The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-20 00:00:00

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

long sought for and so deeply needed of thoroughly maturing
the details and working of our instruments, in order that on
the opening of the line I might be ready for the transmission
of intelligence without loss of tune. It was not till about
six weeks after the accident that I was able to get the first offi-
cial step taken towards this object, and several weeks more
were necessarily spent in transferring and refitting our work-
shop for repairs and alteration of instruments as required.
One-fifth, therefore, of the whole time had expired before the
work could fairly be begun. In the interim, I was able to
get a series of very valuable observations made upon the lost
length of cable, one end of which was connected with Valentia
Island, while the other had been dropped in the Atlantic.
Terrestrial currents, variable in force and in direction, were
noted as occupying the cable night and day ; these have been
tabulated and represented in a series of diagrams intended
for presentation to the Royal Society.
The 2,150 miles of cable stored at Keyham became now the
subject of continued research. One of the points which I
was anxious early to examine was the influence which the
coiled state of the cable could exert upon the results of my
experiments—what the amount of that influence might be,
whether aiding, embarrassing, or in any way modifying the
transmission of signals. The cable might be tvely said to
present at that time a gigantic helix, containing 2,150 miles
of wire; and as it is well known that the helical form of a
conductor exerts in some respects a marked influen.ee upon
the current sent through it, it was, I thought, desirable to
examine the question closely, to determine what amount of
reliance might be placed upon results of trials of instruments
necessarily made under such circumstances.
Repeated experiment showed that every wave of electric
force on its entrance into the cable was accompanied, or
rather preceded, by a smaller wave of opposite polarity, in-
ductively excited in the adjetent helical turns ; this small,
but opposing antecedent wave, was traceable throughout
the whole extent of the cable paripassu with the greater ;
and it was demonstrable that it tended under some circum-
stances seriously to embarrass the action of the instruments.
I therefore felt and was able to state with confidence, that
this source of difficulty would cease upon the laying of the
cable ; and that, not only on this account, but from other
considerations also, I should anticipate a greater ultimate
measure of success than we could attain under the existing
conditions at Keyham. I referred especially to the low
temperature of the ocean depths, calculated largely to bene-
fit the insulation, while at the same time it would augment
the transmitting power of the conductor.
Satisfied that results thus obtained would be reliable, and
would fall within rather than beyond the mark ultimately
attainable, I proceeded to test in the most rigid manner the
practical working of the instruments. The staff of manipu-
lating clerks was engaged many hours daily in transmitting
despatches ; trying and comparing various instruments of
my own, various modes of manipulating, and various forms
of alphabet ; in fact, practically searching for the best in
each. Several most important advances in instrumentation
and in detail were obtained in this way, and were ingrafted
and incorporated with the company's present system. Other
improvements, the results of observations made at a later
date, it was not in my power to incorporate, as my request
for the additional aid required in the workshop met with a
negative response from the board.
It was my earnest desire at this time to bring before the
scientific world some of the more novel and interesting of
those phenomena by which I was daily surrounded, and to
invite the presence of those specially interested in such
matters ; assured that by such intercommunication the real
welfare of the company would have been forwarded, while
science would have been able both to give and to receive
additional impetus. These wishes becoming known at
head-quarters, I received a letter forbidding all scientific
communication upon this subject, couched in terms so
peremptory and oppressive that I at once felt it necessary
to tender my resignation. I was subsequently told that I
had entirely misunderstood the purport of this letter, and,
being urged to do so, consented to withdraw my resigna-
tion, entering, at the same time, an indignant protest
against such attempts at the suppression of thought and
intercourse on points of science.
I obtained shortly afterwards for several weeks the kind
counsel and aid of Charles Walker, Esq., F.R.S. ; con-
jointly we investigated some matters of high interest, and
elicited very important results with reference to the nature
and degree of the static charge communicated to the wire
under various conditions. We also made very accurate
measurements of the proportion of electric force manifested
at the distant end of the cable, under various circumstances,
as compared with the whole amount of force entering, and
the per centage of loss. It had long been my wish to
try some means of shortening the usual mode of telegraphic
correspondence, and I bad thought it peasible to_ attain this
end, either by the use of the phonetic system, or by having
recourse to a code arranged on the principle of the Admi-
ralty code, which by a single hoist of several flags can con-
vey an entire sentence. Well aware of the difficulties sur-
rounding this subject, and of its general inapplicability to
short lines, I yet thought itworthy of investigation for the
special purpOse of the Atlantic Telegraph, where every
moment saved in transmission would be of importance. I
had in the previous year bestowed much attention on this
subject, and had a large amount of matter in type and
manuscript. The whole was at that time set aside by order
of the board. Now, however, upon my renewed application,
I was allowed to resume it at my own expense; and Mr.
Bartholomew, the superintendent at Valentia Station, took
the matter most zealously in hand for me, and repeated
trials made at that time satisfied me that the foundation
then laid admits of being wrought out into a system of great
value for all submarine lines of 1,000 miles or more, where
the process of signalling is comparatively slow. It will re-
quire the bestowal of some months further of thought and
labour upon the subject ere it can be laid before the world in
a complete form for use.
Some weeks before the first sailing of the expedition in
the present year, the chief improvements in instruments—
suggested by the experimental practice in Keyham—had
been completed and tested repeatedly in every possible way.
The final instruments for each station, embodying these
improvements, were ordered and put in hand at Henley's,
the best manufacturer in London. The certainty, accuracy,
and definitiveness of the signals received by this method,
as well as the ease and correctness of manipulation, sur-
prised and gratified me exceedingly. I could have wished,
however, to have added the last improvement, which would
have given seventy or eighty per cent. increase in speed,
but the want of additional hands in our own workshop at
the right time had already made it impossible ; it can even
now, without difficulty, be appended to the existing instru-
ments at small cost. A transient doubt upon the subject
having occasionally arisen in my mind, I thought it right
to ascertain by experiment the possibility of rapid inter-
change of signals at short intervals from either end of the
cable alternately, with as little delay as possible. It was
gratifying to find that my fears had but little foundation in
fact ; we could work either way with equal facility, and
could readily interchange within a few seconds.
Professor W. Thomson at this time visited Keyham, with
the object of testing and introducing a new system of tele-
graphing, about which he was very sanguine, the principle
being that the various letters of the alphabet were to be in-
dicated by corresponding degrees of force exerted by the
current, and rendered visible upon a small and delicate
galvanometer, a single motion sufficing for each letter. A
ray of light constituted the index, as is usual in very delicate
instruments, and by the movement of this in degrees of de-
flection, the despatch was to be read off. This system, beau-
tiful in theory, seemed to require much to reduce it to a
practical form, if, indeed, it should ever be made available.
The nature of the galvanometer, however, and the very
small amount of its resistance, allowed it to be left in circuit
without interfering with the action of any other instrument
then in use, whilst its delicacy and freedom from inertia or
momentum made me think highly of it for other purposes
than those for which it was designed by the professor. I
thought I saw more in it as a galvanometer than Professor
Thomson had anticipated, but not in his mode of using it.
It received the coil currents of my instruments readily, and
the letters of our usual alphabet were easily read off upon
it, and could be either written down or recorded by finger-
key upon chemical paper, in my usual way. I therefore
determined, at any future opportunity, to give it a full and
fair trial under my own eye, and for the purposes to which
I have alluded.

The last two or three weeks before the departure of the
vessels from Keyham was necessarily a period of consider-
able excitement. The directors came down to examine the
working of our instruments, with the accuracy and certainty
of which I understood they were well satisfied. Professor
Thomson's researches and rehearsals wore at their height.
The vessels left Plymouth for the Bay of Biscay, to make
an experimental trial in deep water, and returned having
learned much, but not perhaps all that such an opportunity
might have taught.

The paying out machinery• having been retouched and
adjusted in such points as the engineers thought neces-
sary, the expedition set sail for mid-ocean. Of the terrible
storm encountered on that occasion by the Agamemnon,
the stirring history which appeared in the Times must be
well in the remembrance of all who read it. The vessels
meeting subsequently at the rendezvous in mid-ocean, the
attempt made to lay the cable, but without success ; the
causes of the several accidents onthis occasion do not appear
to have been clearly ascertained or defined. The first we
may regard as having been merely a false start, so small an
amount of cable being payed out : the second remains quite
unexplained : while the third seems to have involved the
mechanical paradox of a sound cable being suddenly snapped
by a strain below that which it ought to bear, and which, by
examination afterwards the broken eud was found able to
bear. Close examination of the broken ends of the wire at
the point of fracture revealed nothing, and the paradox, so
far as the engineers are concerned, remains unsolved.
Awaiting the arrival of the vessels, the Chairman, Vice-
Chairman, Secretary, and several of the directors spent
anxious days at Valentia, till at length came the unw.elcome