for capital punishment:-On Thursday, the 2nd of October, 1847, a man named Hutchings was to have been executed for murder at Maidstone; but just before the appointed hour, the Government sent a message by the South Eastern Telegraph to stay the execution for two hours. This was virtually looked on as a reprieve; and regarding all the circumstances of the case, everybody in Maidstone considered that the man's sentence had been commuted. The sheriff was busily engaged in examining the exact character of the communication, with a view, no doubt, of satisfying himself that, in acting on the order of the electric telegraph, he was not exceeding his duty. Perplexed as to the proper course to be adopted, the sheriff, in his trepidation, commenced by electric telegraph a correspondence with the Home Office, to the effect that he waited for further orders. Two hours and a half elapsed, when a second order was received per telegraph, instructing the sheriff at once to proceed, and carry the sentence of the law into effect. The order was to be forwarded from the London Bridge station of the South Eastern Railway; but here the telegraph clerk appealed to the railway officers, to know whether the authority for sending such a message was sufficient. Mr. Macgregor, the chairman of the company, was at hand at the time, and expressed himself not satisfied with it, requiring further proof of its authenticity before allowing the telegraph to be the messenger of death; and no one can question the propriety of Mr Macgregor's determination in such an emergency. Accordingly, Mr. Walter, the superintendent, at once drove over to the Home Office to obtain the necessary proof, and stated to Sir Denis Le Marchant, that in a matter involving such awful consequences, it became his duty to see the order for execution signed, and that without evidence of this kind the railway authorities would not be justified in instructing the sheriff. The Home Office authorities at once saw the reasonableness of Mr. Walter's representation; the order was signed, and the man was executed. THE TELEGRAPH AS A BIRD-TRAP. SOME amusing speculations have been entertained on the supposed influence which the wires of the telegraph have upon birds happening to perch on them. This supposition, however, is altogether erroneous. The wires have no effect upon them, seeing that the feet of birds are not conductors of electricity. Multitudes of partridges and sparrows are ever and anon found dead by the wires; but their destruction is occasioned by the violence with which they accidentally fly against the wires, and not by any electric shock, which cannot accrue, from the before-mentioned fact, and the insulation of the wires. Here is a specimen of the pretty style in which such occurrences were described and accounted for : "It is not a singular fact, but it is, notwithstanding, a fact which some of our readers may be ignorant of, that sparrows, and other small birds which happen to perch on those mysterious lines of communication, the telegraph wires, are destined, ever and anon, to suffer severe shocks of electricity, the effect of which is, (though we never witnessed the phenomenon,) that they drop down, not dead, but half-dead with amazement and terror. The shock, if severe enough, will destroy them. Electricity can be administered in doses which would kill a horse. Perhaps, by transmitting through the telegraphic wire a very powerful charge, the unhappy sparrows along the whole line, from London to Yarmouth, might be cut off. This, in case of necessity, or as a matter of cruel curiosity, might be employed as a means of getting rid of these vermin. It is not uncommon or extraordinary to see at least a hundred of these feathered depredators on one mile of wire. The length of the whole line of which we speak is 146 miles. A shock strong enough to destroy sparrow life would, with these data, cut off from the land of the living, at one fell and fatal swoop, not less than 14,600 of these pernicious little creatures. One thousand miles of railway would, in like manner, and with the same conditions, be the death of 100,000. Even supposing that death does not ensue, yet how miserable will be the state of these little animals when the whole island is covered with a veritable network of telegraphic wires! Fatal twigs these for tiny feet! The whole family of sparrows will be paralyzed. The fowls of the air will be electrified. People, as they talk with each other, and whisper to each other in unheard communion, at the distance of 1000 miles, will be causing serious inconvenience to the feathered race. If Lord Palmerston's dream should be realized, and London should begin in a few years to commune by telegraph with Calcutta, how terrible the visitation to our fellow-bipeds with feathers! Each word-each letter will be a shock. To us it may be pleasing to hold intercourse with each other-to the little sufferers it will be shocking. We tremble to think of the consequences, and heartily recommend the case to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Dog-carts sink into insignificance when compared with this wholesale palpitation-this universal twittering and consternation-among the feathered tribes. How many a sweet song will be interrupted-how many a little throat silenced-very suddenly, indeed, when this mischievous machinery shall be brought into universal play !" The impossibility of the whole affair is thus explained : "That the small birds which frequently congregate on the dres receive shocks when the instruments are in action, is the common opinion; but it is necessary that the bird form a part of the circuit, or it cannot be acted upon by the electricity. In the telegraph system of wires, the current passes from terminus to terminus along the wire, and returns by the earth. If we attach the most delicate galvanometer to a wire along which the current is made to pass, no effect is observed till we also connect it with the earth, and complete the circuit. Thus, no bird can receive a shock, unless it is tall enough to stand on the ground and touch the wires; and even if such a monster were to attempt experimenting, the feathers of its head, and even the horny skin of its feet, would not act as conductors, unless well wetted. "Mr. R. S. Culley, who has the inspection of above two hundred and thirty miles of line, or more than one thousand miles of wire, says he never saw any effect of the kind, nor have any of the staff on other lines. Birds, however, are frequently found dead under the wires. He has seen a wing hanging on them, and on searching, has discovered its owner on the grass below. The men have frequently seen partridges fly across and kill themselves, not by a shock of electricity, but by striking themselves forcibly against them. "Between Norwich and Yarmouth he has often seen two hundred or more sand martens on a wire whilst the instrument has been in action, sitting as contentedly as possible; in fact, the wires are a very favourite perch for these birds. During thunderstorms, even on short lines, the needles are violently affected, and the bells ring incessantly. "Another very general but erroneous idea, even among the better order of folks, is, that the humming Eolian harp-like effect of the wind on the suspended wire is caused by the 'messages passing. Some even say they can tell when a train is coming by the noise. "On all long lines, some inconvenience is experienced by an occasional deflection of the needles, which change from left to right rapidly, and frequently perhaps four times in ten minutes. At first sight, it would seem to be merely the effect of an atmospheric current of electricity passing along the wires from the clouds to the earth, and vice versa; but there are many cases which cannot be explained on this theory. No effect seems to take place unless the wire is connected at each end with the earth. "At Derby there are four lines, which diverge respectively to Normanton, Lincoln, Rugby, and Birmingham. In forty-nine cases out of fifty, if the first two instruments are deflected to the right, the last two point to the left; sometimes all are alike. The left-hand end of the galvanometer coil is in each instrument connected with the suspended wire, the right-hand end with the earth, so that a similar current passing along each wire would cause all the needles to point one way. And why, then, do they move in pairs so generally ?" MUSICAL AND ACOUSTIC TELEGRAPHS. WHETHER the telegraph can ever be rendered an Apollonicon, or be made a medium for transmitting the mysteries of the gamut, is an hypothesis more pleasant than practicable. There have not been wanting those, however, who indulge in the suggestion of making the telegraph discourse "most eloquent music." Many have experienced the supernatural sensations if we may so speak, the mysterious and musical murmurs, such as, perchance, the old Memnon poured forth when, amid the gold and purple of the sky, he prophesied and proclaimed the dawn to the grim people of the pyramids. If, with the muse of Motherwell, we may say "Harp on, ye winds, in glad content, Your hymns on every instrument Of rock, and tree, and tower;" surely, poetry may especially consecrate the telegraph as the wild harp of the winds; seeing that, in the melodious language of the author of Ion "The coarsest reed that trembles in the marsh, If Heaven select it for its instrument, Sheds a celestial music on the breeze, As clearly as the pipe whose virgin gold |