DISCOVERIES OF THE FUTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 31 August 1907, Page 3

DISCOVERIES OF THE FUTURE.

WHAT SCIENTIFIC MEN ARE SEARCHING FOR. Whit this country may bring forth by the discoveries of science is tin-. theme of three famous European savants, who have been contributing their opinions to the public press. Sir William Prec.sc, one of the leading electrical au-

thorities in Great Britain, writing on his special subject, says:— The first great desideratum is a safe and economical medium for the transmission of power. The third rail is a

constant menace to life, and I am persuaded that it will be abolished as soon as something better can be found. Wo aw experimenting in London with an overhead system, and it is more than possible that we shall -have to work background the circle to the abandoned overhead trolley. In telephony the piobleui of transmission of the voice, clearly to a distance without the enormously heavy copper wires is on the point of solution by that wonderful inventor, Professor Pupin, of Columbia, whose induction coil promises to overcome existing difficulties. In electric lighting the best prospect of lasting brilliant outdoor lighting is presented by the filament made of that rare and expensive metal tungsten, of which so large an amount is being discovered in the United States. It affords it bright, white light, and deteriorates very slowly. The improvement of the telegraph by increase of speed and automatic operation goes on apaoe, and it is hardly possible for it to be superseded by the

telephone. COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER

PLANETS. Sir William Bell, the most popular of -.undent write-? on astronomy, discussing the still unsolved problems of his science, says:— The discovery of new comets and planets is the solution of the. broad astronomical question, "What fills the interplanetary spaces?" and hardly a. week passes that there does not come front some observatory the announcement of some new discovery of this kind. How soon it will be before we know that there are other sentient beings on other planets is one of the most inter, esting problems to the lay mind—and none can say how soon we shall have

proof of such beings. It will then be another problem, perhaps for the electricians, to enter'into communication with I these other thinking creatures. INFLUENCE OF SUN SPOTS.

Professor F. S. Archenhold, the well-

known German scientist, and director of the observatory at Trcptow, asks:— i What influence have the sun and its

spots upon the earth first, and upon other plantets afterwards? This, to |my mind, is the most important problem that faces us.

If a telescope of the new construction used at Trcptow, but very much larger, together with a proper spectroscope and other apparatus, be erected either on the summit of Kilmanjaro, or the Kame-

run Mountains, both of which are at the equator elevated more than 3000 metres (9000 feet), the solving of this

very important problem must follow. I have no doubt that the influence of the sunspots upon the earth is electrical, and that in their influence lies the key of establishing a basis of really scientific meteorology. When we understand the relation of the sunspots to the earth, we shall be able to predict weather conditions with absolute certainty; we shall be in a position to warn mariners of storms that will come within a few days, aud we shall know in advance whether the seasons will be early or late, severe or mild, and thus be of real, service to the farmer all the world over. All too little use is made of the "rainbow spectrum" in the study of these sunspots, and I hope to carry the. investigations much further, both at Trcptow and in the new observatory which I expect some day to erect in the Kamenm Mountains.