Long distance transmission by wireless was only made possible by grounding one of the conductors in the transmitter. The Hertzian waves were provided without any earth connection and radiated into space in all directions, rapidly losing force like the disappearing ripples on a pond, whereas those set up by a grounded transmitter with the receiving instrument similarly connected to earth, keep within the immediate neighborhood of the earth. For instance up to about two hundred miles a storage battery and induction coil are sufficient to produce the necessary ether disturbance, but when a greater distance is to be spanned an engine and a dynamo are necessary to supply energy for the electric waves. In the most recent Marconi transmitter the current produced is no longer in the form of intermittent sparks, but is a true alternating current, which in general continues uniformly as long as the key is pressed down. There is no longer any question that wireless telegraphy is here to stay. It has passed the juvenile stage and is fast approaching a lusty adolescence which promises to be a source of great strength to the commerce of the world. Already it has accomplished much for its age. It has saved so many lives at sea that its installation is no longer regarded as a scientific luxury but a practical necessity on every passenger vessel. Practically every steamer in American waters is equipped with a wireless station. Even freight boats and tugs are up-to-date in this respect. Every ship in the American navy, including colliers and revenue cutters, carries wireless operators. So important indeed is it considered in the Navy department that a line of shore stations have been constructed from Maine on the Atlantic to Alaska on the Pacific. In a remarkably short interval wireless has come to exercise an important function in the marine service. Through the shore stations of the commercial companies, press despatches, storm warnings, weather reports and other items of interest are regularly transmitted to ships at sea. Captains keep in touch with one another and with the home office; wrecks, derelicts and storms are reported. Every operator sends out regular reports daily, so that the home office can tell the exact position of the vessel. If she is too far from land on the one side to be reached by wireless she is near enough on the other to come within the sphere of its operations. Weather has no effect on wireless, therefore the question of meteorology does not come into consideration. Fogs, rains, torrents, tempests, snowstorms, winds, thunder, lightning or any aerial disturbance whatsoever cannot militate against the sending or receiving of wireless messages as the ether permeates them all.