THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1912. WIRLESS TELEGRAPHY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15056, 27 July 1912, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1912. WIRLESS TELEGRAPHY.

The installation of a wireless station at Colombo serves to remind us of the great though silent revolution in the affairs of mankind which is being accomplished by the advance of; scientific knowledge. The extra* ordinary •■develbpmeht of science which was the outstanding feature of the Nineteenth Century, is being fully maintained in the Twentieth, and is rapidly changing the face of the civilised world. If anything the pace is being accelerated. The increase of scientific knowledge is being,sedulously, fostered; improved facilities *f being everywhere provided; encouragement of the investigation of natural phenomena is, to a greater extent than ever before, regarded as' the duty both of States and of individual philanthropists. The result is that every year the : number of trained observers is ijnereased. Hundreds of able men, of highly specialised capacity, are widely distributed throughout the world, and are devoting their attention to the rapid exploitation of new ~! discoveries and their application to the practical, affairs of mankind. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that rapid transmission of knowledge and immediate developments of newly discovered principles should be the characteristic features of the present age. Genius is, perhaps, as rare as ever, but highly trained talent is there to take advantage of, and to adapt to practical uses, the achievements and discoveries of pioneers.

The possibility of a system of wireless telegraphy was suggested nearly seventy-five years ago, but until 1895 the experiments of the many able men ..who devoted their attention to the subject, though interesting from a scientific point of view, failed to result M any really practical .In 1887, how ever, Sertj! gave "a new direction to scientific investigation of the subject by his proof of the creation of electric waves by the discharge of sparks from a condenser. Further investigations followed, notably by Sir Oliver Lodge, of Birmingham University; and in 1895 Marconi devised a method not only of detecting the existence of the Hertzian waves, but of their utilisation in a practical system of wireless telegraphy. In . 1896 lie demonstrated the soundness iof his principle; in 1897 he successfully transmitted signals over a dis- | tance of 15 miles ; next year he I kept up communication during all : weathers over 30 miles for a period of six months; while, as the result of later improvements suggested by the work of many able scientists, he succeeded in 1901 in transmitting signals across the Atlantic. Wireless telegraphy had thus become a practical and accomplished fact. Since then it has made enormous strides. Patient investigation by trained scientists has suggested improvement after improvement, and the establishment of a station at Colombo marks another step in the rapid linking up of the civilised world by a system of telegraphic communication, independent of wires which are subject perpetually to faults and interruptions. Ten years have worked a revolution, and the next five years may witness an even greater one. It need hardly be pointed out that the possibilities are almost limitless. Marconi's invention means a permanent addition to the resources of mankind, a permanent shrinkage in the physical world. Nations are brought closer together. The intervening barriers of land and water . shrink .into, ; greater insignificance with every application of the new power revealed to man by the accumulated labours of devoted students.

The introduction of a workable system of wireless telegraphy is, in the first place, of profound importance to man in a state of peace. Already the larger passenger ships are equipped with an installation, and, the perils of the deep are diminished by the additional resources against catastrophe thus provided.. States sundered by, wide ex-

pauses of water' - are brought together, and within a ■ few years we shall witness a change compared with which that wrought by the introduction of submarine telegraphy was but a faint and insignificant prelude. But it is in regard to, its adaptation to the art of, war that the discovery of the new means of intercommunication, will have the most momentous results, and in combination with the new science of aerial navigation will profoundly modify the practice of nations and lead to new methods and principles of warfare. Both represent the triumph of man over apparently empty space, and;, both open new possibilities to- the development of civilisation. They emphasise most definitely the principle that each development of the human intellect, each expansion of ? human knowledge, means a diminution in the importance of space and time, and in no department of' human activities is this diminution, of greater import than in the eternal struggle between race and race.