["Scientific Progress During The Year", The West Australian, Wednesday 01 January 1908, page 3]
SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR.
(By R.M.C.)
The year 1907 will take high rank in the annals of the achievements of the applied sciences. It will ever be note worthy for the following epoch-making inventions:--
1. The discovery of wireless telephony, which it is thought will largely supersede wireless telegraphy for communication with ships within limited distances.
2. The commercial application of wireless telegraphy to the trans-Atlantic service.
3. The successful trials of turbine engines as motive power for vessels of great size, and the discovery of the reversible turbine.
4. The solution of the problem of photographing objects in natural colours on a single plate.
5. The discoveries made by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Professor Koch.
6. The Double Drift Theory of Star Motions promulgated by Professor J. C. Kapteyn and Mr. A. S. Eddington.
7. Research in astronomical and geodetic science.
8. Brennan's application of the gyroscope to railway carriages and vehicles.
Of these, probably the most important of all is the gyroscope railway. The merit of Mr. Brennan's invention is that he discovered the method of accelerating the "precession" and so of applying the controlling action of the gyroscope to bodies in unstable equilibrium. By this means a railway train can run with considerable velocity on a single rail and swing round sharp curves with perfect safety. Great economy in the laying of the track is effected. When the train stops, the momentum of the gyroscopes, for two hours after stoppage, is sufficient to keep the cars upright. This invention is applicable to motor cars. It is thought that it will be invaluable in the construction of airships. One point not to be lost sight of is that the question of gauge need not be taken into consideration when a railway is built on the Brennan principle. It is believed that this in vention, when perfected, will materially assist in opening up Australia.
The 17th of October, 1907, was a momentous day in the history of civilisation, for on that day all initial difficulties having been overcomes Mr. Marconi commenced the commercial wireless telegraphic service between the United States and Great Britain. The termini of the service are Clifden, County Galway, Ireland, and Morien, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. On the opening day, messages aggregating over 10,000 words, were exchanged, and it was not found necessary to repeat a single word. The tariff is 21d. per word for Press and 5d. for, commercial messages. "The tariff per word transmitted by the old cable service is rather more than 1s. It is thought that the last submarine cable has been laid, and that the world will be linked up by a chain of stations using the Marconi or Poulsen systems of wireless telegraphy.
Simultaneously with this great achievement came the announcement of a practical method of wireless telephony. Two systems were discovered almost simultaneously. The first, invented by Mr. de Forrest, was tried by the United States Admiralty and adopted. It has been found of great use for maintaining communication between the vessels of a fleet, though they may be, four or five miles distant. As a system of signalling in foggy weather it is also invaluable. A far more ambitious attempt has been tested by the Amalgamated Radio-Telegraph Company of Berlin. It is this system which scientists regard as the most efficient. In wireless telegraphy, as soon as it became posible to produce continual oscillations by the arc niethod, then wireles telephony became possible. The principle cannot be better explained than in the following quotation from Nature:-- "Suppose that we can vary the intensity of the oscillations in a manner corresponding with the vibrations of the air which constitute sound and speech, then we should obtain at the receiving station a train of Hertzian waves the amulitude of which varies in a corresponding way; by allowing these waves to act on a telephonic receiver, which is sensitive to the intensity of the waves we shall obtain in the telephone a reproduction of the sounds. This has actually been carried into effect by employing an ordinary microphone to modify the current through the transmitting arc so as to vary the intensity of the oscillation current produced, and by employing what is known as a point detector and a telephone at the receiving station." An elaborate series of experiments will be conducted between Oxford and Cambridge Universities with the view of perfecting a commercially practicable system of wireless telephony. Successful experiments have already been carried on over distances ranging up to 40 miles. The German War Office has adopted the system, but improvements are believed to be possible.
The complete success of the twin leviathans, ss. Lusitania, and Mauretania, marks a new epoch in marine architecture. Owing to Parsons's turbines being non-reversible, the engine rooms of these leviathans are described as over-crowded. Gardiner's invention of the reversible turbine, it is believed, will obviate this in future ships. The cause of the vibration in turbine-propelled ships remains undiscovered, but is believed to be due to synchronism between propellers on opposite sides of the ship. The vibration is slight as compared with that in ships driven by reciprocating engines, but it was thought that in turbine-driven ships it would be so slight ce not to be noticeable. The colossal scale on which these vessels have been built may be gleaned from the fact that the s.s. Lusiania consumed 5,000 tons of coal on her trans-Atlantic trip. The indicated horse-power is 68,000 and the steam pressure 2001b. Yet larger and swifter boats are projected.
Three months ago, by means of their "autochrome" plates, Messrs. Lumiere photographed objects in their natural colours on a single plate. Since then, the Warner-Powrie process is said to mark a' distinct advance. The chief difference between the two is that the colours are in lines instead of as ran dom grain. But the lines can be made so fine that they are invisible to a normal eye without assistance. The Warner-Powne plate then is a triple coloured lined screen with better and finer lines than any hitherto possible. There is neither gap nor overlap. A technical description of this ingenious invention is impossible within the limits of this brief review. It is, however, necessary to add that the negative can be printed on paper--which with the Lumiere plate is not possible--though the process of printing is somewhat tedious. Also, by using ordinary plates, and red, green. and blue light separately for the exposures, a separate negative can be obtained of each of the three colours, with a continuous image on each, and these can be used for any method of three-colour printing. It is claimed that "a single exposure on a single plate (Warner-Powrie) will thus give all that is necessary for the preparation of the three-colour records which hitherto have been obtained by separate, and generally consecutive, exposures on the original." The inventions of Messrs. Lumiere and Warner Powrie have been examined by experts in London, who have testified to their great scientific and economic value.
The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has done much to elucidate three of the great diseases of Africa namely. malaria, sleeping sickness, and African tick fever. The successful inoculation of chimpanzees with yellow fever by means of mosquitoes is likely to lead to important results. Experiments in the cure of cancer by radium seem to indicate that a method has been found which is of great value as a curative of cancer.
Minor scientific achievements during the year are legion. Among them may be mentioned the discovery of a method of telegraphing photographs, by Professor Korn, of Munich: the elaborate researches with reference to the oxidation of the hydrocarbons, and also the chemical reactions which take place, after the construction of organic matter begins in the leaves of plants, with the conversion of carbonic dioxide into sugar; the perfection of spectroscopic apparatus. and the discovery that a great part of space, so far as we have visible knowledge of it, is occupied by two majestic streams of stars travelling in opposite directions, the stars in both streams being alike in design, chemical constitution, and process of development.
Space will not permit detailed mention of the great irrigation works in various parts of the world; the progress made with the Panama Canal, nor many other works of note. The African geodetic survey now extends from Cape L'Aghlas to within 50 miles of the southern end of Lake Tanganyka, embracing 25 degrees of latitude. This will ennabe the figure of the earth to be determined witn great accuracy, a factor of great im portance in both geodelic and astronomical science.
