Genre:

Abstract

Publications abstracted:

Henry J W Dam Strand Magazine

Subjects:

Wonder, Electromagnetism, Physics, Ether, Materialism, Psychical Research, Telegraphy, Commerce, Military Technology

    Although the 'novelty of the Röntgen rays has hardly worn off', the public is now 'confronted with a much more startling development of the electronic miracle', and 'one which brings the science of the Materialist very close indeed to the speculations of the Borderlanders'. The 'young Anglo-Italian' Guglielmo Marconi has been able to generate electromagnetic waves which far surpass the transmission distance achieved by Hertz rays, and, in the opinion of William H Preece, we are now 'on the verge of a discovery which will enable any one to telegraph anywhere without the aid of wires, posts, and cables'. The potential of wireless telegraphy is indeed 'a lively look out for the cable companies'. Marconi's electric rays can also be used to detonate explosives from a distance, and this 'evolution of science should practically abolish gunpowder by rendering its use impossible' because 'its presence would be a much greater danger to the army that carried it than to the enemy against whom it would be used'.