The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-28 00:00:00

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

Since the announcement was made a few days
ago by the Secretary of the Atlantic Telegraph
Company that a message had been received through
the cable from Newfoundland, the public have
naturally expected to hear from day to day that
the electrical communication has again been firmly
established between Valentia and Newfoundland.
But since Wednesday. the 20th, the day on which
the message was received, there has been no indi-
cation of a permanent improvement in the electrical
condition of the line. As, however, the circum-
stances under ;which the few words which passed
through the cable were received at Valentia have
not been made public, it may be as well to mention
them. On Wednesday, the 20th, the day in ques-
tion, about three o'clock in the afternoon, consider-
able appearances of signals manifested themselves
upon the galvanometer, with oscillations of the
needle equal to 50 divisions of Professor Thomson's
scale, which, as they occurred at very regular in-
tervals, were rightly supposed to be the usual re-
versals every 15 seconds. These appearances con-
tinued until between five and six o'clock in the
evening, when the words " Two hundred," and
some 15 or 16 letters, of which no sense could be
made, were received. Subsequently, the signals
" Can you ?" (no doubt " read") were received very
clearly. Messages were, of course, immediately
sent back to the effect that the Newfoundland sig-
nals and words came very distinctly, and, if they
could read from Valentia, to send " V ;" but, as no
direct response was received to this, it was of
course concluded that it was not received. Between
seven and eight o'clock on the same evening the
words "Daniels now in circuit" were distinctly
recorded, together with a great many signals
which were not intelligible. These unreadable
motions of the needle continued until between nine
and ten p.m., when the words " Two hundred and
forty," which no doubt alluded to the number of
cells contained in the Daniels battery, which was
spoken of in the message previously received, and
a great many letters and signals, of which nothing
connected could be made, were received. During
the next hour for receiving, say from eleven
to twelve p.m., the needle of the galva-
mometer was watched most closely, yet strangely,
though the insulation of the wire appeared to be in
precisely the same condition, not the least indica-
tion of even a " reversal" was observed, the wire
appeared to have sunk into its usual lethargic con-
dition. During Thursday and Friday, though the
most vigilant watch was day and night kept upon
the galvanometer, no appearance of returning cur-
rents could be observed, though the earth current
during the whole of this period seemed to be re-
markably steady. On the morning of Saturday
last, between 9 and 10 o'clock, some slight indica-
tions of signals and reversals were noticed ; but they
were neither very intelligible nor enduring. From
thence up to the present time nothing more has
been received. And yet the testings do not show
that the cable, in regard to insulation, is in a worse
condition than it was a month back. It is certainly
a most extraordinary and unaccountable fact that,
apparently with all circumstances the same, the
cable should at times be found capable of transmit-
ting signals, while at others not the faintest trace
of a signal can be made to pass from shore to shore,
even with the greatest amount of electrical power.
There is, indeed, " more 'twixt heaven and earth
than is dreamt of in our philosophy." The advance
of electrical science every day brings to light start-
ling facts connected with submarine telegraphs of
which no one previously had the least idea. Thus
within the last few days some important discoveries
have been made in connexion with submarine cables
by Mr. Charlton Wollaston, of Derby, who has
elucidated the fact that currents of water passing
across submarine cables produce in them induced
electrical currents. To put this theory to a practi-
cal test, Mr. Wollaston a day or two ago immersed
a considerable length of an insulated conductor in
the Thames, opposite East Greenwich. As the tide
rose, a very considerable current of electricity was
observed flowing through the wire in a direction
contrary to that of the tide, which increased in
force as the motion of the water became more
rapid, and again declined at high water, ceasing
altogether just before the ebb. When the tide fell
the current again manifested itself in the wire, but
its direction was changed. The varying and irre-
gular currents which are observed upon the galva-
nometer at both ends of the Atlantic cable have been
attributed to the inductive influence of natural im-
pulses of electricity which are continually travers-
ing the surface of the earth. Since that discovery
of Mr. Wollaston's, however, it is quite evident
that they may partly, if not entirely, be due to the
effect of the ocean currents. It is known that a
very rapid tide flows in and out of the estuary of
Dingle Bay, across which the cable is laid, and it
would, therefore, be very easy to put the matter to
practical test by noticing the force and direction of
the supposed " earth " currents at the rise, fall, and
turn of the tide. The Stag, with seven miles of the
shore end of the cable on board, arrived in Valentia
harbour last night, and Captain Kell will no doubt
commence laying it without unnecessary delay.
There is one rather dangerous reef of rocks lying
about one mile and a half or two miles outside the
mouth of Valentia harbour, called the Coast Guard
Patch. On this rock there is about ten fathoms at
low water and about 26 fathoms all round it. Un-
fortunately, as the Agamemnon entered the har-
bour, owing to the wind being unfavourable, she
was obliged to lay the cable over this spot. It is
thought that the drifting of the cable over this
place might have partially caused the injury which
has stopped the working for so long a period.
From this point it will, of course, be removed, and
deposited in the most secure and level channel into
the harbour. With the view of discovering such a
channel, Captain Kell has for the last few days
been closely sounding every approach to the bay,
both on the Valentia and the Lough Kay sides of
Beginiah Island. As there is already between four
and five miles of the shore end of the cable laid
down, the additional seven miles which will be
added to it by Captain Kell will render the rope
quite secure against injury from the wash of Cie
tide. _ _

It is understood that Mr. Henley, whose powerful
magneto-electric machines have for some time been
used at Valentia, has undertaken to superintend the
electrical operations at Valentia for a short period.
If the next accounts from Newfoundland should
show that the reversals from Mr. Henley's instru-
ments have been received from Valentia, no time
will be lost in despatching a similar piece of appa-
ratus to the station at Trinity Bay.—Daily News.

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