A CENTURY OF THE TELEGRAPH IN FRANCE. 801 



On some great tables are installed the apparatus with all their 

 accessories ; each employee has allotted to her a space about 

 ninety by ninety centimetres. Before each one there is a bar with 

 three spikes, where they have to place separately the dispatches 

 for abroad, the province, and Paris. In the middle of the hall is 

 a bureau for the direction of the dispatches ; two factors are at- 

 tached to each section, one for unspiking the dispatches and car- 

 rying them to the direction, the other for distributing the dis- 

 patches on the posts. There is furthermore an elevator near the 

 direction for mounting or descending the telegrams, because the 

 men's hall, situated above, possesses all the wires connecting with 

 the great cities of France as well as to abroad. 



The basement is assuredly one of the most interesting jDarts of 

 the poste-central. There are found some vaulted cellars devoted 

 to the nine thousand elements of piles in service ; in other places 

 one will see some dynamo-electric machines, refilling pumps, etc. 

 This is certainly not one of the least interesting features, that of 

 seeing steam engines become the auxiliaries of telegraphy. 



These machines work, on one part, the compressing pumps 

 destined to run the Hughes apparatus and the dynamo-electric 

 machines necessary for the production of the electric light. They 

 work equally a dynamo-electric apparatus (an auto-regulator), 

 which an agent of the central post, P. Picard, has had the ingen- 

 ious idea to invent for replacing the piles. 



Between them, the French writers, K. Fichot and H. Meyer, 

 have managed to produce a fairly creditable account on the occa- 

 sion and descriptively historical of the centenary of the founda- 

 tion in France of the telegraph. The Parisians have celebrated 

 the event, and while so feting the centennial of the aerial tele- 

 graph they were almost at the same time, in a way, celebrat- 

 ing the golden jubilee of the introduction into Gaul of the elec- 

 tric telegrajDh, which was established at Paris just close on fifty 

 years ago. 



The interesting and curious paper of the Gaulois literarians 

 above named will not be noticed in the French technical press 

 (or, at least, it is not believed it will be) ; therefore an advanced 

 translation is forwarded for the edification of EDglish-speaking 

 readers. In this rendering the purity of the original has been 

 faithfully preserved as much as possible, even unto preserving 

 some of the idiomatic peculiarities of expression of the vernacular. 



It will be seen that the present summary is moderately com- 

 plete, detailing the introduction of the telegraph, some rather 

 surprising comparisons ; then the advent and progress and a few 

 statistics of the present-day electric telegraph, description of the 

 Paris great central bureau, etc. 



VOL. XLIT. 59 



