AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 615 



■Sir Charles Bright, and Mr. Whitehouse, some time since, made 

 experiments through 2000 miles of wire connected so as to form 

 a continuous circuit terminating, at both ends, in the earth. 

 Intermediate instruments were placed at each loop to test the 

 thorough action of the electrical waves through the entire length, 

 and signals were clearly defined at the rate of ten to twelve 

 words per minute. Two large induction coils, three feet in length, 

 excited by a powerful " grove" battery of fifty pint cells, but 

 connected for quantity in sets of ten, were used to generate the 

 currents, which were very powerful. From the results on this 

 2000 miles of wire, it appeared that no diflSculty is likely to 

 arise in working from Ireland to Newfoundland, that could not 

 be effectually dealt with. Portions of the submarine cable lead- 

 ing to Calais and Ostend, ruptured by anchors, were examined. 

 The iron wire was broken, yet the gutta-percha covering of the 

 copper wire was but little injured, and in as good a state as when 

 laid down, five and one-half years before. A trace of a drawing 

 made by Professor Wheatstone, in 1840, showing a submarine 

 cable insulated by tarred yarn and covered by iron wire, was 

 exhibited. It was made by Lutwiche, who left for Australia in 

 1841. It was always said of Lutwiche that he had aided Prof. 

 Wheatstone in the mechanical details of the submarine telegraph. 

 Experiments on long submerged wires were made in 1854, by 

 Latimer Clark. Lectured upon by Faraday, January 20, 1854. 



Prof. Wheatstone had proved the passage of the electric current 

 to reach the enormous speed of 288,000 miles per second. It is 

 believed that twenty words may pass from England to Newfound- 

 land in seven minutes, and 200 messages in a day. Other experi- 

 ments show, through 1600 miles of wire, an average speed of 

 1000 miles per second. The velocity is not constant. 



Mr. Thaddeus Sellec, of Greenwich, Conn., called the attention 

 of the Club to the iron works at Danville and vicinity, in Morton 

 county, Pennsylvania, within ten miles of the junction of the west 

 branch of the Susquehanna. 



Mr. Selleck calls attention to the vast extent of the work in 

 iron there. From the adjacent mines there are taken, every 



