XC REPORT — 1875, 



a commercial point of view, the time during which the wire is occupied in the 

 transmission of a message is considerably diminished. 



By the application of these automatic systems to telegraphy, the speed of 

 transmission has been wonderfully accelerated, being equal to 200 words a 

 minute — that is, faster than a shorthand writer can transcribe ; and, in fact, 

 words can now be passed along the wires of land lines with a velocity greater 

 than can be dealt with by the human agency at either end. 



Owiag partly to the retarding effects of induction and other causes, the speed 

 of transmission by long submarine cables is much smaller. With the cable 

 of 1858 only 2^ words per minute were got through. The average with the 

 Atlantic cable, Dr. C. W. Siemens informs me, is now 17 words ;.but24 words 

 per minute can be read. 



One of the most striking phenomena in telegraphy is that known as the 

 duplex system, which enables messages to be sent from each end of the same 

 wire at the same time. This simultaneous transmission from both ends of a 

 wire was proposed in the early days of telegraphy, but, owing to imperfect 

 insulation, was not then found to be practicable ; but since then telegraphic 

 wires have been better insulated, and the system is now becoming of great 

 utility, as it nearly doubles the capacity for work of every wire. 



And yet within how short a period of time has aU the wonderful progress 

 in telegraphy been achieved ! How incredulous the world a few years ago 

 would have been if then told of the marvels which in so short a space of time 

 were to be accomplished by its agency ! 



It is not long ago (1823) that Mi*, (afterwards Sir Francis) Eonald, one of the 

 early pioneers in this field of science, published a description of an electric 

 telegraph. He communicated his views to Lord Melville, and that nobleman 

 was obliging enough to reply that the subject should bo inquired into ; but 

 before the nature of Sir Francis Ronald's suggestions could be known, except to a 

 few, that gentleman received a reply from Mr. Barrow " that telegraphs of any 

 Idnd were then wholly unnecessary, and that no other than the one then in use 

 would be adopted," the one then in use being the old semaphore, which, 

 crowning the tops of hills between London and Portsmouth, seemed perfec- 

 tion to the Admiralty of that day. 



I am acquainted with some who, when the first Transatlantic cable was 

 proposed, contributed towards that undertaking with the consciousness that 

 it was only an experiment, and that subscribing to it was much the same 

 thing as throwing their money into the sea. Much of this cable was lost in 

 the first attempt to lay it ; but_ its j)romoters, nothing daunted, made 900 

 miles more cable, and finally laid it successfully in the following year, 1858. 



The telegraphic system of the world comprises almost a complete girdle 

 round the earth ; and it is probable that the missing link will be supplied by 

 a cable between San Francisco in California and Yokohama in Japan. 



How resolute and courageous those who engaged in submarine telegraphy 



