the pbesident's ADDBESS. 87 



perintendent of the observatory at "Washington, who deservedly oc- 

 cupies a high place among scientific men, in reporting on this sur- 

 vey, expresses no doubt of the ultimate success of the undertaking. 

 " There is at the bottom of this sea between Cape Eace in New- 

 " foundland and Cape Clear in Ireland, a remarkable steppe, which 

 "is already known as the telegraphic plateau," and extends for 

 some 1300 miles in water so deep as to be beneath the effect of any 

 tempest which may agitate the surface, for it has been ascertained 

 " that the currents do not reach down to the bottom of the deep 

 " sea, and that there are no abrading agents there, save alone the 

 " gnawing tooth of time." 



The principal difficulty anticipated was the size of the cable sup- 

 posed to be necessary, not to resist the action of the sea, but to 

 transmit messages at a speed sufficient to ensure commercial success. 

 On this subject a paper was read in August last before the British 

 Association for the advancement of Science, by Mr. E. O. "W. 

 Whitehouse, in which he discussed the question whether the law 

 of the squares was applicable or not to the transmission of signals 

 in submarine circuits ; and as the result of experiments on the 

 limit to the rapidity and distinctness of utterance attainable — his 

 experiments reaching over wires to the length of 1020 miles — he 

 states his conviction that " nature knows no such application of that 

 law," and that we may shortly expect to see a cable not much 

 exceeding in weight a ton per mile, containing three, four, or five 

 conductors, connecting Europe with America at an expense of less 

 than one-fourth of such a one as would be necessary if the law of 

 (the squares were held to be good in its application to submarine 

 ■currents, and if the deductions as to the necessary size of that wire, 

 based upon that law, could be proved valid. Although his positions 

 were combated, yet the result of his views as to the necessary size 

 .of the wire seems to have been adopted, for in an extract from Lt. 

 Maury's report it is said : " It may now be considered as a settled 

 " principle in submarine telegraphy, that the true character of a 

 " cable for the deep sea is not that of an iron rope as large as a 

 •" man's arm, but a single copper wire, or a fascicle of wires coated 

 " with gutta percha, pliant and supple, and not larger than a lady's 

 " finger," or, at any rate, than an alderman's thumb ! 



I have seen it stated that the manufacture of this cable is already 

 commenced, and you are all well aware of the support to the finan- 

 cial part of the undertaking, promised by the British Government. 

 It is difficult to estimate the importance of its success to the North 



