NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 167 



England and Belgium with equal success, which had been in operation since 

 the 1st of May, 1853. He then explained some of the difficulties he had 

 encountered in laying down the two submarine lines in the Mediterranean 

 in July last, especially in passing a depth exceeding, by 100 fathoms, 

 what had previously been ascertained to exist on the route between 

 Piedmont and Corsica. The depths encountered between England and 

 France, and England and Belgium, did not exceed at their maximum 30 

 fathoms ; whereas the submarine cable was laid down in the Mediterranean 

 at a depth of 3oO fathoms, exceeding about eight times that of the English 

 Channel. It was the general impression that the submarine cable would 

 part by the great strain it would encounter in passing these great depths ; 

 for which reasons he was strongly advised, and more particularly by one 

 of the most able and experienced officers of the Sardinian Government, 

 who accompanied and aided the undertaking, to make a d-itour of about 

 eight miles by the Islands of Gorgona and Caprija, where the soundings 

 were known not to exceed 100 fathoms ; but the great point to be 

 considered was, whether he would not incur the risk of a total loss of the 

 cable by not doing so. The prudence of these arguments, Mr. Brett said, 

 he fully admitted, but that it was a question he was determined to solve 

 at once ; for as this telegraph was not a telegraph to Corsica, but part of 

 a line to India, to be shortly completed to Africa, where still greater depths 

 must be encountered, it was necessary to test the fact. He then explained 

 the difficulties they encountered in paying it out, when, after the line had 

 been paid out, as he believes, along the top of a submarine mountain for 

 some miles at a depth varying from 180 to 200 fathoms, it suddenly, as he 

 believes, came to the edge of a precipice, making a total of 3oO fathoms, 

 (exceeding by about 100 fathoms any depth marked in the various charts 

 on this route,) where it ran out with frightful velocity ; and had the cable 

 been less strong, the whole must, of necessity, have been lost ; and they 

 were compelled, nevertheless, to anchor by the electric cable all night, to 

 restore the injury that had occurred; but he felicitated himself upon the 

 experience thus gained from his determination in taking the deepest route, 

 as it had led to many valuable suggestions necessary to successful opera- 

 tions in great depths ; and the able commander, the Marquis Ricci, who 

 up to this time had been in doubt of its success, then admitted that this 

 kind of cable contained such remarkable elements of strength in its form 

 and combination, that he believed only certain improvements to be 

 necessary (on which we had been consulting) to successfully lay it down 

 even in the greater depths of the Atlantic. 



Mr. Brett, in conclusion, explained his reasons for selecting this line to 

 India, via Egypt, in preference to the line by the Italian peninsula, which 

 would ever be impeded by the jealousies and restrictions of the petty 

 States ; whereas, to the shores of Africa, the Mediterranean Telegraph 

 passed through only the States of France and Sardinia, which had encour- 

 aged it by liberal guaranties, and admitted that all communications, in 

 whatever language, should pass unrestricted through their states. From 



