tua, Parma, Modena, Lucca, Leghorn, Florence, Sienna, to Viterbo in the Papal States. This line will speedily be continued to Rome. The other branch goes from Alexandria to Genoa."

Such is the extent of Italian telegraphs completed in 1854.

SWEDISH LINES.

The telegraph is making rapid progress in Sweden and Norway, connecting with the continental lines through Denmark, crossing the sound with a cable, having three electric wires, similar to the Danish cable herein before illustrated.

RUSSIAN LINES.

The telegraph lines in Russia have been extended with remarkable energy. The line from St. Petersburg to Moscow is the oldest, the other routes until late being semiphore. The Moscow line was laid underground, but now it is being placed on substantial poles. In fact, all the lines in Russia are well constructed, and in general, we think them superior to any other lines in the world. The poles are all very large, barked, and charred at lower end. They are well set in the earth, and range with great precision. We have seen many of them, and speak knowingly when we say, that as to permanency they have no equal either in Europe or America.

The principal lines are from St. Petersburg west to Konigsberg, branching from Marianpol, and extending from the same place to Warsaw, and thence to north Austria and to Myslowits.

Another line from St. Petersburg to Twer, Moscow, Kief, Nicholaef, and to Odessa. A branch line runs from Nicholaef to Xerson, Perekop, Simpheropol, and to Sevastopol.

A line extends from St. Petersburg to Wyborg and to Helsingfors.

Another runs to Narva and to Revel.

A branch line runs from Dunabourg to Riga.

There is also a short line from the city to Peterhoff and to Kronstadt.

The Imperial government of Russia is rapidly extending the telegraph throughout its vast empire, and in a few years the system will be more extended there than in any other part of Europe. The Morse system is wholly used.

BLACK SEA LINES.

The Allies have long since been successfully working a submarine line from Turkey in Europe to the Crimea; also, anoher line from Varna to Constantinople. These lines connect through Vienna to all parts of Europe.

TELEGRAPHS IN TURKEY.

The line from Varna to Constantinople is worked under the direction of the Allies. We understand that there are other short lines, under the Turkish authority, but we have not been fully advised relative to them. We copy the annexed description of the Varna cable as an interesting item of news:

"For months past an electric cable, three hundred and forty miles in length, stretching from Varna to Balaclava, has brought us in a few hours news of the intrepid Argonauts of the Crimea. We venture to quote here the words of a member of the French Academy of Sciences, Marshal Vaillant, Minister of War, when asked for some particulars in reference to this subinarine telegraph of the Black Sea, in April last:-"I send my dispatch to General Canrobert, and I have an answer sooner than i should have it by letter from a town half-way to Lyons, to Bordeaux, or Strasbourg, and I have not yet recovered my amazement at this prodigy." The Field Marshal and Academician did not share the general indifference to this marvellous fact.

Although submarine telegraph engineering seemed, by the successful laying of the Varua and Balaclava line, to have been reduced to a certainty, we have recently had to record the signal failure, first, of an attempt to lay a submarine cable from Cape Breton to Newfoundland; and, secondly, the same unfortunate issue of an attempt to complete the telegraphic communication to Algeria by a submarine line, for the Mediterranean Telegraph Company.

In contrast with these mishaps we have this week to record some particulars from an eye-witness of a new triumph of Submarine Telegraph by Messrs. Newall and Co., who, in August last, contracted with her Majesty's Government to establish telegraphic communication between Constantinople and Varna, so as to complete the telegraphic circuit to the seat of the Ottoman Government, by a line of moderate cost, and free from the risks of interruption to which over-ground wires in countries where there is no effective police would be peculiarly exposed, and without facilities of repairing injuries.

For this and another line in the Black Sea, upwards of 200 miles of cable were manufactured, transported 3,000 miles, and successfully laid down in the short space of three months; for on the 5th of October the Varna and Constantinople line was opened for business.

The cable consists of one copper wire, thickly insulated, and covered with iron wires to give it strength and protect it from injury. Its weight is about 200 tons. In this respect it dif

fers from the Varna and Balaclava line, which, for the greater part of its length, consists of a copper wire one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, coated with gutta-percha, and altogether a little more than the thickness of a common black-lead pencil! The laying of such a line across the stormy Black Sea may fairly be characterized as the boldest enterprise ever made in electric telegraphing; the risk of doing which was undertaken by Messrs. Newall and Co., who proposed it to the Duke of Newcastle, for the small sum of £22,000.

This marvellous line, which it was predicted by submarine telegraph directors and engineers could not be laid down, and if laid down could not last, has stood all the storms of the Black Sea for six months without the slightest injury or an hour's stoppage. These facts seem to indicate that heavy cables are a useless extravagance, save in very peculiar circumstances of exposure to anchorage. It is evident, also, that the small cable, such as the Varna and Constantinople line, brings within the easy reach of capitalists long lines (such as the Atlantic or Indian) which will pay a handsome dividend on the cost of the cable. We hear that although the single line to the Crimea is occupied in sending long despatches from the French, Sardinian, and Turkish Generals to their Governments, and vice versa, yet its capabilities are far from being fully tested.

The operation of laying down the Varna and Constantinople cable was directed by Mr. Newall, and superintended on behalf of her Majesty's Government by Major Biddulph, R. A., Director-General of the Black Sea telegraphs. The cable was shipped from Sunderland on board the screw steamer Elba, Martin D. Hammill, commander. Her Majesty's steamer Terrible, Captain M'Cleverty, R. N., accompanied the expedition, and went ahead of the Elba, pointing out the course to be steered; and right well this important duty was performed.

The operation commenced on Monday afternoon, the 1st of October. The cable was coiled on Mr. Newall's patent payingout machine, and it was truly interesting to see the snake-like coils rapidly unfold themselves, and glide off as if alive, and endowed with instinct to free itself of kinks, the bane of submarining. In thirty hours the 150 miles were run, an average speed of five miles an hour. Communication was kept up throughout the day and night from a Morse instrument on board with Kilia and Therapia, where Lord Stratford de Redcliffe evinced the greatest interest in learning the progress of the expedition."

Art. VI. HISTORY OF GUTTA-PERCHA IN AMERICA.

WE annex a very interesting article relative to the introduction of gutta-percha in America, believing it to be of interest to our readers. We were surprised to learn, that our country stands foremost in the advancement of gutta-percha in the useful arts. It is too frequently the case, that we award the application of new discoveries to the useful arts, as the property of other nations. Europe enjoys the fruits of the genius of Morse, without rewarding him for the many years of toil. The world is now realizing the blessings from the labors of Americans in the application of gutta-percha as an insulation, and an acknowledgment of merit is smothered by the selfish aims of foreign interests. We can add, from our own knowledge, that the gutta-percha works of America can produce as good a quality of insulated wire as is to be found in the world.

There are some, who are stupid enough to believe, that there are no other works in the world than the London establishment. We know, however, that gutta-percha insulated wire for telegraphic purposes, can be made, not only in London, but also in New-York, Berlin, and St. Petersburg.

In New-York and Berlin there are extensive establishments, and in the former the production of the manufactured article excels in extent and quantity the balance of the world.

HISTORY OF GUTTA-PERCHA IN THE UNITED STATES.

In the year 1846, Samuel T. Armstrong, Esq., of the City of New-York, visited England, for the purpose of learning something of the article of gutta-percha, having had a sample sent him from London, with an invitation to visit that city.

Mr. Armstrong returned to New-York in the fall of 1846, and immediately commenced erecting machinery for the manufacture of gutta-percha goods, having ordered, before he left London, a quantity of the raw material. During the winter of 1847, he formed a connection with W. S. Wetmore, Esq., of New York, and removed their works to the City of Brooklyn. Up to this time the London and the American Companies had confined themselves, mostly, to the manufacture of water and gas pipes, shoe soles, sheets, machine banding, stamped goods, &c. During the year experiments were made to insulate tele graph wires with India rubber for the purpose of laying under water, but it was unsuccessful. Experiments having been made under Mr. Armstrong's directions to insulate wire with gutta-percha, and having satisfied himself that gutta-percha was a nonconductor of electricity, he procured machinery to

be put up in their factory at Brooklyn for the purpose of covering telegraph wire.

An order was received from Mr. Rogers of Baltimore (then acting as a general agent for the Morse Telegraph Company), for a quantity of No. 9 iron wire to be covered with gutta-percha, for the purpose of passing the electric current across the Hudson River. This order was filled, and the WIRE CABLE laid under water at Fort Lee, under the superintendence of Mr. Rogers. The ends of the wires were attached to the batteries, and the insulation was found to be perfect. A communication was then made to Jersey City Station from the eastern side of the Hudson River by Mr. Rogers, and the cable answered the purposes satisfactorily to the company. This, beyond all question, was the first wire cable insulated with gutta-percha that was ever made or used in the civilized world. About the time this wire cable was being manufactured, at Brooklyn, an Englishman by the name of Naylor came to the factory for employment, and he saw the machine and the mode of coating the cable with gutta-percha. In a few days he left and sailed for his native country. It is said that Naylor introduced the machine and process into England, for which he was well remunerated. It is reported that he received £20,000 for his pretended discovery. The same kind of machinery is used to this day, in England, for manufacturing telegraph cable. They have, as yet, found no pretence to make any im. provement on the first Yankee machine. The next person who applied for submarine cables was Col. T. P. Shaffner, President of the St. Louis and New-Orleans Telegraph Company, to lay under the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; these cables were manufactured for Col. Shaffner, and put into operation by him. Next came Mr. O'Reilly, with his order for submarine cables. After these, different cables were furnished and used by the different companies in America. The discovery of insulating telegraph wire, with gutta-percha, in England, occurred fully one year after it was in successful operation in the United States.

The plan of an ocean telegraph cable was also suggested by Mr. S. T. Armstrong, of New-York, with an estimate of its cost, &c., which was published in the Journal of Commerce during the year 1848. He offered to furnish the cable, and lay it down from Newfoundland to the Irish coast, for the sum of $3,500,000. It will be seen, therefore, that John Bull was not the originator of submarine telegraph cables. Mr. Armstrong and his associates are the only persons that have ever manufactured perfect gutta-percha submarine cables in the United States-altho' many have made the attempt without