ON THE PROGRESS OP SCIENCE. XIX 



Prof. Bache. The Editor, M. Sedillot, after presenting an historical sum- 

 mary of the survey, says : " The superintendent was called to his eminent 

 post by a unanimous voice. Distinguished in the esteem of his fellow-citi- 

 zens by his useful publications, appreciated by the principal academies of 

 Europe, he has acquired a universal reputation by the services which he is 

 daily rendering to science, and by the improvements of every kind which 

 his skill has introduced into the different branches of the coast survey." 

 After dwelling somewhat on the organization and results of the survey, 

 he adds : "In speaking of the eminent services rendered by the coast sur- 

 vey to science and humanity, we make known only a very small part of 

 the results of this admirable enterprise. Directed in all its branches with 

 zeal and activity, it cannot fail to add every year to the consideration with 

 which it is surrounded, not only in the United States, but also in all 

 countries where science and its application to the arts of life are duly 

 appreciated. ' ' 



The magnetic telegraph system is now rapidly extending over the whole 

 European continent. Already a line is completed from Ostend to Trieste, 

 a distance of more than two thousand miles. Three lines of telegraph are 

 also in operation in the interior of Hungary. Preparations are also mak- 

 ing, by the Turkish Government, to introduce the telegraph into that coun- 

 try, and a commission to make the necessary arrangements has been 

 appointed by the Sultan. In Sweden and Norway, an American, by the 

 name of Robinson, is engaged in the construction of a number of lines of 

 telegraph ; a privilege having been granted him by the government, to 

 endure for fifty years. The successful completion of the submarine tele- 

 graph between England and France has led to the serious consideration 

 of a submarine telegraph between England and the United States. This 

 event we regard as by no means improbable, and the prediction has been 

 hazarded, that, within ten years from 1852, the transactions in Europe and 

 America, of each day, will be reported and published in both countries on 

 the succeeding day. We invite the attention of these who may feel scep- 

 tical in regard to this subject, to an article in the present number of the 

 Annual of Scientific Discovery, entitled " Thoughts on Telegraphic Commu- 

 nication twenty years ago." 



The London Athenaeum, in speaking of the transatlantic telegraph, says : 

 " There seems nothing impracticable in such an undertaking. A conviction 

 has been expressed, by those conversant in these matters, that a single line 

 of communication between England and the nearest point of America might 

 be established for a less sum than was paid for making a single mile of the 

 expensive portion of the Great Western (English) Railway. In this estimate 

 it is proposed to have only a single wire, covered with gutta percha, similar to 

 that used in 1851 , to prove the practicability of passing an electric current 

 across the Straits of Dover. To this would be added the additional protec- 



