BELGIAN TELEGHAPHIC LINES. 



at the earliest possible moment of tlie exact locality in which a 

 fire may have broken out, and the alarm is immediately spread 

 over the entire city. 



Every one who is aroused by the alarm is enabled to tell at 

 once whether interest or duty calls him to the scene of action, and 

 the exact point to which assistance is summoned. Should the 

 alarm be given in the night, those whose attention is awakened 

 may ascertain from the tolling of the bell the precise quarter in 

 which danger threatens, and should they have been needlessly 

 disturbed, may rest in peace, and find in the knowledge that 

 they and theirs at least are in safety, a consolation for broken 

 slumbers. 



Telegraph wires in towns are almost universally carried along 

 the tops of houses, or on poles erected in the streets, instead 

 of being conveyed in pipes underground. So little difficulty is 

 met with on the part of proprietors of houses, that telegraph lines 

 are in some cases erected by private individuals for their own 

 particular use. As an instance, may be mentioned the case of a 

 large manufacturer in New York, who has an office in one part 

 of the city, while his works lie in a contrary direction. In order 

 to keep up a direct communication between both, he has erected 

 a telegraphic wire at his own expense, and carried it over the 

 tops of the houses intervening between his office and his works, 

 having obtained without any trouble the permission of their 

 various owners. 



BELGIAN TELEGRAPH LINES. 



288. Although in the extent of its territory Belgium is one of 

 the least considerable of the Continental States, it derives from 

 its position in relation to this country, much importance, so far as 

 regards telegraphic communications. By the submarine cable 

 between Dover and Ostend, or failing that, by the cable between 

 Dover and Calais, Belgium constitutes the most direct stage in 

 the telegraphic route to the Northern States. 



The Belgian telegraph lines, as well as the railways, are con- 

 structed, maintained, and administered by the state. Separate 

 systems of conducting wires are appropriated to the service of the 

 railways, which is performed exclusively with the alphabetical 

 apparatus of M. Lippens, already described (202). There are a 

 few exceptional cases on branch lines of railway, upon which the 

 state has not yet constructed telegraphs for the public service, 

 where private despatches are sent by the railway telegraphs, but 

 generally an extensive system of independent wires, with their 

 accessories, are adapted to this purpose, for which a large corps 

 of telegraphists has been formed. 



133 



