TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 140, 2 October 1876, Page 3

TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES.

L PTrom the Nam Ywk Tribune.J since the discovery m tiie eariy P of telegraphing that a retora wir« r needless if the ends &l tfia w ; .re were P» in* the earth, electriciaas fear© inthe hope that the earth coaM be wo. to carvy the direct as well as the ttr» current* and that thaa aU telegraph could be ctispe&sad with, Maajr ex"atonta have been made to teat the whether the return car.eat il»% trwrek tbxoogb the Wf. ***** the atatiom alt which the end>t>f *»»wtarie>L Thtm

I cess or deficiency of the.clectricjtY being— I a«t t<> speak—lost in of ereeI trieity t» the globe. It is well-known | also that there are at all timeselectric ctirI rcuCß irt the probably near its suri fact*, asir!© frwn thnseartfticyy pßwltwed. Ti;tar direction, strength, and mi&>rtnity have hey ft to some extent ascertained and tabulated. Among tfieir chief causes is reckoned the frietional electricity likely to be developed by the sweep of the winds ever the earth's surface. Very recently a renewal has been" made of the efforts to i utilise the 3; currents. 31. Bourfaottze, who directed a series of experiments of the sort (taring the siege of Paris, has recently shown that srtfitcit-nl power can be obtained fc'cucu earth currents to work telegraphic instruments, where the only source of power was from two iron st.«kes driven into the earth eleven yards apart. The experiments during the siege had reference to sending messages through earth, or preferably through water without wires. Though moderately successful, these attempts served to show that such a mode of sending signals would require enormous battery power. If the njw experiments lead to a cheap means of obtaining abundant electric force the problem of telegraphing without wires may be in a fair way of solution. .Earth, water, or even air may be compelled to carry* the electric message-. That we are on the eve of n discovery- of cheap sources of electricity is not improbable. Durin j great displays of the aurora borealis the electricity communicated from tc to the wires has been more than once utilised in this country to send messages. Another promising source of supply is very likely to be practically developed from experiments on metallic plate 9 sunk in t'te sea; the chemical changes being effected and the electricity developed without any expense for salts or acids.