THE 



ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 



ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. 



The greatest achievement, in a scientific point of view, which 

 has occuiTed during the present year, is the successful laying of 

 the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, from Valentla, on the coast of Ire- 

 land, 2,000 miles across the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, to Heart's 

 Content, Newfoundland, electrically uniting Europe and America. 

 This is not only a marked epoch in the progress of science, and a 

 triumph over physical obstacles deemed insurmountable, but it is 

 an event of great international interest, and an inestimable com- 

 mercial boon — reflecting honor alike upon the skill of the me- 

 chanic, the science of the physicist, the intelligence of the sea- 

 man, and the liberality of the merchant. 



Foremost among the names of those who have contributed to 

 this successful result, is our countryman, Cyrus W. Field, who 

 for neai'ly thirteen years has labored, through good and evil re- 

 poi't, with indomitable energy, not resting till his cherished idea 

 had become a reality. 



From his remarks on various occasions, and from scientific 

 journals of England and this country, the following account of 

 the Atlantic Telegraph is condensed by the Editor. 



Ml". Field, at a banquet given in his honor at New York, Nov. 

 15, 1866, gave a brief history of this great undertaking, reported 

 in the "New York Times" of Nov. 16th, from which the fol- 

 lowing are extracts. Says Mr. Field : — 



" It is nearly thirteen years since half a dozen gentlemen of 

 this city met at my house for four successive evenings, andaround 

 a table covered with maps and charts, and plans and estimates, 

 considered a project to extend a line of telegrajjh from Nova 

 Scotia to St. Johns, in Newfomidland, thence to be carried across 

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