ndreds of miles of ocean. Set up on a pole planted at one side of the
garden, he rigged a tin box to which he connected, by an insulated wire,
his rude transmitting apparatus. At the other side of the garden a
corresponding pole with another tin box was set up and connected with
the receiving apparatus. The interest of the young inventor can easily
be imagined as he sat and watched for the tick of his recording
instrument that he knew should come from the flash sent across the
garden by his companion. Much time had been spent in the planning and
the making of both sets of instruments, and this was the first test;
silent he waited, his nerves tense, impatient, eager. Suddenly the Morse
sounder began to tick and burr-r-r; the boy's eyes flashed, and his
heart gave an exultant bound--the first wireless message had been sent
and received, and a new marvel had been added to the list of world's
wonders. The quiet farm was the scene of many succeeding experiments,
the place having been put at his disposal by his appreciative father,
and in addition ample funds were generously supplied from the same
source. Different heights of poles were tried, and it was found that the
distance could be increased in proportion to the altitude of the pole
bearing the receiving and transmitting tin boxes or "capacities"--the
higher the poles the greater distance the message could be sent. The
success of Marconi's system depended largely on his receiving apparatus,
and it is on account of his use of some of the devices invented by other
men that unthinking people have criticised him. He adapted to the use of
wireless telegraphy certain inventions that had heretofore been merely
interesting scientific toys--curious little instruments of no apparent
practical value until his eye saw in them a contributory means to a
great end.

Though Hertz caught the etheric waves on a wire hoop and saw the
answering sparks jump across the unjoined ends, there was no way to
record the flashes and so read the message. The electric current of a
wireless message was too weak to work a recording device, so Marconi
made use of an ingenious little instrument invented by M. Branly, called
a coherer, to hitch on, as it were, the stronger current of a local
battery. So the weak current of the ether waves, aided by the stronger
current of the local circuit, worked the recorder and wrote the message
down. The coherer was a little tube of glass not as long as your finger,
an