TELEGRAPHIC REPORTING IN AMERICA. 



77 



length of eight miles of insulated 

 wire; and he describes minutely 

 the contrivances necessary for 

 adapting the principle to telegra- 

 phic communication. 



It is, however, to the joint labours 

 of Messrs. W. F. Cooke and Pro- 

 fessor Wheatstone, that electric 

 telegraphs owe their practical ap- 

 plication; and, in a statement of 

 the facts respecting their relative 

 positions in connection with the 

 invention, drawn up at their re- 

 quest by Sir M. I. Brunei and Pro- 

 fessor Daniell, it is observed that 

 "Mr. Cooke is entitled to stand 

 alone, as the gentleman to whom 

 this country is indebted for having 

 practically introduced and carried 

 out the electric telegraph as a use- 

 ful undertaking, promising to be a 

 work of national importance ; and 

 Professor Wheatstone is acknow- 

 ledged as the scientific man whose 

 profound and successful researches 

 had already prepared the public to 

 receive it as a project capable of 

 practical application." (Penny Cy- 

 clopaadia.) 



LESS THAN NO TIME. 



By the electric telegraph on the 

 Great Western Railway has been 

 accomplished the apparent paradox 

 of sending a message in 1845, and 

 receiving it in 1844! Thus, a few 

 seconds after the clock had struck 

 twelve, on the night of the 31st of 

 December, the superintendent at 

 Paddington signalled his brothel- 

 officer at Slough, that he wished 

 him a happy New Year. An an- 

 swer was instantly returned, sug- 

 gesting that the wish was prema- 

 ture, as the year had not yet arrived 

 at Slough ! The fact is the differ- 

 ence of longitude makes the point 

 of midnight at Slough a little after 

 that at Paddington ; so that a given 

 instant, which was after midnight 

 at one station, was before midnight 

 at the other. Or, the wonder may 

 be more readily understood, when 



it is recollected that the motion of 

 electricity is far more rapid than 

 the diurnal motion of the earth. 



We hear of similar feats in the 

 United States. Thus, a letter from 

 Indiana says, "That wonderful in- 

 vention, the magnetic telegraph, 

 passes through our country from 

 the eastern cities, communicating 

 intelligence almost instantaneously. 

 News has been transmitted from 

 Philadelphia to Cincinnati, a dis- 

 tance of 750 miles, on one unbroken 

 chain of wires. Of course, as Cin- 

 cinnati is 13 degrees west of Phila- 

 delphia, or 40 minutes of time later, 

 the news is that much a-head of the 

 time." (London Anecdotes.) 



TELEGRAPHIC REPORTING IN 

 AMERICA. 



The Pittsburgh Chronicle gives 

 the following striking instance of 

 the use of the electric telegraph on 

 the other side of the Atlantic, and 

 of enterprise on the part of a pub- 

 lisher. A speech by Mr. Clay was 

 much looked for. It was delivered 

 in Lexington on a Saturday, and 

 the proprietor of the New York 

 Herald determined on beating his 

 contemporaries. Express riders 

 were ready, and in less than five 

 hours his report of the speech (a 

 full one) was in Cincinnati. Noti- 

 fications had been sent along the 

 line of telegraph to " look out ;" 

 and at four o'clock on Sunday morn- 

 ing, the publisher of the Herald 

 received in New York a copy of the 

 speech, the distance being more 

 than 1100 miles ! This was done 

 during a heavy rain, and while a 

 thunder-shower was passing over a 

 portion of both the eastern and 

 western lines. At Cincinnati, where 

 it was to be copied in passing, the 

 telegraph suddenly ceased 'working, 

 to the dismay of the superintendent. 

 Being short of proper hands, he 

 mounted a horse, and followed the 

 line, through the pelting storm, 

 until he found a break, caused by 



