The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

TO SECURE PERMANENCY OF STRUCTURE. 717
elsewhere. Such was the case with the egg joint, and telegraphers objected to soldered connections at that time for the
same reason. Some lines were then built without soldering
any of them. In a few years they worked better during and
after a rain than they did on dry days. This resulted from the
water resting in the cavities of the wire joints, serving as auxiliary conductors. When they were dry, the rust was an
inferior conductor, and hence the difficulty of getting a sufficient flow of the voltaic current from station to station. Even
the dews of heaven that fell during the shades of night, served as
rich blessings to the wearied operators, and as an amelioration
to the struggling messenger destined for other climes! It
seemed to me as though the finger of the Creator benignly
aided in the perfection of the means for the transmission of
that mysterious imponderable agent, which conceals itself, and
nestles in the gorgeous drapery of his throne-a power in
nature so transcendent in sublimity, that it can have no twin!