Desains and Bourbouze, relieving each other day and night, waited at Paris, in a wherry on the Seine, ready to receive the signal which they awaited with patriotic anxiety.
It was a question of working a process devised by the last-named pair, in which the water of the river acted the part of the line wire.

On the 23rd January the communication at last seemed to be established, but unfortunately, first the armistice and then the surrender of Paris rendered useless the valuable result of this noble effort.
Special mention is also due to the experiments made by the Indian Telegraph Office, under the direction of Mr Johnson and afterwards of Mr W.F.Melhuish.

They led, indeed, in 1889 to such satisfactory results that a telegraph service, in which the line wire was replaced by the earth, worked practically and regularly.

Other attempts were also made during the latter half of the nineteenth century to transmit signals through the sea.

They preceded the epoch when, thanks to numerous physicists, among whom Lord Kelvin undoubtedly occupies a preponderating position, we succeeded in sinking the first cable; but they were not abandoned, even after that date, for they gave hopes of a much more economical solution of the problem.