Year: 1866




it is impossible to inquire into the plans o


this years expedition without being impres
sed with the care taken, not merely to guarc
against disaster but to prevent disaster af
fecting result. The whole machinery fol


both paying out and picking up has beer
repeatedly tested the latter is entirely
reftted with two high pressure boilers. anc


will now be of from five to seven and q
half times the strength of the breaking
weight. Whereas, too, the extreme break


ing strain in paying out is ten tons, the
large wheels employed will bear seven
times and the smaller ones nine times that
strain. The mishaps of last year were, il
Is useful to remember, attributed to the pos.
sibility of picking up cable from the bot
tom OF the Atlantic never having been con.
templated. Neither ropes nor gear were
provided for such a contingency, and thos
pressed into the service gave way when
put to strain they were never made to
bear. Now, proficiency in picking up at
great depths is recognized as necessity in
submarine telegraphy, and every provision
is made to make such picking up easy
and safe on board the Great Eastern Last
year it could only be done from the fore
part of the ship; this year matters will be
so arranged that the cable may be brought
in as we'll as paid out at the stern and
the saving of time and complications is OBJ
vious. The whole of this machinery-ropes,
wheels and gear--has been manufactured,
as before, by the Telegraph Construction
and Maintenance Company, under the i'm
mediate superintendent of Mr.. GLASS, his
Managing Director, and of Mr.. CANNING, it's
Engineer-in-Chief, and the responsible head
of the cable layers, mechanists and engin-
GERS employed in the expedition.


Passing from the Atlantic cable to the
grand vessel which is to carry it, it is graf
flying to know that her keel and hull have
been thoroughly and carefully cleaned, and
that the divers reports show them to be in
good sailing order. Considerable time and
ingenuity have been expended on the con-
struction of huge brushes and scrapers to
effect this, for the immense mass of. she'll
fish, weeds and dirt which had accumula-
ted and hardened at the bottom of the great
ship made her cleansing no easy matter
A strong implement something like an ag-
ricultural harrow, has been constructed,
and by aid of this and other brushes coI-
stantly applied, so much impedimenta has
been removed that an addition of two



This, it is hoped, will give power of nine
knots, when fully laden higher than is
needed for cable laying, and calculated to
insure the fullest speed necessary, even
against head of wind and an adverse sea.
The directors of the Telegraph Construction
Company have chartered the MedUay, ship
Of ,8l3 tons, to accompany the Great East
ern on her voyage out. The Medacay will
carry some hundreds of miles of the cable
of last year, and in the event of the expe-
dition being successful, will ledischdrge
this into the then empty tanks of the Great
Eastern, at Newfoundland. The Ned1cay
will then start to locate the spot where the
broken end lies, to fix buoys, or it may be
to commence picking up. Capt. Anderson,
to avoid taking the Great Eastern to the
More this year, will go direct to Beerhaven
from Sh6erness, and will there supply him |
self with coal for the voyage. The length |
of time to be occupied in an expedition du.
ring which the double process of laying
down one cable and picking up another is
to be gone through, is necessarily estima- |
ted at much higher rate than the one of
last year, and some seventy days are spo- |
ken of as the period the Great Eastern will |
be away. Assuming her to leave Sheer
ness from the 29th of June to Sd July
next, three days will take her to Beerhaven,
where she will stay nine days to take III
coal. Allowing five days for waiting Tor
favorable weather, for splicing with the
shore end and fifteen days for the passage |
to Trinity bay, we may look for messages |
from America about the beginning of Au-
gust next The Great Eastern will again |
supply herself with coal at Trinity Bay, and
at once follow the Midway to the graphing
ground this will take three days, and |
eight more are given for graphing, and
five for returning to Trinity Bay and lay
ing the remainder of the old cable. This |
done, the return of the Great Eastern to
England will take twelve days more, and
bring her home about the second week in
September In each case margin must
be given to the foregoing figures, but they
are based on present calculations, and may
be taken as authentic. 1t will ,be seen that
they assume success throughout, and it may !
be added that on an elaborate series Of
problems having been drawn up by author
ity, as to what would be the effect Of diff |
erent calamities or casualties, should they
arise, the responsible leaders of the COM
ing enterprise have answered every sup
position satisfactorily in writing, The is
sue time alone can solve but whatever
may be it's results, the more the prepara-
tions for the Atlantic expedition of 1866
are known the more they will be regarded
as marvels of forethought, of precaution, of
skilful analysis of cause and effect, and of
logical deductions patiently laboriousl y,
and courageously worked out


How BODIES ARE EMBALMED-By embalm-
ing, people generally are apt to imagine
that the modern process consists of satur-
ating, filling and surrounding the dead body
with spices, gums and other indestructible
and preservative substances, as is under
stood to have been the process practiced by
the ancients. Suchr however, is not the
case. The modern process is about as fol-
lows The blood is drawn off through the
iugular vein An incision is then made up
on the inside of the thigh, through which
chemical liquid is injected by mechani-
cal means. This liquid permeates all the
veins and arteries, taking the place before
occupied by the blood, and in short time
renders the entire body as hard as stone,
and as rigid as statue. A portion of the
scalp is removed and the brain scooped out,