The New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

LONDON, August 4.

We hear from Paris, that Don Gauthier, a Monk, has invented a method of conveying a signal at 900 miles distance, night or day, at all seasons, within a minute, without the manner in which it is done being known either at the place it goes from or to, or any intermediate spot. The method is kept secret for reasons of state; but has been examined by a deputation of the academy of sciences, who declare themselves satisfied that the method is practicable, and it would certainly be effective at ninety miles distance. It is done neither by electricity nor magnetism.

The said gentleman has a second project for communicating the longest verbal instructions, as perfectly as if the parties were together, at 300 miles distance, within half an hour. This scheme is founded on an experiment, that a watch placed at the end of a trumpet, 110 feet long, may be heard to tick at the other end more plainly than if placed at the ear. Place therefore a set of tubes, reaching three miles under ground, and coming out at the house of a man, who, being summoned by a pistol shot, shall have his ear at the end of one set, and his mouth at the beginning of a second set; this man will hear and convey what is said as fast as sound can travel, which is fifteen miles in a minute, and by adding a proper number of tubes, you may pursue the method to any distance. He has a third scheme, to shoot a packet of letters in a strong bow from place to place, so as to form a very expeditious conveyance. Dr. Franklin, Messrs. Lalande, Le Roy, and several other members of the Academy of Sciences, have entered into a subscription for prosecuting these experiments.