SPEECH OP COL. SHAFFNER AT GLASGOW. 13 In 1853 I commenced to devote the whole of my energies towards the consummation of a telegraph between the two hemi- spheres. Some years previous to that I had been engaged in the construction of submarine telegraphs in America. My service in that capacity satisfied my mind that a telegraph line could be con- structed from America to Europe. The views which I then held were not in whole subsequently sustained. It was supposed to be possible to work a line from Newfoundland to Ireland. Many telegraphers did not suppose it was possible to lay a line between Newfoundland and Ireland. The United States government about that time had instituted soundings of the North Atlantic Ocean, and the plummet found bottom in parts of the ocean which, prior to that time, had been supposed to be fathomless. Notwith- standing the bottom had been found with the ordinary plummet, telegraphers were not willing to admit that it was possible to lay a cable in the ocean. In the latter part of 1853 I commenced to advocate the practicability of laying a cable in the ocean, in a magazine established by me for that purpose. That was the first point for consideration—Was it possible to lay a cable in the deep sea ? The next—Was it practicable to work a cable in the deep sea ? I advocated the affirmative of both of these proposi- tions, but did. not dare to venture my reputation as a telegrapher, at that time, to deal energetically with' the question. The press assailed me in every direction, and I was laughed at for my sup- posed folly; and one of the most prominent gentlemen engaged in telegraphing at that time made the following remark, which he published in an opposing magazine : “ Would Mr. Shaffner risk a cable, such as he found necessary to span inland waters a mile in width, where they have a soft, sandy bottom, as is usually found, to the caprice and unknown powers of the ocean, where the heaviest cable would float, without gravity,to reach the ocean’s bed?” Such was the opinion entertained at that time by gentlemen in America, and you cannot find any report of others in the art advocating the practicability of an ocean telegraph. About the same time, and after satisfying my friends that it was possible to get a cable to the bottom of the sea, arose a philosophical question, denominated among electricians the “retardation of the electric current” in subaqueous conductors; that is to say, that when a current of electricity is transmitted through a wire in a submarine cable, there is a development in nature which arrests the current you Propose to transmit; hence it requires more or less time for it to get to its termination. On air-lines we have nothing of that kind. Heat takes off the electricity from our lines,—so does fog; but in dry or cold air there is nothing that stops the celerity of the electric current when transmitted through air-lines. In cold

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