THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



The instrument would, therefore, transmit to a distance of 1000 

 miles, in the space of an hour, the contents of about forty pages of 

 the book now in the hands of the reader ! 



But it must not be imagined, because we have here produced an 

 example of the transmission of a despatch to a Distance of 1000 

 miles, that any augmentation of that distance could cause any 

 delay of practical importance. 



10. Although the velocity of the electric current has not been 

 very exactly measured, it has been established beyond all doubt 

 that it is so great that to pass from any one point on the surface 

 of the earth to any other, it would take no more than an inappre- 

 ciable fraction of a second. 



11. If, therefore, the despatch had been sent to a distance of 

 twenty thousand miles instead of one thousand, its transmission 

 would still have been instantaneous. 



Such a despatch would fly many times round the earth between 

 the two beats of a common clock, and would be written in full at 

 the place of its destination more rapidly than it could be repeated 

 by word of mouth. When such statements are made, do we not 

 feel disposed to exclaim 



" Are such things here as we do speak about ? 

 Or have we eaten of the insane root, 

 That makes the reason prisoner ?" 



In its wildest flights the most exalted imagination would not have 

 dared, even in fiction, to give utterance to these stubborn 

 realities. Shakspeare only ventured to make his fairy 



*' Put a girdle round the earth 

 In forty minutes." 



To have encircled it several times in a second, would have seemed 

 too monstrous, even for Robin Goodfellow. 



The curious and intelligent reader of these pages will scarcely 

 be content, after the statement of facts so extraordinary, to 

 remain lost in vacant astonishment at the power of science, with- 

 out seeking to be informed of the manner in which the phenomena 

 of nature have been thus wonderfully subdued to the uses of man. 

 A very brief exposition will be enough to render intelligible the 

 manner in which these miracles of science are wrought. 



12. The World of Science is not agreed as to the physical 

 character of Electricity. According to the opinion of some it is a 

 fluid infinitely lighter and more subtle than the most attenuated 

 and impalpable gas, capable of moving through space with a 

 velocity commensurate with its subtleness and levity. Some 

 regard this fluid as simple. Others contend that it is compound, 

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