All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

8 All About Inventions breach was introduced. Within the tube were placed extremely fine particles of silver and nickel. They are so fine as to pass through the almost invisible meshes of a piece of silk. These filings, when in- serted within the tube, which was disposed horizontally, rested in a loose heap upon the lower surface of the glass, in precisely the same way as they would lie upon a piece of paper on a table. When the electro-magnetic wave, striking the capacity placed upon the mast, travelled through the wire it encountered an interruption at the plug in the tube. It could not jump the gap to continue its passage through the wire extending from the other end of the tube, because it was too weak or exhausted. But the ether permeates all matter, and is as present in the tube as above the layer of atmosphere enclosing this earth. Consequently it continued its passage, and in so doing magnetised each particle of dust lying within the tube. The result was that the particles clung to one another as a collection of tin-tacks will crowd to the poles of a magnet, and in this way they formed a bridge between the two ends of the wires terminating in their plugs at either end of the tube, so that a continuous metal path was provided from the capacity to the instrument. This means of detect- ing the electro-magnetic waves proved highly success- ful owing to its extreme sensitiveness. The faintest wave was sufficient to induce the particles to fly and to cohere together, and from this quality the apparatus became known as the “ coherer.” But there was one drawback. After the particles had been magnetised and, cohering together, had formed a bridge through the tube, they maintained