220 PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY OF THE SEA : 



there any distance to which this principle of detection may 

 not be applied, supposing that the defect is limited to a 

 single spot only. The discerning of a fault, however, and 

 even of the place of its occurrence, is much easier than its 

 repair; and here will be found, we apprehend, the great 

 practical hindrance to spanning the Atlantic by a telegraphic 

 cable. The large expense of the work demands a security 

 for its permanence which it will be very difficult, if not im- 

 possible, to obtain. The evidence derived from other and 

 shorter submarine lines does not yet suffice to give this 

 guarantee. 



As to the practical results to the welfare of the world, and 

 more especially of England and America, from the contingent 

 completion of this singular work, we are not altogether per- 

 suaded by the current phraseology of the day. It is easy to 

 affirm that whatever gives fresh facilities to human com- 

 munication, is productive of good, and difficult perhaps to 

 disprove the assertion. But in so stating the matter, we must 

 keep in mind that it is the speed of intelligence only which 

 is here chiefly in question. Doubts may suggest themselves, 

 whether the farthing-a-pound fluctuations in the price of 

 cotton deserve a daily transmission across the Atlantic ; espe- 

 cially as the same means may be used to tell the fact almost 

 simultaneously to every Liverpool broker or Manchester 

 manufacturer. The demand for any particular article of 

 traffic, whether raw or manufactured, is rarely so sudden or 

 impetuous as not to be able to await transmission by the next 

 steamer. A criminal fugitive may be arrested at the moment 

 of landing, by his description outrunning him on the ocean, 

 or relatives be brought sooner to a distant bed of sickness ; 

 but the simple tidings of friendship or family affection will 

 not trust themselves to be interpreted by the vibrations of a 

 needle, and the translations of a hired pen. Even in the 

 more serious matters of diplomacy, we may doubt whether 



