122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



PRIVATE TELEGRAPHS. 



The establishment of private telegraph wires in Great Britain* is 

 becoming quite frequent, and a company, even, called the " Private 

 Telegraph Company " has been instituted in London. 



Instead of having wires as in ordinary cases, they suspend from 

 posts a rope containing a multitude of wires perhaps thirty, or, if 

 that is not enough, forty or fifty, or more. One feature of such a 

 plan is, that all parties can have a telegraphic communication at a 

 very reasonable rate. The expense of erecting telegraphs according 

 to the ordinary system is about sixty-five pounds per mile; but by 

 the plan proposed by the new company, of multitudinous wires, parties 

 were enabled to rent a wire at a sum of four pounds per mile per 

 annum. Therefore, merchants residing one, two, or three miles 

 from their places of business, or having places of business so far apart, 

 can have private communication at either four, eight or twelve pounds 

 per annum. Another great feature connected with the establishment 

 of this company is this, the apparatus is so simple, that parties require 

 no instruction in the use of it. To send a message it is only necessary 

 to press the key opposite any of the letters of the ordinary English 

 alphabet, which are marked on an index, and by turning a little handle 

 the message is immediately transmitted to a corresponding instrument 

 at the other end. Another thing connected with the instrument is the 

 total absence of battery power, the current being produced by turning 

 a piece of soft iron near a magnet. The power being so generated, 

 and the magnet not being liable to deteriorate, the instrument is 

 at all times in perfect order. People might leave their houses for 

 six months, and when they went back they would find it in order. 



In Manchester, Mr. W. Fairbairn, the eminent engineer, had con- 

 sented to carry out the principles of the company, and Professor 

 Wheatstone had undertaken the management in London, where it 

 was intended to have wires erected between the Houses of Parliament, 

 the Exchange, and all the principal newspaper offices. 



THE ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC OVERLAND TELEGRAPH. 



One of the most important events in the scientific or commercial 

 history of the past year (1861), has been the completion and success- 

 ful operation of a line of telegraphs across the North American con- 

 tinent, between the Atlantic and Pacific States. The inception of 

 this enterprise dates from 1859, when the project was brought before 

 a convention of representatives of the various telegraphic companies 

 of the United States, and application to Congress for assistance in 

 completing the work agreed on. Such application was duly made, 

 and in June, I860, Congress passed a bill authorizing and directing 

 the Secretary of the Treasury to advertise for proposals to carry a 

 line of telegraph to California, across the continent, within two years 

 from July 31st, I860, securing certain privileges to the government 

 and to the proprietors of the line. 



Mr. Cobb, who Avas then Secretary of the Treasury, did not favor 

 the project ; and the telegraph companies seem to have been averse 

 to entering the field or risking money on the enterprise. In August, 



