We should be as alert to hear God’s voice in the soul as these
ship-masters are to hear the signals:
Experiments in the conductivity of sound through liquids were
begun many years ago by Prof. Elisha Gray, and in 1901 a
system of signals based thereon, designed by A. J. Mundy, was
successfully tested in Boston Harbor. Steamships plying between
Boston and New York have been equipped with the apparatus, and
are said to use it very frequently in signaling.
Our representative, while on the _Herman Winter_, observed
the perfect operation of the apparatus when approaching,
passing, and leaving the Pollock Rip lightship. It had been
prearranged that the signal should be the number 73, the number
of the lightship. This locality was reached shortly before
daylight, yet when the ship was seven miles from the lightship,
tossed by tempestuous seas, the signal, seven strokes, then
three, was faintly but distinctly heard. Within two miles it
was quite loud, and the peculiar A musical note of the bell
was plainly noticeable. It is feasible to signal words with a
special code, and no doubt such a system of communication will
soon be perfected. (Text.)--_The Scientific American._
(2942)
See LISTENING FOR SIGNALS.