Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 64.djvu/168

164 It has been often contended that whilst cables could be cut in time of war no one can cut the ether; but wireless telegraph stations in exposed situations on high promontories, where they are visible for ten to fifteen miles out at sea and undefended by any forts, could easily be destroyed. The great towers which are essential to carry large aerials are a conspicuous object for ten miles out at sea; and a single well-placed shell from a six-inch gun would wreck the place and put the station completely out of use for many months. Hence if oceanic telegraphy is ever to be conducted in a manner in which the communication will be inviolable or, at any rate, not be capable of interruption by acts of war, the careful selection of the sites for stations is a matter of importance. A small station consisting of a single 150-foot mast and a wooden hut can easily be removed or replaced, but an expensive power station, the mere aerial of which may cost several thousand pounds, is not to be put up in a short time.

Meanwhile, whatever may be the future achievements of this new supermarine wireless telegraphy conducted over long distances, there can be no question as to its enormous utility and present value for intercommunication between ships on the ocean and ships and the shore. At the present time, there are some forty or more of the transatlantic ocean liners and many other ships equipped with this Hertzian wave wireless telegraph apparatus on the Marconi system. Provided with this latest weapon of applied science, they are able to chat with one another, though a hundred miles apart on the ocean, with the ease of guests round a dinner table, to exchange news or make demands for assistance.

 Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing— Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness; So, on the ocean of life, we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again, and a silence.

Abundant experience has been gathered to show the inexpressible value of this means of communication in case of accident, and it can hardly be doubted that before long the possession of this apparatus on board every passenger vessel will be demanded by the public, even if not made compulsory. Although the privacy of an ocean voyage may have been somewhat diminished by this utilization of ether waves, there is a vast compensation in the security that is thereby gained to human life and property by this latest application of the great energies of nature for the use and benefit of mankind.