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1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
70
Among
the
difficulties
to
be
encountered,
was
that
of
finding
a
perfect
insulator.
Without
insulation,
telegraphic
communication
by
electricity
is
impossible.
On
land,
where
wires
are
carried
on
the
tops
of
poles,
the
air
itself
is
a
sufficient
insulator.
A
few
glass
rings
at
the
points
where
the
wire
passes
through
the
iron
staples
by
which
it
is
supported,
and
the
insulation
is
complete.
But
in
the
sea
the
electricity
would
be
instantly
dissipated,
unless
some
material
could
be
found
which
should
insulate
a
conductor
sunk
in
water,
as
completely
as
if
it
were
raised
in
air.
But
what
could
thus
inclose
the
lightning,
and
keep
it
fast
while
flying
from
one
continent
to
the
other?
Here
again
it
seemed
as
if
Divine
wisdom
had
anticipated
the
coming
of
this
great
enterprise,
and
provided
in
the
realm
of
nature
every
material
needed
for
its
success.
It
was
at
least
a
happy
coincidence
that
only
a
few
years
before
there
had
been
found,
in
the
forests
of
the
Malayan
archipelago,
a
substance
till
then
unknown
to
the
world,
but
which
answered
completely
this
new
demand.
This
was
gutta-percha,
which
is
impenetrable
by
water,
and
at
the
same
time
a
bad
conductor
of
electricity;
so
that
it
forms
at
once
a
perfect
protection
and
insulation
to
a
telegraph
passing
through
the
sea.
In
the
experiments
that
were
made
to
test
the
value
of
this
material
in
the
grander
use
to
which
it
was
to
be
applied,
no
man
rendered
greater
service
than
Mr.
Samuel
Statham,
of
the
London
Gutta-Percha
Works--a
name
to
be
gratefully
remembered
in
the
early
history
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph.
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