(1) It would not have been prudent to take the Pawn, and, upon the Rook being attacked, play the Pawn on checking.

(m) If Black had now checked with the Rook, the opposing players would have moved their King to Kt. second, instead of interposing the R.

(n) In reply to this move, White proposed to draw the game, which was immediately acceded to by their opponents, and the game concluded a few minutes after seven o'clock, having lasted rather more than seven hours and a half.

The contest would have terminated earlier, but for the great delay occasioned by telegraphing the moves from Gosport to Southampton, as well as to London.

A TELEGRAPHIC BLUNDER.

DURING the mania for the dethronement of kings, subsequent to the French Revolution of 1848, when, for a time, almost every post brought tidings of "change perplexing nations,” it was related in the papers of the day that the King of Prussia had abdicated. The news not being confirmed, it was speedily discovered to be erroneous. An ingenious provincial editor thus accounts for the mistake:-The magnetic interpreter at the office of the electric telegraph is a politician, and considerably interested in foreign affairs. Late events have considerably excited him, and news from France has been so extraordinary, that there is not anything which his excited mind does not anticipate on the first word of communication. The telegraph, after due warning, the other day, said, "The-King-of— Prussia"--The reader turned pale, and thought of the morning paper that had offered the highest price for early and exclusive intelligence. The dial proceeded

has-gone-to

Pot-" In another minute, the communication was on its way to the newspaper-office. Not long after, however, tne dial was again agitated, and then came 66 s-dam." Making it read thus-“The King of Prussia has gone to Potsdam."

THE ELECTRIC SPARK.

FARADAY was the first to elicit the electric spark from the magnet: he found that it is visible at the instants of breaking and of renewing the contact of the conducting wires, and only then:

Around the magnet, Faraday

Is sure that Volta's lightnings play;

But how to draw them from the wire?

He took a lesson from the heart:
'Tis when we meet, 'tis when we part,
Breaks forth the electric fire.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

It has been established, that Faraday obtained a spark from a temporary or electro-magnet, as far back as November, 1831.

THE TELEGRAPH A TIME-KEEPER.

THE Astronomer-Royal proposes to check and test the great clock for the new Houses of Parliament by the astronomical clock at Greenwich Observatory, through the medium of the electric telegraph. Once in every hour, accurate to less than a second of

time, the Parliament clock would indicate its time to the Greenwich clock; and besides this, it is proposed to place all the other clocks throughout the immense building in electrical connexion with the great clock, and to receive correction from it once in every minute!

CLAIMANTS TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

M. LOMOND's application of electricity to telegraphic purposes has been already narrated.*

In 1794, according to Voigt's Magazine, Reizen made use of the electric spark for the telegraph. In 1798, according to the same authority, Dr. Salva, of Madrid, constructed a telegraph similar to that suggested by Reizen. The Prince of Peace witnessed the experiments with much satisfaction; and the Infant Don Antonio engaged with Dr. Salva in improving his apparatus. His experiments, it is stated, were conducted through many miles, although there does not appear to have been published any description of his plan.

In the Monthly Magazine for February, 1797, we find the following corroborative evidence of the application:

"The Prince of Peace, who testifies the most laudable zeal for the progress of science, understanding that Dr. Don Francisco Salva had read, at the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Barcelona, a memoir on the application of electricity to the telegraph, and presented, at the same time, an electrical telegraph of his own invention, requested to examine the apparatus

* See page 2.

himself. Satisfied with the exactness and celerity with which communications may be made by means of it, he introduced the Doctor to the King of Spain. The Prince of Peace, afterwards, in the presence of their Majesties and the whole court, made some communications by this telegraph, completely to their satisfaction. The Infant D. Antonio proposes to have one of them on the most complete construction, which shall possess power sufficient to communicate between the greatest distances, by land or sea. With this view, his Highness has ordered the construction of a machine, the cylinder of which is more than forty inches in diameter, and he intends, as soon as it is finished, to undertake a series of curious and useful experiments, in conjunction with Dr. D. Salva. This is an employment worthy of a great prince: and as soon as the results reach us, we shall enjoy much pleasure in presenting them to the public."

However, we hear no more of the experiments; but we next have Soemmering's voltaic electric telegraph, described before the Academy of Sciences at Munich, in 1809.

Then came Mr. Ronalds, of Hammersmith, in 1816: his experiments appear to have been successful, so far as they went; and, after reporting the result, "Why," he continues, "has no serious trial yet been made of the qualifications of so diligent a courier? and if he should be proved competent to the task, why should not our kings hold councils at Brighton with their ministers in London? Why should not our government govern at Portsmouth almost as promptly as at Downing-street? Why should our defaulters escape by default of our foggy climate? Let us have electric conversazione offices, communicating with each other all over the kingdom, if we can.”

There is also another candidate, one Mr. Porter, of Harrow, who memorialized the House of Commons upon the subject; and who, in 1825, proposed “a

method of instantaneous communication with outposts, which neither foggy weather nor the darkness of night need prevent." He asserts the right of England to a priority in the paternity of the electric telegraph over Germans and Americans, contending that the "magic saddle" should, at least, be placed upon the right horse."

Nevertheless, the use of the galvanic battery for the telegraph-the most important stage of the discovery -must be referred to 1819, when Professor Oersted, of Copenhagen, ascertained that magnetism is induced on a soft piece of iron, by allowing a current of electricity to pass at right angles round it, having it previously bound with copper wire, and that the magnetism ceases immediately the contact is broken.

DOMESTIC TELEGRAPH.

A TELEGRAPH has been invented by Mr. Rose, for persons who do not like servants to be constantly in the room waiting upon them. In this apparatus there are two dials, connected by wires and chains-one in the drawing or dining room, and the other in the servants' hall; so that, supposing the kitchen vestal to be required up stairs, the indication is turned to the word "cook," and gives the command to come up. The face of each dial has inscribed upon it, like the hours on a clock, the names of every attendant, and most of the domestic wants. Much trouble may thus be saved to domestics in large establishments, who complain of