
our ~adversaries, who captured a motor
car with one Of the outfits. have
equipped themselves with similar an
planes but lacking the delicacy and
the precision Of our Instruments. It
was France that had the entire initia-
tive OF this brilliant application.
Inventions for following the enemy's
sapping and mining operations by
sound that were. in all armies. very
crude and insufficient before the war.
have made the most remarkable prog
ress and will reflect honor upon French
science later. on.
Aviation in every respect has been
remarkably perfected by the efforts Of
science n technicians since the war
began. Today a pilot goes up in ali
kinds OF weather without fear of be-
Ing upset by sudden squalls, SO we'll
have been perfected the measures for
the stability of flying machines. Great
progress also has been made in the i'm
provement of motors. particularly in
the reduction Of their weight in o
ton to the effective power, SO that they
speed up to $50 miles an hour. Final
~, IN spite of the difficulties. wireless
t~elegraphy has beer marvelously