216 OUR PHYSICAL WORLD 



this place, where they arrived yesterday, and this morning the end of cable 

 will be landed. 



It is 1,698 nautical or 1,950 statute miles from the telegraph house, at 

 the head of Valentia Harbor, to the telegraph house at Bay of Bulls, Trinity 

 Bay, and for more than two- thirds of this distance the water is more than 

 two miles in depth. 



The cable has been laid out from the Agamemnon at about the same 

 speed as from the Niagara. The electrical signals sent and received through 

 the whole cable are perfect. The machinery for paying out the cable worked 

 in the most satisfactory manner, and was not stopped a single moment from 

 the time the splice was made until we arrived. 



Captain Hudson, Messrs. Everett and Woodhouse, the engineers Und 

 electricians, and officers of the ships, and in fact every man on board the 

 Telegraph Fleet, have exerted themselves to the utmost to make the expedi- 

 tion successful and by the Divine Providence it has succeeded. After the 

 end of the cable is landed and connected with the land line of the telegraph, 

 and the Niagara has discharged some cargo belonging to the Telegraph 

 Company, she will go to St. Johns for coal, and proceed at once to New 

 York. 



CYRUS W. FIELD 



LETTER FROM MR. FIELD TO THE PRESIDENT, 



PHILADELPHIA, August 5th. The President, who is at Bedford, received 

 the first intimation of the successful laying of the Atlantic Cable through 

 the Associated Press. The following is a copy of Mr. Field's message 

 to the President of the United States, at Washington: 



DEAR SIR: The Atlantic Telegraph cable on board the U.S. steam frigate 

 Niagara and her British Majesty's Agamemnon was joined hi mid-ocean, 

 July 29th, and has been successfully laid; and as soon as the two ends are 

 connected with the land lines, Queen Victoria will send a message to you, 

 and the cable will be kept free until your reply has been transmitted. 

 With great respect, 



I remain 



Your obd't serv't, 



CYRUS W. FIELD 



Not only is it now possible to send messages by telegraph, 

 which are then printed at the receiving station by the electric 

 receiving apparatus, but signatures and photographs can also 

 be faithfully transmitted. The principle of the transmission of a 

 photograph is perfectly simple even if it is marvelously ingenious. 



