Harper's Weekly "Telegraph Plateau" 28 Aug. 1858

Harper's Weekly "Telegraph Plateau" 28 Aug. 1858

Telegraph Plateau

In the middle of the Harper’s Weekly issue of August 28th 1858 is an article titled The Telegraph Plateau. This article describes how the depth of the seabed, along the path that the Atlantic telegraph was laid, was measured and how the seabed’s composition was determined. This explanation is accompanied by several images. The first depicting the voyage of the ships that were involved in laying the cable and the last that depicts the depth along the path the cable was laid. The first of the two middle drawings simply shows a segment and a cross section of the cable, while the later of the middle images shows the device used to measure depth and to obtain seabed samples. (“Telegraph Plateau” 548) The audience for this item is likely anyone who would wonder about some of the specifics of how this engineering accomplishment of laying the cable was done. The language is simple and an attempt is made to make sure that the audience understands that some of the images are not to scale, indicating that it was for the mases who would not have any significant knowledge of science or the engineering of such an endeavor. The writer of the article is not marked though it can be assumed that they receive a more detailed description of the devices used and then simplified the language to the readers and provided images for further aid in comprehension. This item shows the attempt for New York in the 1850’s to obtain a reputation as an intellectual city, this can be inferred by the attempt to explain the inaccuracy of the images. (“Telegraph Plateau” 549) By explaining the inaccuracy they make sure the public does not take something in the wrong way and the possibility of spreading a misconception. This also serves and an example as to why one cannot believe everything they read or see in a paper, and being pointed out by the paper itself would make the example even more effective, helping the readers to become more intellectually critical and skeptical of what they read.

Harper's Weekly

“The Telegraph Plateau.” Harper’s Weekly 28 Aug. 1858: 548-549. Print.

Harper's Weekly

20 Sept. 2015

Dalton Spatz

Aug. 1858