loo 
THE TELEGRAPH. 
Willoughby Smith has claimed priority 
for the idea of the iron protection to the 
cable, which was in fact adopted, and 
became the type of the cables laid at the 
present day (Fig. 38).. According to him 
this idea was communicated to Brett in 
1847, and specimens of this pattern of 
cable were manufactured at the workshops 
of the Gutta-Percha Company. The 
-different specimens.mentioned above were 
shown in the International Exhibition of 
1851, some months before a cable was 
laid. 
J. W. Brett has described the part 
taken by him in the promotion of sub¬ 
marine telegraphs, and we cannot do 
better than quote a part of his account: 
“It has been said that I have sought to 
appropriate to myself the honour of having 
invented submarine telegraphy. I here 
declare that my first idea of submarine 
telegraphs originated from a conversation 
I had with my brother in 1845, when we 
were discussing the electric telegraph 
established a short time before between 
London and Slough. When we were con¬ 
sidering the possibility of an entirely 
subterranean line, the question arose 
between us: 4 If this is possible under¬ 
ground, why not also under water ? and 
if it answers under water, why not also 
on the bed of the ocean ? ’ From that 
moment the possibility of a submarine 
telegraph took hold of my mind with the 
firmness of absolute conviction. But I 
was not aware, until 1853 or 1854, that 
Professor Wheatstone had previously con¬ 
ceived the idea of carrying a line across 
the Straits of Dover, and I was not even 
acquainted with the experiments that had 
