The First Atlantic Cables 



"Mr. Latimer Clark had the conductor of the 

 1865 and 1866 lines joined together at the New- 

 foundland end, thus forming an unbroken length 

 of 3,700 miles in circuit. He then placed some 

 sulphuric acid in a very small silver thimble, with 

 a fragment of zinc weighing a grain or two. By 

 this primitive agency he succeeded in conveying 



Fig. 62. Siphon recorder 



signals through twice the breadth of the Atlantic 

 Ocean in little more than a second of time after 

 making contact. The deflections were not of a 

 dubious character, but full and strong, from which 

 it was manifest that an even smaller battery 

 would suffice to produce somewhat similar 

 effects. 



At first in operating the Atlantic cable a mirror 

 galvanometer was employed as a receiver. The 

 principle of this receiver has often been illustrated 

 53 



