light. If we charge a wire with an electric current and place a magnetic
needle near it we find it moves the needle from one position to another.
This effect is called an electro-magnetic disturbance in the ether.
Again when we charge an insulated body with electricity we find that
it attracts any light substance indicating a material disturbance in
the ether. This is described as an electro-static disturbance or effect
and it is upon this that wireless telegraphy depends for its operations.

The late German physicist, Dr. Heinrich Hertz, Ph.D., was the first
to detect electrical waves in the ether. He set up the waves in the
ether by means of an electrical discharge from an induction coil. To
do this he employed a very simple means. He procured a short length
of wire with a brass knob at either end and bent around so as to form
an almost complete circle leaving only a small air gap between the
knobs. Each time there was a spark discharge from the induction coil,
the experimenter found that a small electric spark also generated
between the knobs of the wire loop, thus showing that electric waves
were projected through the ether. This discovery suggested to scientists
that such electric waves might be used as a means of transmitting
signals to a distance through the medium of the ether without connecting
wires.

When Hertz discovered that electric waves crossed space he unconsciously
became the father of the modern system of radio-telegraphy, and though
he did not live to put or see any practical results from his wonderful
discovery, to him in a large measure should be accorded the honor of
blazoning the way for many of the intellectual giants who came after
him. Of course those who went before him, who discovered the principles
of the electric telegraph made it possible for the Hertzian waves to
be utilized in wireless.