THE TELEGRAPH FROM ENGLAND TO AMERICA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 445, 7 February 1857, Page 4

THE TELEGRAPH FROM ENGLAND TO AMERICA.

(Frrcm the f Home New*',! October 18,) The cable which is to join together, materially as well as socially, the continents of Europe and America, is already stretched'a long way across the dividing space. One end of it is attached to "the station at New York; it passes thence over "land and under water to Oape Race, and for 400 miles traverses the coast of Newfoundland ; so that 1,400 miles of the difficulty have been surmounted, and the accomplishment of the gigantic project is within the range of hopeful probability at no distant time. To give additional stimulus to the'undertaking, and to honour the American telegraphic inventor, who has done for the United States what Cooke and Wheatstone have done for England, there has been a great gathering of telegraphists, who, forgetting for the time their mutual jealousies and conflicting interests, celebrated the visit of Professor Morse to this country by dining together. Professor Morse is the inventor of the simplest ,of all possible means of transmitting messages by electricity. Without any instrument whatever, a person holding the two ends of the telegraph wire in his hands might transmit a message which would record itself on paperat the distant station. In practice, indeed, this extremely simple mode is not adopted, and an apparatus moved by clockwork is required at the receiving station to move along the strip of paper whereon the message is impressed, and ' therel is an electro-magnet to make the impressions. This plan has now generally superseded on the Continent all other systems of telegraphic communication, and Professor Morse has come to Europe to reap the honours, if not the profits of his invention. " His visit to this country was seized by the telegraph, companies and others interested in telegraphic communication as a fitting opportunity for " expressing publicly their opinion of the importance of a direct submarine telegraph to America," as well as their estimation of the talents and labours of the professors Of the importance of such a means of communication there was no need to express an opinion, as it is felt by everyone ; the question to be determined is the practicability, of attaining it"; and from that point of view the demonstration seems of value. Though the assembled telegraphist* did not directly pronounce on the disputed question, it may be inferred that in the-public notification of their estimate of the importance of a submarine telegraph -to America was also implied their assent to the practicability o£ the project. The speeches ilb the dinner confirmed this inference; and it was shown that the difficulties encountered and overcome in laying down the Mediterranean cable have been as great as any that would present themselves, in crossing the Atlantic. So far indeed as regards the wire connection betAveen the two countries, there seems no doubt that it can be made ; but that mechanical difficulty overcome, there will remain the question . whether telegraphic signals can be'transmitted ' - through-a submerged wire of that length, however carefully it may be ..insulated.' On this point electricians and mathematicians are at variance. .It is not a simple question whether an .electric current can be transmitted, but whether the .wire can be discharged after transmission, quickly enough for the repetition of telegraphic'signals. The difficulty h'rst presented itself in'the telegraph from HanvL-h to the Hague. It was found that the water surrounding the wires prevented them from transmitting distinctive signals, the action of each one being prolonged, so ;is to interfere and blend with the signal preceding. The difficulty was quite unexpected. Faraday brought his wonderful power of invesgatioii to bear on the subject, and ascertained that the conducting property of ssa water on the outside of the gutta percha has the effect of converting the coated wire into an elongated r. Leyden-jar, and causes it to retain, a portion of 'the' ehiirjje, in the- same manner as an.ovdmary Leyden-jar retains a part of the electricity after it has been;discharged. , This difficulty, which seemed to present an.effectual bar to the use of Professor Morse's instruments,—-in which the electric 'current .traverses, continually in : the ,sa tie direction,—was overcome by reversing the direction of the current after, each signal, by which process the wire was prepared to transmit

another. That plan has answered from London to the Hague, but doubt is entertained whether; th» remedy will apply across-the Atlantic. Experiments, so far as they can be made, show that the obstacle may be overcome: but theoretical philosophers are not wanting, who, armed with arrays of figures, contend that the thing is impossible. Theoretical calculators have indeed on other occasions raised up impossibilities which in the progress of telegraphic invention have teen accomplished; and as facts are against them in this instance, there seems no reason to despair that practice will get the better of theory in the establishment of a- working telegraph to America. The people of the United States will then realise what Professor Morse declared to'be their ambition ; they will know what is done in England before it takes place ! for' an event happening in London at noon will be published in New York on the morning of the same day of the month.