THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLES 

 GEORGE ILES 



[From "Flame, Electricity and the Camera," copyright 

 Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.fl 



ELECTRIC telegraphy on land has put a vast 

 distance between itself and the mechanical sig- 

 nalling of Chappe, just as the scope and availabil- 

 ity of the French invention are in high contrast 

 with the rude signal fires of the primitive savage. 

 As the first land telegraphs joined village to 

 village, and city to city, the crossing of water 

 came in as a minor incident; the wires were 

 readily committed to the bridges which spanned 

 streams of moderate width. Where a river or 

 inlet was unbridged, or a channel was too wide 

 for the roadway of the engineer, the question 

 arose, May we lay an electric wire under water ? 

 With an ordinary land line, air serves as so good 

 a non-conductor and insulator that as a rule 

 cheap iron may be employed for the wire instead 

 of expensive copper. In the quest for non-con- 

 ductors suitable for immersion in rivers, channels, 

 and the sea, obstacles of a stubborn kind were 

 confronted. To overcome them demanded new 

 materials, more refined instruments, and a com- 

 plete revision of electrical philosophy. 



As far back as 1795, Francisco Salva had re- 

 commended to the Academy of Sciences, Barce- 

 37 



