There has been, and always will be, some debate about Marconi's probable mood when in the summer of 1897 he left Italy by train for London, where his new invention was at last to find the encouragement and financial backing needed for its practical realization. His enthusiasm must have been damped by a marginal note by the Italian Minister of Posts and Telegraphs in his report on the historical experiment at Pontecchio—that young Marconi should have himself admitted into a well-known Roman clinic for mental diseases!