"All this," he went on, "was never possible until three years ago, when
the navies of the world were given over into the hands of one nation--my
country. Five years ago a fellow-countryman of mine happened to be
present at an electrical exhibition in New York City, and there he
witnessed an interesting experiment--practical demonstration of the fact
that a submarine mine may be exploded by the use of the Marconi wireless
system. He was a practical electrician himself, and the idea lingered in
his mind. For two years he experimented, and finally this resulted." He
picked up the metal spheroid and held it out for their inspection. "As
it stands it is absolutely perfect and gives a world's supremacy to the
Latin countries because it places all the navies of the world at our
mercy. It is a variation of the well-known percussion cap or fuse by
which mines and torpedoes are exploded.
"The theory of it is simple, as are the theories of all great
inventions; the secret of its construction is known only to its
inventor--a man of whom you never heard. It is merely that the mechanism
of the cap is so delicate that the Marconi wireless waves--and _only_
those--will fire the cap.
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