He thus succeeded in establishing very easy, clear,
and regular communications between various places; for example, across
the Bristol Channel. The long series of operations accomplished by so
many seekers, with the object of substituting a material and natural
medium for the artificial lines of metal, thus met with an undoubted
success which was soon to be eclipsed by the widely-known experiments
directed into a different line by Marconi.
It is right to add that Sir William Preece had himself utilised
induction phenomena in his experiments, and had begun researches with
the aid of electric waves. Much is due to him for the welcome he gave
to Marconi; it is certainly thanks to the advice and the material
support he found in Sir William that the young scholar succeeded in
effecting his sensational experiments.
Sec. 4
The starting-point of the experiments based on the properties of the
luminous ether, and having for their object the transmission of
signals, is very remote; and it would be a very laborious task to hunt
up all the work accomplished in that direction, even if we were to
confine ourselves to those in which electrical reactions play a part.
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