The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-08-16

Of 1910. All parties are in q state Of disloca
ton and confusion, and there is yet time enough
Tor q complete reconstruction Of parties and
principles, casting the niger in Ae back
ground for the next Presidency. We must
await the lifting Of the curtain.
Ncn-Reeeptien OF the Qsssn,s Mssssge -Ths
New Teiegxaph1c Problem-Whss's ths
Matter!
Where's the Queens messsges Is thu insula-
ton perfect? Will the Atlantic telegraph
work? Why don't they give US the news?
These and hundred other questions of SINH
lar character are heard everywhere-in our
stores, our houses, our hotels, our strsts-in-
deed everywhere throughout the length ard
breadth of the land.
What is the cause of this great delay? Our
advices from Trinity Bay inform us that the re-
cording instruments at that place record with
good degree of accuracy the communications
from the electricians at the Valentia Office but
that, owing to some unexplained cause, it has
been impossible to communicate that fact or any
other intelligence to the operators at Valentia.
This is q state Of things which often occurs
upon the land lines One Office can receive
correctly from distant operator, and yet be
unable to send word in return; and the diff
Guilty is sooner or later found to be in the bat
terry, its connections, or the instruments and
there is no reason to doubt that the present
difficulty in working the cable will as
soon as the electricians can compare
notes, be in measure overcome, and in
day or two we may expect something
from the coast of Ireland But according to
the experiments thus far made public, even if
the message Of the Queen is got over the line,
our opinion is that the transmission of business
dispatches will be 30 slow that other arrange
ments will be necessary to satisfy the stockkold-
ers and the public.
Our readers are probably aware that the
electricians have for years been experimenting
on the force aud continuity Of the current ne
cessary for the complete success of the tee-
graph. Over the long land lines, which are in
sulated, and on which the principle of Undue
ton is without intermediate retardation, they
are enabled to work with facility. 1t is only
when the air is surcharged with electricity, and
the lightning seeks the readsst avenues for its
escape, that our telegraph wires refuse to per-
form their duty-that the instruments are dis
abled and the operators driven from their seats.
For all such contingencies very ingenious APP
paratus has been contrived to intercept and
break the force Of the superintendent fluid aud
save the instruments from destruction So
far, too, the submerged lines in the
Mediterranean, German Ocean and Black
Sea, though hundreds Of miles in length, are
perfectly manageable, and no difficulty has
yet occurred in transmitting intelligence,
although the operators, under the most favora-
BILE circumstances, have thus far emily been able
to send four words per minute through the
Mediterranean line. In the Irish and British
channels, and between Newfoundland and
Nova Scotia, there is the came facility in ope-
rating the lines as on shore, because these
are all short lines but on the Hiborno-
American route some obstacle, ~ mentioned
above exists, not yet fully understood by the
electricians, or clearly explained to the public.
We imagine the fault lies with the electricians.
Our readers have been aware, from facts from
time TO time made knewn through the HERALD
by it's special correspondent, a. we'll as its other
channels OF communication, chat Professor
Wbitehouse has long been engaged in expert
monts upon the electric current in the various
forms in which IT is applicable, and the best
kinds OF batteries to produce the most useful
effects. The "Lightning King" as some of the
English journals choose to style him, has in
vented various ingenious machines. aad among
his inventions, the magnetic electromctcr n his
" pet child" This shows the number Of grains
In weight which a steclysrd at one end
of the wire will lift, when excited by
the voltsic stream at the other. Another
invention OF his, by an ingenious process de-
termines the velocity Of these currents. His ex-
periments, however, have been conducted with
much secrey, and nothing has really been
learned of their results but what he himself has
permitted to be made known. He has also de.
termined, or claims the credit OF determining,
that the cable il nothing but "a capacious
Leyden jar, Atlantic breadth long, the gutta
percha sheath being Its insulating conductor,
the copper strand its interior conducting coat,
and the iron covering and the water of the sea
its outward coat Every time signal is sent
through it the entire jar must be filed with
electricity and discharged" But Mr.. White
house, notwithstanding this dict,n, also asserts
that with seven minute points Of zinc, triangu-
lar In shane dipped In seven small cells of verv