We start the notes where we start the chapter, at the celebrations that marked the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable - a short-lived technological glory of the Victorian era of enterprise, when no problem would remain unsolved after the lavish application of technological wonders in walnut cabinets and the twist of brass taps.

Given its status as the world’s first near-instant exchange of information across an ocean, the transatlantic telegraph cable is rather Steampunk, as this report of the celebrations makes clear.