202 HEROES OF CIVILIZATION

"We are all near neighbours in this world," says the wireless

203

III

But it is only a key that Marconi has found, a key that will
unlock the vast treasure house of wireless waves. What new
treasures the future has in store for us we can scarcely picture.

The wonder of the telephone, for instance, has ceased for
us. Yet Alexander Bell in his most enthusiastic moments never
dreamed of the adventures that his telephone would experience,
Scientists, experimenting with Bell's invention, have
made it possible to send a 'photograph' by telephone.

"That's easy," say these scientists. "The world fifty years
hence will look upon our telephones and wirelesses as curiosities,
to be deposited in museums. 'What crude instruments the
world used then!' people will muse. For in dozens of laboratories
scientists are busy perfecting one of the most fantastic of
miracles--television."

Picture the telephone equipped with a television set. The
telephone rings. As you lift the receiver a light shines. On a
screen facing you an image flashes. You need not ask who is
calling, for your eyes behold your friend, who is perhaps many
miles away. "Hello, how are you?" you say. "You are
looking fine this morning." Not only do you see the person
you are talking to, but also the flesh tints of his face, the red
of his lips, and the colour of his clothes.

That invention you understand. Somehow electric impulses
can be sent by wire. These impulses will show you some one
far away, as well as let you listen to his distant voice. Yet you
are connected with that person only by a telephone cord.

But now a greater wonder is promised us by science. Let
us picture the world as it will be before many years have
passed.

You need not go down the street to see a play. The newspaper
tells you that for to-night's entertainment you have the
choice of half a dozen plays that will be broadcast. The loud
speaker in your home serves for the cinema screen. Or perhaps
you would prefer to see a popular 'talkie.' One will be
broadcast by station "W-1975."

But you do not wish to listen to the make-believe world of
entertainment. Turn the knob of your wireless dial, and you see
a football match that is being played one thousand miles east
of you. The gaily-coloured stadium is in your room. You join
in the cheers of the crowd.

On another wavelength you are carried to a mass meeting
in far-off Japan, and you watch the orator speak his strange
language.

"Parliament to Open," you read in the newspaper. You
would like to hear the King speak. A simple matter. Turn
the knob of your wireless set and you are in the House of
Lords. You not only hear the King, but you can see his very
motions. You even notice the colour of the royal robe.

Can one imagine greater magic? Yet this world of the
wireless that enables you to 'look in' as well as 'listen in' is all
contained in a little receiving set which is connected with the
electric light socket. And those who gave this new gift to the
world are many scientists, eagerly working in their laboratories,
the modest heroes following in the footsteps of Morse,
Bell, and Marconi.