36 THE NORTH ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. circuit—the longest in the world. It was laid on the 5th of August 1858, and, at the time, it was announced as a success. The Secretary of the Atlantic Company published a statement that 99 words [The Queen’s despatch to the President] had been transmitted through the cable in 67 minutes, being less than 1 [ word per minute. Suppose that 99 words were actually received through the old cable in 67 consecutive minutes, or at the rate of 90 words per hour, the result was not favourable. The line was then capable of sending but 1800 words per day,* 18,080 messages of twenty words each per annum, which at 21. would amount to but 36,160/. I do not think that such an income could, however, be realised on a line of that circuit and con- duction. The Capital of that company was over 400,000/., and the interest upon that capital and expense of administration would have required an income of at least 45,000/. I have now explained what was the result of the old • Atlantic line, and what would probably have been realised. This too was after the company had assured the world that ten words per minute could be expected through the cable, and that such a result had been conclusively demonstrated. The North Atlantic route, via Greenland, will be composed of four submarine sections, each operated as an independent electric circuit, as follows, viz.: from Scotland to the Faroe Isles, about 250 miles of cable, from thence to Iceland, about 350 miles; from Iceland to Greenland, about 550 milesf; and from Greenland to Labrador, about 600 miles of cable. One line of cables laid from Scotland, via Faroe Isles to Iceland can be so constructed as to transmit equal to three cables, or lines of communication, laid across the other two sections of the route, and if the two longer sections of the cables be constructed conformably to fixed and demonstrated laws of commercial telegraphy, twenty words per minute can be realised through the cable, seventeen of which may be considered as commercial. It remains a financial problem whether the cables shall be constructed so as to commercially transmit ten, fifteen, or twenty words per minute. On short circuits, like those of the northern route, the solution lies, side by side with our present experience in submarine telegraphy, while on the other hand, no such results can be attained on long circuits, such, for example, as from Ireland to Newfoundland. The maximum speed of transmission of messages over telegraph lines may be estimated according to the following data:—A line that transmits 40 words per minute may be considered as perfect, * Estimating twenty hours for commercial business, and four hours for adminis- trative or non-commercial dispatches ; and 812 working days per annum. f If the cable is carried around to a fiord on the south-west coast, it will be about 760 miles. These figures must be considered as but proximates.

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