The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-22 00:00:00

7ELEGRAPHY IN AMERICA.

Two American journals lie before us, de-
voted to the Telegraph. The Telegrapher is now in
its Fifth Volume, and the Journal of the Telegraph
but commenced. There may be, and doubtless are
others, on this subject. No other discovery is more
in accord with the American mind, or has taken
more hold on the imagination of the people. Mate-
rially the railway and the locomotive is of incom-
parably greater value, just as a loaf of bread to a
hungry man is worth a bushel of gems. It is of
more importance to transport our persons, than to
transport our thoughts, to carry things than words.
Though we grant this—we maintain that intellec-
tually, the telegraph is the greatest triumph of the
human mind. It appeals more than any other to the
imagination. It is the most direct proof of man's
conquest of nature. To put a girdle round the
world has suggested itself to poets, but to make
that girdle convey a thought instantaneously
from one extremity of the earth to another, not
even the boldest thinker ever imagined. The anni-
hilation of distance is only effected by this medium,
and when we come to realize the free and unfettered
operation of nature, we discover what a marvellous
triumph is secured by directing into channels of our
own the hidden powers of creation. On the Ist
inst. the wires of the Western Union telegraph,
and those of the New York, Newfoundland, and
London telegraphs were connected. The former
from San Francisco to Plaister Cove, Cape Breton ;
and the latter to Heart's Content. San Francisco
and Valentia being then in communication, with
the single break at Heart's Content, it was an-
nounced from Ireland at 20 minutes past 7 a.m.,
Valentia time, February 1, that a message was
then being received from London direct. One
minute after, the Loudon message was sent
ou from Valentia to San Francisco. It passed
through New York at 33 minutes past 2 a.m. New
York time, and reached. San Francisco at 21 mi-
nutes past 11 p.m. San Francisco time January 31.
This message, therefore, beat the sun from Valentia
to San Francisco by exactly eight hours. It was
immediately answered, and the San Francisco reply
was in Valentia two minutes after the questioa was
asked, the distance traversed being 14,000 miles.
The operator at San Francisco then sent an eighty-
word message to Heart's Content in three minutes,
and this was repeated back in two minutes and fifty
seconds. A series of experiments are in progress to
test the Morse system in comparison with those of
Europe, which is being done at the request of the
Professor. The Journal of the Telegraph gives these
few specimens :
January 19, Mr. W. S. Kettles operator at Washing-
ton, sent 91 messages of 20 words each to Plaister Cove,
Nova Scotia, distance 1,300 miles, in one hour. Those
Message were received by Mr. W. Sherman at Plaister Cove,
without an error or interruption. This is one of the finest
tests on record.

January 19, Mr. M. Mareau, chief operator at Wash-
ington, sent to Buffalo direct, via New York, distance
about 700 miles, 2,202 words press report iu one hour.
This report was received in Buffalo without break by
Mr. William Wallace. This also was a brilliant. per-
formance. Mr. Wallace's manuscript copy triplicated on
manifold paper for publication is before us, and is a marvel
of clear, regular, well-formed chirography.
January 21, Mr. Charles Bagley, operator, New York,
sent to Philadelphia, distance 90 miles, 2,50 U words press
report in one hour. This message was received without a
break by Mr. N. J. Snyder, operator, Philadelphia, whose
manuscript, clear and clean, without a blemish, lies before
us as we write. The average was 42 words per minute.
The message was the speech of Mr. Bingham on Recon-
struction, and averages four and a half letters per word.
Let any one endeavour to write down 42 words, and the
merit of this performance will be manifest.
By the repetition of a line the number of words sent was
2,510. We think Mr. Bagley and Mr. Snyder may be put
down as eminently light lingered ! The test is unsur-
passed and wonderful. The record of time is curious.

First 10 minutes, by Manager Marks, 410 words.
Next 10 „ „ Mr. Bagley, 404 „
/I 10 71 71 369 „
„ 1U „ „ ~ 454 „
~ 10 77 77 434
„ 1U „ „ 429 /7

Total ...

2,30

The Telegrapher states that the 'trial made on
the evening of January 21, when the wires were
connected to Buffalo, far exceeds all preconceived
ideas of the rapidity with which the Morse system
can be worked by skilled operatives. " The dis-
tance was about four hundred and fifty miles. Tile
wires were iu fine order and worked well. TILe
result of au hour's continuous work was as follows,
New York sending simultaneously to Philadelphia
and Buffalo.:
First 9 minutes (MAlu sending) 3i3 words.
Next 11 „ BAGLEY 450 „
„ 1U „ 37-1 17
77 71
„ 10 „ 77 460 7/
1U „ 430 „
77 77
433 „
77
10 „

Total, GO minutes

2,520 words.

" The average rate being forty-two words per
minute. The above was received by sound, and
legibly copied with a pen without a stop or break
by Mr. Nicholas J. Snyder, of Philadelphia. This
remarkable feat was accomplished by Mr. Snyder
with the greatest apparent ease. The operator at
Buffalo did not succeed in copying the despatch, but
retired without breaking.' "
The following calculation will give the uninitiated
some idea of the rapidity of manipulation required
to accomplish the above feat. As a fair sample, we
will take the following sentence from the message
blanks of the Western Union Company :
The rules of this company require that all messages re-
ceived for transmission shall be written on the message
blanks of the company, under and subject to the condi-
tions printed thereon, which conditions have been agreed
to by the sender of the following message.
The above sentence contains forty-three words,
and two hundred and seventeen letters, to transmit
which, in one minute by the Morse alphabet (ex-
clusive of punctuation), requires nine hundred and
thirty-six distinct movements of the key, and conse-
quently of the hand of the operator. It will be ob-
served that this rate of speed was considerably ex-
ceeded during the latter part of the trial. We there-
fore find that Mr. Bagley is capable of making an
average of fifteen movements of his hand per second,
and of doing this continuously for nearly an hour !
This seems, at first sight, utterly incredible ; that it
actually was performed as above stated is an incon-
testable fact.

It may not be uninteresting to our readers to
compare the above results with those attained by
European operators in similar trials. Mr. E. B.
Bright, Secretary of the-Magnetic Telegraph Com-
pany of England, in his recent work, states that the
average speed of the " acoustic" telegraph used by
that company is between thirty and forty words per
minute, the operator copying by sound as with us.
The sounds in this instrument are produced by
short, quick blows upon two muffled bells of diffe-
rent pitch, instead of a " sounder." The maximum
rate of speed in the trial recorded by Mr. Bright
was thirty-seven and one-sixth words per minute.
Culley, in his recent work on the telegraph (1867)
gives the following as the rate attained by the
double needle and Morse instruments m.a fair trial
of speed. The highest speed on a circuit of a
little under 200 miles was :
Double needle

Morse „
A'

38 If
',nd three hours'

verage of between two a— con-
tinuous work reporting a speech of Mr. Bright :
Double needle
Morse 17
The speed of the American operators in the re-
cent trial was :--

Average rate 42 words per minute.
Maximum rate 46 „

We believe that the highest speed on record
which has yet been attained in the country was in
the fall of 1860, when James Fisher, of Nashville
(Tennessee), office sent fifty-five words in one minute,
and at the rate of fifty-two words per minute for
five minutes, Mr. James Leonard, of Louisville, re-
ceiving it. The "copy" was taken at random from
the pages of Harper's Magazine.
The greatest speed attained by Burns, the cham-
pion, was two hundred and fifty words in five
minutes forty seconds, being at the rate of forty-four
words per minute.
Alluding to the numerous plans for increasing
telegraphic facilities between Europe and America,
the Journal of the Telegraph enumerates eight
projects. We believe that most of these will hang
fire even if they ever go off ; but there is one, on
the eve of construction, from Brest to the island of
St. Peter's, and thongs to the United States, This

company will possess a capital of £9oo,ooo—one-
third to be taken in England, one-third in France,
and one-third in the United States. The Franco-
America Submarine Cable Company has contracted
with the India-Rubber and Gutta Percha Telegraph
Company of Silvertown for the manufacture of
3,700 miles of cable able to support itself
in water a distance of 30 miles, and it is
anticipated that it will be laid during the
ensuing summer. A concession is said to have
been granted by the Portuguese Government to
Mr. Edward Medlicott, banker of Lisbon, and Mr.
Thomas Rumbally, C.F., of London, for a sub-
marine telegraph between Falmouth and Oporto,
thence to the Azores and on the American coast. A
line is talked of from Spain via the Canaries, Porto
Rico, and Cuba ; another from Scotland via Iceland,
Greenland, and Labrador. A curious table is given
of the necessity for additional telegraphs between
the Continents. During the first six months, while
the land lines were unprepared, there were 33 days on
which the Xew York Herald failed to publish news
by the cable, of which four were on Sundays. On
seven of these d lys the news was late ; on ten, the
lines between New York and Heart's Content were
prostrated by storms; on two the ste uner Dauntless,
which at one time connected a link, was detained ;
on one day the St. Ann's Cable broke, and the re-
maining nine are not accounted for. In the next
year there were but ten days, of which one was
Sunday, four too late, three poles broken down by
storm, and two when the lines in Ireland were in-
terrupted by Fenians.Not for a single moment have
the cables ceased to work, and the communication as
far as they are concerned has been perfect, although ,
. _ _

one was injured by an iceberg. The lines which
connect New York with Plaister Cove, Cape Bre-
ton, where the Newfoundland and cable line be-
gins, are about 1,100 miles long, and are worked
direct with a rapidity never before attained. The
correctness with which the messages are sent may
be gathered from the instances we have given
above.—Anglo-American Times.