THE WORLD'S DEBT TO ITALY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 236, 24 June 1918, Page 8

THE WORLD'S DEBT TO ITALY

" V* - A LAND OF SONG AND SCIENCE MARCONI AND MARTINO If (he question bo asked which is embodied in the title of tnis article, tho answer which rises most readily to the lips is "mutsic." And this is true. Italy, (lie home of gland opera, has given to the world uioro singers uuU musicians (him any other laud. Yet this, after all, is ii very partial and insufficient answer, for modern Italy has beccmo one of I lie greatest engineering countries, and is producing a body of inventors who are conferring upon us practical benefits of a very wonderful character.

Where should we bo in the midst of this world war without wireless? The story of Marconi's triumph is familiar to every school child. It is entirely due to the genius of this great Italian that tho units of the British and Allied Niivies (ire in such perfect touch, one with another, that U-boats are kept in simiii sort of control, and that thousands upon thousands of lives have been saved from vessols torpedoed by tho ruthless foe.

Speaking of electric communication, it was . two Kalians, Turehi and Brume, who invented tho method for using tho same wire for telephone nml telegraph simultaneously. In June, 11)011, the lirst service of this kind was opened between Bologna aud Ferrara, and proved a complete success.

In 1002 Siguor Jnegiji perfected a -system for an electric post by means 'of which letters and parcels can be Hashed at a speed of twu hundred and fifty miles an hour from one point to another. Ono of our principal weapons against the submarine^ is what may bo called a mechanical ear, by means of which the eomul of a U-boat's engine can bo heard, miles away. The originator of this invention was d'Asar, an Italian, who pnl tin ted his device surae eighteen years ago.

Cavalier? Pino, (if Genoa, is the inventor of the hydroscope, which enables the sea bed to bo examined as easily ii 9 Clio landscape through a telescope; and of the "elevator" which ennblcs objects to bo picked up from the bottom of the sen. Xho value of these devices for recovering treasure from wrecks has already been proved, arid the scope for its use enlarges day by dny. How many people are aware that what may be called the Srst of modern rifles used by the British armies was tho invention of an Italian. The "MartiniHenry" was wrongly named, for its inventor was an Italian named llartino, who was born nt Pisa, and died in 1903 Rt Sheffield. Jlartino was undoubtedly ono of the greatest inventors of tho nineteenth century. It was lie wlio developed platinoid with 'a greater electrical resistance than any other metal, lie was one of the greatest authorities on nickel; he invented two valuable methods for the reduction of gold, and was the discoverer of. the'proccss which led to the conversion of basic slag for manure. This invention was neglected in England, and in consequence German manufacturers got hold of it and made huge sums. Jlarlino experimented in every branch of invention, and claimed, to be •tho originator of the fluted metal r;b for umbrella covers. Hβ was bubbling with new ideas, yet died comparatively poor and unknown. Since the coming of the motor-ear Italians have produced some of the finest motor engines in existence, and their C'aproni aeroplane engine is equal if not superior to any other make. Italian navvies havo done the construction work on more than half thu railways both in North and South America. Italian immigrants were arriving in the United States at the rate of two hundred thousand ft year during tho early years of tho present century, and Italians at present run the restauraiils of half tho civilised world. Britons should never forget that, during our troublous times in 190(1, when Ivruger was trying to stagger humanity, Italy was almost the only country in Europe which gave us full and free sympathy. Italy has always been our friend, timl we trust will always re in so.