Cabinet

The dots of ink trace out a path to the right or left, representing the dots and dashes respec tively of the telegraph code (see Telegraph).

Just as in the case of telegraphing on land, autornati instruments have been devised to increase the spee( and accuracy of sending, and the "duplex" system ha Hume IL pos6iDie uu beIIU two messages at once, one from each end of the line. It has not been found practical to send four or more messages at once, as in land telegraphy, but the use of automatic transmitters with the duplex system increases the total number of words passing over the line in both directions to 80 or 90 a minute.

Recently a complicated and delicate instrument has been perfected for use as an automatic relay, that is, to repeat messages automatically with the added strength of a local battery be tween different sections of a cable touching one or more stations along the way. In the case of the Pacific Ocean cables the stations are on islands in mid-ocean.

Attempts to telegraph under water for short distances had been made even before the first land telegraph was built for general use in 1844, and Morse, the inventor of the telegraph (see Morse, Samuel F. B.), had predicted that Europe and America would one day be connected by telegraph.

Nearly 25 years passed, however, before Morse's prediction was fulfilled. In 1851 a cable was laid between Dover and Calais, and within the next few years several short lines were in operation connecting various parts of the continent and England. The longest line was only 117 miles, so when Cyrus W.

Field, an American capitalist, proposed to lay a cable from America to Ireland, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles, the project was generally received with skepti cism and ridicule. One distinguished English scien tist announced to the world that " it was a mathe matical impossibility to submerge a cable in safety at so great a depth," and that "if it were possible, no signals could be transmitted through so great a length." But Field was undaunted by such croak ings, and he formed a company which in 1856 laid a cable, 85 miles long, connecting St. Johns, New foundland, with Cape Breton, Canada, thus forming the first link in a transatlantic line.

Field then formed a company in England to provide the $1,500,000 necessary for the rest of the enterprise.

Foremost of his associates were Sir Charles Bright and Lord Kelvin. A cable was prepared containing 340,500 miles of copper and iron wire woven into strands—more than enough to reach to the moon.

Two ships, the Niagara and the Agamemnon, were loaned by the United States and English governments, and the great enterprise was launched in 1857—the same year that saw the first telegraph line completed across the American continent. The start was made with ceremony from the coast of Ireland, but the cable broke when only 400 miles out.

Four Failures in Succession Field and Bright were not discouraged, and they made a second attempt the following year. The same two ships met in mid-ocean, each carrying a part of the heavy cable. The two sections were spliced together, and the ships steamed away toward the opposite shores, each unreeling its part of the cable. Three times the cable parted after a number of miles had been covered, and three times it was spliced anew, but all in vain. After a fourth break the effort had to be abandoned.

A storm of ridicule broke on the luckless promoters, and they had great difficulty in getting the money to re-equip the ships. But the money was raised, and a year later the ships once more met in mid-ocean, again spliced their cables, and proceeded cautiously on their way. Ships passed too near for the safety of the sinking cable, and floating icebergs and the antics of a whale nearby gave rise to much fear and anxiety; but at last, on Aug. 5, 1858, each ship reached its harbor with the 2,000 miles of precious cable still intact and with telegraph signals still passing through it. The rejoicing was general on both sides of the water. Queen Victoria and Pres ident Buchanan exchanged congratulatory cable messages, because of the new bond of union between the two countries; and the men who had persevered in the face of such obstacles were publicly honored.