Line 1.0.0 Professor J. A. Fleming delivered a lec-

Line 1.0.1 ture at the Royal Institution, London, on

Line 1.0.2 June 4, in which wireless telegraphic mes-

Line 1.0.3 sages from Mr. Marconi at Poldhu, Corn-

Line 1.0.4 wall, were received at the lecture table via

Line 1.0.5 Chelmsford, together with others from Uni-

Line 1.0.6 versity College. Professor Fleming three

Line 1.0.7 weeks later, according to our London corre-

Line 1.0.8 spondent, stated that a deliberate attempt

Line 1.0.9 was made by someone outside to wreck the

Line 1.0.10 exhibition of this feat. The demonstrations

Line 1.0.11 were arranged with "Mr, Marconi's special

Line 1.0.12 co-operation, at some expense to the insti-

Line 1.0.13 tution, and afc great trouble, to show that

Line 1.0.14 Hertzian wave telegraphy on the Marconi

Line 1.0.15 system can now be conducted over great

Line 1.0.16 distances on land, and can penetrate as well

Line 1.0.17 into the heart of a great city. Marconi

Line 1.0.18 claims (1) that the messages by his system

Line 1.0.19 cannot be tapped; and (2) that working can-

Line 1.0.20 not be interfered with. Certain experts

Line 1.0.21 were challenged to interfere with it if they

Line 1.0.22 could. Towards the end of the lecture it

Line 1.0.23 was seen that the instruments were being

Line 1.0.24 influenced by some outside agency, and

Line 1.0.25 amongst other things recorded on the tape

Line 1.0.26 were quotations from Shakespeare, a poem

Line 1.0.27 (of doubtful origin), and, finally, that most

Line 1.0.28 undignified observation, "Rats." The irate

Line 1.0.29 professor promptly wrote to the papers de-

Line 1.0.30 nouncing the mischief-makers as ''scientific

Line 1.0.31 hooligans," asking the world in general to

Line 1.0.32 find out the culprits and let him know, and

Line 1.0.33 he would-well, do something dreadful to

Line 1.0.34 them. After much scientific mudthrowing

Line 1.0.35 to the papers Mr. Neville Maskelyne, of

Line 1.0.36 Egyptian Hall fame, confessed publicly that

Line 1.0.37 he and another scientific man were perpe-

Line 1.0.38 trators of what Professor Fleming called

Line 1.0.39 "monkey tricks." They do not say by what

Line 1.0.40 means the interference was accomplished,

Line 1.0.41 but apparently it was done by putting very

Line 1.0.42 high tension currents into the earth, which

Line 1.0.43 showed at once to the alleged ''evildoers''

Line 1.0.44 that had they chosen they could have

Line 1.0.45 "wrecked the whole demonstration" given

Line 1.0.46 by Professor Fleming, but that was beyond

Line 1.0.47 their object. Mr. Maskelyne contends that

Line 1.0.48 what he did was quite "fairplay." He knew

Line 1.0.49 there was a challenge issued by Professor

Line 1.0.50 Fleming, and he simply took it up, and won.

Line 1.0.51 "It should be remembered," says Mr. Mas-

Line 1.0.52 kelyne, "that Professor Fleming is the ex-

Line 1.0.53 pert adviser to the Marconi company, and

Line 1.0.54 that other systems of wireless telegraphy are

Line 1.0.55 being greatly handicapped by what we be-

Line 1.0.56 lieve to be the extravagant claims put for-

Line 1.0.57 ward on behalf of the Marconi system. So,

Line 1.0.58 after all, the Government authorities may

Line 1.0.59 not be such blockheads as the Marconi pro-