Norwich bulletin., 1917-05-25
The Bulletins Circulation That Any Other Paper and
PRIZES FOR THE INVENTION.
Some of the Problems Awaiting SoIu-
ton at Hands of Scientific Men.
Especial to The Bulletin }

Especial to The BulIetin.)
Washington, d. c.. May 1S.-In a
| communication to the National Geo
| graphic Society, DR.. Alexander Ora
| points out some of the problems await
| ing solution at the hands of scientific
| men and technical experts Of the fu-
ture. The Society issues a part of Dr.
| Bells communication las "a bulletin
from it's Washington headquarters.
1T is interesting and instructive to
| look back over the various changes
that have occurred and trace the evo-
writes DR. Bell by projecting these
lines OF advance into the future. you
can forecast the future, to a certain
extent and recognize some of the
fields of usefulness that are opening
up for the young men of today
We have one line of advance from
candles and oil lamps to gas, aud from
gas to electricity; and we can recog-
nize many other threads of advance all
converging upon electricity. We pro-
duce heat and light by electricity. We
transmit intelligence by the telegraph
and telephone, and we use electricity
fairly entered upon an electrical age,
and 1t is obvious that the electrical
engineer will be much in demand in
the future.
son every hand we see the substi-
tuition of machinery and artificial mo-
tive power for animal and man power.
There will, therefore, be plenty OF
openings in the future for young,
bright mechanical engineers working
in this direction
There is, however, one obstacle to
further advance, in the Increasing
price of the fuel necessary to work
machinery. Coal and oil are going up
and are strictly limited in quaint tity.
We can take coal out of a mine, but
we can never put 1t back. We can
draw oil from subterranean reservoirs
but we can never refill them again.
We are spendthrifts in the matter Of
fuel and are using our capital for our
running expenses.
I'm relation to coal and oil. the
worlds annual consumption has be-
come so enormous that we are now
the end of the supply. What shall we
do when we have no more coal or oil!
part from w1ter power. (Which is
strictly limited )and tidal and wave
power, we have little left excepting
to utilize), and the employment of
the suns rays directly as a source of
power, We have little left excepting
wood, and 1t takes at least twenty
hve years to grow crop of trees.
There is, however, one other source
Of fuel supply which may perhaps
solve this problem of the future AL
cohol makes a beautiful, clean, and
efficient fuel, and, where not intended
for consumption by human Beings. can
digestible or even poisonous form
Wood alcohol. for example, can be en-
ployed as a fuel, and we can make al
cohol from saWdust, waste product of
our mills.
alcohol can also De manufactured
from corn stalks, and in fact from al
most any vegetable matter capable of
fermentation Our growing crops and
even weeds can be used The waste
products of our farms are available for
this purpose and even the garbage from
out cities. We need never fear the
exhaustion of our present fuel sup
pnes so long as we can produce an
annual crop of alcohol to any extent
desired.
THE world will probably depend up-
on alcohol more and more as time goes
on, and a great field of usefulness is
opening up for the engineer who will
modify our machinery to enable al
cohol to be used as the source of DOW
er.
Developments of wireless telegraphy
are proceeding with great rapiditv ana
no man can predict, what startling dis
coveries and applications may appear
in the near future. I know of no more
promising field of exploration
Already privacy of communication
has been secured by wireless transmit
ters and receivers tuned so to speak
to rSpond to electrical vibrations OF
certain frequencies alone. They are
sensitive only to electrical impulses of
sympathetic vibration operating tuned
wireless receivers has also been applied
to the control of machinery from
distance and the steering of boats
without a man on board. The possi-
nlhtles Of development in this direc-
ton are practically illimitabIe and Wa
shah probably be able to perform at
distance by wireless almost any me
chanical operation that can be done at
hand. ~
still more recently wireless te]e-
graphy has given birth to another new
art, and, wireless telephony has an
p, peaEed: only q short time ago a man
IN Arllngton, Va, at the wireless sta
ton there, talked by word of mouth To
q man on the Eiffe1 Tower q paris.
france. Not only that, but a man in
Honolulu overheard the conversational
me distance from Honolulu to the
Efffel Tower must be 5000 miles AZ
ieast-one third the distance around
the giobe-and this achievement sure
Iy foreshadows the time when We NAV
be able to talk with a man in anv nar+
Of the world by telephone and with
out wires.''