Mr. 0.S. Wood, Superintendent of the Canadian telegraph-lines,
says:--"I never, in my experience of fifteen years in the working of
telegraph-lines, witnessed anything like the extraordinary effect of
the aurora borealis, between Quebec and Father Point, last night. The
line was in most perfect order, and well-skilled operators worked
incessantly from eight o'clock last evening till one o'clock this
morning, to get over, in even a tolerably intelligible form, about four
hundred words of the steamer "Indian's" report for the press; but at
the latter hour, so completely were the wires under the influence of
the aurora borealis, that it was found utterly impossible to
communicate between the telegraph-stations, and the line was closed for
the night."
We have seen from the foregoing examples that the aurora borealis
produces remarkable effects upon the telegraph-lines during its entire
manifestation. We have, however, to record yet more wonderful effects
of the aurora upon the wires, namely, _the use of the auroral current
for transmitting and receiving telegraphic dispatches_.
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