Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/373

Rh "Consequently, there is a tendency in Nature for all the energy in the universe, of whatever kind it be, gradually to assume the form of heat, and, having done so, to become equally diffused. Now, were all the energy of the universe converted into uniformly-diffused heat, it would cease to be available for producing mechanical effect, since for that purpose we must have a hot source and a cooler condenser. This gradual degradation of energy is perpetually going on; and sooner or later, unless there be some restorative power, of which we at present have no knowledge whatever, the present state of things must come to an end.

"In 1854 Faraday, with an experimental cable, investigated the cause of the retardation of signals first observed in the working of the cable between Harwich and the Hague. Thomson, taking up the question, published an investigation of the nature of the phenomenon, one practical result of which was that with cables similar in lateral dimensions the retardations are proportional to the squares of the lengths. This law is now commonly referred to as the 'law of squares.' About this time it was proposed to construct a cable to connect England with America; and it became obvious that the discovery of the retardation of signals raised a question whether the transatlantic cable would not prove a commercial failure. Whitehouse, experimenting with 1,125 miles of cable, found the transmission of an instantaneous signal to the farther end of the cable to occupy one second and a half. The length of a cable required to connect Ireland with Newfoundland is twice that of the experimental cable of Whitehouse; and thus, according to the law of squares, the time taken to transmit an instantaneous signal through a cable similar in lateral dimensions to that of Whitehouse, and joining those two places, would be no less than six seconds. In 1856 Whitehouse read a paper before the British Association, in which he described experiments by which he hoped to disprove the law of squares. Thomson replied in the Athenæum (November 1, 1856); and subsequent experiments have established the correctness of his law.

"Fortunately a true understanding of the nature of the phenomenon of retardation led Prof. Thomson to the method of overcoming the difficulties presented. The disturbance produced at the extremity of a long submarine cable by the application for an instant of electromotive force at the other end is not, as in the case of a signal through an overhead land-line, a pulse, practically infinitely short, and received only a minute fraction of a second after it was communicated. Instead of this, a long wave is observed at the farther extremity, gradually swelling in intensity, and as gradually dying away. Its duration for such a cable as we have been speaking of would be the whole six seconds, calculated from the experiments of Whitehouse. Prof. Thomson perceived that an instrument was required which should give an indication of a signal received long before the wave has acquired its maximum intensity, and in which the subsequent rising to maximum intensity should not render unreadable a fresh signal sent quickly after the previous one. This was effected by his 'mirror galvanometer;' and it was by means of it that the messages transmitted through the 1858 Atlantic cable were read.

"The 1858 cable, submerged under difficulties that many times threatened to be insurmountable, soon failed. Several important messages were, however, transmitted through it; and it served to prove the feasibility of the project which many eminent engineers up till that time regarded as chimerical. Before another attempt was made the labors of Prof. Thomson and others, to all of whom the world owes a deep debt of gratitude, had so improved the