THE TELEGRAPH INDEPENDENT OF THE

WEATHER.

To illustrate the independence of the telegraph of the weather and time of day, it may be stated that, during a severe storm of one 5th of December, when the night was intensely dark, the rain descending in torrents, and the wind blowing a gale, it seemed more than ordinarily mysterious to view a company around a table in a warm retired chamber on such a night in Washington, playing a game of chess with another company similarly situated in Baltimore-the darkness, the rain, and the wind, being no impediment to instantaneous communication.

TELEGRAPHING COMING STORMS.

"THE law of storms"—of violent atmospheric convulsions of nature originating in electrical action—having been determined by Lieut.-Colonel Reid and Professor Espy, the electric telegraph promises to be of vital use on sea-coasts in ascertaining when a storm of dangerous magnitude commences, the course of its progress, and the preparations necessary to be made for its approach and presence, both on the seaboard and in the interior. The possession of anticipatory information upon these points at one end of an island, or at one corner of a coast, may, through instantaneous transmission by telegraph, be made known simultaneously at an opposite end, or an opposite corner, while the storm is on its devastating travel; so as to advise vessels to remain in

the tranquil waters of their own harbours, to prevent their being wrecked. The question of the utility of the telegraph, as applied in this way to the safety of our shipping, and the prevention of wreck, is a question of immense moment to the authorities of the Admiralty, Lloyds, and our mercantile marine. In the colonies, where hurricanes are of frequent occurrence, the consideration is one of even more immediate moment. That indications of the character of storms may be of vast advantage to the naval and shipping interest, if telegraphed from time to time, may be conceived from the ascertained fact, established by Colonel Reid and Professor Espy, that storms are subject to permanent laws and even periods of action; although the inquiries into this interesting branch of physical science are still in their infancy.

To show, also, the meteorological value of this medium of communication, we find that while a snow storm is raging in New York, it can be ascertained at the same time what snow is falling in Alleghany, Pittsburg, Boston, Syracuse, and Washington.

DEVASTATING EFFECT OF STORMS ON THE TELEGRAPH.

A STORM, nearly unparalleled in violence, raged on the Atlantic coast, on March 28, 1846. Since the introduction of magnetic telegraph lines, no event has occurred so discouraging to the enterprising proprietors thereof, as the destruction and prostration of their

posts and wires, occasioned by this storm. From New Brunswick, N. J., to Philadelphia-about 50 milesthere were very few posts left standing. Others were broken off above the ground. But the circumstances were extraordinary, and would not be likely to occur again in a hundred years, if ever. The sleet ice is said to have accumulated on the wires to the thickness of an inch; and when some of the posts, being loosened by the rain, had fallen, they broke down the next, by straining on the wires.

At the telegraph station of the South Eastern Railway, at Paddock Wood, communicating with Maidstone, during a storm, the lightning literally smashed the electrical apparatus to pieces, broke the wires, and finished by setting fire to the office.

During a violent storm, on Sunday, April 9, 1848, the lightning had very considerable effect upon the wires of the electric telegraph, particularly on the line eastward from Manchester to Normanton. Not only were the needles greatly deflected, and their handles much weakened, but those at the Normanton station were found to have had their poles reversed by some action of the electric fluid in the atmosphere. The injury, however, was soon repaired, and the needles were again put in good working order.

STORM IN A TELEGRAPH OFFICE.

RECENTLY, at Buffalo, a driving snow-storm came on from the north-east, accompanied by vivid flashes of

lightning and heavy peals of thunder. The atmosphere, and all objects upon which the eye rested, and especially the falling snow, put on a sallow, sickly hue; and this was rendered occasionally more singular by the repeated flashes of electricity, which worked wonders in the Telegraph-office. The battery-room was for some time lit up by one constant sheet of electric flame that played around its walls. It was a thrilling scene, and one calculated to fill the mind of the observer with serious apprehension: it proved, however, harmless in its consequences. A very strong current was attracted to the writing instrument of the Lockport line, by the large iron wire used. The power was so great, that it became necessary to detach the wire, in order to prevent the instrument from melting. One of the most intense flashes of electricity took effect upon one of the operators, by removing him, almost instantaneously, from his seat at the machine.

LIGHTNING ITS OWN RECORDER.

THREE thunder-storms, each some thirty or sixty miles from the other, were all coming east on the telegraph route about the same time, and every discharge of electricity from either was fully recorded by the lightning itself in the telegraph-office at Jersey city, Philadelphia, Wilmington, or Baltimore. The wire became altogether unmanagable, and the operators were obliged to withdraw the batteries used for writing. The letters of Morse's telegraphic alphabet

which this natural lightning seemed to be most partial to were L and T; but occasionally, it went at the numerals, and dashed off l's, 50's, 55's, 500's, and 5000's, in its own rapid style. We learn that when two or more thunder clouds get in the same vicinity, and discharge their electricity at each other, or receive the fluid from the earth and return it again, or when ground lightning prevails, the effect on the telegraph wires is to produce a strange and original caligraphy. In fact, each kind of lightning speaks for itself, and writes what it says.

TELEGRAPH WIRES LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. THE various wires of telegraph beginning to intersect so many sections of country have been said to have a decided effect upon electricity. That eminent scientific man, Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, states, that as the storm comes up, and especially when over the wires, say 50 or 100 miles distant, the lightning is attracted by the wires ;-which can be proved by any one remaining in the telegraph-office for half an hour. About the time the storm is coming up, the wires are continually filled with electricity. "It is my opinion," he says, "that we shall never have very heavy thunder showers, or hear of lightning striking, so long as we have telegraph wires spread over the earth. According to this, (says the editor of the Mechanics' Magazine,) we should long ago have ceased in such a city as London to have any experience of such a thing as a