The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

One of the curiosities, if not wonders of the world, is afforded in the Continental money, or Continental bills, issued by congress in the early stages of the Revolutionary struggle, a specimen of which may be seen in the cut. These bills were of various denominations, and were issued by thousands on thousands. But from the very great extent of their issue, and the fact that the government could not redeem them in silver and gold, they rapidly depreciated in value, till at last they became almost worthless. As they are now almost never seen, except it be in some museum, or collection of old curiosities, the fac-simile given above can not fail to be of interest.

THE MILK-TREE.

That singular production of nature called the masseranduba, or milk-tree, is found in the tropical regions of South America, and is thus described by Wallace, in his “Travels on the Amazon.” Speaking of the various interesting objects of the journey he was making, he says: “What most interested us, however, were several large logs of the masseranduba, or milk-tree. On our way through the forest, we had seen some trunks much notched by persons who had been extracting the milk. It is one of the noblest trees of the forest, rising with a straight stem to an enormous hight. The timber is very hard, fine-grained, and durable, and is valuable for works which are much exposed to the weather. The fruit is eatable and very good, the size of a small apple, and full of a rich and very juicy pulp. But strangest of all is the vegetable milk, which exudes in abundance when the bark is cut. It has about the consistence of thick cream, and, but for a very slight peculiar taste, could scarcely be distinguished from the genuine product of the cow. Mr. Leavens ordered a man to tap some logs that had lain nearly a month in the yard. He cut several notches in the bark with an ax, and in a minute the rich sap was running out in great quantities. It was collected in a basin, diluted with water, strained, and brought up at tea-time, and at breakfast next morning. The peculiar flavor of the milk seemed rather to improve the quality of the tea, and gave it as good a color as rich cream. In coffee it is equally good. Mr. Leavens informed us that he had made a custard of it, and that, though it had a curious dark color, it was very well tasted. The milk is used for glue, and is said to be as durable as that made use of by carpenters. As a specimen of its capabilities in this line, Mr. Leavens showed us a violin he had made, the belly-board of which, formed of two pieces, he had glued together with it applied fresh from the tree, without any preparation. It had been done two years. The instrument had been in constant use; and the joint was now perfectly good and sound throughout its whole length. As the milk hardens by exposure to air, it becomes a very tough, slightly elastic substance, much resembling gutta percha; but not having the property of being softened by hot water, it is not likely to become so extensively useful as that article.”

THE TELEGRAPH.

Tho old-fashioned telegraph, which was in common use before the wonderful invention of the electro-magnetic telegraph by Morse, was an arrangement for the communication of intelligence by signals, or movements, previously agreed upon; which signals represented letters, words, or ideas, which could thus be transmitted from one station to another, as far as the signals could be seen. It was first devised in France, about 1793 or 1794, and soon became extensively adopted and used in other nations. A good idea of its appearance may be formed from the cut below. It consisted of a mast, or frame, in connection with shutters, or sliding-boards, worked by ropes pulled like bell-ropes, and exhibiting, in all, sixty-three signals; by which were represented the nine digits, the letters of the alphabet, and several generic words: and, sometimes, to these were added other signals, expressive of entire phrases. The observers at these telegraphs were not expected to keep their eye constantly at the glass, but to look only every five minutes for the signal to make ready. The telescopes used for observation, were commonly what are called Dolland’s achromatics, which possess no recommendation but their enlarged field, and their freedom from prismatic colors in that field; points of no consequence in looking through a fixed glass at a fixed and circumscribed object. Sometimes a common and powerful spy-glass was found sufficient. In the use of this kind of telegraph, dead flats or levels were found to be universally unfavorable; and generally stations were found to be useless nearly in the proportion of the miles of dead flat looked over. On the contrary, stations between hill and hill, looking across a valley, or a series of valleys, were found to be mostly clear; and water surfaces were found to produce fewer obscure days than land in any situation. The period least favorable of the same day was an hour or two before and after the sun’s passage of the meridian, particularly on dead levels, where the play of the sun’s rays on the rising exhalations, renders distant vision exceedingly obscure. The tranquillity of the morning and evening were ascertained to be the most favorable hours for observation.

THE SIGNAL TELEGRAPH.

The old line of this kind of telegraph between London and Portsmouth, had twelve stations; and another chain from London to Yarmouth, had nineteen stations. The distances of the stations averaged about eight miles, yet some of them extended to twelve or fourteen; and the lines were often increased by circuits, for want of commanding hights. After about twenty years’ experience, they found they could calculate on about two hundred days on which signals could be transmitted throughout the day; about sixty others on which they could pass only part of the day, or at particular stations; and about one hundred days in which few of the stations were visible to each other. A message from London to Portsmouth, was usually transmitted in about fifteen minutes; but, by an experiment tried for the purpose, a single signal has been transmitted to Plymouth and back again in three minutes, which, by the telegraph route, is at least five hundred miles. In this instance, however, notice had been given to make ready, and every captain was at his post to receive and return the signals. The progress was at the rate of one hundred and seventy miles in a minute, or three miles a second, or three seconds at each station; a rapidity truly wonderful for so imperfect an apparatus! And yet, clumsy and slow-moving as all this now seems to us, it was the best telegraph known before the invention of Morse. In contrast to it, let us turn to the latter.

THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.

The invention of this wonderful instrument, it is now universally admitted, is due to Professor S. F. B. Morse, of whom some one has well said, that “if Franklin brought the lightning from heaven, Morse both tamed it, and taught it the English language.” So early as 1822, Mr. Morse described his invention to reliable witnesses; and having obtained an appropriation from Congress, for the purpose of testing it on an extended scale, he set up the wires from Washington to Baltimore, a distance of about forty miles, and thus established the first electro-magnetic telegraph ever known, and the parent of that wonderful system that now threads every continent, conveying messages literally on the lightning’s wing. A view of the instrument used for transmitting messages, is given in the cut below. By this instrument connecting with the wires, messages are either written or printed; by the system of House, in actual letters, and by the systems of Morse and Bain, in a cipher.