Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1858-08-28

Besides If too light It would be ct the mercy Of the
currents while descending, snd rnn great risk OF
fncture while being lid. u too heavy how conld
$500 miles Of it be ahipped banded, aud safely de-
positedf After repsAted Estimates ana e4PeL'nenu
than one ton per mils. In the next place. it must
be Of the utmost tenacity consistent with this stan
dard Of weight, and flexible enough to adapt itself
to the apparatus for paying out as well al to admit
of its being readily distributed into coils in the work
yards and on board the vessel Y order e ggs s
branch Of the investigation, It will suffice to say that
sirty-tsoo different kinde rope were subjected to
close experiment before the exact form and character
of the cable to be employed were determined. The
cable finally adopted is thus described:
of seven wires of the purest copper, OF the g1sge
known in the trade as No "a. The strand itself IS
about the sixteenth Of an inch in diameter, and is
formed of straightly drawn WIRE with SIX otnels
twisted round it this is accomplished by the centrA
wire being dragged from drum, through mole IN
horizontal table, while the table itself revolves
rapidly under the impulse of steam, carrying near
its circumference six reels or drums, each armed
with copper wre Every drum revolves upon its
own horizontal axis, and SO delivers its wire as II
turns. This twisted form of conducting wire was
first adopted for the rope laid across the ST. Lawrence
in 1856, and was employed with view to the re-
ducton to the lowest possible amount OF the chance
of continuity being destroyed in the circuit 1t IS
improbable in the highest degree that fracture
could be accidentally produced at precisely the same
spot in more than one of the wires of this twisted
strand All the seven wires might be broken at
different parts of the strand, some hundreds
of times, and yet its capacity for the TRANSMISSION
of the electric current not be destroyed or reduced
in any nconvenient degree. The copper used IN the
formation of these wires IS assayed from time to
time during the manufacture to insure absolute no.
mogeneity and purity. The strand ITSELF when sub
jected to strain will stretch twenty per cent of its
length without giving way, and indeed without hav
ing its electricity conducting power much modified
or impaired"
Such is brief review of the agencies which have
been Immediately brought into combination for the
purpose of effecting this mighty undertaking. In
the gradual procession of the causes and means by
which it has marched to a triumphant accomplish
ment art and skill have only advanced side by side
with the slowly elaborated results of science IN pluck
ing from the very heart of Nature the secret OF her
laws and movements. And hence, IN awarding our
Just need of praise to tile intelligent faith which
planned and the untIring perseverance which, appa
led by disasters, has brought this great work to
its desired consummation, let us not forget our obi
cations to the equally patient if less conspicuous,
labors of the philosophical student porting in his
cabinet over the mysteries of nature until he reads
in characters of light the secret cipher of her being
The world without knows but little of these anxious
and abcrious endeavors of the sacant, striving to
pass that often narrow but always most difficult
isthmus which parts the unknown from the known
The honors and emoluments which society awards
to the successful inrent0r too often but partially
and grudgirgly bestowed upon the scientific discoc-
erer to whom the former is indebted for knowledge
of the principles which he has reduced into mechani
cal PROPORTIONS and made subservient to human uses
If we are indebted to Morse for the electric tele-
graph, it is because a Franklin and Galvani,
Volta and an Grasted, q Faraday and Henry, have
contributed by their profound Investigations to a
discovery of the hidden principles which undere the
structure of that wonderful work Of mechanical art
In the pantheon of this latterday glory there is room
for all-for the man of high thought pursuing the
acquisition of knowledge for its own sake and ind-
ing in the discovery of truth its exceeding grea:
reward as also for the of practical achievement,
who reduces that knowledge to the unitarian ends
of our daily life Let US apporton our honors to
the latter not to forget the measure of our obga