THE LINE TO FRANKFORT. DIFFICULTIES. 93 



as quickly as possible. This was however rendered 

 difficult on the one hand by the disturbed political 

 condition of affairs, on the other by altogether unex- 

 pected phenomena, which manifested themselves in the 

 underground conductors. My friend Halske. to whom 

 had been consigned the fitting of the finished parts 

 of the line with signalling apparatus, was the first to 

 encounter these phenomena whilst I was engaged upon 

 the line between Eisenach and Frankfort . which it 

 had been resolved to carry above-ground, as the rail- 

 way was still in course of construction - the land 

 even having been only in part acquired. 



Halske found first of all that with shorter lines 

 our self -interrupting indicator telegraphs acted with 

 much greater speed than corresponded to the resistance 

 of the line. When communication between Berlin and 

 Cothen had been established, a distance of about 95 

 English miles, the giving apparatus ran with double 

 velocity whilst the receiving apparatus stopped alto- 

 gether. This at the time inexplicable phenomenon 

 occurred the earlier the better the lines were insulated, 

 which induced Halske purposely to impair the insulation 

 of the line by the addition of artificial watery by- 

 passes. 



The above-ground construction likewise encountered 

 unexpected difficulties. Where the land for the future 

 railroad had not yet been purchased, the owners would 

 not permit the erection of the posts. This opposition 

 was encountered especially in the non-Prussian parts, 

 Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt, when the antagonism 



