MYSTERIOUS AIR MESSAGES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3397, 30 January 1920, Page 4

MYSTERIOUS AIR MESSAGES.

The normal intelligence of man has lately been rather entangled by sensational disclosures made by Mr Marconi, the pioneer in wireless telegraphy, as we term it for irant of a more scientific appellation. It is suggested, that wireless messages -‘are possible," and even probable, between the earth and Mars, also with the Moon, which we have hitherto looked upon as the Ear-th’S most wonderful and interesting, though dead satellite. We are profoundly interested in Mr “Mar-coni"s statements, and simply because we make no pretention to technical knoW~ ledge of the science of sound, or of astronomy, that is no reason why we should. not discuss the new astounding facts with what ordinary intelligence we possess, Before launching out into the realm of theory, a start must be made from some good solid fact. There is the undeniable fact that sounds are transmitted. from ships at sea to ports on land, and there is good evidence that an air W‘3.‘\fC message i_s only limi- 1

ted ‘by the power of ihe transmitter, and the delicacy and truthfulness of the receiver. For, of course, all wireless- messages are nothing more than a generation of certain qualities and shapes of sound waves. If anyonefiis sufiiciently scientifieally ‘minded, he! can satisfy himself upon this point‘ by making waves on the water‘ by different methecls, and carefully observ-} ing them, or he can record them by] means of a photographic camera. Such an intelligent observer would most likely come to the conclusion that his self~made waves were only limited ‘by the size of the sheet of water, and the‘ power used in nrakin-g them, and the‘ matter of wave o»bstruct.ion in air is‘

easliy duplicated in wam if two stones are dropped in fifty 01' a hundired yards apart. The“ first large waves K from each disturbance meet, cross, and seem to intermingle, and that is perihaps the best illustration that can be 'given of the niysterious obstructions that are clashing with air waves set in motion by the Mal'colli operators from London and New York, where they are ‘evident at‘ almost the precise moment iof time. The; very nature of the mysterious interloping Waves discloses that they ‘arrive from great distances; that they are not explainuble by anything‘

iwithin the Earth’s atmosphere, and: l it is just at this point our poor limited l powers of conception commence to be a I ‘reproach to us. It‘ is perfectly under‘ standable that sound waves are deAspatehable toithe limits of the Eal~th’s iatinosphere, beyong that “oilsollillS§ 'mus: be based upon probabilities aris-Ii ing out of what is known. There are very few scientific men ‘today who will say beyond the earth’s 'afnlosPh°T" there is nothing; there is reason for believing" that in nature there is D 0 ii-eal vacuum. Then, whether it be an lext.l‘enigly rarified air of which man has no experience; whether it be called ether, orsome other term, it is not unreasonable -to even aifirm there is something. It' is by this something the sound waves would travel out into what we call space. As it requires less ‘force to set up a series of waves in air than in water which has greater ‘atomic density, so there will probably be less resistance to sound waves in ether than in ordinary atmosphere. If the strange sounds coming with fre-. lquent repetition are from Mars the sounds would travel thnough .1110 atmosphere of Mars into ether, and would again strike atmosphere encircling the Earth, and it may be that cchos may, as it were, be set up and so cause rapid duplication of the same ,sound, for it must be u11(le1‘st()0(l that leach particle in a wave will have its own movemelfts in relationship with Ithe movements of the wave as a whole. In music the shape or form of a wave varies perhaps as much as its length or amplitude, and probably goes through an interminable number Of forms, but without going into the science of music, we are all aware that widely differing sound waves are easily capable of being set up with reasonable ace_uracy. With the power of lungs and vocal chords an individual

can make his words heard over a considerable circumference, '3, lion with greater power can make his roar heard for a greater distance, and with the inventions of Marconi sounds can be 11°€'3»1'<1 OVCI' a circumference thousands Of miles in diameter. Therefore, if a message from Mars is heard on Earth, it would also be heard on the "Moon, and probably on other planets, presuming that they are peopled with highly civilised beings. This would in time lead to the evolution of an understandable inter-planetary language, and this assumption is strengtliencd by M3l‘Colli’s supcrintending eng'inecl', Ml‘ M'acCallum, who is of opinion that the interruptions are coming too frequent to be accidental. -‘He quite logically thcorises that the Martians may have been experimenting for hundreds of years, and have picked up our Morse code; they may have picked up our messages and worked them out as We Worked out German messages in the war. A less sceptical race of beings would be quicker to profit by such mysterious happenings ‘than people -on Earth. Our proneness to disregard unusual physical reactions and ourlstupid elfort'to turn them away as being nonexistent or easily explainablc by sun spots, or sliortages, only operates in perpetuating our ignorance. We cannot: believe that space is perfect emptiness, we cannot. conceive such, and, further, if we can send a wave sound thousands of miles While the science is in its Veriest infancy, how c'3.n we argue against such waves being‘ despatched millions of miles as the science and practice is developetli’