SCIENCE IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 



land the end of the cable. The Niagara is in Trinity 

 Bay, Newfoundland. There are good signals between 

 the ships." It was from Charles Bright (made Sir 

 Charles a few days later), announcing that the Eastern 

 and Western hemispheres were no longer separated by 

 weeks, but only by seconds. 



England received the news with the unbounded en- 

 thusiasm that can only come with complete surprise, or 

 after intense expectancy. "The rejoicings in America," 

 says The Times, "both in public and private, knew no 

 bounds. The astonishing news of the success of this 

 unparalleled enterprise, after such combats with storm 

 and sea, created universal enthusiasm, exaltation, and 

 joy, such as news perhaps never before produced by 

 any event, not even the discovery of the Western hemi- 

 sphere." 1 



Congratulatory and commercial messages were soon 

 being sent and received, and people of both hemispheres 

 were becoming accustomed to receiving news every 

 morning which two months before must have been two 

 weeks old at least, when on October 2oth, after a total 

 of 732 messages had been sent across the ocean, the 

 cable ceased to work. The knowledge of the electrician 

 had not kept pace with the engineer, and the destruction 

 of the cable had resulted from too strong and misap- 

 plied currents. 



IMPROVED METHODS AND NEW CARLES 



The depression following this catastrophe, however, 

 was not to be compared with that following some of the 

 earlier ones. A successful cable had been laid and oper- 



[40] 



