Year: 1869

razor reads them by sound as easily as
iiitisician reads the letters of the scale by
the same sense. If the operator has no
instrument, he will grasp the wire in his
hand and read the signals by feeling the
intermissons of the flow Of The electric
current. In like manner, by placing the
wire across his tongue he can taste the
same intermission but this is dangerous
experiment. And it is said that the cleo
tricity can be made to decomposc certain
chemical solutions, and thus produce a
pungent odor in the telegraphic alphabet,
which can be read by smelling but for
this | do not vouch. | believe that the
method Of signalling through the Atlantic
cable is known in detail to but few persons
The operation is exactl y reversed from that
of the land wires.


"The gutta-percha covering of the cop
per wires, under the pressure of great
depth OF water, becomes an absorbant of
the electricity which is being sent through
them to the extent of 80 per cent. The
first portion of the electric wave of 10 per
cent. crosses the ocean (1700 miles) III tive
seconds, and it would be followed by "a
succession Of waves from the restoration
of that portion of the electricity which has
been absorbed by the gutta-percha in inn
pulses, and the signal would be repeated
like echoes, and produce not only confus-
ion, but great delay. To remedy this,
Prof Varley introduced key, which sends
alternate currents, positive and negative,
at such intervals as allow the first wave
of 10 per cent. to pass forward, and then
that portion absorbed by the covering is
neutralized by its opposite, and the cable
is cleared for the transmission of second
pair Of currents. The battery used is a
very small one, (three. of Dauiell's cups,) J
and the signal, being 10 per cent. Of this
small current, is poweiless to move any
Of the other instruments III use on land.
The instryn ent used consists of a minute
polarized needle, suspended on single
strand of spiders web, or one from the
silkworm. In the middl, of this minute
needle is placed an almost microscopic
mirror, which reflects slender ray OF
light from powerful lamp.


1.-THE currents Of electricity affect this
needle alternately to the right and"lcft for
space of time corresponding to that &C.
cupied in the signal OF the land line, the
same kind of alphabet being used in both
cases. The receiver (not operator) sits
in dark room and the small mirror re-
fleets the ray of light upon a piece OF
white paper before him, on which black
line is drawn, to the right and left OF
which the light is alternately reflected.
The receiver reads these sig gnals by sight,
and transmits them to another person,
placed outside of the dark room, by means
of an ordinary instrument. A short time
since, General Reynolds told me that he
had sent a message, without either wire
or cable, ninety.two miles, across an arm
of lake Superior, by means of the hello
trepe, or mirror, and on the return Of his
messenger, who had been sent with writ
ten copy, he found out that the heliotrope
message had been received, understood,
and obeyed. 4"


"He had two assistants, who had been
tclegraphic operators, who had for whole
summer been amusing themselves in talk
ing to each other with these instruments,
though they were statio9ed ten, twenty,
or thirty miles apart. When the rebel
Gen. Morgan made his great raid through
Indiana and Ohio, he captured one OF my
operators, and compelled him to telegraph
in Gen. Lew Walace's name, to Cincin-
natl, asking how'many regular troops were
in that city. Morgan read by sound and
Therefore the operator did not dare to in
innate that he was under duress, and could
only venture to add an extra initial to its
own signatures. The receiving operator
ut Cincinnati knew that Morgan was in
that neighborhood. and suspecting from
the extra initial letter that all was not
right, replied greatly exaggerating the
force Of regulars and the consequence was
that Morgan changed his route to cir.
cult of twenty miles beyond the city, and
thus saved it from a sack, and the proba-
BILE loss of dollars"