Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1858-10-12
CondItlon OF de Atlantic TeIerrnnh.

| ~OiAoitAOM OF the Atlantic telegraph.
At last We have something oiofal and INTEL gible
in regard to the condition Of the Atlantic Telegraph
/ cable. Mr. VALLEY, "ihe Electrician Of the Elec,
trio and International Compaoy"-so be is styled
By the comPany--has made report on the state Of
the cable as observed by him on the 9Th, lib sb 9Th
and lO.h Of September and the result is by no
N saDs encouraging Gle finds fault Of great mag
niiude at distance Of between 2l5 aad 800 statue
miles from Yalenta," and probably in water Of bu,
4lO fathoms in depth. He fads the cable unbroken,
but thinks The power used will shortly eat away the
exposed copper wire in the faulty place by electric
Decomposition. he is sati-f also that there is
auOlher "faull" distant than this, the az prox
innate locality Of which he could not estimate with
out communication with Newfoundland From au-
thentio data shown him at Valentia be is also of
opinion that there was fault in the cable on board
the AgamemnOn before it was submerged, Offering
resistance equal to 00O or 1900 miles Of cable;
situated at distance of about 500 miles from one
end of the 1900 mile coil, and supposed to be the
fault which caused much alarm when the ships
we're 500 miles from Ireland. He is satisfied that
the cable has been seriously, if not fatally impaired
by the use of too powerful currents from the large
induction coils, especially from this side and that
the present conducting strand is too small to have
answered its purpose, even had the Insulation been
found We here quote What.he says: .
"TO satisfy myself On this point, attached to
the cable piece Of gutta psrch>covered wire hay-
ing first made slight inesiOn in the Qutta pereba
to let the water reach the Wire the wire was then
bent so as to close up the defect The defective
wire then placed in jug Of sea voter and the
latter connected with the ''earth." After a few Z
signals had been sent from the induction coils into
the cable and consequently into The test wire the
buERt through the incisiou, rapidly burn
ing hole nearly OneJclih Of an iuch 10 diameter
Then the full force Of the coils brought to bear
on the test wire BY removing them from be cable I
aud allowing the electricity only one channel VIZ;
that Of the test wire, the discharges as m aht be
expected. burnt hole in the guita pereha uoder /
the water half an inch in length, and the burnt
gutta percha came foating up 10 the surfaee.V
Mr.. VARLEr closes his disoouraging catalogue I
with what, though intended to convey some eonsoIa
ion to the directors is perhaps the most discourage
ng part of his report. He says: "Itis moi. how
,ver, altogether impossible that some ineligible
signals may yet be received through the cable, as
Iated in my previous Communication He does
lot say that such result is even probable, much
ess that the present cable can ever be turned 10 any
practical use, bat implies contrary opinion. The
publication Of saeh a report by the company is
practical admission that they cannot escape its con-
.usiOns, and that they have no better face to put
lpOn the matter.
The New York Post, commenting on Mr. VAR
.ET's report, says: Many important lessons have
,een learned from this cable, and many are yet to
o be learned, perhaps, before It ceases-as in the
atursl course Of things soon will oease--to bind
be two continents in electrical union; but it is now
cry clear that, like the vegetation Of past season,
bis cable is of no further use, except az means Of
repairing for another and a better. We may ex-
ect at any moment to learn that the continuity Of
he cable is interrupted From that moment il ceases
o be Of any value for any purpose. But the prae
liability Of an electrical union of the two cont
ents has been established and it is idle to suppose
hat such discovery viii remain long unimproved.