ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
The telegraphic wires having been extended throughout the United States and the continent of Europe, it is now proposed to carry them under the Atlantic, and so connect America and Europe. The plan now is, to carry the cable from the northernmost point of the Highlands of Scotland to Iceland, by way of the Orkney, Shetland and Ferroe islands; to lay it from Iceland across to the nearest point in Greenland, thence down the coast to Cape Farewell, where the cable would again take to the water, span Davis’s straits, and then go across Labrador and Upper Canada to Quebec. Here it would lock in with the North American meshwork of wires, which hold themselves out like an open hand for the European grasp. This plan seems quite feasible, for in no part of the journey would the cable require to be more than nine hundred miles long; and as it seems pretty certain that a sand-bank extends, with good soundings, all the way to Cape Farewell, there would be little difficulty in mooring the cable to a level and soft bottom.
Among the most startling wonders in connection with electricity and the telegraph, is the announcement that M. Bonelli, of Turin, has invented a new electric telegraph, by which trains in motion on a railway are enabled to communicate with each other at all rates of velocity, and, at the same time, with the telegraphic stations on the line; while the latter are, at the same time, able to communicate with the trains. It is added, that M. Bonelli is in possession of a system of telegraphic communication by which wires are entirely dispensed with.
THE ART OF PRINTING.
From the telegraph, to printing, and the printing-press, is but a step; and one that is naturally suggested. The origin of printing is involved in mystery. Some think it was practiced as far back as the building of Babylon. The Romans, we know, had metal stamps with which they marked words and names on their various articles; but having no paper, they could hardly be said to print. Printing from engraved blocks of wood, was practiced by the Chinese nearly fifty years before the Christian era. But the credit of first introducing movable types, is commonly attributed to John Fust, or Faust, of Mentz, who is represented, in the cut on the next page, as looking, with his associates, at the first proof taken from movable types. This was supposed to be not far from the year 1450. Between 1450 and 1455, the celebrated “Mentz Bible” appeared, without date; and this was the occasion of the art being discovered by the public. Next followed the “Psalter,” in 1457; and from this time, printing rapidly spread throughout Europe. William Caxton was the first to introduce printing into England, about 1474. The first book in which Greek types appear, was printed in 1465; and the first using the Roman character, in 1467.
FAUST TAKING FIRST PROOF FROM MOVABLE TYPES.
Printing-presses were gradually improved. The old-fashioned press was made of wood, with an iron screw that had a bar fitted in it; and to the lower end of this screw was attached, horizontally, a flat piece of wood, called the platen, which was brought down by means of the screw, and pressed the paper on the face of the types, and thus the impression was given. This kind of presses, however, soon gave place to those made of iron. The Stanhope press was a great improvement on anything that had gone before it; and the Caledonian press, invented by George Clymer, an American, was a great improvement, in many respects, on the latter. The press represented in the cut on the following page, on which Franklin printed, was one of these old-fashioned hand-presses, on which it would have been a hard day’s work to print twenty-five hundred impressions, or twelve hundred and fifty sheets on both sides, in a day. After a time, a plan was devised of obtaining impressions from types by means of cylinders; and in 1804, the idea was started, of applying steam-power to printing-presses. It was not, however, till after years of experiments, and an immense outlay of capital, that the invention was brought to a successful issue, so as to be advantageously applied in practice. When, however, in 1814, the machine was completed, it was adopted in the office of the London Times newspaper, and was thus spoken of in the papers of the day.
