"GCUrelegs Gelcgrapbg. 185 



been made to ring at both ends of the line by 

 a discharge from the cloud to the earth, and in 

 some cases the discharge was several miles 

 away. The wires could not have been affected 

 so powerfully in any other way than through 

 the earth. 



It will be seen by the foregoing statements 

 that it is possible to transmit messages through 

 the earth for long distances, but the difficulty 

 in the way of its becoming a general system 

 is twofold. First, we cannot always have a 

 thunder-cloud at hand from which to transmit 

 our signals, and, secondly, the signals would 

 1,, received alike at every station simulta- 

 neously. 



