and the position of troops upon it. It _was_ possible to do
this in 1855, but it is much more feasible now. The transmission of form
by telegraph is of the utmost importance to journalists and scientific
men, and, as our electricians have not yet determined the best methods,
it may be interesting to point out the simplest and most rudimentary
means at hand. The method is well known in the army and is used for
field purposes, but hitherto newspapers have been strangely slow to
avail themselves of it. The diagram on the opposite page will explain a
system which is capable of much development with and without the aid of
photography.

If the reader will imagine this series of squares to represent a
portable piece of open trellis-work, which might be set up at a window
or in the open field, between the spectator and any object of interest
at a distance--each square representing a number corresponding with a
code in universal use--it will be obvious, that by noticing the squares
which the outline of a hill would cover, and _telegraphing the numbers
of the squares_, something in the way of form and outline may be quickly
communicated from the other side of the world.

[Illustration: CODE FOR TRANSMITTING FORM BY TELEGRAPH.]

This is for rough-and-ready use in time of war, when rapidity of
communication is of the first importance; but in time of peace a
correspondent's letter continually requires elucidation.

Next is an example, which, for want of better words, I will call "the
shorthand of pictorial art." A newspaper correspondent is in a boat on
one of the Italian lakes, and wishes to describe the scene on a calm
summer day. This is how he proceeds--

[Illustration]

"We are shut in by mountains," he says, "but the blue lake seems as wide
as the sea. On a rocky promontory on the left hand the trees grow down
to the water's edge and the banks are precipitous, indicating the great
depth of this part of the lake. The water is as smooth as glass; on its
surface is one vessel, a heavily-laden market boat with drooping sails,
floating slowly down" (and so on)--there is no need to repeat it all;
but when half a column of word-painting had been written (and
well-written) the correspondent failed to present the picture clearly to
the eye without these _four_ explanatory lines (no more) which should
of course have been sent with his letter.

This method of description requires certain aptitude and training; but
not much, n