The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1856-11-26
From me Phnseelpaia Eosth AmsTcaR
THE SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH AND LIEUTENANT
MAURY.

dependence
necessity Of sceuh men the development Of the mate
rial prosperity Of the nations and Of the world heretofore
50 conspieuousy illustrated by the signal discoveries and
deductions In astronomy chemistry geology meteorology
and other departments Of knowledge IT, to remarkable
extent exemphed in the recent scientific discoveries and
inventions which have done much TO promote inter
communication between different and distant places and
countries We light refer the rail and the steam
ship a marvellous exempfcatons of this truth forming
they do such invaluable contributions Of science to com
erce and other practical Of life to the advancement
Of all the material interests of mankind and to the wide
spread diffusion OF higher order Of civilization than the
world has hitherto known. But these belong to the
established economy of things like the CoPerncan theory
Of the heavens We seem be obvious Of the fact that
their 10 recent or indeed that they ever had be-
ginning while the great marvel which at present absorb
the public mind Is the mode Of communication by tel
egra2h through the air and especially through the
Within the whole range Of physical discovery, there Is
certainly nothing that TO invested with such
strange wonder the magic wire that communicates
thoughts and words To have tanned the ghnings thus
to Is Of the most extraordinary umphs OF
mind nature great in itself and in its obvious results
and great in its promises Of wider trumphs IN the future
The proud honor Of this achievement belongs TO the coun
try of Franklin and Fulton and happily demonstrates how
congenal ia our American soil to the origin and growth Of
great practical ideas which the ehiepoea of these
later times beautiful to the imagination well usefl
and serviceabe When it ar5t announced the
multitude regarded it as indeed but dream Of the fancy
which could never be reduced TO any practical purpose
Soon however all Incredibly vanished and astonish
ment, by hlunted yet filled the general mind
when the dumb instrument like thing of life began To
deliver its messages through the land annihatng time
and space The thought them naturally enough, suggest
ed itself that the wre If insulated might pass under the
water as well through the air. and thus form medium
communication between countries separated by inter
vening seas When preliminary experiments had been
tried to the new establishment of the world the first great
marine telegraph crossing the English channel from
Dover to Calais announced practical success
This application of the great discovery could not, Of
course remain in that stage The telegraph might be
ployed to connect countries separated by still wider
and even by the themselves and then the
tons could speak each other almost familiarity the
household group assembled around the evening board
and something tangible would be done towards the pac
teal restoration of that unity of mankind when the infant
race dwet together and of speech and Ian
guage But if not its moral certainly its commercial uses
would be of value The practical age at
undertook the realization of the grand idea The govern
of France about the construction of such tee
graph the Mediterranean the Sandman islands
to point in its Agene possessions and although the
twice attempted has twice failed there is
doubt that taught by these failures and the light
that science has since shed upon the subject they will
push the enterprise successfully through and thus bring
Africa into communication with Europe The Austrian
ALSO has taken upon itself to lay submarine
telegraph from point its Mediterranean coast to
the western shores Of that sea- connect there with
telegraph flor whose construction the capital under
stand already provided which is to follow the banks of
the Euphrates and terminate in British India thus uniting
London by continuous line Of magnetic communion
tion with the popuous and important regions OF Central
Asia To complete the union Of the four continents and
II i'll. ~.
must laid the wide and rough Atlantic This
the grand undertaking of the age and it is looked upon
with the intense interest from all parts Of the civil
lied world. The attempt made year ago last summer
TO connect Cape Breton island with Newfoundland when
upon the very point Of succeeding, unfortunately
frustrated by nauspeous gale Of wind which made
necessary for the safety Of the ship the wire and
lose 1t in the sea- after ortytwo miles of it had already
been laid Bat the enterprise will be resumed and
doubtless with success The company however are now
resolved the speedy laying Of the wire from point
Away, in Ireland to Newfoundland and il fortune
smiles their plans may hope TO the magnificent
purpose accomplished by the close Of another season
But science forward claim new honors for this
practical triumph and what Is especially gratifying
national pride 1t is American science which sheds new
light the difficult problem and renders the undertaking
altogether practical thing Lieutenant Maury with the
cooperation Of Others aud the liberal and udcious heps
extended to him by the government has revealed some
hitherto undiscovered Of the sea- that have most
intimate and essential bearing upon the successful accom-
pshment Of this great work By number Of deer
sounding suggested and instituted by him. he has not
only removed the impressions regard
the great depth Of the ocean, but be has demonstrated
that its bottom Is comparatively level and Is all covered
TO the depth Of many feet with ess ufusoria micro
scopc creatures sss than the sands the shore in r.
spec TO their dimensions but mulutudnous in re-
spec to their number which have been collecting there
through the vast cycles OF ages gone BY purpose
form the soft and safe bed Of the magnetic wire that
TO unite the sea-divided continents together.
And be has also demonstrated By series Of original OF
servaons that the currents running like the blood
that crcuses through the human body In different drec
tons through the different Of the ocean and far
down In lite dspbs will scarcely reach that bed bat leave
Il almost wholly undsturbed and peaceful II follows that
the telsgraphe wire when laid in that provided reosp
tsce will be all subjected abrasous and fa-
lures TO which II would be liable II the bottom were
oavernous and rocky and swept continually By the ire
mendous oceanic Currents. This fact Of course shows
that there Is necessity for the large iron cable In which
the wire has been hitherto enclosed for protection and
which has formed, thus far, the principal A'H -
ing down the telegraph h-- 49,, oo,s4 a. -, . q
the experiment At Newfoundland and In the Mederrs
II is plain that carry on board of feet Of
ships such cable Of iron inch in diameter and many
hundred miles in length and to lay down amid the con-
slant heavng Of the increased perhaps by casual gales
and tsmPests, s weIl-ngh practical impossiby
than the copper wire with s gutta percha and hempen
weight Of the present unweldy and ponderous cable.
be n A.