74 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



because it is the principal centre of the telegraphic enterprise of 

 the world, and musters consequently the greatest number of 

 Telegraph Engineers. It is a remarkable fact that the manu- 

 facture of insulated wire, and of submarine cables, is almost 

 entirely confined to the banks of the Thames. London also is 

 very accessible, and is actually visited more than any other capital 

 by the engineers and the enterprising of all nations. 



A serious difficulty in the way of giving to our proceedings an 

 international character, will arise, no doubt, through the diversity 

 of languages dividing different nations. Many foreign engineers 

 understand the English language, but others do not, and we could 

 hardly expect their accession to our number unless we offered them 

 our proceedings either in their own language, or at least in another 

 language besides English, which they may understand. It may 

 safely be assumed that every educated person throughout the 

 civilised world speaks either French, German, or English, and it 

 does not appear to me improbable that the time may come when 

 we shall publish our proceedings in those three languages. The 

 only condition necessary for such a course would be a sufficient 

 accession of foreign members to warrant the expense of translation 

 and printing. 



The expense of publishing a complete record of Telegraphic 

 progress will certainly exceed the limits of our subscriptions, and 

 it is proposed to establish a publishing fund, by voluntary 

 donations and subscriptions, which it is hoped will be favourably 

 received. We shall in this respect only follow the example set us 

 by the Chemical Society, who have thus succeeded in producing 

 the most valuable record of chemical progress. 



History teaches us how to read the events of the present day 

 and what we may reasonably look forward to even in the future ; 

 let us therefore review shortly in our minds the remarkable history 

 of the Eleciric Telegraph, in order that we may be better prepared 

 to deal with questions of immediate interest. 



A generation has hardly passed away since the remarkable dis- 

 coveries of Oersted, Ampere, Faraday, and Weber, which laid the 

 foundation of the electro-magnetic telegraph. The names of 

 Steinheil, Schilling, Ronalds, Wheatstone, Cooke, and Morse, 

 furnish us with striking illustrations of the readiness with which 

 the thinking men of different nations turn scientific discovery to 



