ch I think would be the more correct of the two; calling E
equal to 50,000 Daniell cells.

Yours, Respectfully,

E. ELLSWORTH.

Portland, Me., March 5, 1885.

* * * * *

A VISIT TO CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES IN THE YEAR 1884.

[Footnote: A lecture delivered before the Society of Telegraph Engineers
and Electricians, London, Dec. 11, 1884.]

By Mr. W.H. PREECE, F.R.S.

I do not know what the sensations of a man can be who is about to undergo
the painful operation of execution; but I am inclined to think his
sensations must be somewhat similar to those of a lecturer, brimful of
notes, who has to wait until the clock strikes before he is allowed to
address his audience.

The President has been kind enough to refer to the paper I propose to give
you, as "Electricity in America in the year 1884;" but I would rather,
after having thought more about it, that it be called "A Visit to Canada
and the United States in the year 1884."

It will be in the recollection of a good many who are present that in the
year 1877 I visited America, in conjunction with Mr. H.C. Fischer, the
Controller of our Central Telegraph Station, to officially inspect and
report upon the telegraph arrangements of that country; and on the 9th
February, 1878, I had the pleasure of communicating to the members of this
Society my experiences of that visit.

During the present year my visit was not an official one; I went for a
holiday, and specially to accompany the members of the British
Association, who, for the first time in the history of that association,
held a meeting outside the limits of the United Kingdom.

We sailed from Liverpool in a splendid steamship called the Parisian.
There were nearly 200 B.A. members on board; and notwithstanding the fact
that rude Boreas tried all he could to prevent us from reaching the other
side of the Atlantic; notwithstanding the fact that the Atlantic expressed
its anger in the most unmistakable terms at our audacity in turning from
our native shore; notwithstanding the fact that Greenland's icy mountains
blew chilly blasts upon us, and made us call out all the warm things we
possessed--I say notwithstanding all this, we reached the Gulf of St.
Lawrence in safety, and I do not think that a merrier or a happier crew
ever crossed the Atlantic.

There is one very interesting fact that is not generally known, and I
certainly was unaware of it before I started, in c