Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
341
"Long
and
hard"
indeed
had
been
the
way,
but
in
the
end
what
a
triumph
was
gained:
an
achievement
that
was
one
of
the
most
marvellous
in
all
history,
as
a
proof
of
man's
dominion
over
the
forces
of
nature.
When
it
was
first
proposed
to
span
the
Atlantic,
it
seemed
but
a
beautiful
dream,
fascinating
indeed
to
the
imagination,
but
beyond
all
human
power;
and
men
listened
to
the
picture
of
what
might
be
with
delighted
amazement
and
wondering
incredulity.
In
an
oration
at
the
opening
of
the
Dudley
Observatory
at
Albany,
in
1857,
Edward
Everett
spoke
thus
of
the
projected
Atlantic
Telegraph:
"I
hold
in
my
hand
a
portion
of
the
identical
electrical
cable,
given
me
by
my
friend
Mr.
Peabody,
which
is
now
in
progress
of
manufacture
to
connect
America
with
Europe.
Does
it
seem
all
but
incredible
to
you
that
intelligence
should
travel
for
two
thousand
miles,
along
those
slender
copper
wires,
far
down
in
the
all
but
fathomless
Atlantic,
never
before
penetrated
by
aught
pertaining
to
humanity,
save
when
some
foundering
vessel
has
plunged
with
her
hapless
company
to
the
eternal
silence
and
darkness
of
the
abyss?
Does
it
seem,
I
say,
all
but
a
miracle
of
art,
that
the
thoughts
of
living
men--the
thoughts
that
we
think
up
here
on
the
earth's
surface,
in
the
cheerful
light
of
day--about
the
markets
and
the
exchanges,
and
the
seasons,
and
the
elections,
and
the
treaties,
and
the
wars,
and
all
the
fond
nothings
of
daily
life,
should
clothe
themselves
with
elemental
sparks,
and
shoot
with
fiery
speed,
in
a
moment,
in
the
twinkling
of
an
eye,
from
hemisphere
to
hemisphere,
far
down
among
the
uncouth
monsters
that
wallow
in
the
nether
seas,
along
the
wreck-paved
floor,
through
the
oozy
dungeons
of
the
rayless
deep;
that
the
latest
intelligence
of
the
crops,
whose
dancing
tassels
will,
in
a
few
months,
be
coquetting
with
the
west
wind
on
those
boundless
prairies,
should
go
flashing
along
the
slimy
decks
of
old
sunken
galleons,
which
have
been
rotting
for
ages;
that
messages
of
friendship
and
love,
from
warm,
living
bosoms,
should
burn
over
the
cold,
green
bones
of
men
and
women,
whose
hearts,
once
as
warm
as
ours,
burst
as
the
eternal
gulfs
closed
and
roared
over
them
centuries
ago!"
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
