TEHUANTEPEC 



5731 



TELAUTOGRAPH 



a snow-clad peak of the Elburz Mountains, 

 about seventy miles south of the Caspian Sea 

 and 210 miles north of Ispahan (see map of Asia, 

 opposite page 417). Though it has developed 

 as a typical Oriental city, with narrow streets 

 and low, flat-roofed dwelling houses (see pic- 

 ture, page 4594), Teheran is gradually acquir- 

 ing modern improvements. 



The city lies in a region made productive by 

 water conducted from the mountains through 

 underground canals. These canals also provide 

 the inhabitants with their water supply. Cara- 

 vans bring their merchandise to this market, 

 and the people carry on in a modest way the 

 manufacture of cotton, linen, carpets, ironwork, 

 hats and shoes. There are tramways within the 

 place, and a local railway line extends from 

 Teheran to a suburb six miles distant. There 

 is connection also with Resht, 217 miles away 

 on the Caspian Sea, by a good carriage road. 

 Harun-al-Rashid (which see), of Arabian Nigh ts 

 fame, was born in the vicinity of Teheran. In 

 the summer unpleasant climatic conditions drive 

 the wealthier residents to the mountains. In the 

 winter there are more than 280,000 inhabitants 

 in the city, of whom about 600 are Europeans. 



TEHUANTEPEC, tawahntapek', ISTHMUS 

 OF, the narrowest portion of the American con- 

 tinent north of Costa Rica. It comprises that 

 part of. Mexico lying between the Gulf of Cam- 

 peche, an arm of the Gulf of Mexico, and the 

 Gulf of Tehuantepec, a part of the Pacific, and 

 includes the southeastern parts of the states of 

 Vera Cruz and Oaxaca and small districts of 



Chiapas and Lobasco. The isthmus is 120 miles 

 across at its narrowest point; its mountains are 

 broad and low, and since the days of Cortez it 

 has been considered a favorable route for an 

 interoceanic . canal or railway. In 1907 a rail- 

 road 150 miles long, joining Coatzacoalcos on 

 the Atlantic and Salina Cruz on the Pacific, 

 was opened for traffic. It is operated jointly 

 by the Mexican government and the construct- 

 ing company, an English firm. 



TELAUTOGRAPH, id aw' ton graj, an in- 

 strument for transmitting writing by electricity. 

 A facsimile of what is written or drawn on the 

 transmitter is instantaneously reproduced and 

 recorded by receiving instruments at one or 

 more stations, each of which is connected to 

 the transmitting station by two lines of wire 

 carrying an electric current. 



The machine is about as wide as an ordinary 

 typewriter and somewhat taller. It is placed 

 on a desk or table in a position convenient for 

 the hand. The metal writing stylus resembles 

 an ordinary lead pencil, and has two silk cords 

 attached near the point and connected with the 

 transmitter. By its movements over the metal 

 plate, the stylus sends varying currents through 

 these cords and over the line wires connected 

 with other stations, which electrically operate 

 the distant receiving pens. These pens repro- 

 duce the same motions, thus duplicating the 

 writing. The receiving pen is a modification of 

 an ordinary draughting pen, and is moved by 

 supporting arms connected with the live wires. 

 When not in use the pen rests witji its point 



Fig. 1 



Fig. 2 



HOW HANDWRITING IS TRANSMITTED BY ELECTRICITY 

 Fig. 1 shows the transmitting, or sending, station ; Fig. 2 is the receiving station. 



