CELERITY OP BAIN ? S TELEGRAPH. 



England, its rate of transmission is slower than the double needle 

 telegraph. 



The advantage which attends its use is that it writes the 

 dispatch in cipher, which is preserved in the telegraphic office, so 

 that the labour of a clerk to copy the dispatch for reference is saved. 



It would follow from the comparison of this result with the 

 reports of the American telegraph, that the operators with Bain's 

 system in England are not as expert as those of Morse's in 

 America. But when the method of transmitting by a pre- 

 viously-prepared perforated ribbon, described in 194, is resorted 

 to, the apparatus is rendered absolutely automatic, no agency 

 being required either in the transmission or reception, save that 

 required for the perforation of the transmitting ribbon, and the 

 interpretation and transcription of the dispatch delivered in the 

 telegraphic cipher. 



Whatever may be thought of the practical difficulties which at 

 present obstruct the application of this method of rapid telegraphic 

 transmission, we cannot help thinking that it has before it a great 

 future, and that when, like the steam-engine as improved by 

 Watt, and the power-loom, it shall have had time to attain a 

 greater degree of practical perfection, and to surmount prejudice 

 and the opposing influence of counter-interests, it may be the 

 means of transferring, to the telegraph, a large part of that 

 business now done by the post-office. 



237. It is an amusing fact, that music has actually been trans- 

 mitted in this way by means of its rhythm. The following is 

 related by an eye-witness of the experiment at New York : 



" We were in the Hanover Street office when there was a pause 

 in business operations. Mr. W. Porter, of the office at Boston, 

 asked what tune we would have. We replied ' Yankee Doodle,' 

 and to our surprise he immediately complied with our request. 

 The instrument commenced drumming the notes of the tune as 

 perfectly and distinctly as a skilful drummer could have made 

 them at the head of a regiment ; and many will be astonished to 

 hear that ' Yankee Doodle ' can travel by lightning. We then 

 asked for ' Hail, Columbia ! ' when the notes of that national air were 

 distinctly beat off. We then asked for l Auld lang syne,' which was 

 given, and ' Old Dan Tucker,' when Mr. Porter also sent that tune, 

 and, if possible, in a more perfect manner than the others. So 

 perfectly and distinctly were the sounds of the tunes transmitted, 

 that good instrumental performers could have had no difficulty in 

 keeping time with the instruments at this end of the wires." * 



That a pianist in London should execute a fantasia at Paris, 



* Chambers' s Papers for the People, vol. ix. No. 71. 



71 



