The Express.
London, England, 1849-01-11 00:00:00

Tat EMU OP THE 8701V1 LIBRARY was oonti-
mod yesterday by Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson. The
following oat of the lots sold were worthy notice:—" Cee•
Caine Learned and Elegant Work,. In Verso," by Punts
lord Brooke. Tail- volume was of scarcely any 'aloe in
itself, but on the the-page, in the autograph sr Ben Jan-
son, wag " Beni Janson tenquam *intorno:v." It was frc=
the collection of Garrick, whose bout plate is inside, sad
sold for It 18s. "The Bible and Holysticriptures eon:sine&
in the Old. and News Testament," first edition of the
Genevan version, or " Breech. a Bible." printed at Geneva
in 1880, was bought by Mr. Pi keying for 101. 16s.
" Tee Fates of Princes and Princesses, with other
nobles through ye atutabilitie and change of unbend-
fest fortune with th'ir most detestable sad wicked niece,
translated by 10. Lidgete, Moths of Bone"—Bisch
burr printed by Richard Tone: in 1664, 61. The important
lot in the day's sale was " Boyelell's Collection of Prints,
engraved after the most capital paintings in Ragland, with
cescriptions in English and Freack.' This bustard col-
lection consisted of 640 fine large plate., many of them
proob before letters, and formed nine folio volumes. This
copy was selected for Mary Boydell ; 781. 15e.
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE SUEMAIINE TELEGRAPH.
—Borne interesting eaperimente were made yesterday at
Folkston', under the auspices of the South Beaters Company,
to test the practieability of laying down a wire from Folk-
ston* to Boulogne, and thus establishing a complete line of
electric communication between London and Paris. One of

the principal difficulties to be overwrite in establishing sack
communication, is to procure perfect insulation of the wire,
the fact being, this well known to scientific persons, that the
slightest approach of moisture interferes with the continuity
of the fluid. This inconvenience is also felt in the tunnel,
where the constant humidity frequently causes interruption
of the communication. The company, therefore, in promos-
ing the present experiment*, had a death!: object in
view—to complete their inland as wall as to estab-
lish a submarine, telegraph. The wires used were
those recently patented by Mr. Fonts, of Stresthans, being
ordinary copper wire, but completely encased in a prepara-
tion of `utter pinch& and sulphur, the former ingredient
being con.idered more impervious to water, and less liable
to abrasion from contact widi rocks or sand than Indite
rubber, and the latter being a non•coidnotor of electricity,
and also an excellent preserver of vegetable matter. The
engine' intention was that the coil and batteries should be
taken en board one of the company's vessels and carried two
or three miles out of the harbour, the experiment then to be
tried of getting electrical communication from thence to
the metropolis ; but the boisterous state of the wea-
ther made it newton" that this part of the plan should
be abandoned. Under these circumstances, the wire
was taken on board the Princess Mary, at her
berth, and from thence gradually uneeiled and carried
round the harbour, taking a sinuous course to the extent of
two milei, the end being attached to the London signal poet.
Three batteries of mentytlve pairs each were then put in
action, and the needles being set to work, several questions
were sent to London, and the immediate return
of appropriate sweets indicated that the submarine commu-
nisation, in so far as the transmission of verbal enrage*
was comer,. od, was completed. Subsequently it was
attempted to ring the alarm bell, but this was a comparative
failure, attributable, as we were informed, to the fact that
some portion of the communication between Folkatone and
London had been interrupted by an aocidentsl cause. The
main principle, however—the perfect insulation of the wire
when under water—was completely established, leaving Its
extension across Channel merely a question of detail. When
we reflect that the distance between Polkstoee and Point
Urines ( he part of the French coast contemplated) is only
20 miter, end that the depth of water across Channel varies
from 14 to 17 fathoms, with a good bottom all the way, it to
hardly too much to expect that at no distant day the tele-
graphic communication bet vein London and Paris will be
completed. The expense of laying down the wires according
to Mr. Fonter's method is estimated at 5,0001.