on the Morse
telegraph, was employed, and the letter to be indicated was determined
by the number of oscillations of the needle, as well as by the length of
time during which the needle remained in one place. The operator, who
watched the reflection of the deflected needle in the mirror, held a key
in his hand communicating with a local instrument in the office, which
he pressed down or raised, according to the deflection of the needle;
and another operator deciphered the characters thus produced upon the
paper. This mode of telegraphing was, of necessity, very slow, and it
will not surprise the reader that the fastest rate of speed over the
cable did not exceed three words per minute. Still, had the old cable
continued in operation a few months longer, experience and practice
would have enabled the operator to transmit and receive with very much
greater facility. On our land-lines, operators of long experience
acquire a dexterity which enables them not only to transmit and receive
telegrams with wonderful rapidity, but to work the instruments during
storms, when those of less experience would be unable to receive a dot.
There is no occupation in which skill and experience are more necessary
to success than in that of telegraphing, and at the time the Atlantic
cable was laid no experience had been obtained upon similar lines, or
with the instruments employed. Now, however, the company can avail
itself of experienced operators from lines of nearly equal length, and
who will require no time for experimenting, but may commence operations
as soon as the two ends of the cable are landed upon the shores of
Europe and America.

In the old cable the copper wire was covered but three times with
gutta-percha, while in the new it is covered four times with the purest
gutta-percha and four times with Chatterton's patent compound, by which
the cable is rendered absolutely impenetrable to water. The old cable
was covered with eighteen strands of small iron wire, which, as they had
no other covering, were directly exposed to the action of the water. The
new is covered with thirteen strands, each strand consisting of three
wires of the best quality, and covered with gutta-percha, to render it
indestructible in salt water. By this new construction, it has double
the strength of the old cable, at the same time that it is lighter in
the water, a very important matter in laying it across the ocean.

The risk of loss in laying the new cabl