The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-08-11
novel science fancied that he stood
-'upon the borders of world,
Greater than Colon wrested from the sea.

1t was not until within the last quarter of a
fury that practical men began to push their
searches into different channel, and in a far more
practical way In times of great public danger
the citizens of State flashed the tidings of an APP
preaching foe from peak and headland, until upon
every eminence quivered the warning tongue of
fame From the battle of Salamis to the rout Of
the Spanish Armada, the rude and primitive in
venton of the Beacon was the only means of trans
hitting intelligence between remote vet visible
points, and that intelligence was restricted to the
announcement of one particular fact. After this,
it was thought that great triumph had been
achieved. The Beacon fell, and uprose the Soma
hore, with its tall tower, its upright post and its
gaunt skeleton, like arms, which, working at va
rous angles painfully elaborated, letter by letter.
the brief record of some great event. But the con-
trvance was wholly mechanical and its use was
limited 10 a narrow field and to government pur-
poses. Thus far, the people had profted nothing.
But the time at length arrived when the dream
of sage, and of poet, of mystic, and of char
latan was TO be realized by an agent subtle
as thought itself, and as great mystery rs the
Soul of man. The electric principle, essence
force, fluid, or by whatever name it may be called
which FRANKLIN drew, by the simplest means,
from the bosom of the summer cloud; which at
tracted the attention of GALvANI in the nerves of
animals; which VOLTA collected and concentrated
by mechanical appliances; and which OERsTED and
FARADAY, discovered to be obedient to certain
fixed laws MORSE and WHEATsroNE, Cooke, Balm
and HOUSE have utilised. They have converted it
into a tricksy spirit; have taught it to speak in
the language Of signs; have charged with the de-
livery of messages thousands of miles inland
messages breathing of love, hope, sorrow, gain,
and on the instant that the words were distinctly
articulated, have received answers in return
And now, finally, the browning triumph has been
won. Across and beneath two thousand miles of
ocean, this delicate ARIEL has brought two hemis-
pheres into closer connection than next door
neighbors; annihiating space, and battling our
conception of time. 1t is a wonderful feat to
have been accomplished by means so simple
A magnetic battery, copper wire, and
recording Observation-Disclosures are all the visible
appliances that have produced this great result.
The brain that conceived and the skill that
wrought, are no where visible except in the end
attained What then has been attained2 Apart
of every new conflict, where mind is victorious
over NATTER many and signal advantages may be
derived from our being thus enabled to exchange,
instantaneously, words of advice, or of admoni-
ton, of complaint, or of explanation, with Foreign
Powers. The use of this new force will have
tendency to regulate the operations of trade TO
equalize the price of commodities to suppress, to
certain extent the spirit of speculation, and to
bring those who are widely separated into close,
though brief communion. The international
currents will run more smoothly, because the
means will always be at hand for immediate
correction of any erratic movement. The COM
merce of the two hemispheres will admit of daily
regulation because access will be had daily to re-
liable statistical tables. But aside from these
manifest benefits, and many more that the future
will develope, we have no reason to believe that
the Millennium is at hand, as some of our imagina-
tive Journalists would lead to infer; that wars,
and rumors of wars, will prevail no longer; or
that human nature will be more angelic, and less
prone to temptation than it was thousand years
ago.