Produced by Emily Ratliff, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. MARVELS OF MODERN SCIENCE By PAUL SEVERING Edited by THEODORE WATERS 1910 CONTENTS CHAPTER I FLYING MACHINES Early attempts at flight. The Dirigible. Prof. Langley's experiments. The Wright Brothers. Count Zeppelin. Recent aeroplane records. CHAPTER II WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY Primitive signalling. Principles of wireless telegraphy. Ether vibrations. Wireless apparatus. The Marconi system. CHAPTER III RADIUM Experiments of Becquerel. Work of the Curies. Discovery of Radium. Enormous energy. Various uses. CHAPTER IV MOVING PICTURES Photographing motion. Edison's Kinetoscope. Lumiere's Cinematographe. Before the camera. The mission of the moving picture. Edison's latest triumph. CHAPTER V SKY-SCRAPERS AND HOW THEY ARE BUILT Evolution of the sky-scraper. Construction. New York's giant buildings. Dimensions. CHAPTER VI OCEAN PALACES Ocean greyhounds. Present day floating palaces. Regal appointments. Passenger accommodation. Food consumption. The one thousand foot boat. CHAPTER VII WONDERFUL CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE Mating Plants. Experiments of Burbank. What he has accomplished. CHAPTER VIII LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY Prehistoric time. Earliest records. Discoveries in Bible lands. American explorations. CHAPTER IX GREAT TUNNELS OF THE WORLD Primitive Tunnelling. Hoosac Tunnel. Croton aqueduct. Great Alpine tunnels. New York subway. McAdoo tunnels. How tunnels are built. CHAPTER X ELECTRICITY IN THE HOUSEHOLD Electrically equipped houses. Cooking by electricity. Comforts and conveniences. CHAPTER XI HARNESSING THE WATER-FALL Electric energy. High pressure. Transformers. Development of water-power. CHAPTER XII WONDERFUL WAR SHIPS Dimensions, displacements, cost and description of battleships. Capacity and speed. Preparing for the future. CHAPTER XIII A TALK ON BIG GUNS The first projectiles. Introduction of cannon High pressure guns. Machine guns. Dimensions and cost of big guns. CHAPTER XIV MYSTERY OF THE STARS Wonders of the universe. Star Photography. The infinity of space. CHAPTER XV CAN WE COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER WORLDS? Vastness of Nature. Star distances. Problem of communicating with Mars. The Great Beyond. Introduction