THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. 339 



In confirmation of these views as to tlie existence of a cusliion 

 of still water at the bottom, I bring in for farther evidence the 

 testimony afibrded by Commander Dayman, E. N., while running 

 his line of deep-sea soundings along the telegraphic plateau, in 

 H. B. M. S. Cyclops. On one occasion he hauled up from the bot- 

 tom a coil of two hundred fathoms of deep-sea line. It had been 

 laid at the bottom round and round in a coil with as much regu- 

 larity as it could have been coiled on deck by hand, thus showing 

 either that there was no current there at all, or that the upper and 

 the under currents so nearly counteracted each other that the line 

 passed perpendicularly through the still water. 



The tiny Nautilus rides out the hurricane, and weathers storms 

 in which the stoutest men-of-war have foundered ; and, in order 

 to make progress in submarine telegraphy, we must proceed upon 

 the principle that a slack line in the sea ivill hold longer than a 

 taut cahle^ for the forces of its waves and its currents are not to be 

 overcome by such powers of resistance as human fabrics have the 

 strength to offer. 



I have no doubt whatever as to the ultimate success of a tele- 

 graph across the Atlantic. Indeed, the only limit to our power 

 to estabhsh at pleasure lines of submarine telegraph is the limit, 

 if any, which Nature herself may have imposed upon the galvanic 

 current. The sea offers no obstructions on account of its depths 

 or its currents to lines of any length. 



A line with an unbroken conducting wire across the Atlantic 

 or Pacific is as practicable as one across the Alps or the Andes. 

 In the long run, and mile for mile, I do not think there would be 

 much, if any difference as to cost between the transmontane and 

 the submarine line. 



1029. The real question for future p-ojectors of lines of siibmarine 

 telegrai^h is not how deep^ or hoio hoisterous^ or hoiv wide the sea is, 

 but ivhat are the electrical limits to the length ofsuhmarine lines.^ 



* See Journal of the BoyaJ Dublin Society, Nos. XIL and XIII. : "Letter to John 

 Locke, Esq., on the Atlantic Telegi-aph Cable : Causes of Failure and Probabilities 

 of ultimate Success, by M. F. JVIaukt." Read Friday evening, January 28, 1859. 



Observatory, May, 1859. 



