SUPERIORITY OF THE ELECTRIC OVER THE OLD MODE OF TELEGRAPH.

Ir will not, we conceive, be at all out of place to contrast, by way of anecdote, the advantages of the electric over the visual variety of telegraph-the one being only workable in certain states of the weather; the other, available in all states. Upon one occasion, when the British army were fighting in Spain, intelligence was every day feverishly expected from Wellington through the medium of the semaphore at the Admiralty. Long delayed, it came at last, and was apparently of a fearful character. It ran thus-"Wellington defeated." Parliament and the people were stunned for a time, and rumours flew about like wildfire to this effect. It seems, however, that just as the word "defeated" was deciphered, a fog intervened, and cut off the rest of the communication. When, however, the dark pall disappeared, the bright sky disclosed to a jubilant people, not Wellington defeated, but Wellington defeated-the French!

A FALSE ALARM.

THE following circumstance caused considerable amusement, on the London and Dover Railway, to the passengers who were waiting at one of the stations for a down train, which was behind its time :-Some accidents on the railway, a few days before, had created much uneasiness, and gave to every want of punctuality

the diagnosis of something alarming. The officers of the station were heard to mutter their "wonder where the down train was." Eyes were stretched to their utmost gaze, but no sign of the train. All at once, there was a loud tingle of the telegraph bell-sudden thoughts of a terrible collision crossed all minds-the officer of the station ran in, and took his place before the telegraph, with his back to the anxious passengers in waiting, who, stretching their necks across the counter, gazed with amazement at the mysterious needle, which deflected like the hand of a barometer during an earthquake. There was a moment's pause, when the officer turned round, and gravely said— "They want a pound's worth of coppers at the

station!" There was a sudden laugh and a buz, in the midst of which a shrill whistle announced the coming train.

THE TELEGRAPH TIGHT WIRE.

A VERY novel use has been made of the electric telegraph in the United States. A celebrated dancer turned it into a tight-rope, and danced upon it over one of the rivers, to the delight of a dense multitude!

TRANSMISSION OF THE QUEEN'S SPEECH. ON November 22, 1847, (says the Daily News,) the telegraph was brought into active operation on a grand scale, for the purpose of transmitting the Queen's

speech to the various large towns and cities throughout England and Scotland. An early copy of the Queen's speech, specially granted for the purpose, was expressed from Westminster to the central stations in the Strand, and at Euston-square, both of which places it reached by about a quarter past one. The manipulators at these stations, having touched the wires, communicating with every telegraphic station throughout the kingdom, thereby sounding a bell at each, and giving the note of preparation, commenced throwing off, in a continuous stream along the wires, successive sentences of the speech. This operation occupied from a quarter past one to a quarter to three on the principal lines of telegraph, but considerably less than this-owing to the greater proficiency of the manipulators-on the Eastern Counties and South Western. It was completed to Southampton, where a steamer was in readiness to express the speech to the Continent, in about an hour. During the two hours the speech was transmitted over 1300 miles, to 60 central towns or stations, where one or more manipulators were occupied in deciphering the transmitted symbols. Immediately on its arrival at Liverpool, Birmingham, Rotherham, Wolverhampton, Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax, Hull, Rochdale, Gosport, Southampton, Dorchester, Gloucester, Leicester, Manchester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Sheffield, York, Newcastle, Norwich, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, the speech was printed and generally distributed, and the local papers published special editions. It was telegraphed at the rate of 55 letters in a minute, or at the rate of 430 words in an

hour; several of the long words, such as embarrassments," "infringements," and "manufacturing," taking longer time, no abbreviations being used, so that the 730 words (the exact number contained in the speech) were, including pauses and repetitions, disposed of in 120 minutes, or two hours. Owing to the old telegraph between Edinburgh and Glasgow having just been taken down, so as to allow of the substitution of the new one, the intelligence had to be transmitted from Edinburgh to Glasgow by train, though by this medium the speech would reach Glasgow at four, or within two hours after its delivery in London. The last Queen's speech, being but half the length of the present one, was transmitted in half the time, reaching Norwich, 120 miles, in less than an hour.

The times at which verbatim copies of the speech were printed and distributed were as follows::Southampton, 3, p.m.; Norwich, Derby, Lincoln, Birmingham, 4; York, Hull, 4; Sheffield and Newcastle, 5; Berwick-on-Tweed, Edinburgh, 5; Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, 6. Copies of the speech were transmitted from these stations to places not yet connected into the telegraphic system. The delay occasioned by the conveyance of such copies by the mail steamer of course postponed its arrival; nevertheless, copies were distributed at Glasgow, 7, p.m.; Shields and Sunderland, 6.30; Scarboro', 8.15; Dublin, Guernsey, and Jersey, about 9 the following morning.

This is, certainly, one of the most complete electric transmissions upon record.

TAWELL, THE MURDERER, TAKEN BY MEANS OF THE TELEGRAPH.

THE taking of the murderer, Tawell, through the instrumentality of the electric telegraph, is among the earliest as well as the most remarkable instances of its marvellous achievements. That "murder will out" hath long since passed into a proverb; and here the means of detection spoke with "most miraculous organ." Without the electric clue to the committal of the atrocity in question, Tawell would, in all probability, have escaped detection. Little did he dream of its weird watchings; or that the telegraph,

"horsed upon

The sightless couriers of the air,

Should blow the horrid deed in every eye."

Although the facts of this remarkable occurrence may be in the recollection of some readers, we shall narrate its main points, in so far as they show the wondrous working of the telegraph.

On Wednesday, the 1st of January, 1845, a woman named Sarah Hart, was found by her neighbours struggling in the agonies of death, in her cottage at Salthill, a short distance from the Slough station of the Great Western Railway. On the evening of the occurrence, the neighbour who had overheard the poor woman's screams, went out into an adjoining garden, and there, by the dim light of a candle, which she carried in her hand, she distinctly saw a man, in the garb of one of the Society of Friends,

H