The Great Eastern paying out the Atlantic Cable, 1866.

Confer, compare ideas and plans. | Mental activity, quick movement

;

1. Just as railways convey persons from one part of the world to another, in order that they may talk and confer together, so telegraphic lines convey thoughts and messages from one person to another, and so carry on a great deal of the business of the world. Twenty years ago, the business of the world was done by letter now it is chiefly done by telegrams. The produce of different climates, the manufactures of the great industrial centres, the exchanges of gold and silver-all these are carried on by the aid of the telegraph wires which encircle us everywhere, which are carried beneath our feet and over our heads, and which are laid along the depths of the great oceans, as well as across the passes of the highest mountains in the world. 2. Telegraphs, even more than railways, bear witness to the industry and mental activity of a nation. Accordingly, we find that Europe has the largest number of telegraphs, while Africa has the fewest; and that the farther west we go in the European continent, the closer and more intricate does the network of telegraphs become. In the New World, again, the United States is by far the busiest and most active nation; and we therefore find that they have more lines of telegraph, more miles

of wire, and a far larger number of telegraphic messages sent during the year than any other country from Cape Horn to the Arctic Ocean.

3. In fact, the number of messages sent, the length of telegraphic wire, and the number of offices for the receipt of messages, form excellent tests of the wealth and prosperity of a nation. The length of the telegraphic mileage forms a proof of the enterprise of the nation; the number of miles of wire of the business they expect to do; while the number of offices sending messages and of messages sent, is a very sure test of the business actually done.

4. Telegraphs are a much more modern institution than railways. About forty years ago there was not a single line in the British Isles; and it may be said that in the year 1838 this globe was without a nervous system. But the telegraphic lines and the habit of sending telegrams have grown with enormous rapidity. The first public line in England was laid on the Great Western Railway, from Paddington to West Drayton ; a distance of thirteen miles. This was an underground line. 5. The first line in America was constructed from New York to Washington, the capital of the United States. But the mileage of lines in North America is to be counted by hundreds of thousands, and on the whole globe by millions. So rapid have been the spread and the use of this great discovery. There is not now a country in the world with the smallest claim to civilisation that has not its telegraphs and telegraph offices-many of which are open day and night for the transmission of messages to all the other parts of the globe.

6. The wire used for the telegraph lines is drawn from the best Swedish charcoal iron. Copper was formerly

employed; but it was found less suitable and more expensive than iron. The iron wire is coated with zinc by a galvanising process. The telegraph posts are usually made of wood. In Europe, larch and red-fir spars are employed; in America, the posts are of chestnut or of cedar. In hot climates, iron posts are now largely used; and they are found in Asia, Africa, and South America. Iron posts are five times more costly than wooden ones; but then they last ten times as long. In Germany, they are made of wrought-iron.

She

7. Let us, then, endeavour to compare the nations of the world from this point of view. At the head of the countries of Europe stands Great Britain, which possessed in 1880-and it is of this year we are speaking throughout-120,000 miles of telegraphic wire. also then possessed about 5500 telegraphic stations or offices; and she sends yearly about 26,000,000 messages. Russia, the largest country in Europe, comes next. She also possesses 120,000 miles of wire (though she has only 60,000 miles of telegraph); and she gives employment to 2500 telegraphic stations. But so little use does she make of this means of communication, that she sent in the year 1879 only 6,000,000 messages, and of these a number were not on business, but on government service. Thus Great Britain, small as she is, does more than four times the amount of business that Russia gets through. 8. Next to Great Britain in the amount of business she does comes the Empire of Germany, which sends 12,000,000 messages every year, or about half the number sent by the people of Great Britain. Germany had, in 1880, about 35,000 miles of telegraphic line, and about 140,000 miles of wire; while she possessed 3500 telegraphic stations. France comes next in all four respects. She possesses 40,000 miles of line,

100,000 miles of wire; and she has 3000 stations, from which she sends yearly 10,000,000 messages. 9. Italy comes next, with 16,000 miles of telegraphic line, and 8,000,000 messages; Austria-Hungary has 32,000 miles of line and 90,000 of wire, but sends only 6,000,000 messages. Of the large countries of Europe, Turkey, as usual, occupies the foot of the scale. She has 20,000 miles of line, and 35,000 miles of wire; yet she sends only a million and a half of messages from her stations. In some respects, however, she is ahead of Spain, which has only 10,000 miles of line and 25,000 miles of wire, by means of which she transmits 2,000,000 messages. Thus Spain sends only one telegraphic message for every thirteen sent by Great Britain, for every six sent by Germany, and for every five sent by France. 10. If we look at the smaller countries of Europe, we shall find-as in the case of the railways-Greece at the bottom of the list. She has only 1800 miles of line, and sends only 250,000, or a quarter of a million, messages every year. Just a little above her comes Portugal, which possesses 2300 miles of line, 5000 miles of wire, and transmits 750,000, or three-quarters of a million, messages. The three small states at the head of the list are the active states of Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Belgium sends three and a half million messages; while Switzerland and Holland send three millions each. 11. But a striking contrast comes out when we compare the length of their lines with the length of their wires. Belgium possesses a development of 15,000 miles of wire to 3500 miles of telegraphic line; Switzerland has 5000 miles of line to 15,000 of wire; while Holland has only 8000 miles of wire to 2200 miles of line. In the number of stations they possess, the contrast is again instructive. Belgium does more busi