The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-19 00:00:00

National Choral S ociety.

On Wednesday this Society performed Men-
delssohn's great oratorio " Elijah ;" and, as this
was announced to be the last time this season the
unrivalled composition could be given, the audience
was larger and more enthusiastic than usually 13
the case. The soloists on this occasion were not
those who usually take part in Mr. Martin's
glorious concerts, and therefore an air of new'
ness was imparted to the performance. The
principal soprano was Mdlle. Ida Gillies ; and ive
have the greatest pleasure of congratulating her en
the very favourable impression her efforts produced.
Her singing was marked with fervour, taste, and
great expression, the higher notes in her register
came out with the greatest brilliancy, and at the
termination of the oratorio Mdlle. Gillies was set
down as one of the vocal favourites of the Hall;
Madame Elwood Andrea was the contralto, and
again we have the pleasing duty of awarding
praise. Mdme. Andrea sang the music allotted to the
partwith the most reverential correctness, and such 3
circumstance never fails to draw forth the greatest
applause from the critical audience that invariably
fills the hall on the performance of an oratorio*
Miss Lucy Franklein sang her portion of the music
with faultless accuracy, and again fully justified the
high opinion it has been our duty to pronounce on this
talented young lady's musical ability. Mr. Leigh
Wilson advances further forward every evening he
appears, and although " Elijah" does not give the
greatest scope for the tenor, there was enough for
Mr. Wilson to elicit unbounded applause. His
delivery of the solo, "Then shall the righteous,
fairly enraptured the audience. Mr. Thomas,
who had been announced for the important
bass part of " Elijah," was, unfortunately'
unable to appear, and Mr. Winn at the
last moment undertook the part for him. Ile
acquitted himself under the circumstances with the
greatest ability, and well deserved the applause hi°
efforts called forth. The chorus and orchestra were
all that could be desired, and the whole performance
did the utmost credit to the talented founder of the
society,-Mr. G. W. Martin.

Society of Arts.

At the ordinary meeting of this society yesterday fey!:
ing —Mr. Webster in the chair—a paper on " Automat°
Telegraphy" was read by Mr. A. Bain. In the early daiS
of electric telegraphy, before any practical application of it
had been made, Mr. Bain was known as the inventor and
patentee of several kinds of instruments by which message!
might be transmitted by electricity, but the instrument
specially known as his is an automatic application of the
telegraph invented in America by Professor Morse. In the
Morse instrument, which has been more generally used
than any other, the signals are made by dots and lines en
a long strip of paper. The dots and lines are grouped
together in different positions, so that each group may
dicate a letter of the alphabet, as many as four combine'
dots and lines being required to form some of the lettere'
In transmitting a message the operator, with a very 5i04,,,,°
instrument called a key, rapidly makes and breaks the
electric current, by which means continuous marks are
made by the action of an electro-magnet on a moving strip
of paper at the receiving station ; those marks being 100
or short according to the time that the finger of the tree°
mating clerk. presses down the key. In this manna, bi
great practice, groups of marks signifying letters can he
transmitted with the rapidity of 25 words a minute, or quiel°l,
than a rapid penman can write. In Mr. Bain's automat'
system the groups of dots and lines are punched on a strip
of thick paper, which is run rapidly over a metal whee"
the electric connection being made by a metal style:
which presses on the perforated message, and the curreo'
is transmitted each time the style comes in contact with
the wheel through the punched holes. He also applies
electro-chemical agency for making the marks instead ,
an electro magnet, a blue line or dot being printed on the
paper each time metallic contact is made. In this manner_f
very great rapidity of transmission is attainable ; and Alt;
Bain stated that 20,000 words an hour can be thus 500
from London to the furthest part of England. The °poly
tion of punching, however, occupies more time than the
transmission by the key, but the advantages are that, when
once prepared, the same message may be sent without fur"
ther trouble through any number of instruments, and
curacy may be ensured. In. Mr. Bain's paper yesterds4
evening he explained in detail some recent improverneu°
he had made in this mode of transmission, especially a P 181:
for receiving the same message at branch stations, whe:t
required, by causing the electric current to make a slitlf
detour from the main line, and return to it again. Ile did
not, however, mention that the plan had been practice.'"
tried, and it may be doubted whether, at a distance fOlcit
the voltaic battery, the wire could be sufficiently charge
with electricity to enable it to make such a detour available
for telegraphic purposes. It may be observed that the
Electric Telegraph Company, soon after their establisbraell
purchased this invention from Mr. Bain for a large sue'sue'°f
money ; but they have brought it into use only in excero
tional cases. It has been stated, indeed, that Mr. Bail:0°
indebted to an accident for the large sum he obtained f°'i.
the invention, for that when exhibiting it to the directore
of the company one of the fans of the instrument broker'
and the cylinder with the chemically prepared PaP!,
whirled round with great velocity ; but even at that o'l
the signals were perceptible, and it was supposed that th•
speed of transmission with such an instrument would 141
almost unlimited.
Mr. RONALDS expressed disappointment that Mr.
had not exhibited some instruments to illustrate his 03,
arrangement, and mentioned several improvements the
o
had been made in telegraphic instruments by which a 11 a
of transmission nearly equal to that of Mr. Bain's is attains
without the necessity of preparing the message by punclifil
He alluded particularly to an autographic instrument at
to a recent improvement of Professor Wheatstone's,i
which as many as 120 words in a minute may be tratlfr
mitted.

•
Capt. SELwm adverted to the question of the maulte"
nance of electrical communication by a bettor system 03.;
that of supporting the wires on poles, which had Nvitill
the last week proved so great a failure. He said the telt);
graph companies had been driven to adopt the preseli,
plan by the defects of insulation in underground wire;
caused by the decay of the gutta percha-with which they
were covered; but a new insulating material had been fr
cently invented which would overcome that difficult;
That substance, he stated, is paraffin mixed with gtit.,
percha and vulcanised. It had been proved to be an
cellont insulator, to be almost indestructible by orditlurio
chemical agents, and more capable of bearing beat th
gutta percha.
gr.
Mr. WEBSTER adverted to the great services while"'
Bain had rendered to electric telegraphy at its conarcul/E:
ment, and proposed the thanks of the society to him'-
his paper.
The meeting then adjourned.

THE LIFEBOAT FATALITY AT GORLESTOIC- who
to yesterday no further bodies had been recovered.
weather has completely moderated off the east C°l4iii 0
Telegraphic communication with the metropolis 'As
been re-established.