A perfect screen is of course out of the question, but I believe that with a screen such as I have just described telephony could be rendered practicable across the Atlantic.  According to my ideas, the gutta-percha covered wire should be provided with a third conducting coating subdivided in sections.  On the top of this should be again placed a layer of gutta-percha and other insulation, and on the top of the whole the armor.  But such cables will not be constructed, for ere long intelligence—­transmitted without wires—­will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism.  The wonder is that, with the present state of knowledge and the experiences gained, no attempt is being made to disturb the electrostatic or magnetic condition of the earth, and transmit, if nothing else, intelligence.

It has been my chief aim in presenting these results to point out phenomena or features of novelty, and to advance ideas which I am hopeful will serve as starting points of new departures.  It has been my chief desire this evening to entertain you with some novel experiments.  Your applause, so frequently and generously accorded, has told me that I have succeeded.

In conclusion, let me thank you most heartily for your kindness and attention, and assure you that the honor I have had in addressing such a distinguished audience, the pleasure I have had in presenting these results to a gathering of so many able men—­and among them also some of those in whose work for many years past I have found enlightenment and constant pleasure—­I shall never forget.

[Transcriber’s note:  Corrected the following typesetting errors: 
     1) ‘preceived’ to ‘perceived’, page 16.
     2) ‘disharging’ to ‘discharging’, page 30.
     3) ‘park’ to ‘spark’, page 33.
     4) ‘pssition’ to ‘position’, page 50.
     5) ‘to th opposite side’ to ‘to the opposite side’, page 56.
     6) ‘s resses’ to ‘stresses’, page 147.]