Year: 1865

iue IonuOu LetcyfupH, VI MAY ID,
has the following interesting account
of the preparations on board the
Great Eastern for laying the ocean
telegraph cable:


THEDIFFERENcE BETWEEN 1861 AND 1865.


A visit was paid to the Great East
ern few days since by large party
Of the directors friends, and it may
be said that all who understood the
preparations which they saw, came
away with greatly strengthened con-
6dence in the future Of the new cable.
Since 1853, when the first Atlantic
line was laid, the advance that has
been made by the scientific world
towards comprehending electrical phe-
nomena is very great. 1t has been
said, by man well qualified to speak
on the subject, that electric science
has passed, since that time, from its
childhood to its maturity. So far as
the phenomena connected with long
electric circuits we're concerned, we
had in 1858 no knowledge whatever.
The instruments in common use were
unsuited to receiving signals through
great length of cable; the necessity
Of providing for the conductor an
insulation SO perfect as to approach
an absolute condition was inadequate
ly appreciated.


The best preliminary test for long
cable had not been devised, and the
old Atlantic telegraph was laid with
out having been subjected to any
searching test on shore. Everybody
had advise to give concerning the
management of the wire, but no one
recommended the precautions which
subsequent experience has showd to
be necessary. When the signals be-
gan to fail the battery power was aug
mented, and electromagnetic induc-
ton coils, which rapidly helped ON
the destruction of the conductor, were
put in circuit. No one thought Of
nursing" the cable-of humoring
its feeble attempts at articulate utter
ance, and of finding out what it said
rather by listening acutely than by
constantly calling ON it, in the Ian
guage Of the Victoria gallery, to
"speak up" The old cable, however,
is dead and gone par. of it has been
picked up and applied to ignoble uses,
as race horse past his work may be
put into the shafts Of Hanson part
Of it has been abandoned, and lies
where it may rest till the end Of time,
in the "dark, unfathomed caves" Of
the deep sea. Let US turn to tho
practical present. o


SCENES on BOARD TIE GREAT EASTERN.


The Great Eastern looks just now
more like an engineers workshop
than a sea-going ship. The vast ex-
panses of her deck are covered with
wooden sheds and piles of timber
There are smiths forges below, and
between the docks you might fancy
yourself in a machinist's factory
The great engines of the ship, it is
true, have lost the bright look Of ma
chinery which is in constant use and
the huge dull masses Of iron seem
asleep, or in a trance. If you descend
the ladders which lead to the boilers
and furnaces-a an expedition which is
more like going down mine than
any other to which it can be compared
You find yourself in the midst of
darkness, solitude aud cold but in
those regions of the vessel where the
cable is being shipped and watched,
there is every sign of keen, vigilant
intelligence. Whom you understand
what is being done, you see something
more than this-that scientific fore
sight of the highest order directs every
step; and that the thick tarry rope,
coarse and rough to appearance, which
lies coiled away under water in the
tanks of the ship, is manufactured,
scanned and tested with as much care
as the incest optical instrument in an
astronomers observatory, or the most
delicate apparatus of fragile glass ever
applied to the careful experiments Of
chemistry.