THE TELEGRAPHIC PLATEAU. 143 



ments are yet far too few to allow it to be predicated 

 with certainty that much greater depressions do not 

 exist in other oceans. 



Across this ocean it is found that a remarkable 

 causeway or elevated ridge of table-ground runs, con- 

 necting the shores of the British Isles with New- 

 foundland. The availability of this causeway for a 

 submarine telegraph was instantly seen, and it has 

 received the name of the Telegraphic Plateau. The 

 bold attempt to connect the two sides of the ocean 

 with an electric wire, its transient success, and its 

 subsequent, failure, are fresh in the minds of my 

 readers ; and I need not further allude to these 

 facts, except to say that, in the judgment of men best 

 acquainted with the subject, there is no doubt of the 

 practicability of the scheme, when certain elements of 

 failure, already recognised, are eliminated. 



According to Maury, the coating of iron wire coiled 

 around the conductor should be omitted, as serving 

 no good purpose ; as immensely increasing the size 

 and weight, and therefore the difficulty of manipula- 

 tion, as well as the cost ; and as throwing a needless 

 strain upon the straight conducting line of copper 

 wires. He would adopt the " Kogers cord," which 

 consists of a conducting-wire braided, whipcord fashion, 

 with bobbin or twine, after insulation, and then pro- 

 tected with a cement, which shields the gutta-percha 

 from injury; the whole cord being so slender and 

 easily handled that a single ship may carry the whole, 

 and " pay" it out as she proceeds. The weight of the 



