A history of electric telegraphy, to the year 1837

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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924031 221 249

A HISTORY

OF

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY,

TO THE YEAR 1837.

A HISTORY

OF

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY,

TO THE YEAR 1837.

CHIEFLY COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES, AND
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS.

BY

J. J. FAHIE,

MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF TELEGKAPH-ENGINEERS AND ELECTRICIANS, LONDON;
AND OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ELECTRICIANS, PARIS.

' Their line is gone out through all the earth.
And their words to the end of the world."

Psalms xix. 4.

LONDON:
E. & F. N. SPON, 16, CHARING CROSS.

NEW YORK: 35, MURRAY STREET.

1884.

<S

All rights reserved.

DeuicateU

TO

LATIMER CLARK, ESQUIRE,

M.I.C.E., F.R.G.S., F.M.S,, PAST PRES. S.T.E. AND E.,

IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MANY KINDNESSES,
BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND,

THE AUTHOR.

London, February 1884,

PREFACE.

Plutarch, in the opening sentences of his Life of
Demosthenes, says : — " Whosoever shall design to
write a history, consisting of materials which must be
gathered from observation, and the reading of authors
not easy to be had nor writ in his own native language,
but many of them foreign and dispersed in other hands :
for him it is in the first place and above all things
most necessary to reside in some city of good note and
fame, addicted to the liberal arts, and populous, where
he may have plenty of all sorts of books, and, upon
inquiry, may hear and inform himself of such parti-
culars as, having escaped the pens of writers, are yet
faithfully preserved in the memories of men ; lest
otherwise he publish a work deficient in many things,
and those such as are necessary to its perfection."

Had we seen this passage a few years ago, the
following pages had, probably, never been written, and
there would be no need for this preface. The work
was begun and brought to a very forward state, not in
some city of good note and fame, where plenty of
books were to be had, but in what has been rightly

viii Preface.

called " the confines of the earth— the hot regions of
Persia," and under circumstances which, we think, will
bear relating.

In our youthful days we contracted two habits,
which have been ever since the bane or the solace (we
hardly know which to call them) of our existence,
viz., a taste for writing, and a taste for scraps. The
Cacoethes Scribendi first attacked us, and we can recall
letters in the local papers on various topics of local
interest, all of which were written early in our teens.
When about sixteen years of age we commenced a
history of the old castles and churches which abound
(in ruins) in and about our native place, the said history
being intended to serve also as a guide for tourists who
were constantly visiting the neighbourhood. With great
industry we got together, in time, some two hundred
pages (foolscap) of writing ; but the work was never
completed. For years we hawked the MS. about,
latterly never looking at it, having come to regard it
as a standing reproach for time and money misspent ;
and at last, in a fit of remorse, we gave the papers to
the flames in 1875.

Soon after joining the telegraph service, in 1865, our
archaeological bent took another turn, and we now
began to collect books and scraps on electricity,
magnetism, and their applications — particularly to
telegraphy, and with the same industrious ardour as
before. In December 1867, we entered the Persian
Gulf Telegraph Department under the Government of

Preface. ix

India, where, having a good deal of spare time on our
hands, we indulged our habits to the full. In 1871,
having amassed a large number of notes, scraps, &c.,
on submarine telegraphy, we began a work on the
history and working of the Persian Gulf cables, of
which we had then had over three years' practical
experience.

Gradually this developed itself into an ambitious
treatise, which we styled " Submarine Telegraphs,
their Construction, Submersion, and Maintenance,
including their Testing and Practical Working." Of
this some three hundred pages (foolscap) are now
lying " submerged " in the depths of our trunk, to be,
perhaps, " recovered " at some future day — if, haply,
they do not share the fate of our History of Ruins !

Unfortunately for us, at least from a book-selling
point of view, our old taste for archaeology, after lying
dormant for years, reasserted itself, and, about six
years ago, we found ourselves in the design of writing
a history of telegraphy from the time of Adam down
to our own ! For this we had a pile of notes and
paper cuttings — the accumulation of a dozen years,
but few books (books are heavy and awkward baggage
for one of our necessarily semi-nomadic life). How-
ever, with our materials we built up a tolerably fleshy
skeleton (if we may so speak), which, on our arrival
in England at the close of 1882, after nearly fifteen
years' absence, we showed to some friends.

They advised us to fill up the gaps and bring out

X Preface.

our book immediately. The first was easy of accom*
plishment, with the use of the splendid technical
libraries of Mr. Latimer Clark and of the Society of
Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians, and with an
occasional reference to the British Museum ; but to
find a publisher, that was not so easy. Publishers,
now as always, fight shy of Dryasdust, and the two
or three whom we tried asked us to bring them
something new, for, owing to the machinations of us,
Electrical Engineers, the world was going at lightning
speed, and had no time to look back.

Ultimately we paid a visit to the Editor of The
Electrician, told him of our discomfiture, showed him
our MSS., and repeated an offer that we had made him
years before, from Persia, but which he then declined,
viz., to publish our articles from week to week in his
paper. The Editor did not take long to decide ; he
would only, however, accept the electrical portion, the
non-electric part which deals with fire-, flag-, and
semaphore- signalling, acoustic, pneumatic, and hy-
draulic telegraphs, &c., &c., being, he said, unsuited
for his journal. On the principle that half a loaf is
better than no bread, we concluded arrangements
there and then, and parted with our new-found friend
with feelings which time has but intensified.

The present volume is a collection, with very few
alterations, of the articles which have regularly ap-
peared in The Electrician for the last twelve months.
Of these alterations the only ones worth mentioning

Preface. xi

will be found in our chapters on Mr. Edward Davy ;
we have made our account of his electro-chemical re-
cording telegraph a little fuller, and have added some
new matter lately acquired (i) from recent letters of
Mr. Davy himself, (2) from an examination of the
private papers of the late Sir William FothergiM
Cooke — a privilege for which we are indebted to our
kind friend, Mr. Latimer Clark, and (3) from Mr.
W. H. Thornthwaite, of London, an old pupil of
Edward Davy, whose very interesting reminiscences,
we feel sure, will be scanned with pleasure by all our
readers.

Now as to the plan of the work. We have divided
the history of electricity into three parts, (i) static, or
frictional, electricity, (2) dynamic, or galvanic, electri-
city, and (3) electro-magnetism and magneto-electricity.
We have brought our account of each part down to
the year 1837, confining ourselves to a notice of such
facts and principles only as are employed in the
various telegraphic proposals that follow. These, in
their turn, are divided into three classes, electrical,
galvanic (chemical), and electro-magnetic ; and each
class, treated chronologically, follows naturally the
corresponding part of the history of electricity. The
whole is preceded by a full account of what we have
called z. foreshadowing of the electric telegraph, and is
followed by an appendix, containing (A) a clear and
correct statement of Professor Joseph Henry's little-
known connection with electric telegraphy, which is

xii Preface.

too important to be omitted, but for which we
could not conveniently find room in the body of the
work, and (B) a few pages supplementary of our
chapters on Edward Davy.

In limiting ourselves to the year 1837, we have done
so advisedly, for, to attempt even the barest outline
of what has been accomplished since then would
occupy volumes. Our object has been, as it were, to
make a special survey of a river from its rise away in
some tiny spring to its mouth in the mighty ocean,
marking down, as we came along, those of the tributary
streams and such other circumstances as specially
interested us. Arrived at the mouth, the traveller who
wishes for further exploration has only to chose his
pilot ; for, fortunately, there is no lack of these. We
have Highton, Lardner, Sabine, and CuUey in England ;
Shaffner, Prescott, and Reid in America ; Moigno,
Blavier, and du Moncel in France ; Schellen, and
Zetzsche in Germany ; Saavedra in Spain, and many
others in various parts of the world whose names need
not be specially mentioned.

As we have in the body of the work given full refer-
ences for every important statement, it will not be
necessary to acknowledge here the sources of our in-
formation ; indeed it would be simply impossible to
do so within the limits of a preface which we feel is
already too long. Like Moliere, we have taken our
materials wherever we could find them, and it is no
exaggeration to say that in pursuit of our subject we

Preface. xiii

have laid many hundreds of volumes under tribute ;
some have given us clues, some have been mines of
wealth, others have yielded nothing at all, while,
what was worse, a goodly number were of the ignis
fatuus kind — false accounts, false dates, false refer-
ences, false everything — which worried us consider-
ably, and over which we lost much precious time.

We gladly, however, take this opportunity of thank-
ing Messrs. Ispolatoff (Russia), D'Amico (Italy),
Aylmer (France), Sommerring (Germany), and Collette
(Holland), for their assistance, of which, as they will
see, we have made good use in the text. To our
friend, Mr. Latimer Clark, our debt is too heavy for
liquidation and must remain. He has not only given
us the free use of his magnificent library, but has aided
and encouraged us with his advice and sympathy,
and, in the most generous manner, has placed at our
disposal all his private notes. These, we need hardly
say, have been of great use to us, and would have
been of greater still had we seen them at an earlier
stage of our researches.

As we have to return almost immediately to " the
confines of the earth," the preparation of the index
has been kindly undertaken by our friend, Mr. A. J.
Frost, Librarian of the Society of Telegraph-Engineers
and Electricians, whose name will be a sufficient
guarantee for the accuracy and completeness of the
work. In tendering him our cordial thanks for this
assistance, we have much pleasure in recording our

XIV Preface.

appreciation of the zeal, ability, and unvarying courtesy
with which he performs the duties of his office. His
bibliographical knowledge is great and special, and
has at all times been freely placed at our disposal.

Our book, we hope, will give the coup de grdce to
many popular errors. Thus, we show that Watson,
Franklin, Cavendish, and Volta did not suggest elec-
tric telegraphs (pp. 60, 66, and 82) ; that Galvani was
not the first to observe the fundamental phenomenon
of what we now C2.\\ galvanism (pp. 17S-9) > that his
experiments in this field were not suggested by a
preparation of frog-broth (pp. 180-3) ; that not Daniel!
but Dobereiner and Becquerel first employed two-fluid
cells with membranous or porous partitions (p. 215) ;
that not Sommerring but Salvd. first proposed a gal-
vanic (chemical) telegraph (p. 220) ; that not Schilling
but Salvi first suggested a submarine cable (p. 105) ;
that Romagnosi did not discover electro-magnetism
(p. 257) ; that not Ritter but Gautherot first described
the secondary battery (p. 267) ; that not Gumming nor
Nobili but Ampere first invented the astatic needle
(p. 280) ; that not Seebeck but Dessaignes first dis-
covered thermo-electricity (p. 297) ; that not Thomson
but Gauss and Weber first constructed the mirror
galvanometer (p. 319); that the use of the earth
circuit in telegraphy was clearly and intelligently
suggested by an Englishman long before Steinheil
made his accidental discovery of it (p. 345) ; and
that not Cooke and Wheatstone, nor Morse, but

Preface. xv

Henry in America and Edward Davy in England
first applied the principle of the relay — a principle
of the utmost importance in telegraphy (pp. 359, 511,
and 5 IS).

There may be some amongst our readers who will
not thank us for upsetting their belief on these and
many other points of lesser importance, and who may
even call us bad names, as did Professor Leslie on a
former occasion, and CL propos of somebody's quoting
Swammerdam's and Sulzer's experiments (pp. 175
and 178) as suggestive of galvanism. Leslie says : —
" Such facts are curious and deserve attention, but
every honourable mind must pity or scorn that invi-
dious spirit with which some unhappy jackals hunt
after imperfect and neglected anticipations with a view
of detracting from the merit of full discovery"
(JEncy. Brit, 8th edition, vol. i. p. 739). For our part
we can honestly say that in drawing up our history
we have not been influenced by any such views ;
our sole object has been to tell the truth, the whole
truth, to

" nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."

It is possible, however, that with the best intentions
we may, either by omission or commission, be guilty
of some unfairness ; and if our readers will only show
us wherein we have transgressed, we will be ready to
make the amende if they will kindly afford us an
opportunity — in a second edition.

xvi Preface.

We began our preface with an apology, we will
end it with an appeal. We borrowed the one from
Plutarch, Newton shall supply the other. At the
close of the preface to his immortal Principia he
says : — " I earnestly entreat that all may be read
with candour, and that my labours may be examined
not so much with a view to censure as to supply their
defects."

The Author.

London, February 1884.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Foreshadowing of the Electric Telegraph .. i

CHAPTER II.

Static, or Frictional, Electricity — History in
Relation to Telegraphy 26

CHAPTER III.

Telegraphs based on Static, or Frictional,
Electricity 68

' CHAPTER IV.

Telegraphs based on Static, or Frictional,
Electricity {continued) tog

CHAPTER V.

Telegraphs based on Static, or Frictional,
Electricity {continued) 146

CHAPTER VI.

Dynamic Electricity — History in Relation to

Telegraphy 169

b

xviii Contents.

CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

Dynamic Electricity— History in Relation to

T^LEGRAFHY (coniinued) i86

CHAPTER VIII.

Telegraphs (Chemical) based on Dynamic Elec-
tricity 220

CHAPTER IX.

Electro-Magnetism and Magneto-Electricity —
History in Relation to Telegraphy 250

CHAPTER X.

Electro-Magnetism and Magneto-Electricity —
History in Relation to Telegraphy {continued) 275

CHAPTER XI.

Telegraphs based on Electro-Magnetism and
Magneto-Electricity 302

CHAPTER XII.

Telegraphs based on Electro-Magnetism and
Magneto-Electricity {continued) 326

CHAPTER XIII.

Edward Davy and the Electric Telegraph,
1836-1839 345

Contents. xix

CHAPTER XIV.

PAGE

Edward Davy and the Electric Telegraph,

1836-1839 {continued) 379

CHAPTER XV.

Edward Davy and the Electric Telegraph,

1836-1839 {continued) 414

CHAPTER XVI.

Telegraphs based on Electro-Magnetism and
Magneto-Electricity (c«>;2/'z«««<^ 448

CHAPTER XVII.

Telegraphs based on Electro-Magnetism and
Magneto-Electricity ((r(7«/z««<«<^ 477

Appendix A..— Re Professor Joseph Henry .. .. 495

Appendix 'B.—Re Mr. Edward Davy 516

Bibliography 531

Index 537

HISTORY

OF

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY

TO THE YEAR 1837.

CHAPTER I.

FORESHADOWING OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

" Whatever draws me on,
Or sympathy, or some connatural force.
Powerful at greatest distance to unite,
With secret amity, things of like kind,
By secretest conveyance."

Milton, Paradise Lost, jl. 246. 1667.

Amongst the many flights of imagination, by which
genius has often anticipated the achievements of her
more deliberate and cautious sister, earth-walking
reason, none, perhaps, is more striking than the story
of the sympathetic needles, which was so prevalent in
the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries,
and which so beautifully foreshadowed the invention
of the electric telegraph.* This romantic tale had

* " In the dream of the Elector Frederick of Saxony, in 1517, the
curious reader may like to discern another dim glimmering, a more
shadowy foreshadowing, of the electric telegraph, whose hosts of iron

B

2 A History of Electric Telegraphy

reference to a sort of magnetic telegraph, based on
the sympathy which was supposed to exist between
needles that had been touched by the same magnet,
or loadstone, whereby an intercourse could be main-
tained between distant friends, since every movement
imparted to one needle would immediately induce, by
sympathy, similar movements in the other. As a
history of telegraphy would be manifestly incom-
plete without a reference to this fabulous contrivance,
we propose to deal with it at some length in the
present chapter.

For the first suggestions of the sympathetic needle
telegraph we must go back a very long way, probably
to the date of the discovery of the magnet's attraction
for iron. At any rate, we believe that we have found
traces of it in the working of the oracles of pagan
Greece and Rome. Thus, we read in Maimbourg's
Histoire de VArianisme (Paris, 1686)* ; —

and copper 'pens' reach to-day the farthest ends of the earth. In
this strange dream Martin Luther appeared writing upon the door of
the Palace Chapel at Wittemburg. The pen with which he wrote
seemed so long that its feather end reached to Rome, and ran full tilt
against the Pope's tiara, which his holiness was at the moment wearing.
On seeing the danger, the cardinals and princes of the State ran up to
support the tottering crown, and, one after another, tried to break the
pen, but tried in vain. It crackled, as if made of iron, and could not
be broken. While all were wondering at its strength a loud cry arose,
and from the monk's long pen issued a host of others.."— Electricity
and the Electric Telegraph, by Dr. George Wilson, London, 1852,
p. 59 ; or D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, chap. iv. book iii.
• English translation of 1728, by the Rev. W. Webster, chap. vi.

to the Year 1837. 3

"Whilst Valens [the Roman Emperor] was at
Antioch in his third consulship, in the year 370,
several pagans of distinction, with the philosophers
who were in so great reputation under Julian, not
being able to bear that the empire should continue
in the hands of the Christians, consulted privately the
demons, by the means of conjurations, in order to
know the destiny of the emperor, and who should be
his successor, persuading themselves that the oracle
would name a person who should restore the worship
of the gods. For this purpose they made a three-
footed stool of laurel in imitation of the tripos at
Delphos, upon which having laid a basin of divers
metals they placed the twenty-four letters of the
alphabet round it ; then one of these philosophers, who
was a magician, being wrapped up in a large mantle,
and his head covered, holding in one hand vervain,
and in the other a ring, which hung at the end of a
small thread, pronounced some execrable conjurations
in order to invoke the devils ; at which the three-
footed stool turning round, and the ring moving of
itself, and turning from one side to the other over the
letters, it caused them to fall upon the table, and place
themselves near each other, whilst the persons who
were present set down the like letters in their table-
books, till their answer was delivered in heroic verse,
which foretold them that their criminal inquiry would
cost them their lives, and that the Furies were waiting
for the emperor at Mimas, where he was to die of a

B 2

4 A History of Electric Telegraphy

horrid kind of death [he was subsequently burnt alive
by the Goths] ; after which the enchanted ring turning
about again over the letters, in order to express the
name of him who should succeed the emperor, formed
first of all these three characters, TH E O ; then
having added a D to form THEOD the ring stopped,
and was not seen to move any more ; at which one of
the assistants cried out in a transport of joy, ' We must
not doubt any longer of it ; Theodorus is the person
whom the gods appoint for our emperor.' "

If, as it must be admitted, the modus operandi is not
here very clear, we can still carry back our subject to
the same early date, in citing an experiment on mag-
netic attractions which was certainly popular in the
days of St. Augustine, 354-430.

In his De Civitate Dei, which was written about
413, he tells us that, being one day on a visit to a
bishop named Severus, he saw him take a magnetic
stone and hold it under a silver plate, on which he had
thrown a piece of iron, which followed exactly all the
movements of the hand in which the loadstone was
held. He adds that, at the time of his writing, he had
under his eyes a vessel filled with water, placed on a
table six inches thick, and containing a needle floating
on cork, which he could move from side to side accord-
ing to the movements of a magnetic stone held under
the table.*

Leonardus (Camillus), in his Speculum Lapidum,
* Basileae, 1522, pp. 718-19.

to the Year 1837. 5

&c., 1 502, verho MAGNES, refers to this experiment as
one familiar to mariners, and Blasius de Vigenere, in
his annotations of Livy, says that a letter might be
read through a stone wall three feet thick, by guiding,
by means of a loadstone or magnet, the needle of a
compass over the letters of the alphabet written in the
circumference.*

From such experiments as these the sympathetic
telegraph was but a step, involving only the supposi-
tion that the same effects might be possible at a
greater distance, but wh^n, or by whom, this step was
first taken it is now difficult to say. It has been
traced back to Baptista Porta, the celebrated Neapo-
litan philosopher, and in all probability originated
with him ; for in the same book in which he announces
the conceit he describes the above experiment of
St. Augustine, and other " wonders of the magnet " ;
adding that the impostors of his time abused by these
means the credulity of the people, by arranging around
a basin of water, on which a magnet floated, certain
words to serve as answers to the questions which
superstitious persons might put to them on the future.t

* Les Cinq Premiers Livres de Tite Live, Paris, 1576, vol. i. col.
1316.

t While it is generally admitted that magnetism has conferred incal-
culable benefits on mankind (witness only the mariner's compass), we
have never yet seen it stated that it has at the same time contributed
more to our bamboozlement than any other, we might almost say all, of
the physical sciences. With the charlatans in all ages and nations, its
mysterious powers have ever been fruitful sources of imposture, some-
times harmless, sometimes not. Thus, from the iron crook of the

6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

He then concludes the 2ist chapter with the following
words, which, so far as yet discovered, contain the first
clear enunciation of the sympathetic needle telegraph :
— " Lastly, owing to the convenience afforded by the
magnet, persons can converse together through long
distances."* In the edition of 1589 he is even more
explicit, and says in the preface to the seventh book :
"I do not fear that with a long absent friend, even
though he be confined by prison walls, we can com-
municate what we wish by means of two compass
needles circumscribed with an alphabet."

The next person who mentions this curious notion
was Daniel Schwenter, who wrote under the assumed
name of Johannes Hercules de Sunde. In his Stega-
nologia et Steganographia, published at Nurnberg in
1600, he says, p. 127: — "Inasmuch as this is a
wonderful secret I have hitherto hesitated about
divulging it, and for this reason disguised my remarks
in the first edition of my book so as only to be under-

Greek shepherd Magnes, and the magnetic mountains of the geo-
grapher Ptolemy, to the magnetic trains of early railway enthusiasts •
from the magnetically protected coffin of Confucius to the magnetically
suspended one of Mahomed ; from the magnetic powders and potions
of the ancients, and the metal discs, rods, and unguents of the old
magnetisers, to the magnetic belts of the new — the modem panacea
for all the ills that flesh is heir to ; from the magnetic telegraphs of the
sixteenth century to the Gary and Hosmer perpetual motors of the
nineteenth, et hoc genus omne ; all these impostures are, or were, based
entirely on the (supposed) force of magnetic attraction, to which must
be added an unconscionable amount of ignorance or credulity.
* Magice Naiuralis, p. 88, 'Naples, 1558.

to the Year 1837. 7

stood by learned chemists and physicians. I will
now, however, communicate it for the benefit of the
lovers of science generally." He then goes on to
describe, in true cabalistic fashion, the preparation of

Fig. I.

De Simde's dial as given in Schott's Schola Steganographica.

the two compasses, the needles of which were to be
made diamond-shaped from the same piece of steel
and magnetised by the same magnet, or rather,
magnets, for there were four : i, Almagrito ; 2,
Theamedes ; 3, Almaslargont ; 4, Calamitro ; which

8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

imparted south, north, east, and west-turning pro-
perties respectively to the needles. The cotiipass-
cards were divided off into compartments, each con-
taining four letters of the alphabet, and each letter
was indicated by the needle pointing, from one to
four times, to the division in which it stood. Thus,
the letter C would be indicated by three movements
of the needle to the first division of the card. The
needles were actuated by bar magnets, or chadids,
and attention was called by the ringing of a tiny
bell, which was so placed in the way of the needle
that at each deflection of the latter it was struck,
and so continued to ring until removed by the
correspondent.

The next and most widely known relation of
the story occurs in the Prolusiones Academicce* of
Famianus Strada, a learned Italian Jesuit, first
published at Rome in. 1617, and often reprinted
since. Although the idea did not originate with
Strada (for he seems to attribute it to Cardinal
Bembo, who died about 1547), he was certainly, as
Sir Thomas Browne quaintly says, "The ceolus
that blew it about," for his Prolusiones had long
been a favourite classic, while the passage referring
to the loadstone has, if we may say so, been con-
tinually going the rounds of the newspapers. It
is quoted more or less fully in many authors of
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, famous

* Lib. ii., prol. 6.

to the Year 1837. 9

amongst whom are Hakewill,* Addison,t Akenside,J
and " Misographos." §

The references to it in the present century are
simply too numerous to mention. The following is
the latest English version, which, with the original
Latin, appeared in the Telegraphic Journal, for
November 15, 1875 : —

"There is a wonderful kind of magnetic stone to
which if you bring in contact several bodies of iron or
dial-pins, from thence they will not only derive a force
and motion by which they will always try to turn
themselves to the bear which shines near the pole, but,
also, by a strange method and fashion between each
other, as many dial-pins as have touched that stone,
you will see them all agree in the same position and
motion, so that if, by chance, one of these, be observed
at Rome, another, although it may be removed a long
way off, turns itself in the same direction by a secret
law of its nature. Therefore try the experiment, if
you desire a friend who is at a distance to know any-
thing to whom no letter could get, take a flat smooth
disc, describe round the outside edges of the disc stops,
and the first letters of the alphabet, in the order in
which boys learn them, and place in the centre, lying
horizontally, a dial-pin that has touched the magnet,

* An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in
the Government of the World, 1630.

t Spectator, No. 241, 171 1, and Guardian, No. 119, 1713.

% The Pleasures of Imagination, 1744.

§ The Student; or, the Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany, 1750.

10 A History of Electric Telegraphy

so that, turned easily from thence, it can touch each
separate letter that you desire,

"After the pattern of this one, construct another
disc, described with a similar margin, and furnished
with a pointer of iron — of iron that has received a
motion from the same magnet. Let your frierid about
to depart carry this disc with him, and let it be agreed
beforehand at what time, or on what days, he shall
observe whether the dial-pin trembles, or what it marks
with the indicator. These things being thus arranged,
if you desire to address your friend secretly, whom a
part of the earth separates far from you, bring your
hand to the disc, take hold of the movable iron, here
you observe the letters arranged round the whole
margin, with stops of which there is need for words,
hither direct the iron, and touch with the point the
separate letters, now this one, and now the other,
whilst, by turning the iron round again and again
throughout these, you may distinctly express all the
sentiments of your mind.

" Strange, but true ! the friend who is far distant
sees the movable iron tremble without the touch of
any one, and to traverse, now in one, now in another
direction ; he stands attentive, and observes the lead-
ing of the iron, and follows, by collecting the letters
from each direction, with which, being formed into
words, he perceives what may be intended, and learns
from the iron as his interpreter. Moreover, when he
sees the dial-pin stop, he, in his turn, if he thinks

to the Year 1837. 11

of any things to answer, in the same manner by the
letters being touched separately writes back to hiS'
friend.

" Oh, I wish this mode of writing may become in
use, a letter would travel safer and quicker, fearing
no plots of robbers and retarding rivers. The prince,
with his own hands, might despatch business for him-
self. We, the race of scribes, escaped from an inky
sea, would dedicate the pen to the Shores of Magnet."

The Starry Galileo had his say on the same subject,
and, as we may expect, said it well : " You remind
me," says he, " of one who offered to sell me a secret
art, by which, through the attraction of a certain mag-
netic needle, it would be possible to converse across a
space of two or three thousand miles. And I said to
him that I would willingly become the purchaser, pro-
vided only that I might first make a trial of the art,
and that it would be sufficient for the purpose if I were
to place myself in one corner of the room and he in
the other. He replied that, in so short a distance the
action would be scarcely discernible ; whereupon I dis-
missed the fellow, saying that it was not convenient for
me just then to travel into Egypt, or Muscovy, for the
purpose of trying the experiment, but that if he chose
to go there himself, I would remain in Venice and
attend to the rest."*

* Dialogus de Systemate Mundi, 1632, p. 88. It is curious that
Kepler appears to have believed in the efficacy of the sympathetic tele-
graph. See Fournier's Le Vieux-Neuf, Paris, 1857, vol. i. p. 200.

12 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Cardinal Richelieu's system of espionage was so
perfect that he was regarded (and feared) by his con-
temporaries as a dabbler in " diabolical magic." He
was supposed to have possessed either a magic mirror,
in which he could see all that went on in the world, or
the equally magic magnetic telegraph. A propos of
this, we find the following passage in the Letters writ
by a Turkish Spy, a work which has been attributed
by the elder Disraeli to John Paul Marana : — " This
Cardinal said, on another time, that he kept a great
many courtiers, yet he coiild well enough spare them ;
that he knew what passed in remote places as soon as
what was done near him. He once affirmed he knew
in less than two hours that the King of England had

signed the warrant for the execution of— . If

this particular be true, this minister must be more than
a man. Those who are his most devoted creatures
affirm he has in a private place in his closet a certain
mathematical figure, in the circumference of which are
written all the letters of the alphabet, armed with a
dart, which marks the letters, which are also marked
by their correspondents ; and it appears that this dart
ripens by the sympathy of a stone, which those who
give and receive his advice keep always at hand, which
hath been separated from another which the Cardinal
has always by him ; and it is affirmed that with such an
instrument he gives and receives immediately advices."*

The learned physician. Sir Thomas Browne, has
* Thirteenth letter, dated Paris 1639, vol. i.

to the Year 1837. 13

some cautiously worded sentences on the mythical
telegraph, which are worth quoting. " There is," he
says, " another conceit of better notice, and whispered
thorow the world with some attention ; credulous and
vulgar auditors readily believing it, and more judicious
and distinctive heads not altogether rejecting it. The
conceit is excellent, and, if the effect would follow
somewhat divine ; whereby we might communicate
like spirits, and confer on earth with Menippus in the
moon. And this is pretended from the sympathy of
two needles, touched with the same loadstone, and
placed in the center of two abecedary circles, or rings,
with letters described round about them, one friend
keeping one, and another the other, and agreeing upon
an hour wherein they will communicate. For then,
saith tradition, at what distance of place soever, when
one needle shall be removed unto any letter, the other
by a wonderful sympathy, will move unto the same.
But herein I confess my experience can find no truth,
for having expressly framed two circles of wood, and,
according to the number of the Latine letters, divided
each into twenty -three parts, placing therein "c.vo stiles,
or needles, composed of the same steel, touched with
the same loadstone and at the same point. Of these
two, whenever I removed the one, although but at the
distance of but half a span, the other would -stand like
Hercules pillars, and, if the earth stand still, have
surely no motion at all." *

" Pseudodoxia Epidemics, book ii. chap. 3.

14 A History of Electric Telegraphy

The Scepsis Scientifica of Joseph Glanvill, published
in 1665, and which, by the way, secured his admission
to the Royal Society, contains, perhaps, the most
remarkable allusion to the then prevalent telegraphic
fancy. Glanvill, albeit very superstitious, was an
ardent and keen-sighted philosopher, and held the
most hopeful views as to the discoveries that would
be made in after-times. In the following passages he
clearly foretells, amongst other wonders, the discovery
and extension of telegraphs : —

" Should those heroes go on as they have happily
begun, they'll fill the world with wonders. And I
doubt not but posterity will find many things that are
now but rumours verified into practical realities. It
may be, some ages hence, a voyage to the southern
unknown tracts, yea> possibly the moon, will not be
more strange than one to America. To them that
come after us it may be as ordinary to buy a pair of
wings to fly into the remotest regions as now a pair of
boots to ride a journey. And to confer at the distance
of the Indies by sympathetic conveyances may be as usual
to future times as to us in a literary correspondence^ —
C. xix.

" That men should confer at very distant removes by
an extemporary intercourse is a reputed impossibility,
yet there are some hints in natural operations that give
us probability that 'tis feasible, and may be compast
without unwarrantable assistance from daemoniack
correspondence. That a couple of needles equally

to the Year 1837. 15

toucht by the same magnet being set in two dyals
exactly proportion'd to each other, and circumscribed
by the letters of the alphabet, may affect this magnale
hath considerable authorities to avouch it. The
manner of it is thus represented. Let the friends
that would communicate take each a dyal ; and having
appointed a time for their sympathetic conference, let
one move his impregnate needle to any letter in the
alphabet, and its affected fellow will precisely respect
the same. So that would I know what my friend
would acquaint me with, 'tis but observing the letters
that are pointed at by my needle, and in their order
transcribing them from their sympathised index as its
motion directs : and I may be assured that my friend
described the same with his, and that the words on my
paper are of his inditing.

" Now, though there will be some ill contrivance in
a circumstance of this invention, in that the thus im-
pregnate needles will not move to, but avert from each
other (as ingenious Dr. Browne in his Pseudodoxia
Epidemica hath observed), yet this cannot prejudice
the main design of this way of secret conveyance,
since 'tis but reading counter to the magnetic informer,
and noting the letter which is most distant in the
abecedarian circle from that which the needle turns to,
and the case is not alter'd. Now, though this de-
sirable effect possibly may not yet answer the expec-
tation of inquisitive experiment, yet 'tis no despicable
item, that by some other such way of magnetick efficiency

1 6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

it may hereafter with success be attempted, when magical
history shall be enlarged by riper inspections, and 'tis
not unlikely but that present discoveries might be
improved to the performance." — C. xxi.

At the end of this chapter we give a list of
references, as complete as we could make it, which
will be useful to those of our readers who may wish
to pursue the, subject. It will also be instructive from
another point of view, for it illustrates, in a very
complete way, what Professor Tyndall has so well
called the " menial spirit " of the old philosophers.*
Notwithstanding that some of the more enlightened
authors endeavoured laboriously to disprove the story,
it was, for the most part, blindly and unquestioningly
repeated, by one writer after another — credulous and
vulgar auditors, as Sir Thomas Browne says, readily
believing it, and more judicious and distinctive heads
not altogether rejecting it, amongst whom we are
tempted to reckon the learned knight himself.

Of those who stoutly and, at an early period, com-
batted the story, Fathers Cabeus and Kircher deserve

* " The seekers after natural knowledge had forsaken that fountain
of living waters, the direct appeal to nature by observation and experi-
ment, and had given themselves up to the remanipulation of the notions
of their predecessors. It was a time when thought had become abject,
and when the acceptance of mere authority led, as it always does in
science, to intellectual death. Natural events, instead of being traced
to physical, were referred to moral causes ; while an exercise of the
phantasy, almost as degrading as the spirituaUsm of the present day,
took the place of scientific speculation." — Tyndall's Address to the
British Association at Belfast, 1874.

to the Year 1837. 17

to be mentioned — the one for the excellence, and the
other for the vehemence of his observations. Those
of the former are particularly remarkable, as contain-
ing a hazy definition of the " lines of force " theory
— a theory which Paraday has turned to such good
account in his Experimental Researches. Cabeus, as
well as we can understand him, says, in his tenth
chapter : — " The action by which compass needles are
mutually disturbed is not brought about by sympathy,
as some persons imagine, who consider sympathy to
be a certain agreement, or conformity, between natures
or bodies which may be established without any com-
munication. Magnetic attractions and repulsions are
physical actions which take place through the instru-
mentality of a certain quality, or condition, of the in-
tervening space, and which [quality] extends from the
influencing body to the influenced body. I cannot
admit any other mode of action in magnetic phe-
nomena ; nor have I ever seen in the whole circle of
the sciences any instance of sympathy or antipathy
[at a distance]. * * *

"That which is diffused as a medium [or, that
quality, or condition, of the intervening space] is thin
and subtle, and can only be seen in its effects ; nor
does it affect all bodies, only such as are either con-
formable with the influencing body, in which case the
result is a perfecting change [or sympathy = attrac-
tion], or non-conformable, in which case the result is
a cprrupting change [or antipathy = repulsion]. This
? c

1 8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

quality is, I repeat, thin and subtle, and does not
sensibly affect all intermediate \i. e., neighbouring]
bodies, although it may be disseminated through
them. It only shows a sensibly good or bad effect
according to the natures of the bodies opposed to one
another.

"Bodies, therefore, are not moved by sympathy or
antipathy, unless it be, as I have said, through the
medium of certain essences [forces] which are uni-
formly diffused. When these reach a body that is
suitable, they produce certain changes in it, but do not
affect, sensibly, the intervening space, or neighbour-
ing non-kindred bodies. Thus, the sense of smell is
not perceived in the hand, nor the sense of hearing in
the elbow, because, although these parts are equally
immersed in the essences [or forces], they are not
suitable, or kindred, in their natures to the odorife-
rous, or acoustic, vibrations." *

Kircher scouts the notion in no measured terms ;

after soundly rating the propagators of the fable on

their invention of the terms chadid, almagrito, thea-

medes, almaslargont, and calamitro — vile jargon, which,

he says, was coined in the devil's kitchen — he thus

delivers himself : — " I do not recollect to have ever

» Philosophia Magnetica, &c., chap. *. A brief letter from a young
Oxonian to one of his late fellow pupils upon the subject of Magnetism,
London, 1697, contains, at page 10, a "draught" which illustrates
very well the arrangement of magnetic lines of force, and which differs
but little from the graphic representations of the present day. The
curious little pamphlet is one of many gems in Mr. Latimer Clark's
library.

to the Year 1837. 19

met anything more stupid and silly than this idiotic
conception, in the enunciation of which I find as many
lies and impositions as there are words, and a crass
ignorance of magnetic phenomena withal. In their
craving after something wonderful and unknown they
have manufactured a secret by means of barbarous
and high-sounding words and by imitating the forms
of recondite science, with the result that even they
themselves cannot understand their own words." *

Many of the authors, who describe the sympathetic
needle (dial) telegraph, speak also of another form,
which seems to have been especially believed in by
the Rosicrusians and Magnetisers of the last two
centuries. It was supposed that a sympathetic alphabet
could be marked on the flesh, by means of which
people could correspond with each other, and com-
municate all their ideas with the rapidity of volition,
no matter how far asunder. From the arms, or hands,
of two persons intending to employ this method of
correspondence a piece of flesh was cut, and mutually
transplanted while still warm and bleeding. The
piece grew to the new arm, but still retained so close
a sympathy with its native limb, that the latter was
always sensible of any injury done to it. Upon these
transplanted pieces of flesh were tattooed the letters
of the alphabet, and whenever a communication was
to be made it was only necessary to prick with a
magnetic needle the letters upon the arm composing
* Magnes, sive de Arte Magneiica, book ii. part iv. chap. J.

C 2

20 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the message ; for whatever letter the one pricked, the
same was instantly pained on the arm of the other.*

List of authors of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth, centuries, who either describe the sym-
pathetic needle and sympathetic flesh telegraphs, or
make a passing allusion to one or both of them ;
chiefly compiled from Mr. Latimer Clark's list of
books shown at the Paris Electrical Exhibition of
1 88 1, and from the catalogues of the British Museum.
As far as possible, only first editions quoted in full : —

1558 Porta (Gian B.). Magia Naturalis, &'c. Libri IIII.
8vo. (See page 90. Other editions : Antwerp, 1561,
8vo.; Lugduni, 1561, i6mo. ; Venetia, 1560, 8vo. ;
and 1665, i2mo. ; Colonise, 1562, i2mo.) Neapoli, 1558.

1570 Paracelsus {i.e.. Bombast Von Hohenheim). De
Secretis natures mysteriis, &c. Svo. (Speaks only,
of sympathetic flesh telegraph. Numerous editions
in British Museum.) Basilese, 1570.

1586 ViGENERE (Blaise de). Traicti des Chiffres, ou
Secretes Manieres tTEscrire. (Quoted in L'Elec-
tHcien of Jan. 15, 1884, p. 95.) Paris, 1586.

1589 Porta (Gian B.). Magia Naturalis, d^c. Libri XX.
Folio. (See preface to Book VII. for first clear
mention of sympathetic needle telegraph. Other
editions: Fraucofurti, 1607, Svo. ; Napoli, 161 1,

* Upon this delusion is founded Edmund About's curious novel, Le
Nez d'un Notaire, in which he relates the odd results of sympathy
between the notary's nose and the arm of the man from whom the flesh
was taken. But it is not in novels only, that we read of instances of the
marvellous power of sympathy in these enlightened days ; witness the
story of The Sympathetic Snail Telegraph of Messrs. Biat and Benoit,
which went the rounds of the newspapers forty years ago, and which
the curious— we were going to say sympathetic— reader will find fully
described in Chamber^s Edinburgh Journal, for February 15, 1851.

to the Year 1837. 21

4to. ; Hanoviae, 1619, 8vo. ; Lugduni, 1644 ^^^ 1651,
i2mo. ; London, 1658, 4to. ; and Amstelodami, 1664,
l2mo.) Neapoli, 1589.

1599 Pancirollus (G.)- Serum Memorabilium, &c. 8vo.

(See Book II. [Nova Reperta], chap, xi., Notes,
This author refers to Scaliger [Exofericarum exer-
citationem, &c., exercit. 131], and Bodin \Methodus
ad facilem Historiarum, &c., chap, vii.], but they
only speak of magnetic sympathy at great distances,
without any reference to telegraphy. Other editions :
two 8vo., Ambergse, 1607 and 1612 ; four Franco-
fiirti, 1622, 1629-31, 1646, and 1660; Lyon, 1617 ;
and London, 1715.) Ambergae, 1599.

1600 De Sunde (J. H.) («. e., Daniel Schwenter). Stegano-

logia et Steganographia, 8vo. (See p. 127. Janus
Hercules de Sunde is an assumed name, Hiller
in the preface to his Mysterum Artis Steganograpkicce
1682, says that it is a synonym for Daniel Schwenter
Noribergense; and again on p, 287, quoting Schwenter,
he adds in parenthesis, " is est Hercules de Sunde,"
Other edition : Niimberg, 1650, l2mo.) Niirnberg, i6oo.

1609 De Boodt (Anselmus B,), Gemmarum et Lapidum

Historia, &c. 4to. (See Book II, Other editions :
Lugduni, 1636, 8vo. ; Lyon, 1644, 8vo. ; and again
Lugduni, 1647, 8vo.) Hanoviae, 1609,

1610 Argolus (Andreas), EpistolaadDavidemFabrkium

Frisium. (He made what he calls a " Stenographic
Compass," and held many agreeable conversations
by its means with one of his friends.)

In Ephemeridae Patavii, l6lo.

1610 Arlensis (Petrus), of Scudalupis. Sympathia
Septem Metallorum, &c, 8vo. (See chap, 2, This
writer, a noted astrologer and alchemist, was the
friend and fellow-citizen of Porta, to whom he seems
to attribute the first conception of the sympathetic
needle telegraph. His Sympathia was first published
at Rome, but immediately suppressed in order that
its grand secrets might not become known. It next
appeared at Madrid in folio. The Paris ed. of 1610
was reissued at Hamburg in 1717.) Parisiis, 1610.

1617 Strada (Famianus). ProluHones Academics, &c.
870. (See Lib, IL, Prol, VL Other editions:

22 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Lugduni, 1617, and 1627, sm. 8vo. ; Audomari,
1619, i2ino. ; Mediolani, 1626, l6mo. ; Oxoiiiae,
1631, 8vo. ; and again Ozonise, 1745, 8vo.) Romse, 1617.
1624 Van Etten (H.), (i e., Leurechon Jean). La Rkriation
MathimaHque, &c. Svo. (See p. 94. This author
is the first to give a drawing of the dial. H. Van
Etten was a nom de plume. See Notes and Queries,
1st series, vol. xi, p. 516. Other editions: Paris,
1626 ; Lyon, 1627 ; and three London, 1633, 1653,
and 1674. To the two latter is added a work of
Oughtred, the editor, whose name is so conspicuous
on the title-page, that rapid cataloguers make him
the author. Ozanam founded his Recreations on
Van Etten ; Montucla made a new book of Ozanam
by large additions ; and Hutton did the same by
Montucla, so that Hutton's well-known work is at
the end of a chain, of which Van Etten's is at the
beginning. Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol. xi. p.
S04O Pont-k-Mousson, 1624.

1629 Cabeus (Nicolas). Philosophia Magnetica, &c

Folio. (See p. 302.) Colonise, 1629.

1630 Hakewill (George). An Afologie or Declaration

of the Power and Providence of God, &c. Folio.
(See p. 285. This is second edition ; a first appeared
in [J] 1627, and a third in 1635. London and Oxford, 1630.

1630 Mydorge (Claude). Examen du livre des Rkria'

tions Mathhiatiques, &c. l2mo. (See Problem 74,
pp. 140-44. This is a critically revised edition of
Van Etten. Another edition, Paris, 1638.) Paris, 1630.

1631 KiRCHER (Athanasius). Ars Magnesia, &c. 4to.

(See pp. 35 and 36.) HerbipoU, 163 1.

1632 Galileo (G.). Dialogus de Systemate Mundi, &c.

4to. (See p. 88. Editions innumerable in British
Museum catalogue.) Fiorenza, 1632.

1636 SCHWENTER (Daniel). Delicia Physico-Mathematica.
(See p. 346. This work is based on Van Etten's,
supra. Two other 4to. editions appeared at Niim-
r c ^ ^^''^' .'J?5i-3 and 1677.) Numberg, 1636.

1638 Fludd (Robert). Philosophia Moysaica, &c. Folio.
(See Sec. II., Lib. II., Memb. II., Cap. V., and Sec.
II., Lib. III., passim. An edition in English
appeared in London, 1659.) Goudse, 1638.

to ike Year 1837, 23

1641 KiRCHER (Athanasius). Magnes, sive de Arte Mc^g-
netica. Sm. 4to. (See p. 382. Other editions :
Coloniae, 1643, 4to. ; and Romae, 1654, folio.)

Romse, 1641.

1641 WlLKiNS (John). Mercury, or the secret and swift
messenger, showing how a man with frivcuy and speed
may communicate his thoughts to a friend at any
distance, i2mo. (See p. 147. Another edition in
1694.) London, 1 641.

1643 Servius (Petrus). Dissertatio de Unguento Armario,
Sive De Naturiz Artisque Miraculis. (See para. 65,
p. 68. This work is printed in Rattray's Theatrum,
&c., infra.) Romse, 1643.

1646 Browne (Sir Thomas). Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or
Enquiries into very many received tenents, and com-
monly presumed truths, 4to. (See p. 76. Numerous
editions in the British Museum.) London, 1646.

1657 Turner (ROBT.). Ars Notoria. The Notary Art of
Solomon, showing the cabalistical key of magical opera-
tions, &c. i8mo. (See p. 136.) London, 1657.

1657-9 SCHOTT (Gaspar). Magia Universalis Natures et
Artis,&c. 4 vols. 4to. (See vol. iv. p. 49. Copied
from De Sunde and Kircher. Other edition : Bam-
bergse, 1677, 4to.) Herbipoli, 1657-9.

1661 Henrion (Denis) and Mydorge (Claude). Les
Rkriations Mathimatiques, avec I'examen de ses pro-
blimps, &c. Premi^rement reveu par D. Henrion,
depuis par M. Mydorge, Cinquieme et derniire ed.
l2mo. (See Problem 74, pp. 158-61. This is only
a revised edition of Mydorge's Van Etten, of 1630.)

Paris, 1661.

1661 Glanvill (J.). The Vanity of Dogmatising, and an

Apology for Philosophy. 8vo. (See p. 202.) London, 1661.

1662 Westen (Wynant Van). Het eerste Deel van de

Maihematische Vermaeck, &c. 8vo. Three parts.
(See p. 125, Part I. This is an enlarged Dutch
edition of Van Etten's, supra.) Amhem, 1662.

1662 Rattray (Sylvester). Theatrum Sympatheticum
A-uctum, exhibens Varios Authores de Pulvere Sympa-
thetica, &c. 4to. (See p. 546, see Petrus Servius,
supra.) Norimbergae, 1662.

24 A History of Electric Telegraphy

1663 Helvetius (J. F.). Theatridium fferculis Triumph-

antis, &c. 8vo. (See pp. 11 and 15.) Haye, 1663.

1665 Glanvill (Joseph). Scepsis Scientifica; or, Confest
Ignorance the Way to Science, &c. 4to. (See p. 150.)

London, 1665.
1665 ScHOTT (Caspar). Schola Steganographica, &c. 4to.
(See pp. 258-64. Description from De Sunde's,
supra, with an elaborate d^a^ving of the dial. Copper-
plate title-page bears date 1665, printed title-page
dated 1680.) Norimbergse, 1665.

1676 Heidel (W. E.). Johannis Tritheniii, Sfc, Stegano-
graphia que Hucusqu : a nemine intellecta, &c. 4to.
(See p. 358.) Moguntise, 1676.

1679 Maxwell (William). De Medicina Magnetica, &'c.
Lib. III. i2mo. (See chaps. 11, 12, and 13.)

Francofurti, 1679.
16S4 De Lanis (Franciscus). Magisterium Nature et
Ariis, Opus Physico-Matkematicum. 3 vols. (See
vol. ill. p. 412.) Brixise, 1684-96.

1684 Marana (G. p.) (or The Turkish Spy). VEspion du
Grand Seigneur, &c. i2mo. (See vol. i., 13th letter,
dated Paris, 1639. Six other editions in British
Museum.) ? Paris, 1684, &c.

1689 Blagrave (Joseph). Astrological Practice of Physick,

&c. i2mo. (See p. 112.) London, 1689.

1689 De Rennefort (Souchu). V Aiman Mystique. i2mo.

Paris, 1689.
1696 De Vallemont (Pierre LE Lorrain). La Physique
Occulte, ou traits de la Baguette Divinatoire, &c.
i2mo. (See p. 32 of Appendix. Other editions :
Paris and Amsterdam, 1693, i2mo. ; and Amsterdam,
1696, i2mo.) Paris, i6g6.

1701-2 Le Brun (Pierre). Histoire Critique des Pratiques
Super stitieuses. 2 vols. i2mo. (See vol. i. p. 294.
Other editions : Amsterdam, 1733-36 ; and Paris,
1750-1.) Rouen, 170 1-2.

1711-13 Addison (Joseph). The Spectator, No. 241, for
1711. (Seep.206. Seealso The Guardian, No. 119,
for 1713.) London, 1711-13.

1718 Du Petit Albert. Secrets Merveilleux de la Magie
Naturelle et Cabalistique, (See p. 228. Other edi-
tions: Lyon, 1743 and 1762 ; and Paris, 1815.) Lyon, 1718.

to the Year 1837. 25

1723 Santanelli (F.). Phihsophia Reconditce, sive Magica

Magnetic^, &c. 4to. (See chap, xiv.) Coloniee, 1723.

1730 Bailey (Nathan). Dictionarium Britannicum, &c.
Folio. See word "Loadstone." Another London
edition of 1736.) London, 1730.

1744 Akenside (Mark). The Pleasures of Imagination.

(See Book III., verses 325-37.) London, 1744,

1750-1 " Misographos." The Student ; or, the Oxford and
Cambridge Monthly Miscellany. 2 vols. (See vol. i.
p. 354. A translation of Strada's verses.) Oxford, 1750-1.

1762 Diderot. Memoirs. Correspondance et ouvrages inldits
de Diderot. (See p. 278. Diderot, in his letter to
Madame VoUand of 28th July, 1 762, alludes to
Comus [Ledru] and his supposed telegraph.) Paris, 1841.

1769 GUYOT. Nouvelles Rkriations Physiques et Mathi-
matiques. 4 vols. 8vo. (See vol. i. p. 17. At
p. 134 there is a full description, with illustrations,
of what was probably Comus's apparatus. Two other
Paris editions of 1786 and 1799') Paris, 1769.

1788 Barthelemy (Jean Jacques). Voyage du feune
Anacharsis en Grlce, &c'. 4to. (Quoted in yournal
of the Society of Arts, May 20, 1 859, p. 472 : twelve
other editions (of which three are English transla-
tions) in the British Museum. See also Correspon-
dance InMite du Madame du Deffand, vol. ii. p. 99.)

Paris, 1788.

1795 Edgeworth (Richard Lovell). Essay on the Art
of Conveying Secret and Swift Intelligence. Published
in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.
(See vol. vi. p. 125.) Dublin, 1797,

1797 Gamble (J.). An Essay on the Different Modes of
Communication by Signals, &c. 4to. (See p. 57.)

London, 1797.

26 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER II.

STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL, ELECTRICITY— HISTORY
IN RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY.

" Thales call,
He, whose enquiring mind paused musingly
On the mysterious power, to action roused
By amber rubbed. This power (to him) a spirit.
Woke from Its slumbers by all- wondrous art."

Oersted's The Soul in Nature,
p. 157 of Bohn's edition.

The science of electricity is a comparatively modern
creation, dating only from the commencement of the
seventeenth century. It owes nothing, or almost
nothing, to antiquity, and, in this respect, forms a
remarkable contrast to most of the other branches of
human knowledge — notably those of astronomy and
mechanics, heat and light. The vast discoveries, says
Lardner, which have accumulated respecting this
extraordinary agent, by which its connection with,
and influence upon, the whole material universe — its
relations to the phenomena of organised bodies — the
part it plays in the functions of animal and vegetable
vitality — its subservience to the uses of man as a
mechanical power — its intimate connection with the
chemical constitution of material substances — in fine.

to the Year 1837. 27

its application in almost every division of the sciences,
and every department of the arts, have been severally
demonstrated, are exclusively and peculiarly due to
the spirit of modern research, and, in a great degree,
to the labours of the present age.*

Yet it is not that, in this case, nature had concealed
her secrets with more than her usual coyness, for we
find, scattered through the writings of the ancients,
many observations on a class of phenomena, which, if
rightly examined, must have led to the establishment
of electricity as a department of physics.

That amber acquires, by friction, the power of
attracting light bodies, such as bits of straw, wood,
and dry leaves, is a fact which is probably as old as
the discovery of the substance itself. Thales, one of
the seven wise men of Greece, described the property
six hundred years before Christ, and not as if it were
with him a new phenomenon, but rather as a familiar
illustration of his philosophical tenets, f Aristotle,
Pliny, and other Greek and Roman writers, also
record the fact, and even sometimes mention luminous
appearances attending the friction. % Theophrastus,
B.C. 321, on the authority of Diodes, speaks of the
lapis lyncurius, supposed to be our modern tourma-

* Manual of Electricity, Magnetism, and Meteorology, vol. i. p. 2.

t He ascribed to amber some living principle, some soul, which
could be roused to action by friction, and, in the spirit of the age, it
was declared sacred. For the same reason, the loadstone was venerated,
it being supposed to possess an immaterial spirit under the influence of
which it attracted iron. — Aristotle, De Anima, i. 2.

X Pliny, book xxxvii. chap. iii.

28 A History of Electric Telegraphy

line, as possessing the same property as amber, add-
ing that it attracts not only straws and leaves, but
copper also, and even iron, if it be in small particles.*

The emission of sparks from the human body, when
submitted to friction, had also been noticed, as in the
case of Servius Tullius, the sixth King of Rome, whose
locks were frequently observed to give off sparks
under the operations of the toilette. Eustathius,
Bishop of Thessalonica, A.D. ii6q, cites another in-
stance in his Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem, that of
a certain ancient philosopher, who, occasionally, when
changing his dress, emitted sparks, and, sometimes,
even entire flames, accompanied by crackling i;oises.
He also mentions the case of Walimer, a Gothic chief,
who flourished A.D. 415, who used to give off sparks
from his body.f

The Greeks and Romans were not the only people

* De Lapidibus, p. 124, Hill's edition.

t In Iliad, E, p. 515, Roman ed. We do not notice the frequent
allusions in the pages of Caesar, Livy, Plutarch, and others, to flames
at the points of the soldiers' javelins, at the tops of the masts of ships,
and, sometimes, even on the heads of the sailors themselves ; for all
these phenomena, though now known to be of the same nature as those
described in the text, were then regarded simply as manifestations of
the gods. See a very interesting example of this in Plutarch's Lifi
of Timohon, vol. iii. p. 16, Dacier's edition. For much interesting
information on this subject, see Dr. William Falconer's " Observa-
tions on the Knowledge of the Ancients respecting Electricity," in
vol. iii. Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester
1790 J also Tomlinson's The Thunderstorm, p. 96. In the early ages
of the Church, the Popes were often reckoned as magicians, Gregory
VII. being held in especial awe, because when he pulled oif his gloves
fiery sparks issued from them.

to the Year 1837. 29

of antiquity to whom these phenomena were familiar.
Thus, in the Persian language amber is called Kdh-
rubd, or attractor of straw, as the magnet is called
Akang-rubd, or attractor of iron. In the old Persian
romance. The Loves of Majnoon and Leila, the lover
says of his adored one, " She was as amber, and I but
as straw ; she touched me, and I shall ever cling to
her." In the writings of Kuopho, a Chinese physicist
of the fourth century, we read, " The attraction of a
magnet for iron is like that of amber for the smallest
grain of mustard seed. It is like a breath of
wind, which mysteriously penetrates through both,
and communicates itself with the rapidity of an
arrow."

Humboldt,* after referring to this interesting fact,
tells us how he himself had observed, with astonish-
ment, on the woody banks of the Orinoco, in the
sports of the natives, that the excitement of electricity
by friction was known to these savage races. Children,
he says, may be seen to rub the dry, flat, and shining
seeds, or husks, of a trailing plant until they are able
to attract threads of cotton and pieces of bamboo
cane.

Such phenomena, says Lardner, in the work from
which we lately quoted,! attracted little attention, and
provoked no scientific research. Vacant wonder was
the most exalted sentiment they raised ; and they
accordingly remained, while centuries rolled away,
* Cosmos, London, 1849 ed,, vol. i. p. 176. f Vol. i. p. 4.

30 A History of Electric Telegraphy

barren and isolated facts upon the surface of human
knowledge. The vein whence these precious frag-
ments were detached, and which, as we have shown,
cropped out sufficiently often to challenge the notice
of the miner, continued unexplored ; and its splendid
treasures were reserved to reward the toil and crown
the enterprise of modern times.

Without going the length of asserting that electrical
phenomena were entirely neglected during the long
night of the middle ages, it seems certain that, with
the exception of the discovery of the electrical pro-
perty of jet, little advance was made up to the close
of the sixteenth century. Then it was that Dr.
Gilbert, of Colchester, for the first time collected the
scattered fragments, and, with many valuable observa-
tions of his own, shaped them into the nucleus of a
new science, to which he gave the name Electricity,
from the Greek word ■yjXeKrpov, signifying amber.
In his great work, De Magnete* published in the
year 1600, he described the only three substances
known up to his time as susceptible of electrical ex-
citation, and added a variety of others, such as spars,
jems, fossils, glasses, and resins, which enjoyed, equally
with them, the power of attracting not only light

* This book, although mainly devoted to magnetism, has many
pages on electricity ; and, besides its intrinsic value, is interesting as
containing the first publications on our subject. William Gilbert was a
member of the College of Physicians, London, and became Physician
in Ordinary to Queen Elizabeth, who, conceiving a high opinion of
his learning, allowed him an annual pension to enable him to prosecute
his studies. He died in 1603.

to the Year 1837. 31

bodies, like feathers and straws, but all solid and fluid
matter, as metals, stones, water, and oil.

He also observed some of the circumstances which
affect the production of electricity, such as the hygro-
metric state of the atmosphere. Thus, he noticed that
when the wind blew from the north and east, and was
dry, the body could be excited by a brisk and light
friction continued for a few minutes, but that when
the wind was from the south and moist, it was diffi-
cult, and sometimes impossible, to excite it at all. In
order to test the condition of the various substances
experimented upon, Gilbert made use of a light
needle of any metal, balanced, and turning freely on
a pivot, like the magnetic needle, to the extremities
of which he presented the bodies after excitation.

Some of Gilbert's deductions were curiously falla-
cious. In pointing out, for instance, the distinction
between magnetic and electric attraction, he affirmed
that magnets and iron mutually attracted each other,
but that when an electric was excited it alone
attracted, the substances attracted remaining inactive.
He noticed also, as a special distinction between mag-
netism and electricity, that the former repelled as well
as attracted, whilst the latter only attracted.*

The few references to electricity in the works of

Sir Francis Bacon, Nicolas Cabeus, Kenelm Digby,

Gassendi, Descartes, Thomas Browne, and others,

may be passed over in silence, as they are chiefly

* De Magnete, lib. ii. cap. 2-4.

32 A History of Electric Telegraphy

theoretical, and did not contribute in any way to the
advancement of the science.*

The celebrated Robert Boyle, to whom some of the
other physical sciences owe such great obligations,
directed much of his attention to the subject of elec-
tricity, and has left us an account of his experiments,
in a small work, entitled Experiments and Notes
about the Mechanical Origine or Production of Elec-
tricity, London, 1675. By means of a suspended
needle, he discovered that amber retained its attrac-
tive virtue after the friction which excited it had
ceased ; and though smoothness of surface had been
regarded as advantageous for excitation, yet he found
a diamond, which, in its rough state, exceeded all the
polished ones, and all the electrics that he had tried,
it having been able to move the needle three minutes
after he had ceased to rub it. He found also that
heat and " tersion " {i. e., the cleaning or wiping of any
body) increased the electrical effect ; and that if the
attracted body were fixed, and the attracting one
movable, their approach would take place all the
same, thus disproving one of Gilbert's deductions. To
Dr. Gilbert's list of electrics, he added several new
ones, as glass of antimony, white sapphire, white
amethyst, carnelian, &c.

Like all his predecessors, Boyle (in whom, by the

way, the theorising faculty was particularly strong)

* Jacob Bohmen, the Teutonic Theosopher, who lived 1575-1624,
and who wrote largely on astrology, philosophy, chemistry, and divinity,
has some pages on electricity. See Notes and Queries, ]\ibf 2%, 1855, p. 63.

to the Year 1837. 33

speculated, in his turn, on the cause of electrical
phenomena ; but it seems that he, as well as they,
could find no better explanation than that offered by
the Ionic sage, twenty-three centuries before. The
supposition was that the excited body threw out a
glutinous or unctuous effluvium, which laid hold of
small bodies in its path, and, on returning to its
source, carried them along with it* The Philosophical
Transactions of this period contain some learned dis-
quisitions in support of this (now strange) hypothesis,
and even experiments are described which were con-
sidered as conclusive of its correctness.f

Otto Guericke, burgomaster of Magdeburg, and in-
ventor of the air-pump, was contemporary with Boyle,
and to him we owe some most important advances.
In 1 67 1, he constructed the first electrical machine,
by means of which he was able to produce electricity
in far greater quantities than had hitherto been
possible from the friction of glass or sulphur rods.
With this machine, which consisted of a globe of

* Boyle is sometimes said to have been the first, in modem times,
to observe the electric light — an assertion which seems to be based
upon his observation, in 1663, of the light which some diamonds gave
out, in the dark, after being rubbed. But it is doubtful if this was not
an optical rather than an electrical effect, an instance of what may be
called latent light, and therefore belonging to the class of phenomena,
of which the celebrated Bologna stone, discovered in 1602 by the
quondam shoemaker Casiorolus, was the first recorded example, as
Balmain's luminous paint is the last. For much interesting infor-
mation on this subject, see Sir D. Brewster's Letters on NaturtjX
Magic.
t Phil. Trans., for 1699, vol. xxi. p. 5.

D

34 A History of Electric Telegraphy

sulphur,* mounted on a revolving axis, and excited by
the friction of a cloth held in the hand, he discovered

Fig. 2,

The First Electrical Machine, copied from p. 148 of Otto Guericke's
Experimenta Nova, &c.

the " hissing noise and gleaming light " which accom-
pany strong electrification.

* Sulphur, it may be remarked, was a favourite electric with early
experimenters, as it was imagined that electricity was emitted with the
sulphurous effluvium produced by the friction. In the construction of
his machine, Guericke, for example, cast the sulphur in a glass globe,
which he afterwards broke, so as to expose the sulphur to the action
of the rubber, little imagining that the glass globe itself would have
answered his purpose just as well.

to the Year 1837. 35

To him also belongs the discovery of the property
of electrical repulsion. He ascertained that a feather,
when attracted to an excited electric, was instantly
repelled, and was incapable of a second attraction,
until it had been touched by the finger or some other
body. He also observed that a feather, when thus
repelled, always kept the same side towards the ex-
cited electric — a fact the correspondence of which with
the position of the moon towards the earth, induced
him and other philosophers to assume that the revolu-
tion of the moon round the earth might be explained
on electrical principles. Again, in the observation
that a substance becomes electric by being merely
brought near to another electrified body, Guericke
discovered the fact, though not the principle, of in-
duction.*

Newton, about the same time, published another
effect of induction, viz. : one side of a glass plate
being electrified, the other side will also be electrified,
and will attract any light bodies within its influence.
Laying upon a table a disc of glass two inches broad,
in a brass hoop or ring, so that it might be one-eighth
of an inch from the table, and then rubbing it briskly,
little pieces of paper, laid upon the table under the
glass, moved nimbly to and fro, and twirled about in
the air, continuing these motions for a considerable
time after he had ceased rubbing. Upon sliding his

* Experimenta Nova Magdeburgica, Amstelodami, 1672, lib. iv.
cap. 15.

D 2

36 A History of Electric Telegraphy

finger over the glass, though he did not agitate it,
nor, by consequence, the air beneath, he observed that
the papers, as they hung under the glass, would
receive some new motion, inclining this way or that,
according to the direction of his finger.

The Royal Society had ordered this experiment to
be repeated at their meeting of December i6, 1675,
and, in order to ensure its success, had obtained a full
account of it from its distinguished author. The ex-
periment, however, failed, and the secretary requested
the loan of Sir Isaac's apparatus, inquiring, at the
same time, whether or not he had guarded against the
papers being disturbed by the air which might have
somewhere stolen in? In replying, on the 21st of
December, Newton advised them to rub the glass
" with stuff whose threads may rake its surface, and if
that will not do, rub it with the finger ends to and fro,
and knock them as often upon the glass." Following
these directions, the Society succeeded, on January 31,
1676, when they used a scrubbing brush of short hog's
bristles, and the heft of a knife made with whalebone ! *

In the 8th and 27th queries at the end of his
treatise on Optics, Newton has introduced the sub-
ject of electricity in such a manner as to convey some
notion of the theoretical views which he had been led
to form. He says (8th query) : — " A globe of glass
about eight or ten inches in diameter being put into a

* See Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton, pp. 307-8 ; or Birch's
Hiitory of the Royal Society, vol. iii. pp. 260-70.

to the Year 1837, 37

frame where it may be swiftly turned round, its axis

will, in turning, shine where it rubs against the palm

of one's hand applied to it ; and if at the same time a

piece of white paper be held at the distance of half

an inch from the glass, the electric vapour, which is

excited by the friction of the glass against the hand,

will, by dashing against the paper, be put into such

an agitation as to emit light, and make the paper

appear livid like a glow-worm. In rushing out of the

glass, it will even sometimes push against the finger

so as to be felt." And again, in the 27th query, he

says : — " Let him also tell me how an electric body

can, by friction, emit an exhalation so rare and subtile,

and yet so potent, as by its emission to cause no

sensible diminution of the weight of the electric body,

and to be expanded through a sphere whose diameter

is above two feet, and yet to be able to agitate and

carry up leaf copper, or leaf gold, at the distance of

above a foot from the electric body." *

Between 1705 and 171 1, Hauksbee made many

* These appear to be the only published observations of the great
Sir Isaac on electrical matters ; but it would seem that, in moments of
leisure from weightier business, he bestowed an occasional glance on
the infant science. This will be apparent from the following extract
from an autograph letter, which Mr. Latimer Clark has lately unearthed,
and which will be found in full in The Electrician Journal, for April i6,
1881 : — "I have been much amused by ye singular ^eyo/nera resulting
from bringing of a needle into contact with a piece of amber or resin
fricated on silke clothe. Ye flame putteth me in mind of sheet lightning
on a small (how very small) scale." Although this letter is dated
"London, December Ij, 1716," it would seem from the wording that
Newton was unaware of similar comparisons instituted several years
before, by Hauksbee and Wall.

38 A History of Electric Telegraphy

valuable and interesting observations, of which we
must content ourselves with a brief r^sum^, referring
our readers for fuller accounts to the original papers
in the Philosophical Transactions, or to Priestley's
excellent History and Present State of Electricity, pp.
15-23, Sth ed. In 1705, he showed that light could
be produced by passing common air through mercury,
contained in a well-exhausted glass receiver. The air,
rushing through the mercury, blew it against the sides
of the glass, and made it appear like a body of fire,
consisting of an abundance of glowing globules. In
repeating this experiment with about three pounds
of mercury, and making it break into a shower, by
dashing it against the crown of another glass vessel,
flashes resembling lightning, of a very pale colour,
and distinguishable from the rest of the produced
light, were thrown off from the crown of the glass in
all directions.* Hauksbee likewise showed that con-
siderable light may be produced by agitating mercury
in a partially exhausted tube ; and that even in the
open air numerous flashes of light are discoverable by
shaking quicksilver in any glass vessel.

* Electric light m zJacao was first observed by Picard 1111675. While
carrying a barometer from the Observatory to Porte St. Michel in
Paris, he observed light in the vacuous portion. Sebastien and Cassini
observed it afterwards in other barometers. John Eernouilli, in 1700,
devised a " mercurial phosphorus " by shaking mercury in a tube which
had been exhausted by an air-pump. This was handed to the King of
Prussia — Frederick I. — who awarded it a medal, of forty ducats' value.
The great mathematician wrote a poem in honour of the occasion. —
Tyndall's Notes on Electricity.

to the Year 1837. 39

In a subsequent series of experiments on the light
produced by the attrition of bodies in vacuo, he showed
that glass, when thus excited, emitted light in as
strange a form as lightning, particularly when he
used a rubber that had been previously drenched in
spirits of wine. In all these experiments Hauksbee
had no notion of the electrical origin of the light,
and in saying that it resembled lightning he was
only using a simile, without any suspicion of a closer
connection.

Like Sir Isaac Newton, Hauksbee employed a glass
globe machine, as he thought that this material was
capable of more powerful effects. When exhausted
of air, and turned briskly, the application of his hand
would produce a strong light on the inside ; and, by
re-admitting the air, light appeared on the outside also.
By bringing an exhausted globe near to an excited
one, he found that a light was produced in the former,
which soon disappeared ; but which immediately re-
appeared, with great beauty, on a further excitation.

The following experiment must at that time, and
indeed for long after, have been considered one of great
singularity. Having coated one half of the inside
of a glass globe with sealing-wax, which in some
places was an eighth of an inch thick, and therefore
quite opaque, he exhausted it and put it in motion.
On applying his hand, for the purpose of excitation,
its outline soon became distinctly visible on the con-
cave surface of the wax, thus making it seem to be

40 A History of Electric Telegraphy

transparent, although before excitation it would only
just allow the flame of a lighted candle to be seen
through it in the dark. The same result was obtained
when pitch, or common brimstone, was substituted for
the sealing-wax.

Besides light and crackling noises, Hauksbee also
noticed that an electrified body was able to produce a
sense of pain (the ' electric shock) in the hand, or face,
that touched it — an observation which is also claimed
for his friend. Dr. Wall.

This latter philosopher is, however, best known as
being the first to suspect the identity of lightning and
electricity. The happy thought was suggested to him,
as he tells us in a paper read before the Royal Society
in 1708, by the sparks and crackling sounds produced
by the friction of a large stick of amber against a
woollen cloth. " Upon drawing," he says, " the piece
of amber swiftly through the woollen cloth, and
squeezing it pretty hard with my hand, a prodigious
number of little cracklings was heard, every one of
which produced a little flash of light; but when the
amber was drawn gently and slightly through the
cloth, it produced a light, but no crackling. By
holding a finger at a little distance from the amber
a crackling is produced, with a great flash of light
succeeding it ; and what is very surprising, on its
eruption it strikes the finger very sensibly, where-
soever applied, with a push or puff like wind. The
crackling is full as loud as that of charcoal on fire •

to the Year 1837. 41

nay, five or six cracklings, or more, according to the
quickness of placing the finger, have been produced
from one single friction, light always succeeding
each of them. Now I doubt not but on using a
longer and larger piece of amber, both the cracklings
and light would be much greater. This light and
crackling seem in some degree to represent thunder
and lightning." *

So far, experimenters had worked without any
system, and without in the least comprehending
the principles on which the effects they produced
depended. Highly important as were all their obser-
vations, the true foundations of electricity as a science
cannot, therefore, be said to have been laid until
Stephen' Gray, a pensioner of the Charter-house,
London, gave to the world that justly celebrated
series of experiments which, begun in 1720, only
ended with his last breath in 1736.! As from this
point the domain widens, we will confine ourselves in
the rest of this chapter to noticing only such dis-
coveries of Gray and succeeding philosophers as bear
intimately on our subject.

In February 1729, Gray discovered the principle
of electric conduction and insulation, and in doing

* Hutton's Phil. Trans. Abridged, vol. v. p. 409.

t This remarkable man was (so to speak) dying when his last experi-
ments were made, and, unable to write himself, he dictated an account
of them to Dr. Mortimer, the secretary of the Royal Society, the day
before his death. — See Phil. Trans., vol. xxxix. p. 400, 1735-36, or
Hutton's Abridgment, vol. viii. p. 1 10.

42 A History of Electric Telegraphy

so might almost be said to have invented electric
telegraphy, of which it is the very alpha and omega.
This important discovery was made in the following
manner : — Wishing to excite in metals, as had already
been done in glass, resin, &c., the power of attraction
and repulsion, he tried various methods, such as rub-
bing, heating, and hammering ; but all to no end.
At last an idea occurred to him that, as a glass tube,
when rubbed in the dark, communicated its light freely
to bodies, so it might communicate a power of attraction,
which, at this time, was considered the only absolute
proof of the presence of electricity. In order to ^est
this, he took a glass tube, 3 feet S inches long and
I inch diameter, and filled up the ends with pieces of
cork to keep out the dust when the tube was not in
use. His first experiment was to ascertain if there
was any difference in its power of attraction when the
tube was stopped at both ends by the corks, and when
left entirely open ; but he could perceive no sensible
difference. Then holding a feather over against the
end of the tube, he found it would fly to the cork,
being attracted by it as readily as by the tube itself.
He concluded from this that the electric virtue, con-
ferred on the tube by friction, passed spontaneously
to the cork.

It then occurred to him * to inquire whether this

* We follow in this and the next three paragraphs Lardner's Manual
of Electricity, Magnetism, &c., vol. i. pp. 8-9. See also Priestley's
Hiitory of Electricity, pp. 24-39.

to the Year 1837. 43

transmission of electricity would be made to other sub-
stances besides cork. With this view he obtained a deal
rod about four inches in length, to one end of which
he attached an ivory ball, and inserted the other in
the cork, by which the glass tube was stopped. On
exciting the tube, he found that the ivory ball attracted
and repelled the feather even more vigorously than the
cork. He then tried longer rods of deal, and pieces
of brass and iron wire, with like results. Finally
he attached to one end of the tube a piece of com-
mon packthread, and, suspending from its lower end
the ivory ball and various other bodies, found that all
of them were capable of acquiring the electric state
when the tube was excited. Experiments of this
kind were made from the balconies of his house
and other elevated stations.

With a true philosophic spirit, he now determined
to inquire what circumstances attending the manner
of experimenting produced any real effect upon the
results ; and, first, whether the position or direction of
the rods, wires, or cords, by which the electricity was
transmitted from the excited tube, affected the pheno-
mena. For this purpose he extended a piece of
packthread in a horizontal direction, supporting it at
different points by other pieces of similar cord, which
were attached to nails driven into a wooden beam, and
which were, therefore, in a vertical position. To one
end of the horizontal cord he attached the ivory ball,
and to the other he tied the end of the glass tube. On

44 A History of Electric Telegraphy

exciting the tube he found that no electricity was
transmitted to the ball, a circumstance which he
rightly ascribed to its escape by the vertical cords, the
nails supporting them, and the wooden beam.

Soon after this (June 30, 1729), Gray was engaged
in repeating his experiments at the house of Mr.
Wheeler, who was afterwards associated with him in
these investigations, when that gentleman suggested
that threads of silk should be used to support the
horizontal line of cord, instead of pieces of packthread.
It does not appear that this suggestion of Wheeler
proceeded from any knowledge, or suspicion, of the
electric properties of silk ; and still less does it appear
that Gray was acquainted with them ; for, in assent-
ing to the proposition of his friend, he observed, that
" silk might do better than packthread on account of
its smallness, as less of the virtue would probably
pass off by it than by the thickness of the .hempen
line which had been previously used."

They accordingly (July 2, 1729) extended a pack-
thread through a distance of about eighty feet in a
horizontal direction, supporting it by threads of silk.
To one end they attached the ivory ball, and to the
other the glass tube. When the latter was excited,
the ball immediately became electric, as was mani-
fested by its attracting metallic leaf held near it.
Next day, they extended their experiments to lines
of packthread still longer, when the silk threads used
for its support were found to be too weak, and were

to the Year 1837. 45

broken. Being under the (erroneous) impression that
the escape of the electricity was prevented by the
fineness of the silk, they now substituted for it thin
brass wire, which they expected, being still finer
than the silk, would more effectually intercept the
electricity ; and which, from its nature, would have
all the necessary strength. The experiment, how-
ever, completely failed. No electricity was conveyed
to the ivory ball, the whole having escaped by the
brass wire, notwithstanding its fineness. They now
saw that the silk threads intercepted the electricity,
because they were silk, and not because they were
fine.

Having thus accidentally discovered the property
of insulation, they proceeded to investigate its gene-
ralisation, and found that it was enjoyed by resin,
hair, glass, and some other substances.

In fact, it soon became apparent that in this respect

all matter may be said to belong to one of two classes,

the one like the packthread and brass wire, favouring

the dissipation, or carrying away, of the electric power,

and the other like the silk and glass opposing it.*

* Soon after this^ in August 1729, Gray discovered that when the
electrified tube was brought near to any part of a non-electric or con-
ducting body, without touching it, the part most remote from the tube
became electrified. He thus fell upon the fact, which afterwards led to
the principle of induction. The science, however, was not yet ripe
for that great discovery, and Gray, like Otto Guericke before him, and
Wilson and Canton after him, continued to apply the principles of
induction without the most remote suspicion of the rich mine whose
treasures lay beneath his feet, and which it was one of the glories
of Franklin to bring- to light.

46 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Armed with this knowledge, Gray and Wheeler, in
July 1729, had the great satisfaction of being able to
transmit the electric power through as much as 765
feet of packthread, supported by loops of silk ; and in
August 1730, through 886 feet of wire. It is curious
to observe that in these experiments, as, indeed, in all
others on electrical conduction, we have all the essen-
tials— crude, of course — of a perfect telegraph, the
insulated line, the source of electricity in the rubbed
glass, the indicating instrument in the down feather,
and the earth, or return circuit, the function of which,
however, was not then suspected.

While Gray and Wheeler were pursuing their
investigations in England, Dufay, of the Academy
of Sciences, and Intendant of the Royal Botanic
Gardens, was actively engaged in Paris, in a similar
manner. The researches of this philosopher, so cele-
brated as the originator * of the double-fluid theory
of electricity, embraced the period between 1733 and
1737. He added largely to the class of bodies called
electrics, by showing that all substances, except
metals, and bodies in the soft or liquid state, might be
made electric, by first heating them, and then rubbing
them on any kind of cloth ; and as regards even these

* He can hardly be called its author— at all events in its present form.
For Symmer's claims to this honour, the reader is referred to Priestley's
History of Electricity, p. 227. The writer of the article Electricity in
the Encyclofcedia Britannica, 7th edition, says, but we know not on
what authority, that this important discovery was simultaneously and
independently made by Dufay in France and by White in England.

to the Year 1837. 47

<
exceptions, he showed that they, and, generally, all

bodies, solid and liquid, could be electrified, if only
the precaution were taken of first placing them on
glass stands.

In repeating Gray's experiments with the pack-
thread, he perceived that they succeeded better after
wetting the line, and, with the aid of this fact, he was
able to transmit the electric power along a cord of
nearly 1300 feet, which he supported at intervals on
glass tubes.

His discovery of the dual character of electricity
was, like most of the other capital discoveries hitherto
made, entirely due to chance. A piece of gold leaf
having been repelled by an excited glass rod, Dufay
pursued it with an excited rod of sealing-wax, ex-
pecting that the effect would be the same. His asto-
nishment, therefore, was great on seeing the gold leaf
fly to the wax, and, on repeating the experiment, the
same result invariably followed ; the gold leaf, when
repelled by glass, was attracted by resin, and, when
repelled by resin, was attracted by glass. Hence
Dufay concluded that there were two distinct kinds of
electricity, and, as one was produced from glass, and
the other from resin, he distinguished them by the
names vitreous and resinous.

In repeating Otto Guericke's experiments, Dufay
discovered another general law, which enabled him to
explain a number of observations that hitherto were
obscure and puzzling. This law is, that an electrified

48 A History of Electric Telegraphy

body attracts those that are not so, and repels them
as soon as they become electric by contact with itself.
Thus, gold leaf is first attracted by the excited tube,
and acquires an electricity by the contact, in conse-
quence of which it is immediately repelled. Nor is it
again attracted while it retains this electric quality;
but, if now it chance to light on some other body, it
straightway loses its electricity, and is then re-attracted
by the tube, which, after having given it a new charge,
repels it a second time, and so on, as long as the
tube itself retains any electricity.*

The study of electricity was next taken up, in
1737, by Desaguliers, who, though born in France in
1683, early removed to England, and died in London
in 1744. Two years before his death he published
a Dissertation Concerning Electricity,'^ which is re-
markable as being the first book on the subject in the
English language. Desaguliers' investigations were
mainly concerned with the relative conducting powers
of various bodies, but he otherwise did good and
useful work, by methodising the information that
had already accumulated, and by improving in some

* Priestley's History of Electricity, pp. 40-50.

t As a reason for his engaging in this pursuit so late in life, Desa-
guliers makes the curious assertion that he was debarred from doing
so earlier by the peculiar temper of Stephen Gray, who would have
abandoned the field entirely if he saw that anything was done in
apparent opposition or rivalry to himself. — Brewster's Edinburgh
Encyclofadia, verba Electricity, p. 415.

It is difficult to reconcile this passage with the following, which
we extract from Desaguliers' Dissertation, p. 4^ : — " Indeed, a few
electrical experiments, made by Mr. Gray and myself many years ago,

to the Year 1837. 49

important respects the nomenclature. Thus, the
labours of Gray, Wheeler, Dufay, and himself, had
shown that all matter was divisible into two great
classes, these he now proposed to distinguish by the
names Electrics, or bodies in which electricity could
be excited by friction, and Non-electrics, or those in
which it could not be excited, but which could receive
it from an electric. He also first employed the words
Conductor and Non-conductor in the same sense as
they are used at the present day.

In the Philosophical Transactions, for 1739, vol. xli.
p. 209, will be found his experiments on the trans-
mission of electricity, which were made at H.R.H. the
Prince of Wales's house at Cliefden, on April 15, 1738.
" Having heard that electricity had been carried along
a hempen string five or six hundred feet, but having
only seen it done when the string was carried back-
wards and forwards in a room, by silk supporters. Dr.
D. wished to try it with a packthread stretched out at
full length ; for which purpose, having joined a piece

are mentioned in the first volume of my Course of Experimental
Philosophy, pp. 17-21."

The following lines by the poet Cawthorn depict the neglect and
indigence into which Desaguliers fell in his old age : —
"Can Britain » * * » *

* * permit the weeping muse to tell
How poor neglected Desaguliers fell ?
How he, who taught two gracious kings to view
All Boyle ennobled, and all Bacon knew,
Died in a cell, without a friend to save.
Without a guinea, and without a grave ? "

The Vanity of Human Enjoyments, v. 147-54.

E

50 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of catgut to one end of a string, he fastened it to a
door ; and having also tied another catgut to the other
end of the string, he fastened it at the other end of
the house. At the places where the packthread was
joined to the catgut he left eighteen inches of the
thread hanging down, and fastened a lignum vit<z
handle of a burning-glass to one, while he applied a
rubbed tube to the other. He made the electricity-
run to the lignum vitce, but with some difficulty, which
he attributed to the sizing, being an animal substance,
that still adhered to the thread as it was new ; there-
fore, he caused the thread to be wet with a sponge
from one end to the other, to wash off the size ; then
was the electricity from the tube communicated very
soon and very strongly ; for the thread of trial was
drawn by the lignum vitce at the distance of a foot.

"Afterwards, having joined more packthread to-
gether, he made a string of 420 feet long, which he
supported at intervals by pieces of catgut. The string
was previously dipped in a pail of water, but great
care was taken that the catgut should not be wet.
Then he applied the rubbed tube at one end, while an
assistant held the thread of trial near the handle at
the other, whereupon it was strongly attracted, though
the wind was very high, and blowed in the contrary
direction to that in which the electricity ran.

" He first tried the experiment with the packthread
dry, but then it would not succeed at that distance." *
* Hutton's Phil. Trans. Abridged, vol. viii. p. 357.

to the Year 1837. 51

Up to this time, and until some years later, experi-
ments on the transmission of electricity to a distance
excited no attention outside a very narrow circle of
scientific men, and even amongst these, they served
only to illustrate the two great electrical properties of
bodies — conduction and insulation — without evoking
the slightest suspicion of their practical value. The
whole subject of electricity now, however, began to
attract general attention, especially amongst the
Germans, and the first consequence was considerable
improvement in the power and efficiency of electrical
apparatus. About 1741, Professors Hansen, of Leipsic,
and Boze, of Wittemburg, revived the use of the glass
globe machine, first introduced many years before, by
Newton and Hauksbee, but which, after their time,
had been supplanted, to the great detriment of the
science, by the glass tube and silk rubber of Gray.
Boze also added, for the first time, the prime con-
ductor, which consisted of an oblong cylinder of tin
or iron. This was at first held in position by a man,
who was insulated, by standing on cakes of resin, but
it was subsequently suspended by silken cords, and,
in order to facilitate the passage of the electricity, a
number of linen strings were added, which served the
purpose, though very imperfectly, of the metal points
now employed. Professor Winkler, of Leipsic, next
substituted a fixed woollen cushion in place of the hand
for exciting the globe, and lastly, in 1742, Gordon,
a Scotch Benedictine monk, and Professor of Natural

E 2

52 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Philosophy at Erfurt, substituted a glass cylinder for
the globe, and otherwise so increased the power of the
machine, that he was able to kill small birds at the
end of an iron wire 200 ells (250 yards) long.*

These various improvements were followed, in
October 1745, by the discovery of the Leyden Jar.
This invention is one of the vexed questions of the
science, being claimed, and perhaps with equal
justice, for Von Kleist, dean of the Cathedral at
Kamin, in Pomerania ; for Musschenbrock, the cele-
brated professor of Leyden ; and for Cuneus, a rich
burgess of that town. Von Kleist appears to have
been first, in point of priority of publication ; but his
account of the discovery was so obscurely worded,
that it was impossible for some time to verify it.
The following is an extract from his letter on the
subject, which was addressed to Dr. Lieberkuhn, of
Berlin, on the 4th November, 1745, and by him com-
municated to the Berlin Academy : —

" When a nail, or a piece of thick brass wire, is put
into a small apothecary's phial and electrified, remark-
able effects follow ; but the phial must be very dry or
warm. I commonly rub it over beforehand with a
finger on which I put some pounded chalk. If a little
mercury, or a few drops of spirit of wine, be put into
it, the experiment succeeds the better. As soon as
this phial and nail are removed from the electrifying
glass, or the prime conductor to which it has been
* Priestley's History of Electricity, pp. 64-67.

to the Year 1837. 53

exposed is taken away, it throws out a pencil of flame
so strong, that with this burning instrument in my
hand I have taken above sixty steps in walking about
my room. When it is electrified strongly, I can take
it into another room, and there fire spirits of wine
with it.

" If, whilst it is electrifying, I put my finger, or a
piece of gold which I hold in my hand, to the nail, I
receive a shock which stuns my arms and shoulders.
A tin tube, or a man, placed upon electrics, is elec-
trified much more strongly by this means than in the
common way. When I present this phial and nail to
a tin tube which I have, fifteen feet long, nothing but
experience can make a person believe how strongly it
is electrified. Two thin glasses have been broken by
the shock. It appears to me very extraordinary that
when this phial and nail are in contact with either
conducting or non-conducting matter, the strong
shock does not follow. I have cemented it to wood,
glass, sealing-wax, metal, &c., which I have elec-
trified without any great effect. The human body,
therefore, must contribute something to it. This
opinion is confirmed by observing that, unless I hold
the phial in my hand, I cannot fire spirits of wine
with it."

In January 1746, Cuneus made the same disco-
very, and apparently in the same accidental way. It
having been observed by Musschenbrock and his col-
leagues, Cuneus and Allamand, that electrified bodies

54 A History of Electric Telegraphy

speedily lost their virtue, which was supposed to be
abstracted by the air itself, and by vapours and
effluvia suspended in it, they imagined that if they
could surround them with any insulating substance,
so as to exclude the contact of the atmosphere, they
could communicate a more intense electrical power,
and could preserve that power for a longer time.*
Water appeared one of the most convenient reci-
pients for the electrical influence, and glass the most
effectual and easy insulating envelope. It appeared,
therefore, very obvious, that water enclosed in a glass
bottle must retain the electricity given to it, and that
by such means a greater charge or accumulation of
electric force might be obtained than by any expe-
dient before resorted to.

In the first experiments made in conformity with
these views, no remarkable results were obtained.
But it happened on one occasion that Cuneus held
the glass bottle in his right hand, while the water
contained in it communicated by a wire with the
prime conductor of a powerful machine. When he
considered that it had received a sufficient charge,
he applied his left hand to the wire to disengage it

* In a paper read before the Royal Society in 1735, Stephen Gray
has these curiously prophetic words: — "Though these effects of the
fire and explosion of electricity communicated to a metallic rod are at
present only minute, it is probable that in time there may be found out
a way to collect a greater quantity of the electric fire, and consequently to
increase the force of that power, which by several of these experiments,
if we are permitted to compare small things with great, seems to be of
the same nature with that of thunder and lightning." — Priestley, p. 54.

to the Year 1837. 55

from the conductor. He was instantly struck with a
convulsive shock, which filled him with the utmost
consternation, and made him let fall the flask. Muss-
chenbrock and others quickly repeated the experi-
ment, and with like results.*

In describing these, in a letter to R6aumur,
Musschenbrock said he felt himself struck in the
arms, shoulders, and breast, so that he lost his breath,
and was two days before he recovered from the effects
of the blow, and the terror. He added that he would
not repeat the experiment for the whole kingdom
of France. Boze, on the other hand, seems to have
coveted electrical martyrdom, for he is said to have
expressed a wish to die by the shock (the name by
which this phenomenon was known), that the account
of his death might furnish an article for the Memoirs
of the French Academy. Allamand, the associate of
Musschenbrock, took the shock from a common beer-
glass, and lost the use of his breath for some minutes,
and then felt so intense a pain along his right
arm, that he feared permanent injury from it.
Professor Winkler, on undergoing the experiment
for the first time, suffered great convulsions, his
blood was agitated, and fearing an ardent fever, he
had recourse to cooling medicines. His wife, also,
with a courage only equalled by her curiosity, twice
subjected herself to the shock, and was so enfeebled
thereby that she could hardly walk, and on trying it
» Priestley's History of Electricity, pp. 75-8.

56 A History of Electric Telegraphy

again, a week later, it gave her bleeding at the
nose.*

An account of these extraordinary effects soon got
abroad, and spread over Europe with the rapidity
almost of the spark itself. The experiments were
repeated everywhere, and excited the wonder of all
classes towards what was regarded as " a prodigy of
nature and philosophy." Indeed, so popular did
they become, that great numbers of impromptu
electricians wandered over every part of Europe,
and enriched themselves by gratifying the universal
curiosity at so much per shock.

But as soon as these first feelings of wonder had
abated, philosophers set themselves seriously to study
the powers of the new machine ; and the circum-
stances which influenced the force of the shock first
engaged their attention.

Musschenbrock observed that if the glass were wet
on the outer surface the success of the experiment
was impaired. Dr. (afterwards Sir William) Watson,
apothecary and physician, of London, next proved
that, while the force of the shock was increased by
diminishing the thickness of the glass, it was inde-
pendent of the power of the machine by which the
glass was charged.

* Priestley, pp. 78-9. It is no doubt to the "uncontrolled use of
the imagination in science," that we must, in a great measure, attribute
these first effects of an experiment with which electricians are now so
familiar, and which every school boy and girl undergo nowadays from
motives of curiosity or amusement.

to the Year 1837. 57

By further repeating and varying the experiment,
Watson found that the force of the charge depended
on the extent of the external surface of the glass in
contact with the hand of the operator. It next oc-
curred to Dr. Bevis that the hand might be efficient
merely as a conductor of electricity, and in that case
that the object might be more effectually and con-
veniently attained by coating the exterior of the
phial with sheet lead or tin-foil. This expedient
was completely successful, and the phial, so far as
related to its external surface, assumed its present
form.

Another important step in the improvement of
the Ley den jar was also due to the suggestion of
Dr. Bevis. It appeared that the force of the charge
increased with the magnitude of the jar, but not in
proportion to the quantity of water it contained. It
was conjectured that it might depend on the extent
of the surface of glass in contact with water ; and
that as water was considered to play the part merely
of a conductor in the experiment, metal, which was a
better conductor, would be at least equally effectual.
Three phials were therefore procured and filled to the
usual height with shot instead of water. A metallic
communication was made between the shot contained
in each of them, and the result was a charge of
greatly augmented force. This was, in fact, the first
electric battery.

Dr. Bevis now saw that the seat of the electric

58 A History of Electric Telegraphy

influence was the surface of contact of- the metal*
and the glass, and rightly inferred that the form of a
bottle or jar was not, in any way, connected with the
principle of the experiment. He, therefore, took a
common pane of glass, and having coated the opposite
faces with tin-foil, to within an inch of the edge,
obtained as strong a charge from it as from a phial
having the same extent of coated surface. Dr.
Watson being informed of this, coated large jars,
made of thin glass, on the inside and outside with
silver leaf, extending nearly to the top of the jars, the
eifects of which fully corroborated the anticipations
of Dr. Bevis, and established the law that the force
of the charge was proportional to the extent of coated
surface, and to the thinness of the glass.f

Experiments on the transmission and velocity of
electricity, to which the new discovery lent a fresh
and fascinating interest, were now resumed. Daniel
Gralath, early in 1746, was the first to transmit the

* This question was very beautifully settled a year or two later by the
celebrated Benjamin Franklin. He charged a jar, and then insulating
it, removed the cork and the wire by which the electricity was con-
veyed from the machine to the inside of the jar. On examining
these he found them free from electricity. He next carefully decanted
the water from the charged jar into another insulated vessel. On
examining this it was also found to be free from electricity. Other
water in its natural state was now introduced into the charged jar to
replace that which had been decanted, and on placing one hand on the
outside coating, and the other in the water, he received the shock as
forcibly as if no change had been made in the jar since it was first
charged. — Priestley, p. 144.

t Priestley, pp. 82-7.

to the Year 1837. 59

shock to a distance, which he did by discharging a
battery, composed of several jars, through a chain of
twenty persons, with outstretched arms. In May 1746,
Joseph Franz, at Vienna, discharged a jar through
1 500 feet of iron, and, in the following July, Winkler
charged, as well as discharged, a battery of three jars
through an insulated wire, thirty ells long, and laid
along the bank of the river Pleisse, whose waters
formed the return half of the circuit.*

The Abbe Nollet, whose name is famous in the
annals of this period, had meanwhile taken up the
subject in France. He first, April 1746, transmitted
the shock of a Ley den jar through a chain of 180 of
the Royal Guards at Paris, and soon after performed
a grander experiment of the same kind at the Car-
thusian convent. By means of iron wires stretched
between every two of the monks he formed a large
circle of 5400 feet, through which he discharged
his jars, with the result in every case that, at the
moment of discharge, all the persons in the circuit
gave a sudden spring, showing that the shock was felt
by each at the same instant and to the same degree of
intensity.

* Winkler had previously, in 1744, ascertained that the rapidity of an
electric discharge was exceedingly great and comparable with the speed
of lightning. He also, as the result of his experiments, concluded
" that electricity could be transmitted to the ends of the earth, if a con-
ducting body covered, or insulated, with silk be laid so far, it being only
necessary to consider that there may be a certain amount of resistance
to the transmission." — Thoughts on the Properties, Operations, and
Cames of Electricity, Leipsic, 1744, pp. 146, 149.

6o A History of Electric Telegraphy

Lemonnier, the younger, also of Paris, employed still
longer circuits composed of 2000 toises (12,780 feet)
of iron wire laid along the ground, and, although some
of the wire dragged upon wet grass, through hedges,
and over newly-ploughed fields, the shock was in no
way diminished, a fact which was then thought very
surprising. In other experiments he made use of two
large basins of water in the gardens of the Tuileries.
In April 1746, in the court of the Carthusians, he so
laid out two parallel wires of 5700 feet each, that all
four ends were close together. Between one pair he
placed a jar, and grasped the other extremities him-
self ; then on causing the circuit to be completed, he
could not distinguish any interval (so short was it)
between the spark at the jar, and the shock through
his arms.*

Upon receiving an account of these performances
from Lemonnier, our own distinguished countryman,
Watson, took up the inquiry, and pursued it so success-
fully as not only to eclipse the achievements of his
neighbours, but to gain for himself in after years the
credit of being the first to propose an electric telegraph
— an idea which, as we shall presently see, is quite
erroneous.! Watson's experiments were very nume-
rous, and were carried out on a grand scale, under
the auspices of a committee of the Royal Society, con-

* Priestley, pp. 92-5.

t The suggestion has been claimed for Franklin and Cavendish, and
with as little reason. It is time that writers on the telegraph ceased to
bandy pretensions for which there is no foundation whatever.

to the Year 1837. 61

sisting of Mr. Folkes, Lord C. Cavendish, Dr. Bevis,
and others. As preparing the way surely, though un-
suspectedly, for the first suggestions of an electric
telegraph, these investigations must ever possess a
peculiar interest for telegraphists, and we therefore
make no apology for presenting to our readers the
following detailed account of them, for which we are
indebted to Dr. Priestley's work, pp. 95-102.

Dr. Watson, who wrote a full account* of the labours
of the Committee for the Royal Society, begins with
observing (which was verified in all their experiments)
that the electric shock is not, strictly speaking, con-
ducted in the shortest manner possible, unless the
bodies through which it passes conduct equally well.
The circuit, he says, is always formed through the best
conductors, though the length be ever so great —
a most sagacious observation for the man and the
time.

The first trials took place on the 14th and i8th
July, 1747, on a wire carried from one side of the
Thames to the other over old Westminster Bridge.
One end of this wire communicated with the interior
of a charged Ley den jar, the other was held by a
person on the opposite bank of the river, who also
held in his other hand an iron rod which he dipped into
the water. Near the jar stood another person holding
in one hand a wire communicating with the exterior

* An Account of the Experiments made by some Gentlemen of the Royal
Society, &c., 8vo., London, 1748.

62 A History of Electric Telegraphy

coating of the jar, and in the other an iron rod. On
dipping this into the water and thus completing the
circuit for the discharge, the shock was instantly felt
by both persons, but more strongly by him who stood
near to the jar — because, as Watson rightly stated,
part of the electricity went from the wire down the
moist stonework of the bridge, thereby making several
shorter circuits to the jar, but still all passing through
the observer who stood near it.

The next attempt was to force the shock through a
circuit of two miles at the New River, near London.
This was accomplished on the 24th July at two places,
at one of which the distance by land was 800 feet, and
by water 2000 ; and at the other, 2800 feet of land
and 8000 feet of water.

The disposition of the apparatus was similar to
that at Westminster Bridge, and the results were
equally satisfactory. On repeating the experiments,
however, the rods, instead of being dipped into the
water, were merely thrust into the ground about
twenty feet from the water's edge. The effect was
the same, as it was found that the shock was equally
well transmitted. This occasioned a doubt whether
in the former case the shock might not have been con-
veyed through the ground between the two rods,
instead of passing through all the windings of the
river, and subsequent experiments showed that such
was the case. Other experiments followed at the
same place, on the 28th July, when for the first time

to the Year 1837. 63

the wire was supported in its whole length by dry
sticks, and on the Sth August, at Highbury Barn,
when it was found that dry ground conducted the
electric virtue quite as well as water.

Finally, on the 14th August at Shooter's Hill, an
experiment was made "to try whether the electric
shock was perceptible at twice the distance to which it
had yet been carried, in ground perfectly dry, and
where no water was near ; and also to distinguish if
possible its velocity as compared with that of sound."
The circuit consisted of two miles of wire, and two
miles of perfectly dry ground, but one shower of rain
having fallen in the previous five weeks. The wire
from the inner coating of the jar was 6732 feet long,
and was supported all the way upon baked sticks, and
that which communicated with the outer coating was
similarly insulated, and was 3^68 feet long. The
observers placed at the ends of these wires, two miles
apart, were provided with stop watches with which to
note the moment that they felt the shock. The result
of a series of careful observations was that " as far as
could be distinguished the time in which the electric
matter performed its circuit might have been instan-
taneous."

Not satisfied, apparently, with this result, the inquiry
was resumed in the following year, when a series of
trials was performed after the manner of Lemonnier's
Carthusian experiment of 1746. On the Sth August,
1748, a circuit of two miles was formed at Shooter's

64 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Hill by several turnings of wire in the same field.
The middle of this wire was led into the same room
as the Leyden jar, and there Watson placed himself in
the centre of the line, taking in each hand the ends of
the wire, and noting the spark with his eye while he
felt the shock in his arms. Under these circumstances
the jar was discharged several times, but in no instance
could the observer distinguish the slightest interval
between the moments at which the spark was seen
and the shock felt ; whereupon it was decided that the
time occupied by the passage of electricity along
6138 feet of wire was altogether inappreciable.

In 1748 Benjamin Franklin performed his celebrated
experiments across the Schuylkill at Philadelphia,
and De Luc some months later (1749) across the
Lake of Geneva. Franklin thus playfully refers to
his experiments at the end of a letter to his friend
and correspondent, Peter CoUinson, of London, dated
Philadelphia, 1748 : —

" Chagrined a little that we have hitherto been able
to produce nothing in this way of use to mankind, and
the hot weather coming on, when electrical experi-
ments are not so agreeable, 'tis proposed to put an end
to them for this season, somewhat humorously, in a
party of pleasure on the banks of the Skuylkil.
Spirits at the same time are to be fired by a spark
sent from side to side through the river, without any
other conductor than the water — an experiment which
we some time since performed, to the amazement of

to the Year 1837. 65

many. A turkey is to be killed for our dinner by the
electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical jack,
before a fire kindled by the electrified bottle, when the
healths of all the famous electricians in England,
Holland, France, and Germany are to be drank in
electrified bumpers, under the discharge of guns from
the electrical battery." *

As the words that we have italicised in this extract are
apt to mislead, and indeed have misled, some writers
into supposing that Franklin here describes an experi-
ment akin to that of telegraphing without wires, from
which so much was expected forty years ago, we quote
the following details from vol. i. p. 202, of Franklin's
Complete Works, London, 1806: — "Two iron rods, about
three feet long, were planted just within the margin
of the river, on the opposite sides. A thick piece of
wire, with a small round knob at its end, was fixed on
the top of one of the rods, bending downwards, so as
to deliver commodiously the spark upon the surface
of the spirit. A small wire, fastened by one end to
the handle of the spoon containing the spirit, was
carried across the river, and supported in the air by

* " An electric battery, famous because it was once owned and
operated by Benjamin Franldin, and other distinguished scientific men,
has been in constant use at Dartmouth College for years, and is now
employed almost daily for class-room experiments in physics. It was
at one time in the hands of the celebrated Dr. Priestley, the discoverer
of hydrogen." — American newspaper. Another interesting relic —
Faraday's first electrical machine — is still in vigorous action at the
Royal Institution, and was used by Dr. Gladstone to illustrate his
Christmas Lectures in 1874-5.

F

66 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the rope commonly used to hold by, in drawing ferry-
boats over. The other end of this wire was tied round
the coating of the bottle, which, being charged, the
spark was delivered from the hook to the top of the
rod standing in the water on that side. At the same
instant the rod on the other side delivered a spark to
the spoon and fired the spirit, the electric fire return-
ing to the coating of the bottle, through the handle of
the spoon, and the supported wire connected with
them." The experiment was, therefore, precisely the
same as that of Watson across the Thames, the only
difference being in the words used to describe it. In
the one case the discharge is said to go out by the
water and return by the wire, and in the other to go
out by the wire and return by the water.

Notwithstanding the singular suggestiveness of all
these experiments, no one up to this time appears to
have entertained the faintest suspicion of their appli-
cability to telegraphic purposes ; or, indeed, to any
useful purpose whatever. Thus Watson, in a letter
to the Royal Society, says : — " If it should be asked
to what useful purposes the effects of electricity can
be applied, it may be answered that we are not yet
so far advanced in these discoveries as to render them
conducive to the service of mankind," but, he adds,
"future philosophers may deduce from them uses
extremely beneficial to society in general." This was
in 1746, and with reference to his then recent ignition
of spirits by the spark ; but even after his brilliant

to the Year 1837. 67

experiments in the following years, of which we have
just given an account, he does not appear to have
formed any more hopeful view. We also find the
great Franklin, who was always in search of the
practical in science, positively expressing his dis-
appointment in the letter just quoted at being unable
to find any useful application of electricity.*

* His suggestion of the lightning-conductor was not made until
towards the end of July 1750. For this he was indebted to an experi-
ment of his friend, Thomas Hopkinson. This philosopher electrified
a small iron ball, to which he fixed a needle, in the hope that from the
point, as from a focus, he would draw a stronger spark. Greatly sur-
prised at finding that, instead of increasing the spark, the point dissi-
pated it altogether, he mentioned his failure to Franklin. On repeating
the experiment, the latter ascertained, not only that the ball could not
be electrified when a needle was fastened to it, but that, when the
needle was removed and the ball charged, the charge was silently and
speedily withdrawn, when a point connected with the earth was pre-
sented to it. Reflecting on this, . Franklin conceived the idea that
pointed rods of iron fixed in the air might draw down the lightning
without noise or danger. — Franklin's Complete Works, vol. i. p. 172,
London, 1806.

F 2

68 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER III.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL,
ELECTRICITY.

" Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee,
Here we are ? " — yob xxxviii. 35.

1753. — C. M.'s Telegraph.

The first distinct proposal to employ electricity for
the transmission of intelligence, of which we have
any record, is that contained in a letter printed in
the number of the Scots' Magazine, Edinburgh, for
February 17, 1753. As this is one of the most in-
teresting documents to be found in the whole history
of telegraphy, we will quote it in extenso for the
benefit of our readers : —

To the Author of the Scots' Magazine.

" Renfrew, Feb. i, 1753.
" Sir, — It is well known to all who are conversant
in electrical experiments, that the electric power may
be propagated along a small wire, from one place to
another, without being sensibly abated by the length
of its progress. Let, then, a set of wires, equal in
number to the letters of the alphabet, be extended
horizontally between two given places, parallel to one

to the Year 1837. ^9

another, and each of them about an inch distant from
that next to it. At every twenty yards' end, let them
be fixed in glass, or jeweller's cement, to some firm
body, both to prevent them from touching the earth,
or any other non-electric, and from breaking by their
own gravity. Let the electric gun-barrel be placed at
right angles with the extremities of the wires, and
about an inch below them. Also let the wires be
fij^d in a solid piece of glass, at six inches from the
end ; and let that part of them which reaches from
the glass to the machine have sufficient spring and
stiffness to recover its situation after having been
brought in contact with the barrel. Close by the
supporting glass, let a ball be suspended from every
wire ; and about a sixth or an eighth of an inch below
the balls, place the letters of the alphabet, marked on
bits of paper, or any other substance that may be light
enough to rise to the electrified ball ; and at the same
time let it be so contrived, that each of them may re-
assume its proper place when dropt.*

"All things constructed as above, and the minute
previously fixed, I begin the conversation with my
distant friend in this manner. Having set the electrical
machine a-going as in ordinary experiments, suppose
I am to pronounce the word Sir ; with a piece of
glass, or any other electric per se, I strike the wire S,

* It will be observed that in this and most other systems based upon
common, or frictional, electricity, the authors constantly, although often
unknowingly, used the earth circuit.

^o A History of Electric Telegraphy

so as to bring it in contact wtth the barrel, then i, then
r, alj in the same way ; and my correspondent, almost
in the same instant, observes these several characters
rise in order to the electrified balls at his end of the
wires. Thus I spell away as long as I think fit ; and
my correspondent, for the sake of memory, writes the
characters as they rise, and may join and read them
afterwards as often as he inclines. Upon a signal
given, or from choice, I stop the machine ; and, taking
up the pen in my turn, I write down whatever my
friend at the other end strikes out.

" If anybody should think this way tiresome, let
him, instead of the balls, suspend a range of bells
from the roof, equal in number to the letters of the
alphabet ; gradually decreasing in size from the bell
A to Z ; and from the horizontal wires, let there be
another set reaching to the several bells ; one, viz.,
from the horizontal wire A to the bell A, another from
the horizontal wire B to the bell B, &c. Then let him
who begins the discourse bring the wires in contact
with the barrel, as before ; and the electrical spark,
breaking on bells of different size, will inform his
correspondent by the sound what wires have been
touched. And thus, by some practice, they may come
to understand the language of the chimes in whole
words, without being put to the trouble of noting
down every letter.

" The same thing may be otherwise effected. Let
the balls be suspended over the characters as before.

to the Year 1837. 71

but instead of bringing the ends of the horizontal wires
in contact with the barrel, let a second set reach from
the electrified cake, so as to be in contact with the
horizontal ones ; and let it be so contrived, at the
same time, that any of them may be removed from its
corresponding horizontal by the slightest touch, and
may bring itself again into contact when left at liberty.
This may be done by the help of a small spring and
slider, or twenty other methods, which the least
ingenuity will discover. In this way the characters
will always adhere to the balls, excepting when any
one of the secondaries is removed from contact with
its horizontal ; and then the letter at the other end
of the horizontal will immediately drop from its ball.
But I mention this only by way of variety.

" Some may, perhaps, think that although the elec-
tric fire has not been observed to diminish sensibly in
its progress through any length of wire that has been
tried hitherto, yet as that has never exceeded some
thirty, or forty, yards, it may be reasonably supposed
that in a far greater length it would be remarkably
diminished, and probably would be entirely drained
off in a few miles by the surrounding air. To prevent
the objection, and save longer argument, lay over the
wires from one end to the other with a thin coat of
jeweller's cement. This may be done for a trifle of
additional expense, and, as it is an electric per se, will
effectually secure any part of the fire from mixing
with the atmosphere. — I am, &c., " C. M."

72 A History of Electric Telegraphy

From the concluding paragraph it is evident that
the writer was not acquainted with Watson's experi-
ments, as detailed in our last chapter, else he would
not have suggested insulating the wires, from end to
end, with jeweller's cement, and, probably, not even
have noticed the objection at all. His suggestions of
reading by sound of differently-toned bells, and of
keeping his wires charged with electricity, and indica-
ting the signals by discharge, are very ingenious, and
deserve to be remembered to his credit in these days
of their realisation. The former plan is familiar to us
in Bright's Acoustic, or Bell, telegraph of 1855, while
the latter was, as we shall presently see, employed by
Ronalds in 1816, and is realised to perfection in the
method now used in signalling through all long
cables.

Unfortunately, little, or nothing, is known of C. M.
An inquiry as to his identity was first started by
" Inquirendo," Glasgow, in Notes and Queries, for
October 15, 1853; then by George Blair, also of
Glasgow, in the Glasgow Reformers' Gazette, for
November 1853, in which he, for the first time, repub-
lished C. M.'s letter ; and, lastly, by Sir David Brew-
ster, in the Glasgow Commonwealth, for January 21,
1854. Nothing, however, came of the inquiry for a
long time, and all hopes of solving the question were
abandoned, when, on December 8, 1858, the following
letter appeared : —

to the Year 1837. 73

" To the Editor of the Commonwealth.

" 14S, Great Eastern Road.

" Sir, — I have not heard that a name has yet been
proposed for the C. M. that wrote to the Scots' Maga-
zine last century from Renfrew, giving some hints
about the electric telegraph.

" I send you what follows, as I think it gives some
probability to C. M. being Charles Marshall.

" In our house was a copy of Knox's History of the
Reformation, published in Paisley, in 1791. My uncle
James's name is in the list of subscribers in Renfrew.
Anent this my mother spoke as follows : — ' There was
a very clever man living in Paisley at that tiqie, that
had formerly lived in Renfrew. He asked my uncle,
as they were acquainted, to canvass for subscribers in
Renfrew. The said clever man could light a room
with coal reek, and make lightning speak and write
upon the wall,' &c.

"That this was the C. M. of the electric telegraph
there can, I think, be no doubt.

" Now, it is probable that the man that solicited my
uncle to canvass for subscribers subscribed himself;
and in Well Meadow, Paisley, I find the name Charles
Marshall, and this is the only name in the list of 1000
names that answers the initials C. M. My list, how-
ever, is not complete for Glasgow.

" Peradventure some one belonging to Paisley may
have somewhat to say of Charles Marshall.

"Alex. Dick."

74 A History of Electric Telegraphy

To this letter were appended the following remarks
by Sir David Brewster, to whom the editor appears
to have submitted it prior to publication : — " That
Charles Marshall might have been the inventor, had
we known nothing more than that he was a resident
in Renfrew about the time when the letter was sent
to the Scots' Magazine, was very probable ; but when
we add to this probability the fact that Charles
Marshall was a clever man, and that he was known as
a person who could make lightning speak and write
upon the wall, and who could also light a room with
coal reek (smoke), we can hardly doubt that he was
the C. M. who invented the electric telegraph, and that
he is entitled to the additional honour of having first
invented and used gas from coal." *

Commenting on this correspondence, in Notes and
Queries, for July 14, i860, George Blair says : — "That
the Charles Marshall who resided at Well Meadows,
Paisley, in 1791, was not the C. M. of the Scots' Maga-
zine, and, therefore, not the inventor of the electric
telegraph, I succeeded in ascertaining positively about
a year ago, on the highest possible authority. Through
the kindness of a venerable friend in Paisley, I traced
out the fact that a Charles Marshall, who once resided
in the Well Meadows, had come from Aberdeen ;
and that a son of his, a clergyman, was still living.
Discovering the address of this gentleman, I applied

* These letters, copied from the Commonwealth, are reprinted in
the Engineer, for Dec. 24, 1858, p. 484.

to the Year 1837. 75

td him for information ; and he states in his reply that
he had no doubt his father was the Charles Marshall
who appears in Mr. Dick's list ; but that he could not
be the C. M. of the Scots' Magazine.

"At the time when C. M.'s letter was first dis-
interred, the most diligent search was made by the
schoolmaster of Renfrew, who is also session-clerk,
not only in the records of the kirk-session, but also
among the old people of the parish, without a shadow
of success ; and, strange as it may appear, the name
of C. M. remains at the present moment as great a
mystery as that of Junius."

Whether Sir David Brewster was aware of these
fresh facts we cannot say, but certain it is that, in
October 1859, he accepted the evidence in favour of
C. M. being a Charles Morrison, with as much warmth,
and, we fear, as much haste, as he had done that for
Charles Marshall in the previous December. At
p. 207 of The Home Life of Sir David Brewster
(Edinburgh, 1869), Mrs. Gordon says: — "After a
good deal of correspondence on the subject. Sir David
Brewster gave up all hope of discovering the name of
the inventor, and it was not until 1859 that he had
the great pleasure of solving the mystery in the follow-
ing manner : — He received from Mr. Loudon, of Port
Glasgow, a letter, dated 31st October, 1859, stating
that, while reading the article in the North British

76 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Review, his attention was arrested by the letter of
C. M., and having mentioned the fact to Mr. Forman,
a friend then living with him, he told him that he
could solve the mystery regarding these initials.
Mr. Forman recollects distinctly having read a letter,
dated 1750, and addressed by his grandfather, a farmer,
near Stirling, to Miss Margaret Winsgate, residing at
Craigengilt, near Denny (to whom he was subse-
quently married), referring to a gentleman in Renfrew
of the name of Charles Morrison, who transmitted
messages along wires by means of electricity, and who
was a native of Greenock, and bred a surgeon. Mr.
Forman also states that he was connected with the
tobacco trade in Glasgow, that he was regarded by
the people in Renfrew as a sort of wizard, and that
he was obliged, or found it convenient, to leave Ren-
frew and settle in Virginia, where he died. Mr.
Forman also recollects reading a letter in the hand-
writing of Charles Morrison, addressed to Mr. Forman,
his grandfather, and dated 2Sth September, 1752,
giving an account of his experiments, and stating that
he had sent an account of them to Sir Hans Sloane,
the President of the Royal Society of London, who
had encouraged him to perfect his experiments, and
to whom he had promised to publish an account of
what he had done. In this letter Mr. Morrison stated
that, as he was likely to be ridiculed by many of his
acquaintances, he would publish his paper in the
Scots^ Magazine only with his initials."

to the Year 1837. 11

How far this statement may be credited we will
not undertake to say ; we would, however, just point
out that Sir Hans Sloane resigned the presidentship
of the Royal Society in 1741, and lived in strict
retirement at Chelsea until his death, which occurred
on January 11, 1752, at the advanced age of ninety-
two years. It is not likely, therefore, that he would
have received, or written, any letters of the above-
mentioned nature in the last days of his life. At
any rate, a careful search through his papers, which
we have instituted in the British Museum and the
Royal Society, has failed to discover any.

1767. — Bozolus's Telegraph.

Joseph Bozolus, a Jesuit and lecturer on natural
philosophy in the College at Rome, was the next to
suggest an electric telegraph, and one in which the
spark was the active principle. This must have been
some time anterior to 1767, as we find it familiarly
described in a Latin poem,* published in that year.

His proposition was to lay underground two (.' in-
sulated) wires between the communicating stations,
which may be any distance apart. At both stations
the ends of the wires were to be brought close together,
without touching, so as to facilitate the passage of a
spark. When, under these circumstances, at one end,
the inner coating of a charged plate, or jar, was con-

* Electricorum, by Josephus Marianus Parthenius («'. e., G. M. Mazzo-
lari), libri vi., 8vo., Romse, 1767.

78 A History of Electric Telegraphy

nected to one wire, and the outer coating to the other,
the discharge would take place through the wires, and
manifest itself, at the break, at the distant end, in the
form of a spark. An alphabet of such sparks, Bozolus
says, could be arranged with a friend without any
difficulty, and a means of communication be thus
contrived, which, as tolerably easy, he leaves to each
one's judgment to devise and settle in detail.

Bozolus appears to have been a man of varied
acquirements. As a sort of diversion from more
serious studies, he undertook an Italian translation of
the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, which Mazzolari,
himself no mean poet, praises very highly.

As the Electricorum is very scarce, and, therefore,
not easily accessible, we present our readers with a
faithful transcript of the verses descriptive of the
telegraph, which we have extracted from a copy of
the work, in the British Museum.

" Quid dicam, extrema pendentis parte catenae,
Qui palmam objecit, confestim flamma reluxit,
Tenviaque arguto strepueruut sibila vento ? ,
Et qui continuos secum prius ordine longo
Disposuit globulos ; turn flammam excivit, et ignem
A primo insinuans sellers traduxit ad imum ?
Atque hie arte quidem multa omniginseque Minerva
Instructus studiis vitro impiger instat, et usque
Extundit visenda novis spectacula formis.
Quid ? quod et elicitas vario discrimine ilammas
Nunquam tentatos idem detorquet ad usus ;
Insuetisque notis absentem affatur amicum.
Quippe duo a nexa in longum deducta catena
Aenea fila trahit ; spatium distantia amici
Definit certum, verum, quo lumina fallat

to the Year 1837. 79

Spectantum, et miram quo callidus occulat artem,
Fila solo condit penitus defossa sub imo,
Sic tamen ; ut capita emergant turn denique ; signa
Conscius opperiens condicta ubi servat amicus.
Ipse autem interea vitri revolubilis orbem
De more exagitans fluctum derivat ; et inde,
Qua duo se extrema respectant aenea parte,
Attactum citra et praescripto limite, fila ;
Composite tot scintillas educit, ad usum
Quot talem elicitis opus est ; quae singula nempe
Designent elementa ; quibus in verba coactis
Sensa animi pateant, certa et sententia constet.
Atque his indiciis, fidaque interprete flamma
Absens absentem dictis compellat amicum."

Lib. i. pp. 32-35.

1773. — Odier's Telegraph.

The idea of an electric telegraph appears next to
have occurred to Louis Odier, a distinguished phy-
sician of Geneva, who thus wrote, in 1773, to a lady
of his acquaintance :—

" I shall amuse you, perhaps, in telling you that I
have in my head certain experiments by which to
enter into conversation with the emperor of Mogol,
or of China, the English, the French, or any other
people of Europe, in a way that, without incon-
veniencing yourself, you may intercommunicate all
that you wish, at a distance of four or five thousand
leagues in less than half an hour ! Will that suffice
you for glory .' There is nothing more real. What-
ever be the course of those experiments, they must
necessarily lead to some grand discovery ; but I have
not the courage to undertake them this winter. What

8o A History of Electric Telegraphy

gave me the idea was a word which I heard spoken
casually the other day at Sir John Pringle's table,
where I had the pleasure of dining with Franklin,
Priestley, and other great geniuses." *

Although, according to Professor Maunoir, Odier
was about this time devoting much attentibn to elec-
tricity, we do not find that he ever attempted to carry
out his telegraphic idea.

1777. — Voltds {so-called) Telegraph.
At p. 243, vol. i., of The Journal of the Society of
Telegraph Engineers, we find the following letter : —

" To the Secretary of the Society of Telegraph
Engineers.

" Battle, Sussex, July 4th, 1872.

"Sir, — I have not met with any statement in
English histories, or other English treatises, on the
Electric Telegraph, relative to Volta's proposed
Electric Telegraph.

" Professor L. Magrini, member of a committee
appointed to examine and report upon Volta's library,
manuscripts, and instruments, published a paper in
the Atti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, vol. ii., entitled,
Notizie, Biografiche e Scientifiche su Alessandro Volta.

* Chambers's Papers for ike People, 1851, Art. Electric Communica-
tions, p. 6. Also Dodd's Railways, Steamers, and Telegraphs, London
and Edinburgh, 1867, p. 226. Odier took out his degrees at Edinburgh,
where he might well have read, or heard, of C. M.'s letter in the Scots'
Magazine of 1753.

to the Year 1837. 8r

This paper was read at various times, in 1861, at
the said institute. It contains a paragraph of which
the following is a literal translation : —

"'An autograph manuscript, dated Como, ijth
April, 1777, which is suspected (and the suspicion was
confirmed by one of the sons of Volta) to have been
addressed to Professor Barletti, contains various ex-
periments on his pistols, and the singular proposition,
very remarkable for that time, of transmitting signals
by means of ordinary electricity. Besides the figure,
there are particulars conducive to its practical appli-
cation.

"'This letter is of the greatest interest for the
history of the science, inasmuch as it indicates the first
bold and certain step in the invention and institution
of the electric telegraph.'

"Although our Charles Marshall, of Renfrew, in
1753, and others, forestalled this proposition, it is
interesting, as proving that the in re electrica Princeps
believed in the efficiency of frictional electricity for
the purpose.

" I am. Sir, your obedient servant,

" Francis Ronalds.^
" G. E. Preece, Esq."

Now, although, as Ronalds says, and as we here
see, Volta was not the first to propose an electric
telegraph, still we were delighted to learn, on such
apparently good authority, that the great Italian

G

82 A History of Electric Telegraphy

pRlosopher had turned his mind to telegraphy at all,
and we eagerly sought for some particulars of his
plan. After much trouble we succeeded in getting a
copy of the letter referred to by Professor Magrini,
and great was our disappointment to find that it con-
tained nothing more than the suggestion of an experi-
ment which was carried out (though on a lesser scale)
thirty years before by Lemonnier, Watson, Franklin,
De Luc, and others. In order that the reader may
be able to form his own opinion on this point, we give
Volta's original letter, as well as a translation, which
we have made from the French of C^sar Cantu, the
distinguished Italian historian.* Volta says : —

"Quante belle idee di sperienze sorprendenti mi
van ribollendo in testa, eseguibili con questo strata-
gemma di mandare la scintilla elettrica a far lo sbaro
della pistola a qualsivoglia distanza e in qualsivoglia
direzione e posizione ! Invece del colombino che va
ad appiccar I'incendio alia macchina di fuochi artificiali,
io vi mandero du qualunque sito anche non diretto la
scintilla elettrica, che col mezzo della pistola aggius-
tata al sito della pianta artifiziale, vi metter^ fuoco.
Sentite. Io non so a quanti miglia un fil di ferro,
tirato sul suolo dei campi o della strada, che in fine si
ripiegasse indietro, o incontrasse un canal d'acqua di
ritorno, condurebbe giusta il sentier segnato la scin-
tilla commovente. Ma prevegga che un lunghissimo

* See /> Correspondant, a French scientific periodical, for August
1867, p. 1059, also Les Mondes, for December 5, 1867, p. 561.

to the Year 1837. 83

viaggio, d^ tratti di terra molto bagnati, o delle acque
scorrenti stabili rebbero troppo presso una communi-
cazione e quioi devierebbe il corso del fuoco elettrico,
spiccato dall uncino della caraffa per ricondursi al
fondo. Ma se il fil di ferro fosse sostenuto alto da
terra da pali di legno qua e li piantati, ex. gr., da
Como fine a Milane ; e quivi interrotto solamente
dalla una pistola, continuasse e venisse in fine a pescare
nel canale naviglio, continua col mio lago di Comd ;
non credo impossibile de far lo sbaro della pistola a
Milano con una buona boccia di Leyden, da me
scaricata in Como."

"The more I reflect, the more I see the beautiful
experiments that can be made by means of the spark
in exploding the electric pistol at any distance. An
iron wire, stretched along the fields, or roads, for I
know not how many miles, could . conduct the spark.
As, however, in long distances moist earth and water-
courses would be encountered, which would draw off
the electric fire, the wire may be supported on posts
placed at regular intervals, say from Como to Milan.
At the latter place its continuity would be interrupted
only by my electric pistol, from which it would pass
into the canal, which communicates with my lake at
Como. In this case I do not believe it impossible to
explode my pistol at Milan when I discharge a
powerful Leyden jar at Como " [through the wire].

" According to this document," says Cantu, " it is
incontestable that Volta had in mind an electric

G 2

84 A History of Electric Telegraphy

telegraph, half a century before those [alluding to
Ampfere] who have been proclaimed its inventors. The
basis of this astonishing discovery lies in the possibility
of transmitting to a great distance the electric virtue,
and there causing it to manifest itself in signs. Now
this is what Volta had clearly perceived, and, further,
he indicated a plan, which is to-day universal, of
insulating the conducting wire on posts." * Perceiving
a fact, or principle, and applying it, are two very
different things. Gray, Dufay, Watson, and all those
who made experiments on the transmission of elec-
tricity long before Volta, perceived the same fact as
he did, and, like him, missed its application. To say
then, as Professor Magrini does, that Volta's letter
indicates the first bold and certain step in the inven-
tion and institution of the electric telegraph is to

* Le Correspondant, p. 1060. In the course of a somewhat effusive
letter on Italy's claim to the discovery of the electric telegraph, Cantu
relates the following interesting particulars. The apartments which
Volta occupied at Come, were, for a time, preserved in the state in
which he left them at his death (March 5, 1827). There one could see
his books, papers, machines, even his tobacco pouch, spectacles, decora-
tions, and cane ; in short, everything that becomes a sacred relic when
death has removed him who used it. Amongst the pieces of apparatus,
were aU those which he had himself invented, including the first pile,
and that which he took to Paris, in 180 1, when invited by Napoleon to
repeat his experiments before the Institute.

In consequence of the pecuniary embarrassments of Volta's .sons,
these precious relics were in danger of being dispersed, when the
Academy of Sciences of Lombardy stepped in, and, while it assisted the
sons, honoured the father. The whole collection was purchased for
loo,cxx3 livres, and lodged in a chamber of the palace of Breraat Milan,
where, under the appellation of Cimeli di Volta, it is preserved with
reverent care.

to the Year 1837. 85

assign to it a meaning which it was never, we believe,
intended to convey ; and we are the more confirmed
in this opinion by the fact that, although Volta lived
to the year 1827, and must have heard of the numerous
telegraphic proposals made up to that time, he never
claimed to have done anything in that way himself.

1782. — Anonymous Telegraph.

The next proposal, which is an exceedingly inter-
esting one, is contained in an anonymous letter to
\}ait y ournal de Paris, No. 150, for May 30, 1782, a
translation of which we append : —

" To the Authors of the Journal.

" A way of establishing a communication between
two very distant places has been proposed to me, and
those of your readers who care for this kind of
scientific amusement will not, perhaps, be angry with
me for telling them what it is.

" Let there be two gilt iron wires put underground
in separate wooden tubes filled in with resin, and let
each wire terminate in a knob. Between one pair of
knobs, connect a letter formed of metallic [tin-foil]
strips after the fashion of those electrical toys, called
' spangled panes ' ; if, now, at the other end we touch
the inside of a Ley den jar to one knob, and the out-
side to the other, so as to discharge the jar through
the wires, the letter will be at the same instant
illuminated.

86 A History of Electric Telegraphy

"Thus, with twenty-four such pairs, one could
quickly spell all that was desired, it being only
requisite to have a sufficient number of charged
Leyden jars always ready.

" As it would not be necessary to make the letters
very luminous, a slight ■ indication being sufficient,
complete darkness would not be required for the
perception of the characters, and feebly charged jars
would, therefore, suffice, which would greatly facilitate
matters. The letters may even be suppressed, and
then there would be one instrument common to the
twenty-four systems (pairs) of wires \sic\.

" These means could be simplified by having only
five pairs of wires, and attaching a character, or letter,
to each of their combinations, i i°, 2 2°, * * 5 5°; 1 i",
and 2 2°, I 1°, and 33°; * * i i", 2 2° and 3 3° ; and
so on, which would make thirty-one characters ; six
pairs of wires would, in the same way, yield sixty-three,
and thus one could arrive at a sort of tachygraphy,
or fast writing, one character (or signal) sufficing for
a whole word, or phrase, as may be previously agreed
upon. There would be some difficulty, however, in
discharging at exactly the same instant several
(separate) jars through as many separate pairs. One
might also use successive combinations of these pairs,
2 to 2, 3 to 3, and so on, in which way five pairs
would give 125 signals, and six 216, which would be
very fast writing indeed.

" The wooden tubes might, very probably, be un-

to the Year 1837. 87

necessary ; but in view of accidents, such as fractures,
it would always be safer to employ them.

" One could use simple electricity \i. e., direct from
the machine], and so greatly simplify the apparatus,
but as the superficial area of a great length of wire,
even when a very fine one was used, would be con-
siderable, this plan would necessitate very powerful
machines. In either method, however, the object
could easily be obtained by using very large electro-
phoroi.

" It would be necessary to give each correspondent
a means of notifying that he wished to communicate,
to prevent constant watching and cross signalling.
For this an electric bell would suffice, and by agree-
ing beforehand that one stroke shall mean ' I will
call you up in 15 minutes,' two strokes ' I am all
attention,' &c., all confusion would be avoided.

"As this letter is only intended for those who
amuse themselves with physics, they can easily supply
for themselves all the details that I have omitted.
" I have the honour to be, &c."

This letter is copied, almost verbatim, in Le Mercure
de France, for June 8, 1782, and is also embodied
in a letter, dated June S, 1782,* where the writer

* In Metra's Correspondance Secrite, Sec, Londres, 1788, vol. xiii. p.,
84. Mr. Aylmer, to whom we are indebted for the copy of this letter
which appeared in Ze Mercure de France, tells us that the Comte du
Moncel attributes it to Le Sage, but we shall presently see reasons for
doubting this.

88 A History of Electric Telegraphy

prefaces it with the following remarks : " We have
Linguet once more installed in the career in which his
labours have been so disagreeably interrupted. His
project of an easy communication between two very
distant places appears to be only the dream of some
pleasant trifler. It is, however, not new, and would
only imperfectly accomplish its object ; but still there
may be some good in it."

In these remarks Metra somewhat mixes his facts.
There is no more authority for the statement that
Linguet was the writer than that he, at this time, was
engaged on experiments on some kind of a luminous
telegraph, which he planned while a prisoner in the
Bastille, and in exchange for which he is popularly,
though erroneously, supposed to have received his
liberty. On the other hand, we have positive proof
that he was not the writer, firstly, in the opening
sentence of the letter itself, and secondly, in the
following passage from his Mimoires sur la Bastille: —
"I will one day make known my ideas on this subject
[of signalling by means of light]. The invention will
certainly admit of being greatly improved, as I have
no doubt it will be. I am persuaded that in time it
will become the most useful instrument of commerce,
and all correspondence of that kind ; just as electricity
will be the most powerful agent of medicine ; and as
the fire-pump will be the principle of all mechanic
processes which require, or are to communicate, great
force" (Note 13).

to the Year 1837. 89

1782. — Le Sagis Telegraph.

On seeing these accounts, George Louis Le Sage,*
a savant of French extraction, residing at Geneva,
|)ublished a method somewhat similar to C. M.'s, in a
letter, dated June 22, 1782, and addressed to his friend,
M. Prevost, at Berlin.

He writes : " I am going to entertain you with one
of my old discoveries, which I see has just been found
out by others, at least, up to a certain point. It is a
ready and swift method of correspondence between
two distant places by means of electricity, which
occurred to me thirty, or thirty-five, years ago, and
which I then reduced to a simple system, far more
practicable than the form with which the new inventor
has endowed it.

" I have often spoken of it to one or two persons,t
but I see no reason for supposing that the new
inventor has drawn his ideas from these conversations.
The thing is so natural that, to discover it, it is only
necessary that one should be in search of some means
of very rapid correspondence ; and people have, on

* " Upon the present venerable and learned M. le Sage of Geneva
devolved, in a great measure, the education of Lord Mahon, who is
frequently heard to mention the name of his preceptor with considerable
respect. He even goes so far as to pronounce M. le Sage the most
learned man in Europe." Vide Life of Earl Stanhope, in Public
Characters o/'iSoo-iSoi, London, 1801, p. 88.

t In Le Journal des Sgavans, 4to., Paris, 1782 (for Sept., p. 637),
this extract is prefaced thus : — " II y a trente ans qu'il en parla, et une
personne i qui il en fit part, offre de I'attester ; mais ceux qui con-
noissent la sagacity et la candeur de ce digne citoyen, ne formeront a
cet igard aucun doute."

90 A History of Electric Telegraphy

occasion, turned their minds to this subject * • • •,
as, for example, Mr. Lingfuet.

" But it is time to tell you briefly in what my plan
consisted. One can imagine a subterranean tube, of
glazed earthenware, the inside of which is divided, at
every fathom's length, by diaphragms, or partitions,
of glazed earthenware, or of glass, pierced by
twenty-four holes, so as to give passage to as many
brass wires, which could in this way be supported and
kept apart. At each of the extremities of this tube,
the twenty-four wires are arranged horizontally, like
the keys of a harpsichord, each wire having suspended
above it a letter of the alphabet, while immediately
underneath, on a table, are pieces of gold leaf, or other
bodies that can be as easily attracted, and are, at the
same time, easily visible.

" He, who wishes to signal anything, shall touch the
ends of the wires with an excited glass tube, according
to the order of the letters composing the words ; while
his correspondent writes down the characters under
which he sees the little gold leaves play. The other
details are easily supplied."

Le Sage had an idea of offering his invention to
Frederick the Great, and drew up an introductory
note as follows : —

" To the King of Prussia.

" Sire, — My little fortune is not only sufficient for
all my wants, but even for all my tastes — except one,

to the Year 1837. 91

viz., that of contributing to the wants and tastes of
others ; and this desire all the monarchs of the world,
united, could not enable me to fully satisfy. It is
not, then, to a patron who can give much, that I take
the liberty of dedicating the following discovery, but
to a patron who can do much with it, and who can
judge for himself of its utility without having to refer
it to his advisers." *

Whether he ever carried out this idea or not is
difficult to say, but it is certain that his plan was never
practically tried, and, like so many of its class, was
soon forgotten.

1787. — LomoncTs Telegraph.

The next plan that we have to notice was a decided
improvement, and had an actual existence, though on
a very small scale. Seeing, no doubt, the difficulty
and expense of using many wires, Lomond of Paris
reduced, at one sweep, the number to. one, and thus
produced a really serviceable telegraph. Arthur
Young, the diligent writer on natural and industrial
resources, saw this apparatus in action during his first
visit to Paris, and thus describes it in his journal, under
date October 16, 1787 : —

* See Notice de la vie et des krits de George-Louis Le Sage de Genhte,
&c., par Pierre Prevost, 8vo., Geneve, 1805, pp. 176-7. All writers on
the Electric Telegraph, copying Moigno (Traiii de Tiligraphie
£lectrigue, Paris, 1849 and 1852), say that Le Sage actually established
his telegraph at Geneva in 1774 — an assertion for which we have not
been able to find any authority.

92 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" In the evening to M. Lomond, a very ingenious
and inventive mechanic, who has made an improve-
ment of the jenny for spinning cotton ; common
machines are said to make too hard a thread for
certain fabrics, but this forms it loose and spongy.
In electricity he has made a remarkable discovery.
You write two or three words on a paper ; he takes
it with him into a room and turns a machine enclosed
in a cylindrical case, at the top of which is an electro-
meter, a small fine pith-ball* ; a wire connects with a
similar cylinder and electrometer in a distant apart-
ment, and his wife, by remarking the corresponding
motions of the ball, writes down the words they
indicate, from which it appears that he has formed
an alphabet of motions. As the length of the wire
makes no difference in the effect, a correspondence
might be carried on at any distance ; within and
without a besieged town for instance, or for a purpose
much more worthy, and a thousand times more harm-
less— between two lovers prohibited, or prevented,
from any better connection. Whatever the use may

* Soon after the discovery of the Leyden jar the necessity of some
sufiicient indicator of the presence and power of electricity began to be
felt, and after some clumsy attempts at an electrometer by Gralath,
EUicott, and others, the Abb^ Nollet adopted the simple expedient of
suspending two threads, which when electrified would separate by their
mutual repulsion. Waitz hung little leaden pellets from the threads for
greater steadiness, and Canton, in 1753, improved upon this by substi-
tuting two pith balls suspended in contact by fine wires — a contrivance
which is used to this day. The electrometer mentioned in the text was
of the kind known as the quadrant electrometer, introduced by Henley
in 1772.

to the Year 1837. 93

be, the invention is beautiful. Mons. Lomond has
made many other curious machines, all the entire
work of his own hands. Mechanical invention seems
to be in him a natural propensity."*

As in all systems where the signals were indicated
by electroscopes, or electrometers, their action would
continue so long as the charge communicated to the
wires lasted, and, as during this time it would not be
possible to make another signal, the authors must in
some way have discharged the wires after every signal,
so as to allow the balls, gold leaves, or other indicators,
to resume their normal position. This they might
have done, either by touching the wires with the finger
after the signal had been noted, or by making the
indicators themselves strike against some body that
would convey their charges to earth. But, probably,
there was no need for any such stratagem, as the
insulation of the wires would be so imperfect, and the
speed of signalling so slow, that the inconvenience
would not have been felt.

1790. — Chappe's Telegraph.

Most of our readers have, doubtless, heard of Claude
Chappe's Semaphore, or Optico-mechanical Telegraph,
which, in one form or another (for, like all successful
inventions, it had many imitators), did such good
service in the first half of this century. Few, however,

* Travels during the years 1787, 1788, and 1789, &=c., in the
Kingdom of France, Dublin, 1793, vol. i. p. 135.

94 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

are aware that, before deciding on this form of instru-
ment, he essayed the employment of electricity for
telegraphic purposes.

Reserving a full account of Claude Chappe's life
and works for its proper place in our General History
of Telegraphy, which we hope soon to publish, we
need only concern ourselves here with a brief refer-
ence to his early experiments with electricity.

In 1790, he conceived the idea of a telegraph. He
first employed two clocks, marking seconds, in combi-
nation with sound signals, which were produced by
striking on that homely utensil, a stewpan {casserole).
Round the seconds dials were marked off equal spaces
corresponding to the numerals i to 9, and the cipher o.
The clocks being so regulated that the second hands
moved in unison, pointing to the same figures at the
same instant, it is clear that, in order to indicate
any particular figure, Chappe had only to strike the
stewpan the moment the hand of his dial entered the
space occupied by that figure ; his correspondent,
hearing the sound, must necessarily note the same
symbol ; and so, successive figures, or groups of
figures, answering to words and phrases in a vocabu-
lary, could be indicated with great ease and rapidity.

But as sound travels so comparatively slowly, it
would in long distances lag behind, and indicate, it
may be, only an A, or B, when an E, or G, was
intended. Under these circumstances it was but
natural that Chappe should bethink himself of elec-

to the Year 1837. 95

tricity, of which he was a diligent student, and on
which he had just communicated a series of papers
to the Journal de Physique (which, by the way,
obtained his election as a member of the Philomathic
Society).

He erected insulated wires for a certain distance,*
and arranged that the discharge of a Ley den jar
should indicate the precise moment for noting the
position of the hands ; but while he was thus removing
one difficulty he found himself introducing another,
vis., one of electrical insulation. The more he ex-
tended his wires, the greater, of course, his difficulty
became, until in despair he abandoned the use of
electricity, and took to that of optico-mechanics.

In the actual state of telegraphy this circumstance
becomes an interesting one, for Chappe held in his
hands a power which was destined soon, under another
form, to demolish the grand structure on which he
was about to spend so much time and labour. Hap-
pily, perhaps, he did not live to experience this
mortification, for he died January 23, 1805, at the
early age of forty-two.

1790. — Riveroni-Saint-Cyr' s Telegraph.

This gallant officer is said to have proposed in this
year an electric telegraph for announcing the result of
the lottery drawings, so as to frustrate the knaveries

* Gerspach's Histoire Administrative de la TU'egraphie A'erienne en
France, Paris, 1 86 1, p. 7.

96 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of certain individuals ; but, apparently, details are
wanting.*

1794. — Reusser's Telegraph.

The next proposal of which we have to speak, and
which, in comparison with Lomond's, or Chappe's,
was a very clumsy one, is thus described by its
author :t —

" I have lately contrived a species of electric letter
post, by means of which a letter may be sent in one
moment to a great distance. I sit at home before my
electric machine, and I dictate to some one, on the
other side of the street, an entire letter, which he
himself writes down. On an ordinary table is fixed,
in an upright position, a square board to which a glass
plate is fastened. On this plate are glued little squares
of tin-foil, cut after the fashion of luminous panes, and
each standing for a letter of the alphabet. From one
side of these little squares extend long wires, enclosed
in glass tubes, which go, underground, to the place
whither the despatch is to be transmitted. The
distant ends are there connected to tin-foil strips
similar in all respects to the first, and, like them, each
marked by a letter of the alphabet ; the free ends of
all the strips are connected to one return-wire, which
goes to the transmitting table. If, now, one touches
the outer coating of a Leyden jar with the return-wire

* Etenaud's La T'eUgraphie Electrique, &c., MontpeUier, 1872, vol. i.
p. 27.
t Voigt's Magazinfur das Neueste aus der Physik, vol. ix. part i. p. 183.

to the Year 1837. 97

and connects the inner coating with the free end of
that piece of tin-foil which corresponds to the letter
required to be indicated, sparks will be produced, as
well at the near, as at the distant tin-foil, and the cor-
respondent there watching will write down the letter."

Reusser concludes : " Will the execution of this
plan, on a large scale, ever take place ? That is not
the question. It is possible, though it would cost a
good deal, but post horses from St. Petersburg to
Lisbon are also very expensive. At any rate, when-
ever the idea is realised I will claim a recompense."

The editor, Johann Heinrich Voigt, appends to the
above communication the suggestion of an alarum,
which is usually credited to Reusser himself Voigt
says : " Mr. Reusser ought to have proposed to add
to his arrangement a flask of some detonating gas,
which one could explode by means of the electric
spark, and so attract the attention of the distant
correspondent to his tin-foil squares."

In comparing the accounts of Reusser's telegraph
usually given with our own, many inaccuracies will be
observed. Thus, most writers affirm that each piece
of tin-foil was cut into the form of a letter of the
alphabet, which, on the passage of the spark, became
luminous, as in the French telegraph of 1782, or in
that of Salva, which will presently be described. The
German text does not admit of this interpretation, for,
if such were the case, it would have been unnecessary
to affix letters to the squares of tin-foil. Neither is

H

98 A History of Electric Telegraphy

there any authority for the statement that thirty-six
circuits for letters and numerals were proposed, which,
according to some writers, were entirely metallic, and,
therefore, consisted of seventy-two wires, while others
assert that there were only thirty-six wires, and that the
earth was employed to complete the circuits. Again,
it is always said that Reusser, or rather Voigt, was the
first to propose an alarum, whereas we have seen that
this was done, twelve years before, by the anonymous
correspondent of the yournal de Paris, 1782.

1794-5. — Bockmann's, Lullin's, and Cavaltds
Telegraphs.

Bockmann, Lullin, and Cavallo, all about this time,
proposed various modifications of Reusser's plan, all
requiring but one or two wires, and differing only in
their methods of combining the sparks and intervals
into a code, Bockmann's, which is a mere sugges-
tion, is to be found at p. 17 of his Versuch iiber Tele-
graphie und Telegraphen, published at Carlsruhe in
1794 ;* Lullin's we have not been able to trace further
back than Reid's The Telegraph in America, New
York, 1879, p. 69; while Cavallo's is described, at
length, in his Complete Treatise on Electricity, &c., t
from which we condense the following account : —

"The attempts recently made," says Cavallo, "to
convey intelligence from one place to another at a
great distance, with the utmost quickness, have in-

* Also Zetzsche's GeschUhte der Ekktrischen Telegraphic, p, 32.
t Fourth edition, London, 1795, vol. iii. pp. 285-96.

to the Year 1837. 99

duced me to publish the following experiments, which
I made some years ago, and of which I should not
have taken any further notice, had it not been for the
above-mentioned circumstance, which shows that they
may possibly be of use for that and other purposes."

The object for which those experiments were per-
formed was to fire gunpowder, or other combustible
matter, from a great distance, by means of electricity.
At first a circuit was made with a very long brass
wire, the two ends of which returned to the same
place, whilst the middle was at a great distance. At
this (middle) point an interruption was made, in
which a cartridge of gunpowder, mixed with steel
filings, was placed. Then, by applying a charged
Leyden phial to the two extremities of the wire (in
the usual way) the cartridge was fired.

It proving very troublesome to keep the wires from
touching, the experiment was tried with one wire only.
A brass wire, one-fiftieth of an inch diameter, and two
hundred feet long, was laid on the ground, and one
end was inserted in the cartridge of gunpowder and
steel filings. Another piece of the same wire had,
likewise, one end inserted in the cartridge, whilst the
other was thrust into the ground. The distant end of
the wire was then connected to the inner coating of a
charged jar, while the outer coating was touched with a
ground wire. That the discharge took place as before,
was proved by the powder being sometimes fired.
Phosphorus and other combustible substances were

H 2

lOo A History of Electric Telegraphy

next tried, but nothing was found to succeed so well
as a mixture of inflammable and common air, con-
fined in specially prepared flasks.

Having made this discovery, Cavallo next directed
his attention to the best means of insulating the com-
municating wire, and at last so contrived that it might
be laid indifferently on wet or dry ground, or even
through water.

"A piece of annealed copper or brass wire," he
says, " being stretched from one side of a room to the
other, heat it by means of a flame of a candle, or of a
red-hot piece of iron, and, as you proceed, rub a lump
of pitch over the part just heated. When the wire
has been thus covered, a slip of linen rag must be put
round it, which can be easily made to adhere, and
over this rag another coat of melted pitch must be
laid with a brush. This second layer must be covered
with a slip of woollen cloth, which must be fastened
by means of a needle and thread. Lastly, the cloth
must be covered with a thick coat of oil paint. In
this manner many pieces of wire, each of about
twenty or thirty feet in length, may be prepared,
which may afterwards be joined together, so as to
form one continued metallic communication ; but
care must be taken to secure the places where the
pieces are joined, which is most readily done by
wrapping a piece of oil-silk over the painted cloth,
and binding it with thread. When a long wire has
been thus made out of the various short pieces, let

to the Year 1837. loi

one end of it be formed into a ring, and to the other
adapt a small brass ball.

" Through the wires so prepared the flask of inflam-
mable air was always exploded, and whenever the
discharge was passed through a flask of common air
a spark was seen, and by sending a number of such
sparks at different intervals of time according to a
settled plan, any sort of intelligence might be con-
veyed instantaneously from the place in which the
operator stands to the other place in which the flask
is situated." *

"With respect to the greatest distance to which
such communication might be extended," concludes
Cavallo, " I can only say that I never tried the expe-
riment with a wire of communication longer than
about two hundred and fifty feet ; but from the results
of those experiments, and from the analogy of other
facts, I am led to believe that the above-mentioned
sort of communication might be extended to two or
three miles, and probably to a much greater distance."

1795-8. — Salvd's Telegraph.

Of all the pioneers of the electric telegraph in the
last century, Don Francisco Salva, of Barcelona,!

* Moigno {Tiligraphie Alectrique, p. 6l) says Cavallo proposed to
express signals by the explosion, by the spark, of such substances as gun-
powder, phosphorus, phosphuretted hydrogen, &c., but this is an error.

t Don Francisco Salva y CampiUo was bom at Barcelona, July 12,
1751. After graduating, with honours, in the universities of his native
place, of Valencia, of Huesca, and of Tolosa, he travelled in Italy,
France, and other parts of the Continent, and made the acquaintance

102 A History of Electric Telegraphy

deserves the most honourable mention, as well for
the extent and completeness of his designs, as for the
zeal and intelligence with which he carried them out.
His proposals are described with great clearness in a
memoir which he read before the Academy of Sciences,
Barcelona, December i6, 179S, and from which we
cannot do better than make some extracts :* —

" If," he says, " there were a wire from this city to
Mataro, and another from Mataro back, and a man
were there to take hold of the ends, we might, with a
Leyden jar, give him a shock from this end, and so
advise him of any matter previously agreed on, such
as a friend's death. But this is not enough, as, if elec-
tricity is to be of any use in telegraphy, it must be
capable of communicating every kind of information
whatsoever; it must, in a word, be able to speak.
This is happily of no great difficulty.

" With twenty-two letters, or even with eighteen, we
can express, with sufficient precision, every word in the
language, and thus, with forty-four wires from Mataro
to Barcelona, twenty-two men there, each to take hold
of a pair of wires, and twenty-two charged Leyden
jars here, we could speak with Mataro, each man
there representing a letter of the alphabet, and giving

of many of its learned men, including Le Sage, Reusser, and other
well-known electricians. Besides being an able electrician, Salvi was
a distinguished physician, and ardently promoted the cause of vaccina-
tion in Spain. He died February 13, 1828. See Saavedra's Biography
in the Revista de Telegrafos for 1876.

* Translated from Saavedra's Tratado de Telegrafia, 2nd ed., pp.
1 19-24 of vol. i.

to the Year 1837. 103

notice when he felt the shock. Let us suppose that
those receive shocks who represent the letters p, e, d,
r, o, we shall then have transmitted the word Pedro.
All this is within the limits of possibility; but let us
see if it cannot be simplified.*

" It is not necessary to keep twenty-two men at
Mataro, nor twenty-two Leyden jars at Barcelona, if
we fix the ends of each pair of the wires in such a
way that one or two men may be able to discriminate
the signcJs. In this way six or eight jars at each end
would suffice for intercommunication, for, of course,

* Zetzsche {GesckichU der Elektrischen Telegraphie, p. 2l) says no
attempt had been made to construct a telegraph with the physiological
effects of static electricity for its basis. Salva's is an early example ;
here is another, though of a negative kind. The Rev. J. Gamble, in
his excellent treatise on Semaphoric Telegraphs, says, in reviewing
the different modes of conmiunication that had been proposed np to his
time: —

"Full as many, if not greater, objections will probably operate
against every contrivance where electricity shall be used as the vehicle
of information. The velocity vrith which this fluid passes, where the
conductors are tolerably perfect, and also that it may be made to pass
through water to a very great distance, when it forms part of the circuit,
are properties which appear to have given rise to the idea of using it
as a means of correspondence. I have never [?even] heard it men-
tioned, that an alarm may be given to a very great distance, by firing a
pistol charged with inflammable air, which explodes by the smallest
spark of electricity ; but the further communication could only be main-
tained by a certain number of shocks being the preconcerted signal of
each letter, and requires that the man who receives the intelligence
should remain constantly in the circuit of the electric fluid. The whole
success of the experiment would likewise depend on an apparatus
liable to an infinite number of accidents, scarce in the power of human
foresight to guard against." — Essay on the Different Modes of Commu-
nication by Signals, London, 1797, p. 73. We shall meet with other
e.xamples fiirther on.

I04 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Mataro can as easily speak with Barcelona, as Bar-
celona with Mataro.

" It appears, however, little short of impossible to
erect and maintain so many wires, for, even with the
loftiest and most inaccessible supports, boys would
manage to injure them ; but as it is not necessary to
keep them very far apart, they can be rolled together
in one strong cable, and placed at a great height.* In
the first trials made with a cable of this kind I
covered each wire with paper, coated with pitch, or
some other idio-electric substance, then, tying them
together, I bound the whole with more paper, which
effectually prevented any lateral escape of the elec-
tricity. In practice the wire cable could be laid in
subterranean tubes, which, for greater insulation,
should be covered with one or two coats of resin."

In selecting Barcelona and Mataro, distant about
thirteen miles, Salvd did not imply that this was the
limit at which his telegraph would be practicable ; on
the contrary, he thought it very probable that the
distance at which the electric discharge would be
effective was proportional to the number of jars, and;
therefore, that with a large battery telegraphic com-
munication may be established between Barcelona
and Madrid, and even between places one hundred,
or more, leagues apart.

After showing the superiority of an electric tele-
graph over the optical (semaphore) system then in
* As is done in London at the present day.

to the Year 1837. 105

use, he lays special stress on the advantages of the
former as regards communication between places
separated by the sea, and adds : —

" In no place can the electric telegraph [wires] be
better deposited. It is not impossible to construct, or
protect, the cables with their twenty-two [pairs of]
wires, so as to render them impervious to the water.
At the bottom of the sea their bed would be ready
made for them, and it would be an extraordinary
casualty indeed that should disturb them. * * *

" In 1747, Watson, Bevis, and others, in England,
showed how the water of the Thames may be made
to form part of the circuit of a Leyden jar, and this
makes us consider whether it would not suffice for our
telegraph to lay a cable of twenty-two wires only
across the sea, and to use the water of the latter in
place of the twenty-two return wires." *

In the experiments with which Salvd illustrated his
paper, he indicated the letters in a way which, by
some strange mistake, has always been ascribed to
Reusser. The seventeen essential letters of the

* Because Baron Schilling, of St. Petersburg, used a "subaqueous
galvanic conducting cord" across the river Neva in 1812, and, in 1837,
proposed to unite Cronstadt with the capital by means of a submarine
cable, he has been called the Father of submarine telegraphy (Hamel's
Historical Account, &c., pp. 16 and 67, of W. F. Cooke's reprint). But
Salvaviras, as vre here see, at least seventeen years before him with the
suggestion, and to Salva therefore ought to belong the honour which
has hitherto been accorded to the Russian philosopher. As we shall
see in a future chapter, this is not the only case in which honours justly
due to Salva are unjustly heaped on another.

io6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

alphabet (for he omitted those little used, or whose
power could be represented by others) were cut out
of parallel strips of tin-foil, pasted on bits of glass,
after the fashion of spangled panes, and to the ends
of each piece of tin-foil were attached the extremities
of the corresponding pair of wires. All tfie wires were
bound up in two cables, which were prepared in the
way before described, the out-going wires being col-
lected in one cable, and the return wires in the other.

To indicate a letter. A, for example, it was only
necessary to take the ends of the corresponding pair
of wires, and connect one end with the outer, and the
other with the inner coating of a charged jar. Imme-
diately on thus completing the circuit, the observer, at
the other end of the cable, heard the noise of the
spark, and saw it illuminate the letter A, in its
passage across the breaks in the tin-foil.*

From 1796 to 1799 Salvd resided at Madrid, having
been invited by the Academy of Sciences of that
capital to engage in some experiments of great public
interest. There he had the entrie of all the salons,
and was courted by everybody of consideration —
amongst the rest, by the Infante Don Antonio, who
appears to have assisted him in perfecting his tele-

* "The late Dr. Balcells, professor in the Industrial School of
Barcelona, whose acquaintance I made towards the latter years of his
long life, and who, in his turn, had known the celebrated physicist,
Salva, has often assured me that the apparatus just described was tried
by its inventor from the Academy of Sciences to the Fort of Atara-
zanas, across the Ramblas, a distance of about a kilometre." — Saavedra,
Tratado de Telegrafia, 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 122.

to the Year 1837. 107

graph. The favourite Godoy, Prince of Peace, was
another good friend, to whom Salva was indebted for
an introduction to the King, Charles IV., as we learn
from the following paragraph in the Gaceta de Madrid,
November 29, 1796:* — "The Prince of Peace, who
testifies the most laudable zeal for the progress of the
sciences, understanding that Dr. Francisco Salvd had
read at the Academy of Sciences, at Barcelona, a
memoir on the application of electricity to the tele-
graph, and presented at the same time an electrical
telegraph of his own invention, requested to examine
the apparatus himself. Satisfied with the exactness
and celerity with which communications may be made
by its means, he introduced the doctor to the King
of Spain. The Prince of Peace afterwards, in the
presence of their Majesties and the whole court, made
some communications with this telegraph, completely
to their satisfaction. The Infante Don Antonio pro-
poses to have one of them of the most complete
construction, which shall possess power sufficient to
communicate between the greatest distances, by land

* First translated into English in The Monthly Magazine, for February
1797, p. 148. Also noticed in Voigt's Magazin, for 1798, vol. xi.
part iv. p. 61. As a curiosity of bookmaking, we may observe that, in
every account of Salva's telegraph that we have seen, the extracts from
the Madrid Gaceta and Voigt's Magazin are given as if they referred
to two entirely different affairs, the latter being usually rendered as
follows : — Voigt's Magazin, in reference to these experiments, an-
nounced two years afterwards that Don Antonio constructed a telegraph
upon a very grand scale, and to a very great extent. It also states that
the same young Prince was informed at night, by means of this telegraph,
of news that highly interested him ! See Highton's Electric Telegraph :
its History and Progress, London, 1853, p. 43, as a case in point.

io8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

or sea. With this view, His Highness has ordered
the construction of an electrical machine, the cylinder
of which is to be more than forty inches in diameter.
He intends, as soon as it is finished, to undertake a
series of curious and useful experiments, in con-
junction with Dr. Salvd. This is an employment
worthy of a great prince. An account of the results
will be given to the public in due course."

Notwithstanding this promise, the subject is not
again referred to in any succeeding number of the
Gaceta; but according to Dr. Balcells, the friend of
Salvd, a modification of his telegraph which required
only one wire was actually constructed in 1798 be-
tween Madrid and Aranjuez, a distance of about
twenty-six miles. At p. 14 of Gauss and Weber's
Resultate, &c., for 1837, there is a note of Humboldt's
in which he refers to this line, but credits it to
B^tancourt, a French engineer. This is clearly a mis-
take, into which the great traveller might have been
led by the probable fact that an engineer of that
name was employed to superintend the work — a sup-
position which is likely enough seeing the greatness
of the undertaking.

Dr. Balcells, whose evidence as just quoted should
be conclusive on this point, says, further, that the
remains of SalvA's telegraph, which, at first, were
destined for Don Antonio's museum, were presented,
in 1824, to the College of Pharmacy of San Fernando,
of which he (Balcells) was then the Adjutant*
* Saavedra, vol. i. p. 124.

to the Year 1837. 109

CHAPTER IV.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL,
ELECTRICITY {continued).

1802. — Alexandras Telegraph.

Twenty-five years ago, in the course of a research
amongst the imperial archives at Paris, M. Edouard
Gerspach, of the French Telegraph Administration,
discovered some documents which, in our eyes, are of
exceeding value, as establishing for La Belle France
the honour of the invention of the first step-by-step,
or A.B.C., telegraph. These papers were embodied
by M. Gerspach in a memoir for the Annales 7V//-
graphiques for March-April, 1859, pp. 188-99, to which
we are indebted for much of what follows in this
article.

Jean Alexandre was born at Paris, the natural son,
it is said, of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He had the
education of a mechanic, some say of a physician, but
his actual career was truly a faithful image of the
troublous times in which he lived. In 1787 he was
at Poitiers, following the trade of gilder, and, as he
had a fine voice, he sang in the churches, which added
somewhat to his slender emoluments. But soon the

no A History of Electric Telegraphy

revolution came to Poitiers, and swept away the
clientele of the poor gilder and carver. He went to
Paris, and there maintained himself for a while by
singing in the choir of St. Sulpice ; but the revolu-
tionary tide followed him, and closed the doors of
St. Sulpice, as of all the other churches, leaving
Alexandre high and dry again, without the means of
subsistence.

Feeling there was nothing else to be done, he now
took to politics, and, after the manner of the times,
soon found himself president of a section of the
Luxembourg (club), and, later on, a deputy of the
Convention. This latter honour, however, his simple
manners made him decline. But greater still were
yet in store, and, as he was preparing to return to
his workshop at Poitiers, the Government sent him
thither, but with the exalted rank of Commissary-
General of War. Later on, he was promoted to be
chief of the military division of Lyons, where he had
to organise an army of 80,000 men. With the title
of Chief Agent of the Army of the West, he next
went to Angers, where, from the forty-two depart-
ments that were under his orders, he had to raise
another army of 200,000 men. With all this great-
ness, he still was not happy ; he yearned for a quiet
life — a feeling which seems to have grown daily
stronger with him, until, at last becoming irresistible,
he quitted honours and politics, and returned to his
home at Poitiers, as poor as he had left it — a fact, by

to the Year 1837. iii

the way, which speaks volumes for the integrity of
his character.

Here we find him, in 1 802, producing his UUgraphe
intime, or secret telegraph. He wrote to Chaptal,
Minister of the Interior, acquainting him briefly with
the discovery, and asking assistance to enable him to
go to Paris, and exhibit his machine to the Govern-
ment. The Minister asked (and naturally), in the
first place, for full particulars and plans of the
apparatus, but Alexandre declined to divulge his
secret, and addressed himself next to Cochon, Prefect
of Vienne, offering to make an experiment before
him. The Prefect, agreeably impressed with the con-
versation of the inventor, whose quick and vigorous
imagination he found to contrast singularly with the
simplicity of his demeanour, granted his request, and
accordingly, on the 13th Brumaire, year X (early in
1802), he went, accompanied by the chief engineer of
the department, to Alexandre's house. The experi-
ments were crowned with unhoped-for success, and the
Prefect drew up a report for the minister, Chaptal, of
which the following is the substance : —

"We were conducted into a room on the ground
floor, in the centre of which we found a box nearly
I • S metre high, and about 30 centimetres broad and
deep. This box was surmounted by a dial, around
which were traced all the letters of the alphabet. A
well-poised needle, or pointer, travelled round the
circle at the will of a distant and invisible agent, and

112

A History of Electric Telegraphy

stopped over such letters as composed the words that
he wished to communicate. The completion of each
word and phrase was indicated by an entire revolu-
tion of the pointer, which, in its normal state of rest,
always occupied a certain determined position [cor-
responding, no doubt, to our zero].

"A correspondence was established between the
[distant] agent and ourselves, and the success was all
that we could desire. The dial repeated exactly all
the phrases that we had dictated, and the [distant]
agent added some from himself, which we had no
difficulty in understanding. On asking why the
second box was situated in an upper story, about 1 5
metres distant, instead of being placed on the same
level as the first, the inventor replied that it was to
show that difference of level had no eifect on its
action, and that the conductors could in every case go
up and down, and adapt themselves to the inequalities
of the ground.

" We understood, without, however, his distinctly
saying so, that the author derives his power (usage)
from some fluid, either electric or magnetic. He told
us that, in the course of experiment, he had met with
a strange matter, or power (of which, until then, he
had been ignorant) which, he was almost tempted to
believe, is generally diffused, and forms, in some sort,
the soul of the universe ; that he had discovered the
means of utilising the effects of this power, so as to
make them conduce to the success of his machine ;

to the Year 1837. 113

and that he was certain of being able to propagate
them with the celerity of light, and to any distance
that may be required."

In concluding this report on the invention, which
the Prefect characterised as a work of genius, he
urged that Alexandre should be called to Paris, at
the expense of the State, in order that he may repeat
his experiments under the eyes of the Government
The minister, Chaptal, did not, however, regard the
discovery at all so favourably, evidently imagining
it to be a telegraph of the Chappe, or semaphore,
kind, and wrote to the inventor's agent, declining to
have anything to do with him. Such a rebuff would
have 'acted as a quietus to ordinary people; but in-
ventors are proverbially a tenacious race. Alexandre
was an inventor, and, firm in his convictions, he
quitted Poitiers, and, in hopes of better fortune, betook
himself to Tours.

There, at his invitation, General Pommereul, Prefect
of the Department of the Indre and Loire, and the
mayor and officers of the city of Tours, assembled at
his house to assist at a public trial of the apparatus.
As before, one of the machines was on the ground
floor, and the other on the first story, separated from
the lower room by an antechamber and a small court.
The Prefect dictated the phrase, "Genius knows no
limits," which was transmitted to the distant end, and
thence returned with all the success imaginable. The
next phrase, "There are no longer miracles," was

I

114 A History of Electric Telegraphy

repeated with the same result, and many others fol-
lowed, in which all the words were reproduced by the
machines, letter for letter, with the greatest exactness.*
All these experiments, conclusive as they were, had,
nevertheless, little effect in advancing Alexandre's
interests ; they drew on him the commendations of
the multitude, made his name known, but contributed
nothing towards the attainment of his end, which was
Paris, and the patronage of the First Consul, to whom
only would he confide his secret. Having no money
for the further prosecution of his plans, he now entered
into partnership with a M. Beauvais, who was to
supply all sums necessary, and to receive in return a
quarter of the profits of the enterprise, Alexandre
keeping to himself the secret of his invention until he
had netted 6o,CK)0 francs by its exploitation, after
which it was to become joint property. No sooner
were these terms concluded than Beauvais, provided
with the official accounts of the experiments at Poitiers
and Tours, addressed himself to Napoleon, and
solicited the honour of a trial in his apartments, and
in his presence alone. Napoleon, perhaps smelling
gunpowder, declined the meeting, but referred the
papers to Delambre, the illustrious academician and

* The English C/4w««(r& newspaper of June 19-22, 1802, has a short
account of these experiments, concluding as follows : — " The art or
mechanism by which this is effected is unknown, but the inventor says
that he can extend it to the distance of four or five leagues, even though
a river should be interposed." There is a copy, probably unique, in
Mr. Latimer Clark's library.

to the Year 1837. 115

astronomer, who, some weeks later, returned a report,
of which the following is a free translation : —

" Report of Citizen Delambre on the Secret Telegraph
of Citizen Alexandre, submitted to the First Consul
by Citizen Beauvais.

"Paris, 10 Fructidor, an X.

"The papers which the First Consul has caused me
to examine do not contain sufficient details to enable
me to form an opinion, nor, after the two interviews
that I have had with Citizen Beauvais, am I able to
do more than offer the merest conjectures on the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of the Secret Telegraph.

"Citizen Beauvais knows the secret of Citizen
Alexandre, but he has promised to impart it to no
one but the First Consul himself. This circumstance
must make any report from me valueless, for how can
one judge of a machine which one has neither seen
nor understands ?

" All that we know is that this telegraph is com-
posed of two similar boxes, each having a dial, round
whose face are marked all the letters of the alphabet.
By means of a winch, or handle, the pointer of one
dial is moved to any desired letter or letters, and, at
the same instant, the pointer of the other dial repeats
the same movements, and in exactly the same order.
When these two boxes are placed in two separate
apartments, two persons can write and reply without
seeing each other, and without being seen, and in such
a way that no one can doubt the correspondence,

I 2

Ii6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

which, moreover, can be carried on at any time, as
neither night nor fogs can intercept the transmission.

"By means of this telegraph the governor of a
besieged place could carry on a secret and continuous
correspondence with a person four or five leagues
distant, or even at any distance, and communication
can be established between the two boxes as readily
as one can hang a bell {ciu'on poserait un mouvement
de sonnette).

" The inventor carried out two experiments with
his machines at Poitiers and at Tours, in presence of
the prefects and mayors of the respective places, and
the official reports of these functionaries attest that
the results were completely successful. Now, the
inventor and his associate ask, either that the First
Consul will be pleased to permit of one of the boxes
being placed in his apartment, and the other in that
of the Consul Cambac6r^s, so as to give to their
experiments all the Mat and authenticity possible ;
or, that he will accord an audience of ten minutes to
Citizen Beauvais, who will then communicate to him
the secret (of the telegraph), which is so simple that
the bare description will be equivalent to a practical
demonstration. They add that the idea is so natural
as to leave little room to fear that it will ever occur
to any savant \sic\ It is said, however, that Citizen
Montgolfier divined it, after some hours' reflection, on
a description of the apparatus which was given to him.

" After this statement, which is the substance of
my conversations with Citizen Beauvais, a very few

io the Year 1837. 117

remarks must suffice. If, as one would be inclined
to believe from the comparison with bell-hanging, the
means employed comprised wheels, levers, and such
like,* the invention would not be very surprising, and
one could easily imagine the practical difficulties that
would be encountered as soon as it was attempted to
employ it over distances of several leagues.

"If, on the contrary, as the official report from
Poitiers seems to show, the means of communication is
a fluid {L e., a natural force), the inventor deserves much
more credit for having discovered how to utilise it so as
to produce, at any distance, effects so regular and so
unfailing. But then, one may demand, what guarantee
have we for these effiscts ? Neither the experiments at
Poitiers, nor those at Tours, in which the distance was
only a few metres, supply it. No more would the
proposed experiment between the chambers of the
First and Second Consuls. So long as the motive
power remains a secret, one can never vouch for more
than what one sees, and it will be entirely wrong to
conclude, from the success of an experiment on a
small scale, that like results will be obtained over
more considerable distances. If the effect is only
attainable at a distance of some few metres, the
machine ought to be sent to the scientific toy shops.

" If Citizen Beauvais, who offers to defray the
expenses of an experiment, had proposed to carry it
out in presence of commissioners appointed for the

* Forming, in fact, a kind of mechanical telegraph like the railway
semaphores of to-day.

ii8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

purpose, there could be no objection to granting his
request ; for, although an experiment on a small
scale would not be very conclusive, still it would
enable us to see what might be hoped from a trial of
a grander and more expensive kind. But Citizen
Beauvais, without expressly declining a commission,
desires, in the first place, to secure the testimony and
approbation of the First Consul. It only remains,
then, for the First Consul to say whether, in view of
the little chance of success attaching to an invention
so little proved, and announced as so marvellous, he
will spare a few moments for the examination of a
discovery of an artist, who is described as one as full
of genius as he is devoid of scientific learning and of
fortune.

" He makes a secret of his discovery, and I ought
to judge it with severity, and according to the laws of
probability; but the limits of the probable are not
those of the possible, and Citizen Alexandre must be
sure of his facts, since he offers to expose all to the
First Consul. It, therefore, only remains for me
to hope that the First Consul will grant him an
audience, and that, in the sequel, he will have reason
to welcome the inventor, and recompense worthily the
author.

" Delambre."

With this most interesting document ends the
story of the Secret Telegraph, In 1806 Alexandre

to the Year 1837. 119

was at Bordeaux, taking out a patent for a machine
for filtering the water of the Garonne for supplying
the city ; but, although the authorities seem to have
afforded him every facility towards the accomplish-
ment of his scheme, it was never carried out, through
want of money. We next hear of him in 1831, when
he submitted to the King, Louis Philippe, a project
for steering balloons. He died soon after at Angou-
l^me, leaving a widow, who died in 1833, at Poitiers,
in extreme want.

Such is the sad story, as told by M. Gerspach, of
one who must be regarded as a veritable pioneer in
electric telegraphy ; for, although Alexandre chose to
surround his invention with an air of mystery, and
preserved only too faithfully the secret of its action,
we believe that he had, in effect, constructed a tele-
graph of the A, B, C, sort, with static electricity as his
motive power.

Some writers, however, regard his apparatus, like
that of Comus, as only another instance of the sympa-
thetic needle telegraph, and seek to explain its action
somewhat after the manner figured and described by
Guyot.* But there seems to us to be two very good
reasons against this theory : first, the impossibility of
carrying out any such deception in the apartments
of the two consuls ; and second, the character of

* Nouvelles Rkrlations Physiqttes et Matklmaiijues, Paris, 1769,
vol. i. p. 134. M. Aug. Guerout is the latest exponent of this theory.
See La Lumiire Alectrique, for March 3, 1883.

I20 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Napoleon, who, as all the world knows, was not a
man to be trifled with.

The suspicion of Delambre, that it partook of the
nature of a mechanical telegraph, we consider equally
disproved by the words of the prods-verbal from
Poitiers. " He told us that, in the course of experi-
ment, he had met with a strange matter, or power (of
which, until then, he had been ignorant), which, he
was almost tempted to believe, is generally diffused,
and forms in some sort the soul of the universe ; that
he had discovered the means of utilising the effects
of this power, so as to make them conduce to the
success of his machine ; and that he was certain of
being able to propagate them with the celerity of
light, and to any distance that may be required."
Surely a mechanician would not speak thus of a
combination of ropes, wheels, and pulleys. Although,
once upon a time, Archimedes glorified the power of
the lever, when he said that by its means he could
move the world, no Archimedes of our day would be
so extravagant as to call the same power, mighty as
it is, the soul of the universe.

On the other hand, the language just quoted would
apply very well to electricity. Thales called it a
spirit. Otto Guericke thought it controlled the revolu-
tion of the moon round the earth, and Stephen Gray
that of the planets round the sun ; Franklin showed
its identity with lightning ; John Wesley regarded it
as an universal healer ; and Galvani had just con-

to the Year 1837. 121

founded it with life. Well, then, might Alexandre be
excused for calling it the soul of the universe.

Again, let us recollect that while he was still a
young man the invention of the Chappe semaphore,
and its wonderful performances, were the theme of
daily conversation ; and that rival plans were being
frequently started — some, semaphores more or less
like Chappe's, and for night as well as day service ;
some, based on the properties of acoustics, as those
of Gauthey and Count Rumford ; and some again, as
we have seen in these pages, on those of electricity.*
What more natural, then, than that Alexandre, a clever
mechanician, and a man of a quick and vigorous
imagination, should invent an electric telegraph.

Now, let us regard the apparatus as described by
M. Cochon, in connection with the half admission that
electricity was its basis, and that it was operated by a
winch, or handle, as mentioned by Delambre. Do
not this handle, the box, the dial on the top, and the
conductor recall the telegraph of Lomond, which was
the wonder of Paris in 1787, and which has been
already described in these pages. The dial of Alex-
andre, it is true, is an immense improvement on the

* We may here refer to a remark of Amyot's, for which we have not
been able to find room before, to the effect that, somewhere about 1798,
Henry Monton Berton, the distinguished French composer, conceived
the idea of an electric telegraph (Note historique sur le TUigraphe
£lectrijue, in the Comptes Rendus, for July 9, 1838). This note is
reprinted in extenso in Juha de Fontenelle's Manuel de I' Alectrkitl,
but in neither case are any details given.

122 A History of Electric Telegraphy

pith-ball indicator of Lomond, but that (the dial), too,
had its prototype in the synchronous clockwork dial
with which Chappe essayed an electric telegraph in
1790, and which, no doubt, was equally well known as
the machine of Lomond. Indeed, the inference to us
seems irresistible, that Alexandre took Lomond's and
Chappe's contrivances as his basis, and built upon
them his own improvements.

The only point that remains for consideration is,
how did the working (? revolving) of the handle
actuate the pointers ? The explanation to our mind
is not far to seek. Given an electrical machine
inside the box, and a train of wheels behind the dial,
and in gear with the pointer, and it would be easy for
a clever mechanician to make the repulsion of a sort
of pith-ball electrometer (acting also as a pawl)
against a discharging surface, and its subsequent
collapse, give motion of a step-by-step character to
the wheels, and, through them, to the pointer. The
prime conductors of both machines would, under our
supposition, be connected by a wire (probably con-
cealed from view), and thus the movements of one
pointer would be synchronous with those of the other.

Some writers, as Cezanne * and Berio,t think it likely

that Alexandre used the electricity of the pile, then

newly discovered by Volta ; but the use of a handle

is as fatal to such an assumption, as it is favourable to

that of an electrical machine being the primum mobile.

* Le Cable Transailantique, Paris, 1867, p. 32.

t Ephemerides of the Lecture Society, Genoa, 1872, p. 645.

to the Year 1837. 123

1806-14. — Ralph Wedgwood's Telegraph.

The next proposal of a telegraph based, presumably,
on static, or frictional, electricity, is due to a member
of the Wedgwood family. Ralph Wedgwood was born
in 1766, and was brought up by his father at Etruria,
where he received much valuable aid in chemistry,
&c., from his distinguished relative Josiah. He after-
wards carried on business, as a potter, under the style
of " Wedgwood and Co.," at the Hill Works, Burslem ;
but was ruined through losses during the war. After
a short and unsatisfactory partnership with Messrs.
Tomlinson and Co., of Ferrybridge, Yorkshire, he
removed to Bransford, near Worcester, where he
issued prospectuses for teaching chemistry at schools.
Thence, in 1803, he moved to London, travelling in a
carriage of his own constructing, which he described
as "a long coach to get out behind, and on grass-
hopper springs, now used by all the mails."

He appears to have early shown a genius for
inventing, and while yet at Bransford had perfected
many useful contrivances — amongst them, a " Pen-
napolygraph," for writing with a number of pens
attached to one handle ; and a " Pocket-secretary,"
since better known as the "Manifold-writer." On
coming to London he found that the first-mentioned
apparatus had already been invented by another
person, but the second, proving to be new, he patented
as " an apparatus for producing duplicates of writing."

124 A History of Electric Telegraphy

In 1806, he established himself at Charing Cross,
and soon after turned his attention to the construc-
tion of an electric telegraph, the first suggestions of
which he seems to have obtained from his father.*
In 1 8 14, having perfected his plans, he submitted
them to Lord Castlereagh, at the Admiralty ; and
after a proper interval his son, Ralph, waited on his
lordship to learn his views with regard to the new
invention. He was dismissed with the assurance that
" the war being at an end, and money scarce, the
old system [of shutter-semaphores] was sufficient for
the country."

These chilling words appear to have been stereo-
typed, ready for use, for, as we shall see in the course
of our history, they were the identical missiles with
which a wearied and, perhaps, worried bureaucracy
repulsed other telegraph inventors, as Sharpe and
Ronalds, Porter and Alexander,t and goodness knows
how many others besides. They certainly were the
death of Wedgwood's telegraph, for he dropped it in
disgust, leaving on record only a few words as to
its uses and advantages — precisely such as we find
them to-day. These show such an appreciation of the
value of the electric telegraph, that we feel certain his

* According to Llewellynn Jewitt, whose Life ofjosiak Wedgwood,
&c., London, 1865, we follow in this volume ; see chap. ix. pp. 178-81.
See also Jewitt's Ceramic Art in Great Britain, London, 1878, vol. i.
pp. 489-92.

t The writer of the article "Fifty Years' Progress" in The Times,
January 5, 1875, says that Alexander could not hear the word " tele-
graph " without a shudder !

to the Year 1837. 125

own invention was of no mean order, and we must
ever regret, therefore, that he has left us nothing as to
its construction or mode of action. His remarks are
contained in a pamphlet,* dated May 29, 1815 ; and
as they are all that we have on our subject we shall
quote them entire : —

" A modification of the stylographic principle
proposed for the adoption of Parliament, in lieu of
telegraphs, viz. : —

"The Fulguri- Polygraph, which admits of writing
in several distant places at one and the same time,
and by the agency of two persons only.

" This invention is founded on the capacity of elec-
tricity to produce motion in the act of acquiring an
equilibrium ; which motion, by the aid of machinery,
is made to distribute matter at the extremities of any
given course. And the matter so distributed being
variously modified in correspondence with the letters
of the alphabet, and communicable in rapid succession
at the will of the operator, it is obvious that writing at
immense distances hereby becomes practicable ; and,
further, as lines of communication can be multiplied
from any given point, and those lines affected by one

* Entitled Art Address to the Public on the Advantages of a proposed
introduction of the Stylographic Principle of writing into general use;
and also of an improved species of Telegraphy, calculated for the use of
the Public, as well as for the Government, It will be found at the end
of his Book of Remembrance, which was published in London, 1814.
Wedgwood was an exceedingly reticent man, and, it is feared, carried
with him to the grave other scientific secrets, as well as that of the
telegraph. He died at Chelsea in 1837.

126 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and the same application of the electric matter, it is
evident from hence also that fac-similes of a despatch,
written, as for instance, in London, may, with facility,
be written also in Plymouth, Dover, Hull, Leith,
Liverpool, and Bristol, or any other place, by the same
person, and by one and the same act. Whilst this
invention proposes to remove the usual imperfections
and impediments of telegraphs, it gives the rapidity
of lightning to correspondence when and wherever we
wish, and renders null the principal disadvantages of
distance to correspondents.

" Independent of the advantages which this inven-
tion offers to Government, it is also susceptible of much
utility to the public at large, inasmuch as the offices
which might be constructed for the purposes of this
invention might be let to individuals by the hour, for
private uses, by which means the machinery might be
at all times fully occupied ; and the private uses which
could thus be made of this invention might be applied
towards refunding the expenses of the institution and
also for increasing the revenue. Innumerable are the
instances wherein such an invention may be beneficially
applied in this country, more especially at a time when
her distinguished situation in the political, commercial,
and moral world, has made her the central point of
nations and the great bond of their union. To the
seat of her Government, therefore, it must be highly
desirable to effect the most speedy and certain commu-
nication from every quarter of the world, whilst it

to the Year 1837. 127

would at any moment there concentrate instantaneous
intelligence of the situation of each and every prin-
cipal part of the nation, as well as of each and every
branch of its various departments."

In communicating the above extract to The Com-
mercial Magazine, for December 1846 (pp. 257-60),
Mr. W. R. Wedgwood thus urges the claims of his
father to a share in the discovery of the electric
telegraph : — " It may be asked, why did not Mr.
Ralph Wedgwood carry his invention into practical
application ? The answer is very obvious. Railways
were not then in existence, and the connecting
medium required an uninterrupted course such as
railways alone afford. Such an invention also re-
quired the assistance either of Government or a
powerful company, the scheme being too gigantic for
an individual to work. The inventor, then, it will be
perceived, did all that was possible to bring the
discovery into practical use ; for, in the first instance,
he offered it to the Government, who refused it ; and,
as it was for the benefit of the nation, he then made
public his scheme of an electric telegraph in the
manner quoted from his pamphlet."

1 8 16. — Ronald^ Telegraph.
This ingenious contrivance belongs to the synchro-
nous class of telegraphs, of which we have already
seen two other examples, viz., those of Chappe, 1790,
and Alexandre, 1802. It is, in fact, only the realisation

128 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of Chappe's idea. Sir Francis (then Mr.) Ronalds
took up the subject of telegraphy in 1816, and pursued
it very ardently for some years, until, like Wedgwood,
disgusted with the apathetic conduct of the Govern-
ment, he dropped the matter, and, more in sorrow
than in anger, took leave of a science which, as he
says, was up to that time a favourite source of amuse-
ment. Fortunately for the science, he returned to his
old love in later years, and, dying August 8, 1873,
left us a grand legacy in the Ronalds' Library.*

In 1823, he published a thin octavo volume, entitled
Descriptions of an Electrical Telegraph, and of some
other Electrical Apparatus ; and, in 1871, the original
work having become very scarce, he issued a reprint
of the part relating to his telegraph. From this, in
accordance with our rule of consulting, when possible,
original sources, we extract the following account.

* A magnificent collection of books on electricity, magnetism, and
their applications. The catalogue compiled by Sir Francis is a monu-
ment of the concentrated and well-directed labour of its indefatigable
author. It has been ably edited by Mr. A. J. Frost, and published at
an almost nominal price by the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and
Electricians. No student of electricity should be without it. A short,
alas ! too short, biography of Sir Francis by the editor is prefixed to
the catalogue, to which we refer our readers for much interesting
information. We would here correct an error — the only one, we believe
— into which the biographer has fallen. On p. xv. he says, "Wheat-
stone, then a boy of about 15, was present at many of the principal
experiments at Hammersmith." Wheatstone was born at Gloucester in
1802, where he lived until the year 1823, when he came up to London,
and opened business as a maker of musical instruments. It seems
impossible to us that a poor lad of 14, as Wheatstone was in 1816,
could have been present at Ronalds' experiments, even supposing that
he was not then living far away in Gloucester.

to the Year 1837. 129

The drawings with which our subject is illustrated have
been reduced on stone from the oiiginal copper-plates
which were engraved from Ronalds' own sketches, in
1823.

Ronalds begins by saying : — " Some German and
American savans first projected galvanic, or voltaic,
telegraphs, by the decomposition of water, &c. But
the other [or static] form of the fluid appeared to me
to afford the most accurate and practicable means of
conveying intelligence ; and, in the summer of 18 16, I
amused myself by wasting, I fear, a great deal of time,
and no small expenditure, in trying to prove, by experi-
ments on a much more extensive scale than had hitherto
been adopted, the validity of a project of this kind."

These experiments were carried out on a lawn, or
grass-plot, adjoining his residence at Hammersmith,
and as, of course, it was impossible to lay out in a
straight line a great length of wire in such a situa-
tion, he had recourse to the following expedient : Two
strong frames of wood (see Frontispiece) were erected
at a distance of twenty yards from each other, and to
each were fixed nineteen horizontal bars. To each
of the latter, and at a few inches apart, were attached
thirty-seven hooks, from which depended as many
silken loops. Through these loops was passed a small
iron wire, which, going from one frame to the other, and
making its inflections at the points of support, formed
one continuous length of more than eight miles.

When a Canton's pith-ball electrometer was con-

K

130 A History of Electric Telegraphy

nected with each extremity of this wire, and it was
charged by a Leyden jar, the balls of both elec-
trometers appeared to diverge at exactly the same
moment ; and when the wire was discharged, by
being touched with the hand, they both collapsed
as suddenly and, as it appeared, as simultaneously.
When any person took a shock through the whole
length of wire, and the shock was compelled to pass
also through two insulated inflammable air pistols,
one connected with each end of the wire, the shock
and explosion seemed to occur at the same instant

When the spark was passed through two gas
pistols, and any one closed his eyes, it was impos-
sible for him to distinguish more than one explosion,
although both pistols were, of course, fired. Some-
times one, and sometimes both pistols were feebly
charged with gas, but nobody, whose back w£is turned,
could tell from the report, except by mere chance,
whether one or both were exploded.

Thus, then, three of the senses, viz., sight, feeling,
and hearing, seemed to receive absolute conviction of
the instantaneous transmission of electric signs through
the pistols, the eight miles of wire, and the body of
the experimenter (pp. 4 and 5).

Accepting these experiments as conclusive of the
practicability of an electric telegraph, Ronalds next
sought out the best means of establishing a communi-
cation between any two distant points ; and, after
trying a number of ways, at last adopted the following,

^

\

vi "m

- .•' *.. -f H /. / ■

to the Year 1837. 131

as being the most convenient. A trench was dug in
the garden, 525 feet in length, and 4 feet deep. In
it was laid a trough of wood, two inches square, and
well lined, inside and out, with pitch. In the trough
thick glass tubes were placed, through which, finally,
the wire (of brass and copper) was drawn. The trough
was then covered with strips of wood, previously
smeared with hot pitch, and, after painting with the
same material the joints so as to make assurance
doubly sure, the trench was filled in with earth.
Plate I., Fig. i, represents a section of this trough, tube,
and wire. It will be seen that the different lengths of
tube A, B, C, did not touch, but that at each joint, or
rather interval, other short tubes, or ferrules, D, E, were
placed, of just sufficient diameter to admit the ends of
the long ones, together with a little soft wax. This
arrangement effectually excluded any moisture, and
yet left the parts free to expand and contract with
variations of temperature.

The apparatus for indicating the signals, and its
modus operandi, are thus described : — A light, circular
brass plate. Fig. 2, divided into twenty equal parts,
was fixed upon the seconds' arbor of a clock which
beat dead seconds. Each division bore a figure, a
letter, and a preparatory sign. The figures were
divided into two series, from i to 10, and the letters
were arranged alphabetically, leaving out J, Q, U,
W, X, and Z, as of little use. In front of this disc
was fixed another brass plate. Fig. 3, capable of being

K 2

132 A History of Electric Telegraphy

occasionally revolved by the hand round its centre.
This plate had an aperture of such dimensions, that,
whilst the first disc. Fig. 2, was carried round by the
motion of the clock, only one set of letter, figure, and
preparatory sign could be seen, as shown in the
figure. In front of this pair of plates was suspended
a Canton's pith-ball electrometer, B, Fig. 3, from an
insulated wire, C, which communicated with a cylin-
drical machine, D, of only six inches diameter, on one
side ; and with the line wire, E, insulated and buried
in the way just described, on the other.

Another electrical machine and clock, furnished
with an electrometer and plates, being connected to
the other end of the line in precisely the same way, it
is easy to see, that when the wire was charged by the
machine at either end, the balls of the electrometers
at both ends diverged ; and that when the wire was
discharged at either station, both pairs of balls col-
lapsed at the same time. Whenever, therefore, the
wire was discharged at the moment that a given letter,
figure, and sign of one clock appeared in view through
the aperture, the same letter, figure, and sign appeared
also in view at the other clock; and thus, by dis-
charging the line at one end, and by noting down
whatever appeared in view at every collapse of the
pith-balls at the other, any required words could be
spelt. By the use of a telegraphic dictionary, the
construction of which is explained at pages 8 and 9
of Ronalds' little treatise, words, and even whole

to the Year 1837. 133

sentences, could be intimated by only three discharges,
which could be effected, in the shortest time in nine
seconds, and in the longest in ninety seconds, making
a mean of fifty-four seconds.

Whenever it was necessary to distinguish the pre-
paratory signs from the figures and letters, a higher
charge than usual was given to the wire, which made
the pith-balls diverge more widely ; and it was always
understood that the first sign, viz., prepare, was in-
tended when that word, the letter A, and the figure i,
were in view at the sender's clock. Should, therefore,
the receiver's clock not exhibit the same sign, in con-
sequence of its having gained, or lost, some seconds,
he noted the difference, and turned his outer plate.
Fig. 3, through as many spaces, either to the right or
left, as the occasion required, the sender all the while
repeating the signal, prepare. As soon as the receiver
had adjusted his apparatus, he intimated the fact by
■ discharging the wire at the moment when the word
ready appeared through the opening. In order to in-
dicate when letters were meant, when plain figures,
and when code figures referring to words and
sentences in the dictionary, suitable preparatory signs
were made beforehand, as note letters, note figures, and
dictionary. Other preparatory signs of frequent use
were marked on the dials, and were designated in the
same manner whenever required.

The gas pistol F, Plate II., which passed through the
side of the clock-case G, was furnished with a kind of

134 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

discharging-rod, H, by means of which a spark might
pass through and explode it when the sender made
the sv^ prepare. This obviated the necessity of con-
stant watching on the part of the attendant, which was
found so irksome in the semaphores of those days. By
a slight turn of the handle, I, the attendant could break
the connection between the line wire and the pistol, and
so put his apparatus into a condition to " receive."

Midway between the ends of the wire was placed
the contrivance, K, K, by which its continuity could
be broken at pleasure, for the purpose of ascertain-
ing (in case any accident had happened to injure
the insulation of the buried wire) which half had
sustained the injury, or if both had. It is seen that
the two sides of the wire were led up into the case,
and terminated in two clasps, L, and M, which were
connected by the metal cross piece, N, carrying a pair
of pith-balls. By detaching this wire from the clasp
L, whilst it still remained in contact with M, or vice
versd, it could at once be seen which half of the wire
did not allow the balls to diverge, and, consequently,
which half was damaged, or if both were.

One of the stations of this miniature telegraph was
in a room over a stable, and the other in a tool-house
at the end of the garden, the connecting wire being
laid under the gravel walk.*

• After a lapse of nearly fifty years, a. portion of this line was dug
up, in 1862, in the way described in Frost's Biography, p. xviii. Some
years later the specimen came into the possession of Mr. Latimer Clark,
by whom it, as well as the original dial apparatus, was exhibited at

to the Year 1837. 135

Having made a large number of experiments with
this line, and having thoroughly proved the practica-
bility of his invention, Ronalds decided upon bringing
it to the notice of the Government. This he did
on the nth of July, 18 16, in a letter addressed to
Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty, as
follows : —

" Upper Mall, Hammersmitli,
July II, 1816.

" Mr. Ronalds presents his respectful compliments
to Lord Melville, and takes the liberty of soliciting his
lordship's attention to a mode of conveying telegraphic
intelligence with great rapidity, accuracy, and cer-
tainty, in all states of the atmosphere, either at night
or in the day, and at small expense, which has
occurred to him whilst pursuing some electrical
experiments. Having been at some pains to ascertain
the practicability of the scheme, it appears to Mr.
Ronalds, and to a few gentlemen by whom it has
been examined, to possess several important advan-
tages over any species of telegraph hitherto invented,
and he would be much gratified by an opportunity of
demonstrating those advantages to Lord Melville by
an experiment which he has no doubt would be
deemed decisive, if it should be perfectly agreeable
and consistent with his lordship's engagements to

the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus, South Kensington
Museum, 1876, and at the late Electrical Exhibitions in Paris and
London (Crystal Palace). They were also shown in the British Section
of the Vienna Exhibition, last year.

136 A History of Electric Telegraphy

honour Mr. Ronalds with a call ; or he would be
very happy to explain more particularly the nature
of the contrivance if Lord Melville could conveniently
oblige him by appointing an interview."

Lord Melville was obliging enoughj in reply to this
communication, to rfequest his private secretary, Mr.
Hay, to see Ronalds on the subject^ but before an
interview could be arranged, and while the nature of
the invention was yet a secret, except to Lord Hen-
niker. Dr. Rees, Mr. Brand, and a few particular
friends, an intimation was received from Mr. Barrow,
the Secretary of the Admiralty, to the effect that
telegraphs of any kind were then wholly unneces-
sary, and that no other than the one then in use (the
old Semaphores of Murray and Popham) would be
adopted. This much-quoted and now historic com-
munique ran as follows : * —

"Admiralty Office, 5th Angnst.
"Mr. Barrow presents his compliments to Mr.
Ronalds, and acquaints him, with reference to his note
of the 3rd inst, that telegraphs of any kind are now
wholly unnecessary, and that no other than the one
now in use will be adopted."

In reference to this correspondence Ronalds says : —
" I felt very little disappointment, and not a shadow

* The originals of these important documents, with many other
valuable papers, relating to this subject, may be consulted in the
Ronalds' Library. See p. 439 of the Catalogue.

to the Year 1837. ^37

of resentment, on the occasion, because every one
knows that telegraphs have long been great bores at
the Admiralty. Should they again become necessary,
however, perhaps electricity and electricians may be
indulged by his lordship and Mr. Barrow with an
opportunity of proving what they are capable of in
this way. I claim no indulgence for mere chimeras
and chimera framers, and I hope to escape the fate of
being ranked in that unenviable class " (p. 24).

Ronalds will always occupy a high position in the
history of the telegraph, not only on account of the
excellence and completeness of his invention, but also
for the ardour with which he pursued his experiments,
and endeavoured to bring them to the notice of his
countrymen.* Had he worked in the days of rail-
ways and joint-stock enterprise, there can be no doubt
that his energy and skill would have triumphed over
every obstacle, and he would have stood forth as the
practical introducer of electric telegraphs ; but he was
a generation too soon, the world was not yet ready for
him.

His little brochure of 1823 is the first work ever
published on the subject of electric telegraphy, and is

* It might have been with a knowledge of Ronalds' telegraphic
experiments that Andrew Crosse, in i8i6, uttered the prophecy, with
which his biographer opens the story of his life : — "I prophesy that
by means of the electric agency we shall be enabled to communicate
our thoughts instantaneously with the uttermost ends of the earth." —
Memorials Scientific and Literary of Andrew Crosse, the Electrician,
London, 1857.

138 A History of Electric Telegraphy

so marvellously complete, that it might almost serve
as a text-book for students at the present day. In it
he proposes the establishment of telegraph offices
throughout the kingdom, and points out some of the
benefits which the Government and public would
derive from their existence. "Why," he asks, "has
no serious trial yet been made of the qualifications of
so diligent a courier ? And if he should be proved
competent to the task, why should not our kings hold
councils at Brighton with their ministers in I^ondon ?
Why should not our Government govern at Ports-
mouth almost as promptly as in Downing-street .'
Why should our defaulters escape by default of our
foggy climate? and, since our piteous inamorati are
not all Alphei, why should they add to the torments
of absence those dilatory tormentors, pens, ink, paper,
and posts? Let us have electrical conversazione offices,
communicating with each other all over the kingdom
if we can" *

It would hardly be possible at the present day to
describe more accurately the progress of electric tele-
graphy than in these characteristic sentences. We
have " electrical conversazione offices " all over the
kingdom. The wires which connect Balmoral, Windsor,

* Pp. 2, 3. It is curious to note the similarity of ideas on this
subject that occurs in the extract, which we have given, on page
126, from Ralph Wedgwood's pamphlet of 1815. The two trains of
thought are perfectly independent, for we believe that Ronalds knew
nothing of Wedgwood's invention — a conclusion to which we are led
by the absence of the latter's name from the Ronalds' catalogue.

to the Year 1837. 139

and Osborne with Downing-street, enable Her Majesty
to " hold councils with her Ministers in London " at
any moment ; while the extensive system of Admi-
ralty and War Office telegraphs enables the Govern-
ment to "govern at Portsmouth [and many places
besides] as promptly as in Downing-street." One of
the very first results of the earliest telegraph was
the capture of Tawell, the Quaker murderer ; and the
curious ramification of police telegraphy in London,
if not an absolute protection against our " foggy
climate," is, at least, a terror to those who might
otherwise elude the grasp of the law. As for our
"piteous inamorati," it is perfectly well known that
they use the wires as freely as most people, and that
"love telegrams" are gradually taking the place of
"love letters."

His underground wire was a fair specimen of what
exists at the present day. We use iron, or earthen-
ware, pipes in lieu of his wooden trough ; but we are
not very far in advance here, for he points out by way
of anticipating possible objections to his plan, that
" cast-iron troughs might be rendered as tight as gas-
pipes," should it be deemed desirable to employ them.
He did not recommend his glass-tube insulators to
the exclusion of all other methods, as, for example,
that of Cavallo, by means of pitch and cloth. " No
person," says he, " of competent experience in these
matters will doubt, that either of them, or several other
plans that might be chosen, would be efficient. But

I40 A History of Electric Telegraphy

since accident and decay compose the lot of all
inanimate as well as animated nature, let two or more
sets of troughs, tubes, and wires be laid down ; so
that, whilst one may be undergoing repair, the others
may be ready for use" (p. i6).

On the general question of conservancy he says : — ■
"To protect the wire from mischievously disposed
persons, let the tubes be buried six feet below the
surface of the middle of high roads, and let each tube
take a different route to arrive at the same place.
Could any number of rogues, then, open trenches six
feet deep, in two or more public high roads or streets,
and get through two or more strong cast-iron troughs,
in a less space of time than forty minutes? for we
shall presently see that they would be detected before
the expiration of that time. If they could, render
their difficulties greater by cutting the trench deeper :
and should they still succeed in breaking the com-
munication by these means, hang them if you can
catch them, damn them if you cannot, and mend
it immediately in both cases. Should mischievous
devils from the subterranean regions (viz., the cellars)
attack my wire, condemn the houses belonging there-
unto, which cannot easily escape detection by running
away " (p. 17).

Ronalds, however, proposed to rely upon other
means than Lynch law in maintaining his communi-
cations, and here, again, the telegraph engineers of
the present day have followed out his ideas almost to

to the Year 1837. 141

the letter. He proposed to keep his wire constantly
charged with electricity, then to have certain proving
stations (like that described on page 1 34) at frequent
intervals along the line ; and a staff of persons who
would constantly watch the provers, and set out the
moment that any indication of an interruption was
given. Suitable situations for such proving stations
he conceived to be " post-offices in towns and villages,
turnpike gates, and the like."

" To put a simple case : we will imagine twenty
proving stations established between London and
Brighton, or any distance of fifty miles, only four
persons employed (but not exclusively) to keep watch
over them, and each watchman to have charge of five
provers. It is evident that (were he to dwell at the
centre one of the five), in order to examine the two
on each side of it, he would have to ride only four
miles and eight-tenths, which journey even our two-
penny post-boy can perform in something less than
forty minutes ; and he would discover that the defect
rested somewhere between two of the provers, a dis-
tance of two miles and four-tenths. Let him report
his discovery accordingly to the engineer, who may
open the trench and the trough at mid-distance of
this two miles and four-tenths, make an experiment
upon the wire itself similar to that of the provers,
and, when he has discovered which half is defec-
tive, operate upon that half in the same way. Thus
proceeding continually, he must arrive, after ten

142 A History of Electric Telegraphy

bisections, within about three yards of the defect "
(pp. 19, 20).

Now, what are these innumerable "flush-boxes"
which are to be found everywhere in the streets of
London and other large cities but " provers " of our
underground telegraphic system? Most people are
familiar with the snake-like coils of telegraph wires,
which are every now and then laid bare in those
curious apertures in the pavement, and the little
clock-face, with a single handle, which is the invariable
companion of the workman engaged in the hole. He
is simply "proving'' a wire which has been found
faulty. Then, again, as regards overhead wires, what
are the " linemen " stationed at certain intervals along
the route of a trunk line but the " provers " of the
section which it is their duty to traverse from time to
time, working on either side of their station, precisely
as Ronalds would have worked his " sorry little two-
penny post cove " ?

We must not omit to mention that Ronalds clearly
foresaw by the sheer force of reasoning the pheno-
menon of retardation of signals in buried wires, such
as we find it to-day.* At p. 5 of his brochure he
says : —

" I do not contend, nor even admit, that an instanta-
neous discharge, through a wire of unlimited extent,
would occur in all cases" (p. 5). And again, on

* Zetzsche tries to combat this assertion at p. 38 of his Geschichte der
Elektrischen TeUgraphie, Berlin, 1867.

to the Year 1837. 143

p. 12 : — "That objection, which has seemed to most of
those with whom I have conversed on the subject the
least obvious, appears to me the most important,
therefore I begin with it; viz., the probability that
the electrical compensation, which would take place
in a wire enclosed in glass tubes of many miles in
length (the wire acting, as it were, like the interior
coating to a battery) might amount to the retention
of a charge, or, at least, might destroy the suddenness
of a discharge, or, in other words, it might arrive at
such a degree as to- retain the charge with more or
less force, even although the wire were brought into
contact with the earth."

Referring to the difficulty that had been urged of
keeping the wire charged with electricity, Ronalds
says, on p. 21 : — " As to sufficiency (I have no
dread of the charge of vanity in borrowing a boast
from the great mechanic), give me materiel enough,
and I will electrify the world. The Harlem machine
would probably in time electrify, sufficiently for our
purpose, a wire circumscribing the half of England :
but we want to save time ; therefore let us have a
small steam engine, to work a sufficient number of
plates to charge batteries, or reservoirs, of such capa-
city as will charge the wire as suddenly as it may be
discharged when the telegraph is at work ; and when
it is not at work, let the machine be still kept in gentle
motion, to supply the loss of electricity by default
of insulation ; which default, perhaps, could not be

144 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

avoided, because (be the atmosphere ever so dry, and
the glass insulators ever so perfect) conductors are, I
believe, robbed of their electricity by the same three
processes by which Sir Humphrey Davy and Mr.
Leslie say that bodies are robbed of their sensible
heat, viz., by radiation, by conduction, and by the
motion of the particles of air."

While freely admitting that electro-magnetism was
much better adapted to the purposes of telegraphy,
Ronalds maintained to the last the practicability of
his own plans. In a letter to Mr. Latimer Clark,
dated Battle, 9th Dec, 1866, he thus writes :— " Had
the necessary steps been taken in 18 16 to provide
a tensional electric telegraph for Government and
general purposes, such an instrument might have
been constructed and usefully employed, and might
have been greatly improved* after the so-called
Oersted discovery. * * *

"Do we not all know that an electrophorus (of
glass or resin) will remain charged, even when both
opposed metallic surfaces are in conducting communi-
cation, and can you not believe that my difficulty

* In the way, for example, suggested in the following extract from
Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. F. Cooke's letter to Ronalds, of 1 ith December,
1866 : — " I have often thought what a fortunate thing it would have
been if I had known of your labours in 1837. The letters of the
alphabet, three letters in a row, might have been distinguished on your
clocks by a movement of a needle to the left [for, say, the outer letter],
the middle letter by a flourish of the needle right and left, and the inner
letter by a movement of the needle to the right." See Ronalds' MSS.

to the Year 1837. 145

of discharging my wire was greater than that of
preserving a charge ? * * *

" I could always supply as much electricity as
might be wanted for any length of my telegraphic
wire, and it did not fail, as many very respectable
witnesses well know. I did not (properly speaking)
discharge the wire so much as to cause the electro-
meter [balls] to collapse, the threads merely vibrated
sufficiently to designate a sign when the wire was
touched by a rapid stroke." *

* Extracted by kind permission of Mr. Latimer Clark. See also
his letter of January 3, 1867, to Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. F. Cooke;
and his comments on a letter in The Reader of January 5, 1867 ; both
preserved in the Ronalds' MSS. on the Electric Telegraph.

146 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER V.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL,
ELECTRICITY (continued).

1824. — Egerton Smith's Telegraph.

In The Kaleidoscope, or Literary and Scientific
Mirror * we find a paragraph in which the editor, Mr.
Egerton Smith, suggests a telegraph, which resembles
that of the Anonymous Frenchman, 1782, or that of
Salva, 179s, in the mode of indicating the signals ;
and that of Le Sage, 1782, in the mode of insulating
the conducting wires. This paragraph, which was
kindly pointed out to us by Mr. Latimer Clark, runs
as follows : —

" Amongst the numerous, pleasing, and ingenious,
philosophical recreations exhibited by Mr. Charles, at
the Theatre of Magic, is the following beautiful elec-
trical experiment : — Mr. Charles presents to any of
the company a musical tablet, containing [the names
of] twenty-four popular tunes ; any lady or gentleman
then privately selects one tune, which is marked with

* Liverpool, October 19, 1824, p. 133.

to the Year 1837. 147

a silver bodkin. The book, or tablet, is closed without
having been seen by Mr. Charles. It is then placed
near the stage on a music-stand which communicates
with another stand stationed in the orchestra above,
at the very extremity of the room, at least thirty
yards from the former. On this other stand is fixed a
musical tablet corresponding with that below. The
connection between the two music-books is made by
means of twenty-four stationary wires, being the
number of the tunes in each book. The musicians
are directed to keep their eyes fixed upon the tablet
in the orchestra, until, at Mr. Charles's command, an
electrical shock passes from the lower to the upper
music-book, illuminating the tune which had been
secretly selected. The musicians, at this strange
signal, forthwith proceed to play this illuminated air,
to the great astonishment of the audience.

" There can be no doubt that most rapid telegraphs
might be constructed on this principle, especially to
convey intelligence in the night. We will imagine a
case which is perfectly practicable, although the trouble
and expense attending the project would outbalance
all its advantages.

" If by means of pipes underground a communi-
cation were formed between Liverpool and London,
and throughout the length of this tube twenty-four
metal wires [were] stretched [and] supported at
intervals by non-conducting substances, one of each
of the wires communicating with a letter of the

L 2

148 A History of Electric Telegraphy

alphabet, fofmed of metal [foil], stationed at each
extremity: If this were done, and it is quite prac-
ticable, we have little doubt that an express might be
sent from Liverpool to London, and vice versd, in a
minute, or perhaps less. It would be necessary to
have good chronometers, in order that the parties
might be on the look-out at the precise time, or nearly
so. The communication on this plan would be letter
by letter ; the person sending the message would
merely have to touch the metallic letters in succession
with the electric fluid, which would instantly pass
along the wire to the other extremity where it would
illuminate the corresponding letter. The communi-
cation would thus be made as fast as the operator
could impart the shock."

182$.—" Moderator's " Telegraph.
The following proposal of what may be called a
physiological telegraph* is extracted from the London
Mechanics' Magazine, for June 11, 1825, p. 148 : —

" Electric Telegraphs.
" Sir, — There is, I think, in one of the numbers of
the . Spectator, dated about a hundred years ago, a
passage tending to ridicule some projector of that day,
who had proposed to ' turn smoke into light and light
into glory.' This early idea of gas-light, to which it
seems plainly to refer, was received as an idle dream,
* See note p. 103, supra.

to the Year 1837. 149

and is only preserved to us, like straws in amber, by
the wit and satire of Addison, or Steele. We are to
learn, therefore, not too hastily to reject even those
hints which are not immediately clear to us.

" Under protection of this remark I venture to
propose to you that a telegraphic communication may
be held, at whatever distance, without a moment's
loss of time in transmission, and equally applicable by
day or night, by means of the electric shock.

"An experiment of this kind has been tried on a
chain of conductors of three miles in extent, and the
shock returned without any perceptible time spent in
its going round ; and may not the same principle be
applicable for 100 or 10,000 miles "i Let the conductors
be laid down under the centre of the post-roads, im-
bedded in rosin, or any other the best non-conductor,
in pipes of stoneware. The electric shock may be so
disposed as to ignite gunpowder ; but if this is not
sufficient to rouse up a drowsy officer on the night-
watch, let the first shock pass through his elbows,
then he will be quite awake to attend to the second ;
and by a series of gradations in the strength and
number of shocks, and the interval between each,
every variety of signal may be made quite intelligible,
without exposure to the public eye, as in the usual
telegraph, and without any obstruction from darkness,
fogs, &c. It was mentioned before that electricity
will fire gunpowder — that is known ; we may imagine,
therefore, that on any worthy occasion, preparations

150 A History 0/ Electric Telegraphy

having been made for the expected event, as the birth
of a Royal heir, a monarch might at one moment, with
his own hand, discharge the guns of all the batteries
of the land in which he reigns, and receive the con-
gratulations of a whole people by the like return.

" I am, &c.,

" Moderator." *

* To the same class belonged the electro-physiological telegraph
proposed by Vorsselmann de Heer, and exhibited by him at a meeting
of the Physical Society of Deventer, on January 31, 1839. In this
system the correspondent received the signals at his fingers' ends, by
placing them upon the ten keys of a finger-board, which, by means of
separate line wires, communicated with corresponding keys at the
distant station. The signals were indicated by sending an induction
current through two of the wires, and the shocks were observed — (a)
in one finger of the right and one of the left hand, or (b) in two fingsrs
of the right hand, or (c) in two fingers of the left hand. The (a) shocks
represented the letters of the alphabet, the (b) shocks, the ten numerals,
and the (c) shocks, ten code, or conventional signs. See Vorsselmann
de Heer's Thiorie de la THigraphie Electrique, &c., Deventer, 1839,
and Moigno's Traiti de TUigraphie Electriqtu, Paris, 1852, pp. 90 and
364. Reading by shocks, taken on the tongue, or fingers, has long been
practised as a make-shift by inspectors and line-men all over the world.
Varley mentioned it in the discussion which followed the reading of
the late Sir WiUiam Siemens' paper before the Society of Arts, April
23, 1858.

Quite recently (April 1878), yet another form of physiological tele-
graph has been submitted by M. Mongenot to the French Academy,
in which the transmitter and receiver are the same, and consist of two
ivory plates carrying the disconnected ends of the two line wires. The
sender places this contrivance between his lips, and sends the message
by talking, or by closing the circuit by his lips according to a code
of signals. The receiver, holding the receiving apparatus similarly,
interprets the message by the sensation he feels. This plan was, evi-
dently, suggested by Sulzer's experiment of 1767. See his Nouvellt
Thiorie des Plaisirs, p. 155 ; or p. 178, infra.

to the Year 1837. 151

1825.— ie. H.'s Telegraph.

In reference to the letter which we have just given
from the Mechanics' Magazine, another correspondent
" R. H.," wrote as follows in the number of the journal
for June 25, 1825 : —

" The present telegraphic communication is effected
by means of six shifting boards, in a manner with
which your readers are doubtless conversant. Now,
if it be practicable to lay down one wire, it will be
equally practicable to lay down six ; and the cost of
the wire would be nearly all the difference in the
expense. Let the wires terminate in a dark room. On
one wall let there be the figures i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, pre-
pared in tin-foil, according to the method practised by
electricians, in forming what are called luminous modes
and figures. Bring the six wires in contact with the
six figures separately. With this contrivance, all the
signals may be performed, as at present with six
shifting boards. A shake of the arm, as ' Moderator '
suggests, may call the watch to his duty ; and he
could name the signals as they appear, to his assistant,
as is the present custom in the established telegraphs.
His assistant must, of course, be separated from the
dark room by a slight partition, that should be proof
against light, but not against the full hearing of the
human voice." *

* A further communication on the subject was promised but never
made. In the hope of finding some clue to the writers of these letters,
we have carefully looked through several succeeding volumes of the
Mechanics' Magazine, but without success.

152 A History of Electric Telegraphy

1825. — Porter's Telegraph.
We copy the following letter from The Morning
Herald, of September 23, 1837 • —

" The Electric Telegraph.

" 16, Somers Place, New Road, St. Pancras,
Sept. 16.

" Mr. Editor, — It now appears that the aboye appli-
cation of the electric power is likely to be brought
forward for the most useful purposes.

"At Munich, as stated by the New Wtirtshurg
Gazette of the 30th of June, the inhabitants were some-
what astonished by seeing, on the roofs of the loftiest
houses, several men employed in passing iron wires,
which extended from the towers of the church of
Notre Dame to the observatory of Bogenhausen,
and back to the church, intended to exemplify a
project (so they call it) of Professor Steinheil, for
the conveyance of intelligence by means of electric
magnetism, whereby they conjecture that, in two
seconds, communication may be conveyed from Lisbon
to St. Petersburg. It further states there are other
candidates beside the above-named Professor in the
field, and a little time will decide whether Scotland,
France, or Germany, is to carry off the honours for
this disputed, and, if practicable, most valuable inven-
tion. If, Mr. Editor, you give place in your columns
to the above and what follows, I think it will show
that not a Scotchman, a Frenchman, or a German, but
an Englishman, has the claim.

"On the 8th August, 1825, I requested the Lords

to the Year 1837. 153

Commissioners of the British Admiralty to afford me
an opportunity for bringing under their consideration
a method of instantaneous communication with the
out-ports, which neither foggy weather nor the dark-
ness of night would obstruct. The next day I received
the following answer : —

" ' Admiralty Office, August 9, 1825.
" ' Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 8th inst., I
am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty to acquaint you that you may attend here
any morning respecting your method of instantaneous
communication with the out-ports either in foggy
weather or at night.

" ' I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

(Signed) " ' J. W. Croker.
"'ToMr. S. Porter.'

"I attended the board, and proposed to their
Lordships that electrical machines should be kept
ready for use at the Admiralty Office and at each
out-port, and that a conducting chain, or wire, of
brass, or copper, secured in tubes of glass, be carried
under the surface of the most frequented roads, so
that any malicious attempt to interrupt the communi-
cation would soon be observed by travellers. What,
Mr. Editor, under such circumstances, can prevent the
electric impulse from proceeding with the utmost
velocity to its destination ? The Lords of the
Admiralty asked me whether I had prepared a code
of signals ? I answered no, but referred them to

154 A History of Electric Telegraphy

writings on the subject by Dr. Franklin, which show
that more by the power of electricity can be given
than by a telegraph of wood.

"The Germans are wrong in using iron wire, a
metal most subject to corrosion, particularly when
exposed to the changes of the atmosphere. I ask
them two questions. How will they carry this wire
from Lisbon to St. Petersburg, where lofty buildings
on the line are rarely to be found ? and how will they
secure a poor bird from destruction, which, perching
upon the decayed wire, may break it, and, together
with a despatch from Lisbon, go into oblivion ? The
invention has been tried successfully on the London
and Birmingham railroad, the conductors being en-
closed in hemp, or wood. However, this will not do ;
both are of a perishable nature ; both will absorb
damp, and every part of the apparatus employed in
electricity should be kept dry. Let the experiment
be made with glass to protect the conductor, and it
will be found durable ; and, as to its effect, I feel
confident that if such a method of communication
had been prepared from Ramsgate to the Admiralty
Office, and continued from thence to Windsor Castle,
our most excellent Queen would have been apprised
of the arrival of her illustrious relations, the King and
Queen of the Belgians, before the last salute gun was

fired.

" I am, Sir, your respectful servant,

"Samuel Porter."

to the Year 1837. 155

1826-7. — Dya/s Telegraph.

About this time Harrison Gray Dyar, of New York,
constructed a telegraph which was of an entirely dif-
ferent character to any of those hitherto described, as
it depended for its action on the power of the spark
to effect chemical decompositions. This property of
electricity was first observed about the middle of the
last century, and, had chemical science attained then
to a sufficiently advanced state, it could not have
failed to lead to the discovery of electro-chemistry.*

Besides being an electro-chemical telegraph (although
not the first), Dyar's invention had the great merit of
being a (in fact, the first) recording telegraph, and a
fairly perfect one to boot, and, had he only used

* Beccaria, by the electric spark, decomposed the sulphuret of mer-
cury, and recovered the metals, in some instances, from their oxides.
Watson found that an electric discharge passing through fine wire
rendered it incandescent, and that it was even fused and burned.
Canton, repeating these experiments with brass wire, found that, after
the fusion by electricity, drops of copper only were found, the zinc
having apparently evaporated. Beccaria observed that when the electric
spark was transmitted through water, bubbles of gas rose from the
liquid, the nature, or origin, of which he was unable to determine. Had
he suspected that water was not what it was then supposed to be, a simple
elementary substance, the discovery of its composition could scarcely
have eluded his sagacity. Franklin found that the firequent application
of the electric spark had eaten away iron ; on which Priestley observed
that it must be the effect of some acid, and suggested the inquiry
whether electricity might not probably redden vegetable blues ! Priestley
also observed that, in transmitting electricity through a copper chain,
a black dust was left on the paper which supported the chain at the
points where the links touched it ; and, on examining this dust, he
found it to contain copper.— Lardner's Electricity, Magnetism, and
Meteorology, vol. i. pp. 78-9-

156 A History of Electric Telegraphy

voltaic, instead of static, electricity, the problem of
electric telegraphy might have been solved in 1827.
And, thus, with a start of several years, there can be
little doubt that electro-chemical telegraphs would
have made a better stand than they afterwards did in
the struggle for existence ; although, perhaps, there
can be as little doubt that, in obedience to the inexor-
able law of the survival of the fittest, they must have
eventually yielded to the more practicable electro-
magnetic forms of Cooke and Morse.

In connection with one of the many telegraph suits
in. which Morse was long engaged in America, Dyar
gave the following account of his early project, in
a letter to Dr. Bell, of Charlestown, dated Paris,
March 8, 1848 :—

" Since reading your letter, and when searching for
some papers in reference to my connection with this
subject, I found a letter of introduction, dated the day
before my departure from America; in February 1831,
from an old and good friend, Charles Walker, to his
brother-in-law, S. F. B. Morse, artist, at that time in
Europe. At the sight of this letter, it occurred to me
that this Mr. Morse might be the same person as Mr.
Morse of the electric telegraph, which I found to be
the case. The fact of the patentee of this telegraph,
which is so identical with my own, being the brother-
in-law of, and living with, my friend and legal counsel,
Charles Walker, at the time of, and subsequent to,
my experiments on the electric telegraph in 1826 and

to the Year 1837. 157

1827, has changed my opinion as to my remaining
passive, and allowing another to enjoy the honour of
a discovery, which, by priority, is clearly due to me,
and which, presumptively, is only a continuation
[resumption] of my plans, without any material inven-
tion [improvement] on the part of another.

" I invented a plan of a telegraph, which should be
independent of day, or night, or weather, which should
extend from town to town, or city to city, without any
intermediary agency, by means of an insulated wire,
suspended on poles, and through which I intended to
send strokes of electricity, in such a manner as that
the diverse distances of time separating the divers
sparks should represent the different letters of the
alphabet, and stops between the words, &c. This
absolute, or this relative, difference of time between
the several sparks I intended to take off from an
electric machine by a little mechanical contrivance,
regulated by a pendulum ; while the sparks them-
selves were intended to be recorded upon a moving,
or revolving, sheet of moistened litmus paper, which,
by the formation of nitric acid by the spark in its
passage through the paper, would leave [show] a red
spot for each spark. These so-produced red spots,
with their relative interspaces, were, as I have said,
taken as an equivalent for the letters of the alphabet,
&c., or for other signs intended to be transmitted,
whereby a correspondence could be kept up through

158 A History of Electric Telegraphy

one wire of any length, either in one direction, or
back and forwards, simultaneously or successively.
In addition to this use of electricity I considered that
I had, if wanted, an auxiliary resource in the power
of sending impulses along the same wire, properly
suspended, somewhat like the action of a common
bell-wire in a house.

" Now you will perceive that this plan is like that
known as Morse's telegraph, with the exception that
his is inferior to mine, inasmuch as he and others
now make use of electro-magnetism, in place of the
simple spark, which requires that they should, in
order to get dots, or marks, upon paper, make use of
mechanical motions, which require time ; whereas
my dots were produced by chemical action of the
spark itself, and would be, for that reason, transmitted
and recorded with any required velocity.

"In order to carry out my invention I associated
myself with a Mr. Brown, of Providence, who gave me
certain sums of money to become my partner. We
employed a Mr. Connel, of New York, to aid in
getting the capital wanted to carry the wires to
Philadelphia. This we considered as accomplished ;
but, before beginning on the long wire, it was decided
that we should try some miles of it on Long Island.
Accordingly I obtained some fine card wire, intending
to run it several times around the Old Union Race-
course. We put up this wire at different lengths, in

to the Year 1837. 159

curves and straight lines, by suspending it [with glass
insulators] from stake to stake, and tree to tree, until
we concluded that our experiments justified our
undertaking to carry it from New York to Phila-
delphia. At this moment our agent brought a suit,
or summons, against me for 20,000 dollars, for
agencies and services, which I found was done to
extort a concession of a share of the whole project.

" I appeared before Judge Irving, who, on hearing
my statement, dismissed the suit as groundless. A
few days after this, our patent agent (for, being no
longer able to keep our invention a secret, we had
applied for a patent) came to Mr. Brown and myself
and stated that Mr. Connel had obtained a writ
against us, under a charge of conspiracy for carrying
on secret communication from city to city, and
advised us to leave New York until he could settle
the affair for us. As you may suppose, this happen-
ing just after the notorious bank-conspiracy trials,
we were frightened beyond measure, and the same
night slipped off to Providence. There I remained
some time, and did not return to New York for many
months, and then with much fear of a suit. This is
the circumstance which put an end [to our project],
killing effectually all desire to engage further on such
a dangerous enterprise. I think that, on my return to
New York, I consulted Charles Walker, who thought
that, however groundless such a charge might be, it
might give me infinite trouble to stand a suit. From

1 60 A History of Electric Telegraphy

all this the very name of electric telegraph has given
me pain whenever I have heard it mentioned, until I
received your last letter, stimulating me to come out
with my claims ; and even now I cannot overcome the
painful association of ideas which the name excites."

To this very interesting statement, Dr. Bell has
added the following corroborative testimony : — " I was
engaged with Harrison Gray Dyar for many months
in 1828. We often conversed upon the subject of his
having invented an electric telegraph, and I recollect
seeing in his apartment a quantity of iron wire which
he had procured for the construction of his telegraph.
I recollect his saying he had suspended some of this
wire at an elevation around the race-course at Long
Island, to a length which satisfied him that there were
no practical difficulties in carrying it from New York
to Philadelphia, which, he stated, was his intention. I
recollect suggesting doubts whether the wire would
bear the necessary straightening up between the posts,
and his reply, that the trial on Long Island had proved
to him that there was no difficulty to be apprehended in
this direction. My impression, derived from his con-
versation, was that the electric spark was to be sent
from one end of the wire to the other, where it was to
leave its mark upon some chemically prepared paper."*

* In these extracts we have followed History ^ T/teory, and Practice
of the Electric Telegraph, by George B. Piescott, Boston, i860, pp.
427-30; Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph, &c., by Alexander
Jones, New York, 1852, pp. 35-7; and The Telegrapher, New York,
vol. i. pp. 48 and 163.

to the Year 1837. ^^i

In 1831 Dyar came to Europe on business con-
nected with some of his mechanical inventions, and
resided principally at Paris until 1858, when he
returned to the United States for good. His connec-
tion with telegraphy is somehow little known to the
present generation, although, in 1826-7, ^'^ was widely
known, at least in America, for his electrical re-
searches. It is satisfactory to learn that his pursuits
in other departments of science brought him an ample
fortune, which was largely augmented by real estate
investments in the city of New York. Dyar was born
at Boston, Mass., in 1805, and died at Rhinebeck,
N.Y., on the 31st January, 1875.

Ii 1828. — Tribouillei de St. Amands Telegraph.

In this year* Victor Tribouillet de St. Amand
proposed a single line telegraph between Paris and
Brussels. The conducting wire was to be varnished
with shellac, wound with silk, coated with resin, and
enclosed in lengths of glass tubing carefully luted
with resin ; the whole being substantially wrapped
and water-proofed, and, finally, buried some feet deep
in the earth.

Nothing is known for certain of the signalling

arrangements, and it is even doubtful to what class

the invention belongs ; as, while a strong voltaic

battery was the source of electricity, the receiving

* According to Journal da Travaux de VAcad. de VIndristrie Fran-
(;aise. Mar. 1839, p. 43.

M

1 62 A History of Electric Telegraphy

instrument was to be an electroscope, or electrometer.
Vail,* Prescott,t and American writers, generally,
evidently regard it as belonging to the electro-
magnetic form ; while Zetzsche % and Guerout § class
it amongst those based on static electricity.

The author appears to have provided no particular
form of alphabet, or code, leaving it to each person to
devise his own out of the motions of which the
electroscope was susceptible.

1830. — Recy's Telegraph.

In a brochure oi 35 pages, entitled Tditatodydaxie,
ou TH^graphie Electrique, Hubert Recy describes a
crude system of syllabic telegraphy. Although his
little book was not published in Paris until 1838,
we gather from the text that his plans were laid
as early as 1 830. At p. 34 he writes : — " I had a
thought of offering [my teletatodydax] to civilisation,
a thought fixed and durable, because, notwithstanding
some respectable opinions, I believe it useful to man
in seasonable times ; but I did not wish to make it
known in 1830 and during the stormy years that
followed."

His telegraphic language is composed of {ct) four
initial vowels, (^) fifteen diphthongs, and (f) six

* American Electro- Magnetic Telegraph, 1845, ?• 'SS-

t History, Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph, i860,

P- 394.
X Geschichte der Elektrischen Telegraphic, 1 877, sec. 6, para. 11.
§ La Lumiire ilectrique, March 3, 1 883, p. 263.

to the Year 1837. 163

monosyllables, all of which, with their various com-
binations, are figured in tables at pp. 5 and 6 of his
pamphlet.

The line wires were to be of iron, enveloped in
wax-cloth, then well tarred and enclosed in a leaden
tube to preserve them from moisture, and so prevent
the diminution of the force of the electric spark. They
might be placed at some feet underground along the
high roads like water pipes, and those parts destined
for submersion in water, across the sea, for example,
to England, should be prepared with the greatest
care, so as to entirely exclude the moisture.*

In certain cases, he says, the metals of the railway
could be used as lines of communication for the
conveyance of the electric spark, and nothing would
be easier than to put them into a condition to fulfil
this important function, each rail representing a line.

At the sending station were the electrical machines
for producing the sparks, and electrometers, one on
each wire, for indicating the passage and strength
of the same. At the receiving station the lines ter-
minated in needles, or points, which dipped into
little cups containing some inflammable substance
like alcohol, or even hydrogen gas. A sufficient
number of these cups was always at hand, ready

* At p. 25 he repeats : — " To communicate with England, Algeria,
and other places, it would suffice to enclose the iron wire in an imper-
meable cloth, well tarred, and covered with sheet lead. In this way
the electricity would operate with as much freedom as in subterranean
lines, to which rivers would be no obstacles."

M 2

164 A History 0/ Electric Telegraphy

charged, to take the place of those exploded in the
course of correspondence.

The line wires, which were bound together side by-
side, were marked, the one, say the right, with the
units, or vowels, and the other, the left, with \h& fives, or
diphthongs. As a general rule in teletatodydaxy that
vowel termination which aids most in the expression
and comprehension of a word, or phrase, is h. {J fermi) ;
for example — " M^h6met-Ali, vice-roi d'Egypte, fait
travailler k la d^couverte des mines de Syrie " might be
transmitted thus — M6h6m6ti 6\i, v6ci ri d'Eg^p^t^,
f^ t^r^v^l^re 6 16 d6k6v6r6t6 d6 m6n6 d6 S6r6, in
pronouncing which rapidly, and without dwelling too
much on the 6, the ear would easily comprehend the
sense.*

After showing, pp. 10 to 14, how this sentence
should be transmitted, the author says that every
conceivable communication could be made in the
same way, each syllable being expressible, according
to his tables, by vowels alone, or by vowels and diph-
thongs combined. One class of vowel, or uniis, was
represented by one spark in the right line, a second
class by two sparks, a third by three, and a fourth by
four. Each diphthong (and monosyllable), or five,

* Recurring to this subject, the author says, on p. 16, Suppose
the phrase to be pronounced by a stranger, you listen, and, as in a
discourse one single sentence, when well understood, enables one to
gather the sense of the whole, so in this case one single word well
understood aids to a comprehension of the whole sentence, usage and
practice will do the rest.

to the Year 1837. 165

was similarly represented by one, two, three, or four,
sparks in the left wire, either alone, or immediately
followed by one, two, three, or four, sparks in the
right wire, according as the syllable was in the first,
second, third, or fourth, class oi fives, and in the
second, third, fourth, or fifth place of the class. Thus,
Ba, which is in the first place of the first class oi fives,
would be represented by one spark in the left wire ;
while Pa, which is in the third place of the second
class, would be indicated by two sparks in the left
wire for the class, followed by three sparks in the
right for the place.

In case it would be impossible to establish two
wires, on account of the expense, or from any other
cause, the author shows how one wire would suffice,
the signalling requiring, in this case, only a little more
time, and a little more attention. The vowels would
be transmitted as before, but the diphthongs and
monosyllables would be expressed by two sparks in
rapid succession te te, the interval between being much
less than that between the vowels ; and, for greater
clearness, the end of each word would be notified by
the signal A, which would be neither the end of the
last word, nor the commencement of the following.

If desired, each letter, or character, of the teletato-
dydaxical tables could represent some conventional
phrase, or the sparks could stand for figures which
would belong to words and phrases in a dictionary, or
code.

1 66 A History of Electric Telegraphy

The author concludes a rhapsody on the uses which
the great Napoleon would have made of teletatody-
daxy had it been then discovered * in words, which, in
these days of their realisation, deserve to be remem-
bered : — " If, in the time of Napoleon, gas-lighting had
been as general as it is now, and some one had told
him : ' by means of the teletatodydax you can, in less
than a second, light all the lamps of the capital at the
same time and as one lamp ' ; or, as everything sub-
lunary has disadvantages as well as advantages, ' you
cannot guard yourself against the malefactors who
would sow infernal machines under your feet, would
fire your ships, arsenals, powder - magazines, and
monuments' — enemies all the more difficult to discover,
since they can perpetrate their crimes from afar by
means of the wire ; would Napoleon have shut his
eyes and ears to these facts ? No, such advantages
and disadvantages combined would certainly have
fixed his attention, and, not being able to annihilate
a power of which he would wish only himself to know
the force, he would so control it as to draw for himself
all the advantages, and, at the same time, prevent
others from putting it to wrongful ends " (p. 34).

1837.— i^M Jardin's Telegraph.

Du Jardin, of Lille, whose fast-speed type-writer
was used, for a short time, in 1866, on the late

* We think he would have made short work of it

to the Year 1837. 167

Electric and International Telegraph Company's lines,
was occupied with the telegraph as far back as 1837.
His first ideas on the subject were, in that year,
communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences;
but, except the bare title of the paper in the Compte
Rendu, for July 10, 1837, nothing appears to have
been published. We learn, however, from Professor
Magrini* that he proposed to erect a single wire
between the Tuileries and the Arc de I'Etoile, and to
employ an electric machine and a sensitive electro-
scope for the signalling apparatus.

If none of the contrivances that we have described
in the foregoing pages ever passed the stage of ex-
periment, it is because they, one and all, laboured
under two heavy disadvantages — the one, that they
were in advance of the age, and the other, the intract-
able nature of the force employed, rendering its trans-
mission to any distance impossible in the open air,
and exceedingly difficult through buried wires.

Of course, if no other form of electricity had been
discovered, some of these inventions — notably those of
Alexandre, Ronalds, and Dyar — could be improved,
so that we should have at this day electric telegraphs,
not so simple, nor with so many resources as those
at present in use, but yet instruments that would
fulfil the grand object of communicating at a distance
with lightning speed. Many practical difficulties
* Telegrafo Elettro-Magnetico, Veneziaj 1838, p. 23.

1 68 A History of Electric Telegraphy

would, however, remain, which, even with our present
extended knowledge, we could not entirely obviate,
and which would, therefore, have hindered their
complete success.

If, then, none of their authors, though through no
fault of his own, deserves the title of inventor of a
really practicable and commercially successful tele-
graph, we must, at least, give one and all the credit
of having fully appreciated its importance, and of
having dedicated their energies to the accomplishment
of the task they set themselves in the face of many
difficulties and disappointments.*

* Since 1837 the following telegraphs have been proposed in which
static electricity was to be employed : — By the Rev. H. Highton, in
1844 (Patent No. 10,257 of lo'li July) > l^y Isham Baggs, in 1856
(Patent No. 1775 of 2Sth July) — a most interesting document, which
will repay perusal in these days of multiplex and fast-speed apparatus ;
by C. F. Varley, in i860 (Patent No. 206 of 27th January) ; and by
Wenckebach, a Dutch electrician, in 1873 i^Jo^rnalTiUgraphique de
Berne, for March 25, 1873).

to the Year 1837. 169

CHAPTER VI.

DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY — HISTORY IN RELATION TO
TELEGRAPHY.

" The hooked torpedo, with instinctive force,
Calls all his magic from its secret source ;
Quick through the slender line and polished wand
It darts, and tingles in the offending hand."

Pennant's Oppian.

The discoveries of the Italian philosophers, Galvani
and Volta, at the close of the last century, marked a
new era in the history of telegraphy, by furnishing a
form of electricity as tractable and copious, as that
derived from friction was volatile and small.

Before entering into this subject it may be well to
say a few words on the early history of what has been
called Animal Electricity — a force which is identical
with, and whose early manifestations in certain fishes
led up to. Galvanism.

Although this power is now known to exist in
many fishes, and even in some of the lower animals,*

* With the aid of a microscope sparks have been seen to issue from
the annelides and infusoria, and the luminosity of the glow-worm and
other shining insects is thought to be due to the same cause. Margrave
describes an insect, a native of Brazil, which, on being touched, gives
a very perceptible shock ; and specimens of the Sefia and Polypi have
also been observed to do the same. — Kirby and Spence's Introduction
to Entomology, London, 1856, 7th ed., p. 56.

170 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the torpedo was the only instance known to the
ancients.*

Aristotle says : — " This fish hides itself in the sand,
or mud, and catches those that swim over it by
benumbing them, of which some persons have been
eye-witnesses. The same fish has also the power of
benumbing men."t Pliny writes : — " From a consider-
able distance even, and if only touched with the end
of a spear, or staff, this fish has the property of
benumbing the most vigorous arm, and of rivetting
the feet of the runner, however swift he may be in the
race."t Plutarch declares that the torpedo affects
fishermen through the drag net, and that, were water
to be poured on a living one, the person pouring it
would be affected, the sensation being communicated
through the water to the hand. Claudian and Galen
have much to the same effect, and Oppian is even
more explicit, for he describes the organs by which
the fish exerts its extraordinary power. "It is," he
says, " attributable to two organs of a radiated texture,
which are situated one on each side of the fish." §

The ancients knew something also of what we

• The name of the torpedo in the Arabian language is ra'ad, which
means lightning.

t History of Anitnah, ix. 37.

\ Natural History, xxxii. 2.

§ Lib. ii. V. 62. In the Phil. Trans., for 1773, p. 481, the celebrated
Hunter published the anatomical structure of the torpedo, showing the
position of the electric organs. In a fish eighteen inches long it was
found that the number of columns composing each organ amounted
to 470.

to the Year 1837. 171

would now call Medical Electricity. Thus, we read
that Dioscorides, the physician of Anthony and Cleo-
patra, used to cure inveterate headaches by applying
a live torpedo to the head ; * and that (as related by
Scribonius Largus f) Anthero, a freedman of Tiberius,
was cured of the gout by the same means. The
patient in such cases had to stand on the sea- shore
with a live torpedo under foot, until not only the feet
but the legs as far as the knees became numb.

The Gymnotus electricus was first made known in
Europe in 167 1 by Richer, one of a party sent out by
the French Academy for astronomical observations at
Cayenne. The accounts which he brought home of its
shocking powers were, however, received with much
scepticism, and it was not until towards the middle of
the last century that the observations of Condamine,
Fermin, Bancroft, and others had fully established
their credibility.

The gymnotus, which inhabits the warmer regions
of Africa and South America, delivers far stronger
shocks than the torpedo, the strokes of the larger
ones being, according to Bancroft, instantly fatal.
When one of average dimensions is touched with one
hand a smart shock is felt in the hand and fore-
arm ; and when both are applied it affects the whole
frame, striking, apparently, to the very heart. Thus,
Humboldt mentions that, treading upon an ordinary

* Lib. ii., Art. Torpedo.

t De ComposiHone Medicamentorum. Medicm, cap. i. and xli.

172 A History of Electric Telegraphy

specimen, he experienced a more dreadful shock than
he ever received from a Leyden jar, and that he felt
severe pain in his knees, and other parts of his body,
which continued for several hours. According to
Bryant, a discharge sometimes occasions such strong
cramps of the muscles which grasp the fish that they
cannot let it go.*

On the river Old Calabar, the electrical properties
of the gymnotus are used by the natives to cure their
sick children ; a small specimen of the fish is put into
a dish containing water, and the child is made to play
with it, or the child is put into a tub of water and the
fish put in beside it.

Of the remaining electrical fishes, the Silurus, intro-
duced by Adanson, in 175 1, is an inhabitant of the
Nile and Senegal ; the Trichiurus inhabits the Indian
Seas ; and the Tetraodon is found near the Canary
Islands and along the American coast.

Although Redi, 1678, Kempfer, 1702, and others
had made many and accurate observations on the
torpedo, the electrical nature of the phenomena ex-
hibited by this and the other fishes that we have
named was not known, nor even suspected, up
to the middle of the last century. The idea first
occurred to Professor Musschenbrock of Leyden in
reference to the torpedo, and nearly at the same time
(175 1 ), Adanson formed a similar notion regarding the

* Transactions of the American Society, vol. ii. See iX^a Mechanics'
Magazine, for August 6, 1825.

to the Year 1837. 173

Silurus ; but it was not till the years 1772-4 that
the fact was clearly established by the experiments
of Walsh, S'Gravesande, Hunter, Ingenhousz, and
others.*

Walsh, in transmitting to Benjamin Franklin, then
in London, the results of his researches for communi-
cation to the Royal Society, says: — "It is with
peculiar interest that I make to you my first com-
munication, that the effect of the torpedo appears to
be absolutely electrical," and he concludes, after going
fully over the details, " He, who predicted and showed
that electricity wings the formidable bolt of the
atmosphere, will hear with attention that in the deep
it speeds a humbler bolt, silent and invisible ; he, who
analysed the electric phial, will hear with pleasure
that its laws prevail in animated phials ; he, who by
reason became an electrician, will hear with reverence
of an instinctive electrician gifted at its birth with a
wonderful apparatus, and with skill to use itf

It is singular that, while the examination of the
torpedo was going on in Europe, similar investiga-
tions were taking place in America with respect to
the gymnotus. These were made in Philadelphia and
Charleston by Drs. Williamson and Garden, and the
same conclusions, grounded on the same data, were
arrived at. These are thus summed up by their
authors : — " As the fluid discharged by the eel affects
the same parts that are affected by the electric fluid ;

* Phil. Trans., 1773 and 1775. t Ibid., 1773, pp. 461-72.

174 A History of Electric Telegraphy

as it excites sensations plerfectly similar; as it kills
and stuns animals in the same manner ; as it is con-
veyed by the same bodies which convey the electric
fluid, and refuses to be conveyed by others that refuse
to convey the electric fluid, it must itself be the
electric fluid, and the shock given by the eel must
be the electric shock." *

Though these early experiments thus led to the
strong presumption that this peculiar animal power
was precisely of the same nature with common
electricity, yet they were very far from affording
that absolute demonstration which alone satisfies the
requirements of modem science ; and, hence, natu-
ralists have ever been on the watch to seize every
opportunity which could supply additional evidence.
The science of electricity, likewise, has since those days
been prosecuted with the greatest success, and the
phenomena of the respective subjects have mutually
thrown light upon each other. As regards electricity,
there are now a number of palpable effects which are
considered as demonstrative of its presence and opera-
tion, chief amongst which are the shock, the electric
spark, heat, magnetic virtue, and chemical agency.
These positive proofs of the operation of electricity
were soon desiderated in connection with the animals
we have named, and one after another, by the ingenuity
of experimenters, have been at last obtained.f

Now to resume our subject. In the hundred years

* Phil. Trans., 1775, pp. 94 and 102.

t Faraday's Exper. Researches, series iii. and xv.

to the Year 1837. 175

preceding the discoveries of Galvani and Volta, we
find record of many observations of a character
closely resembling the fundamental ones, which, in
their hands, led to the grand discovery of dynamic
electricity. Thus, in 1671, Richter noticed that the
gymnotus was able to produce by its shocks a sort of
sympathetic quivering in dead fishes lying around it.
In 1678, Swammerdam, in some experiments before
his friend and patron, the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
produced convulsions in the muscle of a frog, by
holding it against a brass ring from which it hung by a
silver wire — an experiment which, as we shall presently
see, exactly resembles that by which Galvani became
so famous more than a hundred years later.

This celebrated experiment is thus described in
Swammerdam's Biblia Natures, vol. ii. p. 839 : — " Let
there be a cylindrical glass tube, in the interior of
which is placed a muscle, whence proceeds a nerve
that has been enveloped in its course with a small
silver wire, so as to give us the power of raising it
without pressing it too much, or wounding it This
wire is made to pass through a ring bored in the
extremity of a small copper support and soldered to
a sort of piston, or partition ; but the little silver wire
is so arranged that, on passing between the glass and
the piston, the nerve may be drawn by the hand and
so touch the copper. The muscle is immediately
seen to contract."

Du Verney, in 1700, made a similar observation,
and Caldani, 1757, described what he called "the

176 A History of Electric Telegraphy

revival of frogs by electric discharges." Du Verney's
experiment is thus described : — " M. Du Verney
showed a frog just dead, which, in taking the nerves
of the belly that go to the thighs and legs, and
irritating them a little with a scalpel, trembled and
suffered a sort of convulsion. Afterwards he cut the
nerves, and, holding them a little stretched with his
hand, he made them tremble again by the same
motion of the scalpel." *

The experiments described in the following extract
from the Philosophical Transactions, for 1732, are of
an exactly similar kind. We copy from a paper
headed " Experiments to prove the existence of a
fluid in the nerves," by Alexander Stuart, M.D. : —

" The existence of a fluid in the nerves (commonly
called the animal spirits) has been doubted of by
many ; and, notwithstanding experiments made by
ligatures upon the nerves, &c., continues to be contro-
verted by some. This induced me to make the
following experiments, which I hope may help to set
that doctrine, which is of so much consequence in the
animal economy and practice of physic, in a clearer
light than I think it has hitherto appeared in.

" Experiment I. — I suspended a frog by the fore-
legs in a frame leaving the inferior parts loose ; then,

* Martyn and Chambers' The Phil. Hist, and Menu, of the Royal
Acad, of Sciences at Paris, London, 1742, vol. i. p. 187. Du Vemey
was a celebrated anatomist, for whom the use of vaccine as early as
1705 is claimed with a great show of reason. See Foumier's Le Vieux-
Neuf Paris, 1859, vol. ii. p. 385.

to the Year 1837. 177

the head being cut off with a pair of scissors, I made
a slight push perpendicularly downwards, upon the
uppermost extremity of the medulla spinalis, in the
upper vertebra, with the button-end of the probe, filed
flat and smooth for that purpose ; by which all the
inferior parts were instantaneously brought into the
fullest and strongest contraction ; and this I repeated
several times, on the same frog, with equal success,
intermitting a few seconds of time between the pushes,
which, if repeated too quick, made the contractions
much slighter.

'^Experiment II. — With the same flat button-end
of the probe, I pushed slightly towards the brain in
the head, upon that end of the medulla oblongata
appearing in the occipital hole of the skull ; upon
which the eyes were convulsed. This also I repeated
several times on the same head with the same effect.

" These two experiments show that the brain and
nerves contribute to muscular motion, and that to
a very high degree."*

In their results these experiments were precisely
the same as those with which the name of Galvani
is associated. Nor was the mode of operating very
different, even in the use of only one kind of metal.
In Galvani's experiments, excitation was produced by
contact, or communication, of nerves and muscles.
In Stuart's the convulsions were produced by exciting
the spinal marrow.

* Vol. xxxvii. p. 327.

178 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Sulzer, in his Nouvelle Thdorie des Plaisirs, published
at Berlin in 1767, described the peculiar taste occa-
sioned by pieces of silver and lead in contact with
each other and with the tongue. He, however, had
no suspicion of the electrical nature of this effect, but
thought it " not improbable that, by the combination
of the two metals, a solution of either of them may
have taken place, in consequence of which the dis-
solved particles penetrate into the tongue ; or we may
conjecture that the combination of these metals occa-
sions a trembling motion in their respective particles,
which, exciting the nerves of the tongue, causes that
peculiar sensation." *

The next person to whom chance afforded an
opportunity of making the discovery of galvanism, but
who let it pass with as little profit as Sulzer and his pre-
decessors had done, was Domenico Cotugno, professor
of anatomy at Naples. His observations are contained
in the following letter, t dated Naples, October 2,
1784, and addressed to the Chevalier Vivenzio : —

" Sir, — The observation which I mentioned some
days ago, when we were discoursing together of the
electrical animals upon which I said that I believed
the mouse to be one of the number, is the following: —

" Towards the latter end of March I was sitting with

* Note to text on p. 155. The date of this experiment is variously
stated as 1752, and 1760. See note under Sulzer in Ronalds' Catalogue.

t Extracted from Cavallo's Cpmplete Treatise on Electricity, 4th ed.
London, 1795, vol. iii. p. 6.

to the Year 1837. ^79

a table before me ; and observing something to move
about my foot, which drew my attention, looking
towards the floor, I saw a small domestic mouse,
which, as its coat indicated, must have been very
young. As the little animal could not move very
quick, I easily laid hold of it by the skin of the back,
and turned it upside down ; then with a small knife
that laid by me, I intended to dissect it. When I
first made the incision into the epigastric region, the
mouse was situated between the thumb and first
finger of my left hand, and its tail was got between
the two last fingers. I had hardly cut through part
of the skin of that region, when the mouse vibrated
its tail between the fingers, and was so violently
agitated against the third finger, that, to my great
astonishment, I felt a shock through my left arm as
far as the neck, attended with an internal tremor,
a painful sensation in the muscles of the arm, and
such giddiness of the head, that, being affrighted, I
dropped the mouse.

The stupor of the arm lasted upwards of a quarter
of an hour, nor could I afterwards think of the acci-
dent without emotion. I had no idea that such an
animal was electrical ; but in this I had the positive
proof of experience." *

* Volta, in telling this story in after years, used to say that Cotugno
was a pupil of Galvani, and that it was his drawing his master's atten-
tion to the phenomenon that put Galvani on the trail of his great dis-
covery.— Robertson's Mimoires Rkriatifs Scientifiques et Anecdotiques,
Paris, 1840, vol. i. p. 233.

N 2

i8o A History of Electric Telegraphy

Galvani's great discovery is popularly supposed to
have resulted from an accidental observation on frogs
made in 1790 ; but as early, at least, as 1780, he was
engaged, as we learn from Gherardi, his biographer,
in experiments on the muscular contractions of these
animals under the influence of electricity.*

One day in that year (November 6), while preparing
" in the usual manner " a frog in the vicinity of an
electrical machine with which some friends were
amusing themselves, he observed the animal's body
to be suddenly convulsed. Astonished at this pheno-
menon, and supposing that it might be owing to his
having wounded the nerve, Galvani pricked it with the
point of his knife to assure himself whether or not this
was the case, but no convulsion ensued. He again
touched the nerve with his knife, and, directing a spark
to be taken at the same time from the machine, had
the pleasure of seeing the contortions renewed. Upon
a third tri^l the animal's body remained motionless,
but observing that he held the knife by its ivory
handle, he grasped the metal, and immediately the
convulsions took place each time that a spark
appeared.!

* From two papers in the Bolognese Transactions, one, On the
Muscular Movement of Frogs, dated April 22, 1773 ; and the other,
On the Action of Opium on the Nerves of Frogs, dated January 20, 1774,
it is evident that Galvani's acquaintance with frogs was long anterior
even to the year 1780. We follow mainly, in our account of Galvani's
researches, Professor Forbes' Dissertation (Sixth), chap, vii., in the
Encyclopedia Britannica, 8th ed.

t These experiments are similar to, and are explained by, the

to the Year 1837. 181

After a number of similar experiments with the
machine, Galvani resolved to try the effect of atmo-
spheric electricity, and with this object erected a
lightning conductor on the roof of his house to which
he attached metallic rods leading into his laboratory.
These he connected with the nerves of frogs and
other animals, and fastened to their legs wires which
reached to the ground. As was anticipated, the
animals were greatly convulsed whenever lightning
appeared, and even when any storm-cloud passed
over the apparatus. These experiments were con-
tinued in 1781 and 1782, and were afterwards em-
bodied in a paper (not published) On the Nervous
Force and its Relation to Electricity. In 1786, Galvani
resumed the inquiry with the aid of his nephew,
Camillo, and it was in the course of these studies that
certain facts were observed which led immediately to
the discovery of galvanism.

One day (the 20th) in September 1786, Camillo
Galvani had prepared some frogs for experiment, and

phenomenon of the lateral shock, or return stroke, first observed by
Wilson, of Dublin, in 1746, butfirst explained by Lord Mahon in 1779.
In Galvani's experiment the frog, while it merely lay on the .table, so
being insulated, had its electricities separated by induction at every
turn of the machine, and on the passage of every spark their reunion
took place, but with so small effect that it escaped notice. When,
however, the animal was placed in connection with the ground, through
the knife and body of the professor, one of the separated electricities
freely escaped, thus rendering a greater inductive charge possible, and
raising the return stroke to a sufficient strength to convulse the dead
limbs. It is but fair to add that Galvani himself suggested this explana-
tion some years later.

1 82 A History of Electric Telegraphy

had hung them, by an iron hook, from the top of an
iron rail of the balcony outside Galvani's laboratory
to be ready for use. Soon he noticed that when, by
accident, a frog was pressed, or blown, against the
rail, the legs contracted as they were wont to do when
excited by the electricity of the machine, or of the
atmosphere. Surprised at this effect where there was
apparently no exciting cause, he called his uncle to
witness it, but Galvani dismissed it on the easy
assumption that the movements were connected with
some unseen changes in the electrical state of the
atmosphere. He soon, however, found that this was
not the case, and, after varying in many ways the
circumstances in which the frogs were placed, at
length discovered that the convulsions were the
result of the simultaneous contact of the iron with the
nerves and muscles, and that the effect was increased
by using a combination of different metals — such as
iron and silver, or iron and copper.

Galvani, who was an anatomist first and an elec-
trician afterwards, accounted for these effects by sup-
posing that in the animal economy there exists a
natural source of electricity ; that at the junction of
the nerves and muscles this electricity is decomposed,
the positive fluid going to the nerve, and the negative
to the muscle ; that these are, therefore, analogous
to the internal and external coatings of a charged
Leyden jar ; that the metallic connection made
between the nerve and the muscle serves as a con-

to the Year 1837. 183

ductor for these opposite electricities ; and that, on
establishing the connection, the same discharge takes
place as in the Leyden experiment. Galvani's re-
searches were not made public until the year 1791,
when they were embodied in his celebrated paper
printed in the Bolognese Transactions of that year.

It will be evident from this account, which is based
upon the researches of Gherardi, Galvani's biographer,
supported by original documents, how absurd is the
popular story, first invented by Alibert in his Eloges
historiques de Galvani (Paris, 1802 J, and constantly
repeated since, that "this immortal discovery arose,
in the most immediate and direct way, from a slight
cold with which Madame Galvani was attacked in
1790, and for which her physician prescribed the use
of frog-broth." As if frog-broth were usually prepared
in the laboratory !

Luigi Galvani was bom at Bologna on the 9th of
September, 1737, and died there December 4, 1798.
From his youth he was remarkable for the ardour
with which he prosecuted his studies in anatomy and
physiology, and at the early age of twenty-five he was
appointed professor of these sciences in the University
of his native place.

The closing years of his life form a sad contrast to
those of his great contemporary, Volta, who died, in
1827, covered with honours.* At the moment when

* Alessandro Volta was bom at Como, February 19, 1745. Soon
after his discovery of the pile, in 1801, he was invited to Paris, and

184 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Galvani was immortalising his name, he was obliged
to undergo the most cruel blows of destiny ; for he
lost his dearly loved wife, Lucia Galeazzi, and, a
short time afterwards, had the misfortune to be
ordered by the Cisalpine Republic to take an oath
which was entirely opposed to his political and reli-
gious convictions. He did not hesitate a moment, but
promptly refused, and permitted himself to be stripped
of his position and titles. Reduced nearly to poverty,
he retired to his brother's house, and soon fell into
a state of lethargy from which he could be aroused,
neither by medicine, nor by the decree of the govern-
ment, which, out of respect for his celebrity, reinstated
him in his position as professor of anatomy in the
University of Bologna. The great physicist died
without having again occupied the chair which he had
rendered so illustrious.

was honoured with the presence of the First Consul while repeating
his experiments before the Institute. Bonaparte conferred upon him
the orders of the Legion of Honour, and of the Iron Crown, and he
was afterwards nominated a count, and senator of the kingdom of Italy.
At the formation of the Italian Institute, a meeting was held, at which
Bonaparte presided, for the purpose of nominating the principal mem-
bers. When they were considering whether or not they should draw
up a list of tte members in an alphabetical order, Bonaparte wrote at
the head of a sheet of paper the name of Volta, and, delivering it to
the secretary, said, " Do as you please at present, provided that name
is the first." At his death, on March 5, 1827, his fellow-citizens struck
a medal, and erected a monument to his memory ; and a niche in the
fa9ade of the public schools of Como, which had been lefl empty for
him between the busts of Pliny and Giovio, natives of the town, was
filled by his bust. See note on p. 84.

to the Year 1837. 185

In 1879, the city of Bologna erected a statue in
his honour, from the chisel of Adalbert Cincetti, the
eminent Roman sculptor. It represents him at the
moment when the muscles of the frog are revealing to
him the effects of electricity on the animal organism.

Galvani's theory fascinated for a time the physio-
logists. The phenomena of animal life had hitherto
been ascribed to an hypothetical agent, called the
nervous fluid, which now the new discovery had
consigned to oblivion. Electricity was, henceforth,
the great vital force, by which the decrees of the
understanding, and the dictates of the will, were con-
veyed from the organs of the brain to the obedient
members of the body.

1 86 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER VII.

DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY — HISTORY IN RELATION TO
TELEGRAPHY (continued).

Alexander Volta, then Professor of Physics at
Pavia, and already well-known for his researches in
electricity, had naturally his attention directed, in
common with other philosophers, to the Bolognese ex-
periments, and, although at first he warmly espoused
Galvani's opinions, his superior sagacity soon enabled
him to detect their want of basis. He first ascertained
that the contractions of the frog ensued on simply
touching, with the extremities of the metallic arc, two
points of the same nervous filament ; he next found
that it was possible with the metallic arc to produce,
either the sensation of light, or that of taste, by ap-
plying it to the nerves of the eye and tongue respec-
tively.* In short, he ended by showing that the
exciting cause was nothing more nor less than ordi-
nary electricity, produced by the contact of the two
metals, the convulsion of the frog being simply due

* These observations were independently made in England about
the same time (1793) ; the one by Fowler, and the other by Professor
Robison, of Edinburgh.

to the Year 1837. 187

to the passage of the electricity so developed along
the nerves and muscles.*

The first analogy which Volta produced in support of
his theory of contact was derived from the well-known
experiment of Sulzer, which we have just described in
these pages. From that it is seen that if two pieces
of dissimilar metal, such as lead and silver, be placed
one above, and the other below, the tongue, no par-
ticular effect will be perceived so long as they are not
in contact with each other ; but if their outer edges
be brought together, a peculiar taste will be felt If
the metals be applied in one order, the taste will be
acidulous. If the order be inverted, it will be alkaline.
Now, if the tongue be applied to the conductor of a
common electrical machine, an acidulous, or alkaline,
taste will be perceived, according as the conductor is
electriiied positively, or negatively. Volta contended,
therefore, that the identity of the cause should be
inferred from the identity of the effects ; that, as
positive electricity produced an acid savour, and
negative electricity an alkaline, on the conductor of

* Volta first broached Ms contact theory in two letters, in French, to
Cavallo, dated September 13 and October 25, 1792. See Phil. Trans.,
1793, pp. 10-44 ; also chaps, x. and xiii. vol. i. of Robertson's Mim<rires
Ricriatifs, Paris, 1840, for much interesting information on the early
history of galvanism. Robertson was a celebrated aeronaut, a friend
of Volta, and one of the foimders of the Galvanic Society of Paris early
in the present century. Dubois Reymond, in his Untersuchungen iiber
thierische Elektricitdt, Berlin, 1848, gives a good account of this cele-
brated dispute, from a physiologist's point of view. See pp. 3-19 of
the English translation, edited by Dr. Bence Jones, Loudon, 1852.

1 88 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the machine, so the same effects on the organs of
taste produced by the metals ought to be ascribed to
the same cause.

In August 1796, Volta arranged an experiment
which, by eliminating the physiological element,
afforded, as he thought, a direct and unequivocal
proof of the correctness of his hypothesis. He took
two discs, one of copper and the other of zinc, and, by
means of their insulating handles, carefully brought
them into contact and suddenly separated them with-
out friction ; then, on presenting them to a delicate
condensing electroscope, the usual indications of elec-
tricity were obtained, the zinc being found to be feebly
charged with positive, and the copper with negative,
electricity.

Of the numerous philosophers in every part of
Europe who took part in the discussions, and varied
and repeated the experiments connected with these
questions, one to whom attention is more especially
due was Fabroni, who, in the year 1792, communi-
cated his researches to the Florentine Academy. In
this paper is found the first suggestion of the chemical
origin of galvanic electricity.

Fabroni supposed that, in the experiments of Gal-
vani and Volta, a chemical change was made by the
contact of one of the metals with the liquid matter
always found on the parts of the animal body ; and
that the immediate cause of the convulsions was not,
as supposed by Galvani, due to animal electricity, nor.

to the Year 1837. 189

as assumed by Volta, to a current of electricity ema-
nating from the surface of contact of the two metals,
but to the decomposition of the fluid upon the animal
substance, and the transition of oxygen from a state
of combination with it to combination with the metal.
The electricity produced in the experiments Fabroni
ascribed entirely to these chemical changes, it being
then known that chemical processes were generally
attended with sensible signs of electricity.*

Galvani's theory was soon rejected on all hands,
but a bitter war raged for a long time between the
partisans of the contact theory of Volta and of the
chemical theory of Fabroni. Now, however, it is gene-
rally conceded that both contact between dissimilar
substances and chemical action are necessary to pro-
duce the effect " Perhaps," says Fleeming Jenkin, in
his excellent little text-book, "it is strictly accurate
to say that difference of potential is produced by con-
tact, and that the current which is maintained by it is
produced by chemical action." t

In pursuing his inquiries on galvanic electricity,
Volta felt the necessity of collecting it in much greater
quantities than could be obtained from the combina-
tion of a single pair of copper and zinc plates as
above described, and he, therefore, sought for some

» Journal de Physique, xlix. p. 348.

t This theory was, we believe, first propounded in England by Sir
Humphry Davy in 1806. See Lardner's Electricily, Magnetism, and
Meteorology, vol. i. p. 164.

I go A History of Electric Telegraphy

means by which he could combine, and, as it were,
superpose two or more currents, and thus multiply
the effect. With this object he conceived the idea
of placing alternately, one over the other, an equal
number of discs of copper and zinc ; but he found
that the effect produced was no greater than that of
a single pair, and for reasons which he was not slow
to perceive. With such an arrangement as that
described, there would proceed, according to Volta's
own theory, from the first surface a negative downward
and a positive upward current, from the second a
positive downward and a negative upward, and from
the third a negative downward and a positive upward,
and so on. The downward currents would be alter-
nately positive and negative, and the same would
be the case with the upward currents ; and since the
surfaces of contact were equal, all the intermediate
currents would neutralise each other, and the effect of
the pile would simply be that of the two extreme
discs.

Volta, therefore, saw the necessity of adopting some
expedient by which all the currents in the same
direction should be of the same kind, and, if this
could be accomplished, it was easy to see that the
resulting currents, negative at the bottom and positive
at the top, would be as many times more intense as
there were surfaces of contact. To effect this it was
necessary to destroy the galvanic action at all those
surfaces from which descending positive and ascending

to the Year 1837. 191

negative currents would proceed ; but while this was
being done it was also essential that the progress
of the descending negative and ascending positive
currents should still be uninterrupted. The inter-
position of any substance, which would have no
sensible galvanic action on either of the metals
between each disc of copper and the disc of zinc
immediately below it, would attain one of these
ends, but in order to allow the free progress of the
remaining currents in each direction, such substance
should be a sufficiently good conductor of elec-
tricity. Volta selected, as the fittest means of ful-
filling these conditions, discs of wet cloth, which
would give rise to no galvanic action, while their
moisture would endow them with sufficient conducting
power.

Although the principle of the pile was thus evolved
as early as the middle of 1796, Volta does not appear
to have actually constructed the instrument with
which his name has become so imperishably Jissociated
until some three years later, and it was not until
the 20th March, 1800, that he published a description
of it in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the
Royal Society. In this letter he thus writes : — " I
took some dozens of discs of copper, brass, or better,
of silver, one inch in diameter (coins for instance), and
an equal number of plates of tin, or, what is much
better, of zinc. I prepared also a sufficient number
of discs of card-board, leather, or some other spongy

192 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Fig.

matter capable of imbibing and retaining water, or,
what is much better, brine. I placed on a table a
disc of silver, and on it a disc of zinc, then one of the
moist discs ; then another disc of silver, followed by
one of zinc, and one of card-board.
I continued to form of these several
stages a column as high as could
sustain itself without falling."

Fig. 3 represents one of the
earliest forms of the pile. It con-
sists of discs of silver, S, zinc, Z,
and some bibulous substance soaked
in brine, W. The rods R, R, R,
are of glass, or baked wood, and
with the piece O, which slides freely
up and down, serve to keep the
discs in position.

The invention of the pile had
been scarcely more than hinted at,
when the compound nature of
water was discovered by its means.
The first four pages only of the
letter of Volta to Sir Joseph Banks
were despatched on the 20th of March, 1800 ; and as
these were not produced in public till the receipt of
the remainder, the letter was not read at the Royal
Society, or published, until the 26th of June following.
This first portion, in which was described, generally,
the formation of the pile, was, however, shown in the

to the Year 1837. 193

latter end of April to some scientific men, and, among
others, to Sir Anthony (then Mr.) Carlisle, who was
engaged at the time in certain physiological inquiries.
Mr. W. Nicholson, the conductor of the scientific
journal known as Nicholson's Journal, and Carlisle
constructed a pile of seventeen silver half-crown
pieces alternated with equal discs of copper and cloth
soaked in a weak solution of common salt, with
which, on the 30th of April, they commenced their
experiments.

It happened that a drop of water was used to make
good the contact of the conducting wire with a plate
to which the electricity was to be transmitted ; Carlisle
observed a disengagement of gas in this water, and
Nicholson recognised the odour of hydrogen pro-
ceeding from it. In order to observe this effect with
more advantage, a small glass tube, open at both ends,
was stopped at one end by a cork, and being then
filled with water was similarly stopped at the other
end. Through both corks pieces of brass wire were
inserted, the points of which were adjusted at a
distance of an inch and three-quarters asunder in the
water. When these wires were put in communication
with the opposite ends of the pile, bubbles of gas were
evolved from the point of the negative wire, and the
end of the positive wire became tarnished. The gas
evolved appeared on examination to be hydrogen, and
the tarnish was found to proceed from the oxydation
of the positive wire. Thus was inaugurated on the

O

194 A History of Electric Telegraphy

2nd of May, 1800, a new line of research, the limits of
which, even now, it is impossible to foresee.*

Nicholson observed that the same process of the
decomposition of water was carried on in the body of
the pile, as between the two ends of the wire, the
side of the zinc next the fluid being covered with
oxide in two, or three, days, and the apparatus then
ceasing to act. He also observed that the common
salt, which had been dissolved in the water, was
precipitated, for, gradually, an efflorescence of soda
appeared round the margin of the discs.

Nicholson made the further important observation
that, by employing discs of considerably more ex-
tensive surface, no greater effect was produced in
the decomposition of water, or in the strength of the
shock ; whence he concluded that the repetition of the
series is of more consequence to these actions than
the enlargement of the surface.!

Cruickshank, of Woolwich, confirmed the observa-
tions of Nicholson respecting the appearance of sparks
and the decomposition of water. This last pheno-

* Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy, for 1 800, vol. iv. p. 1 79,
For the composition and decomposition of water by the electric spark,
see Lord Brougham's paper in the Mechanics^ Magazine, for November 9,

1839-

t In some experiments on the combustion of metals, Fourcroy,
Thenard, and Vauquelin made the same observation in connection with
the trough form of the pile. They found that the energy of the shock
and the power of decomposition were not increased by the size of the
plates, but by the number of the repetitions ; while the same extent of
surface, arranged in the form of a few large plates, readily consumed
metallic leaves. — Annales de Chimie, xxxix. 103.

to the Year 1837. ^95

menon he varied in different ways. By employing
silver terminals, or electrodes, and passing the current
through water tinged with litmus, he found that the
wire connected with the zinc end of the pile imparted
a red tinge to the fluid contiguous to it ; and that, by
using water tinged with Brazil wood, the wire con-
nected with the silver end of the pile produced a
deeper shade of colour in the surrounding fluid ;
whence it appeared that an acid was formed in the
former, and an alkali in the latter, case.

He next tried the effects of the wires on solutions
of acetate of lead, sulphate of copper, and nitrate of
silver, with the result that, in each case, the metallic
base was deposited at the negative, and the acid at
the positive pole. In the latter case he observes,
" the metal shot into fine needles, like crystals articu-
lated, or jointed, to each other, as in the Arbor
Diance." Muriate of ammonia and nitrate of mag-
nesia were next decomposed, the acid, as before,
going to the positive, and the alkali to the negative,
pole.

These experiments were made as early as June
1800; and in the September following, Cruickshank
published a second memoir, in which he directed his
attention to the nature of the gases emitted at the
electrodes ; to the effects of different kinds of elec-
trodes ; and to the influence of the fluid medium.
The following are the most important of his con-
clusions : —

O 2 ■

196 A History of Electric Telegraphy

(i). From the wire connected with the silver, or
copper, end of the pile, whatever be its composition,
if it terminate in water, the gas evolved is, chiefly,
hydrogen ; if it terminate in a metallic solution, the
metal is reduced and is deposited upon the wire.

(2). When the wire connected with the zinc end

is composed of a non-oxydable metal, nearly pure

/Oxygen is set free ; when of an oxydable metal, it

is partly oxydated, and partly dissolved, and only a

small quantity of oxygen is set free.

(3). When fluids contain no oxygen they appear
to be incapable of transmitting the voltaic current ;
while, on the contrary, it would seem that it may
be transmitted by every one which contains this
element.*

These views were confirmed by some experiments
that were performed, about the same time, by Colonel
Haldane. He found that the pile ceased to act when
immersed in water, or when placed in the vacuum of
an air-pump ; that it acted more powerfully in oxygen
gas than when confined in an equal bulk of atmo-
spheric air,t and that azote had the same effect as a
vacuum. These circumstances led him to conceive
that its action depended essentially upon the con-
sumption of oxygen, which it derives from the atmo-
sphere. Haldane also made some experiments on the

* Nicholson's Journal, iv. pp. 187 and 254.

t Biot and Cuvier observed the converse of this. When the pile
was enclosed in a limited quantity of air, they found that, after some
time, the air was sensibly deoxydated. — Annales de Chimie, xxxix. 242.

to the Year 1837. J97

series of metals which are the best adapted for pro-
ducing the vohaic effects, and the relative power
which they possess in this respect.*

While these investigations were proceeding, Ritter,
afterwards so distinguished for his experimental re-
searches, but then young and unknown, made various
experiments at Jena on the effects of the pile ; and,
apparently without knowing what had been done in
England, discovered its property of decomposing water
and saline compounds, and of collecting oxygen and
the acids at the positive, and hydrogen and the bases
at the negative, pole. He also showed that the
decomposing power in the case of water could be
transmitted through sulphuric acid, the oxygen being
evolved from a portion of water on one side of the
acid, while the hydrogen was produced from another
separate portion on the other side of it.f

When the chemical powers of the pile became
known in England, Sir Humphry (then Mr.) Davy
was commencing those labours in chemical science
which subsequently surrounded his name with so
much lustre, and have left traces of his genius in the
history of scientific discovery, which must remain as
long as the knowledge of the laws of nature is valued
by mankind. The circumstance attending the de-
compositions effected between the poles of the pile
which caused the greatest surprise was the production
of one element of the compound at one pole, and the

* Nicholson's Journal, iv. pp. 247, 313. t Ibid., iv. 511.

198 A History of Electric Telegraphy

other element at the other pole, without any discover-
able transfer of either of the disengaged elements be-
tween the wires. If the decomposition was conceived
to take place at the positive wire, the constituent
appearing at the negative wire must be presumed to
travel through the fluid in the separated state from
the positive to the negative point ; and if it was con-
ceived to take place at the negative wire, a similar
transfer must be imagined in the opposite direction.

Thus, if water be decomposed, and the decomposi-
tion be conceived to take place at the positive wire
where the oxygen is visibly evolved, the hydrogen
from which that oxygen is separated must be sup-
posed to travel through the water to the negative
wire, and only to become visible when it meets the
point of that wire ; and if, on the other hand, the
decomposition be imagined to take place at the
negative wire where the hydrogen is visibly evolved,
the oxygen must be supposed to pass invisibly
through the water to the point of the positive wire,
and there become visible. But what appeared still
more unaccountable was, that in the experiment of
Ritter it would seem that one, or other, of the ele-
ments of the water must have passed through the
intervening sulphuric acid. So impossible did such
an invisible transfer appear to Ritter, that at that
time he regarded his experiment as proving that one
portion of the water acted on was wholly converted
into oxygen, and the other portion into hydrogen.

to the Year 1837. 199

This point was the first to attract the attention of
Davy,* and it occurred to him to try if decomposition
could be produced in quantities of water contained
in separate vessels united by a conducting substance,
placing the positive wire in one vessel and the nega-
tive in the other. For this purpose, the positive and
negative wires were immersed in two separate glasses
of pure water. So long as the glasses remained
unconnected, no effect was produced ; but when Davy
put a finger of the right hand in one glass, and of the
left hand in the other, decomposition was immediately
manifested. The same experiment was afterwards
repeated, making the communication between the two
glasses by a chain of three persons. If any substance
passed between the wires in these cases, it must have
been transmitted through the bodies of the persons
forming the line of communication between the glasses.

The use of the living animal body as a line of com-
munication being inconvenient where experiments of
long continuance were desired, Davy substituted fresh
muscular fibre, the conducting power of which, though
inferior to that of the living animal, was sufficient.
When the two glasses were connected by this sub-
stance, decomposition went on as before, but more
slowly.

To ascertain whether metallic communication

* In our account of Davy's researches we follow mainly Lardner's
Electricity, Magnetism, and Meteorology, vol. i. pp. 119-29, which we
have carefully collated with Davy's own memoir in the Phil. Trans.,
for 1801.

200 A History of Electric Telegraphy

between the liquid decomposed and the pile was
essential, he now placed lines of muscular fibre be-
tween the ends of the pile and the glasses of water
respectively, and at the same time connected the two
glasses with each other by means of a metallic wire.
He was surprised to find oxygen evolved in the
negative, and hydrogen in ^& positive, glass, contrary
to what had occurred when the pile was connected
with the glasses by wires. In none of these cases
did he observe the disengagement of gas, -either from
the muscular fibre, or from the living hand immersed
in the water.

In October 1800, after many experiments on the
chemical effects of the pile, Davy commenced an
investigation of the relation which its power had to
the chemical action of the liquid conductor on the
more oxydable of its metallic elements. He showed
that at common temperatures zinc connected with
silver suffers no oxydation in water which is well
purged of air and free from acids ; and that, with
such water as a liquid conductor, the pile is incapable
of evolving any quantity of electricity which can be
rendered sensible, either by the shock, or by the
decomposition of water ; but that, if the water hold
in combination oxygen or acid, then oxydation of the
zinc takes place, and electricity is sensibly evolved. In
fine, he concluded that the power of the pile appeared
to be, in great measure, proportional to the power of
the liquid between the plates to oxydate the zinc.

to the Year 1837. 201

To ascertain whether a liquid solution, capable of
conducting the electric current between the positive
and negative wires of a voltaic pile, but not capable
of producing any chemical action on its metallic
elements, would, when used between its plates,
evolve electricity, Davy constructed a pile in which
the liquid was a solution of sulphuret of strontia.*
Twenty-five pairs of silver and zinc plates, alternated
with cloths moistened in this solution, produced no
sensible action, though the moment the sides of the
pile were moistened with nitrous acid, the ends gave
shocks as powerful as those of a similar pile con-
structed in the usual manner.

The inventor of the pile maintained that, among
the metals, those which held the extreme places in
the scale of electromotive power were silver and zinc ;
and that, consequently, these metals, paired in a pile,
would be more powerful, cateris paribus, than any
other. But as he had shown that pure charcoal was
a good conductor of the electric current, and that the
electromotive virtue seemed also to depend on the
different conducting powers of the metallic elements,
it was consistent with analogy that charcoal, com-
bined with another substance of different conducting
power, would produce voltaic action. Dr. Wells f was

* When the current from an active pile was transmitted through
this liquid, the shock was as sensible as if the communication had been
made through water.

t .Phil. Trans., 1795.

202 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the first to demonstrate this by showing that a
combination of charcoal and zinc produced sensible
convulsions in the frog ; and, subsequently, Davy con-
structed a pile, consisting of a series of eight glasses,
with small pieces of well-burned charcoal and zinc,
using a solution of red sulphate of iron as the liquid
conductor. This series gave sensible shocks, and
rapidly decomposed water. Compared with an equal
and similar series of silver and zinc, its effects were
much stronger.

In considering the various arrangements and
combinations in which voltaic action had been mani-
fested, Davy observed, as a common character, that
one of the two metallic elements was oxydated, and
the other not. Did the production of the electric
current, then, depend merely on the presence of
two metallic surfaces, one undergoing oxydation,
separated by a conductor of electricity ? and, if so,
might not a voltaic arrangement be made by one
metal only, if its opposite surfaces were placed in
contact with two different liquids, one of which would
oxydate it, and the other transmit electricity without
producing oxydation ? To reduce these questions to
the test of experiment with a single metallic plate
would have been easy ; but in constructing a series,
or pile, the two liquids, the oxydating and the
non-oxydating, must be in contact, and subject to
intermixture. To overcome this difficulty, different
expedients were resorted to, with more or less sue-

to the Year 1837. 203

cess ; but the most convenient and effectual method
of attaining the desired end was that suggested to
Davy by Count Rumford.

Let an oblong trough be formed as a substitute for
the pile ; and let grooves be made in it such as to
allow of the insertion of a number of plates, by which
the trough may be divided into a series of water-tight
cells. Let plates of the metal of which the apparatus
is to be constructed be made to fit these grooves ; and
let as many plates of glass, or other non-conducting
material, of the same form and magnitude, be pro-
vided. Let the metallic plates be inserted in alter-
nate grooves of the trough, and the glass plates in
the intermediate grooves, so as to divide the trough
into a succession of cells, each having on one side
metal, and on the other, glass. Let the alternate cells
be filled with the oxydating liquid, and the inter-
mediate cells with the liquid which conducts without
oxydating. Let slips of moistened cloth be hung
over the edge of each of the glass plates, so that
their ends shall dip into the liquids in the adjacent
cells. This cloth, or rather the liquid it imbibes, will
conduct the electric current from cell to cell, without
permitting the intermixture of the liquids.

In the first arrangements made on this principle,
the most oxydable metals, such as zinc, tin, and
some others, were tried. The oxydating liquid was
dilute nitric acid, and the other plain water. In
a combination consisting of twenty such pairs

204 ^ History of Electric Telegraphy

sensible but weak effects were produced on the organs
of sense, and water was decomposed slowly by wires
from the extremities. The wire from the end towards
which the oxydating surfaces were directed evolved
hydrogen, and the other oxygen.

To determine whether the evolution of the electric
current was dependent on the production of oxydation
only, or would attend other chemical effects producible
by the action of substances in solution upon metal,
the oxydating liquid was now replaced by solutions
of the sulphurets, and metallic plates were selected
on which these solutions would exert a chemical
action. Silver, copper, and lead were tried in this
way, solution of sulphuret of potash and pure water
being the liquids employed. A series of eight metallic
plates produced sensible effects. Copper was the most
active of the metals tried, and lead the least so. In
these cases, the terminal wires effected, in the usual
manner, the decomposition of water, the wire from
which hydrogen was evolved being that which was con-
nected with the end of the series to which the surface
of the metal not chemically acted on was presented.

It will be observed that in this case the direction
of the electric current relatively to the surfaces of
the metallic plates was the reverse of the former, for
when oxydation was produced, the oxydating sides
of the plates looked towards the negative end of the
series. Comparing these two effects, Davy was led
by analogy to suspect that if one set of cells was

to the Year 1837. 205

filled with an oxydating solution, while the other set
was filled with a solution of sulphuret, or any other
which would produce a like chemical action, the com-
bined effects of the currents proceeding from the two
distinct chemical processes would be obtained. This
was accordingly tried, and the results were as fore-
seen. A series, consisting of three plates of copper, or
silver, arranged in this way, produced sensible effects ;
and twelve or thirteen decomposed water rapidly.
, As it appeared from former experiments that char-
coal possessed, as a voltaic element, the same pro-
perties as the metals, the next step in this course of
experiments was, naturally, to try whether a voltaic
arrangement could not be constructed without any
metallic element, by substituting charcoal for the
metallic plates in the series above described. This
was accomplished by means of an arrangement in the
form of the couronne des tasses. Pieces of charcoal,
made from very dense wood, were formed into arcs ;
and the liquids were arranged in alternate glasses
The charcoal arcs were placed so as to have one end
immersed in each liquid, the intermediate glasses
being connected by slips of bibulous paper. When the
liquids were dilute acid and water, a series consisting
of twenty pieces of charcoal gave sensible shocks, and
decomposed water. This arrangement also acted, and
with increased effect, when the liquids were sulphuric
acid and solution of sulphuret of potash.

Soon after the discovery of the pile, Dr. Wollaston

2o6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

turned his attention to the subject, and in the Philo-
sophical Transactions, for i8oi (p. 427), records his
observations, which are marked by his accustomed
sagacity and penetration. He observed, Hke Davy, that
the energy of the pile seemed to be in proportion to
the tendency which one of the metals had to be acted
upon by the interposed fluid. If, he says, a plate of
zinc and a plate of silver be immersed in dilute sul-
phuric acid, and kept asunder, the silver is not affected,
but the zinc begins to decompose the water, and to
evolve hydrogen. If the plates be now placed in con-
tact, the silver discharges hydrogen, and the zinc con-
tinues, as before, to be dissolved. From these and
other analogous facts, he concludes, that whenever a
metal is dissolved by an acid, electricity is disengaged.*
Davy's experiments have shown that in all voltaic
combinations only one of the metallic elements is
attacked by the liquid ; but this condition, although
desirable, is not essential to the production of elec-
tricity. It is sufficient if the chemical action of the
liquid upon one of the metals be greater than upon
the other ; for then the two metals may be considered
to give rise to two separate currents, of which the
one proceeding from the metal most attacked is the
stronger, the current perceived being the difference

* He extends this principle to the action of the electrical machine,
which, he conceives, has its power increased by applying to ihe cushion
an amalgam, into the composition of which enters an easily oxydable
metal. Clearly the zinc used by WoUaston was very impure, for, as we
now know, pure zinc is unaffected so long as it is not joined to ihe silver.

to the Year 1837. 207

between the two. If the currents were absolutely
equal, a condition, however, practically impossible to
realise, we must assume that no electrical effects
would be produced.

As a voltaic current, then, is produced whenever
two metals are placed in metallic contact in a liquid
which acts more powerfully upon one than upon the
other, it is easy to see that there must be a great
choice in the mode of producing such currents. The
following is a list of the principal metals, arranged in
what is called an electromotive series, and from which
any two being taken and placed in contact in, say,
dilute sulphuric acid, that metal highest in the list is
the one that will suffer oxydation. This is called the
electropositive metal in contradistinction to its fellow,
which is denominated electronegative : —

Zinc

Nickel

Silver

Cadmium

Bismuth

Gold

Tin

Antimony

PlatiBum

Lead

Copper

Graphite

Iron

Mercury

It will be seen that the electrical deportment of any
metal depends upon the metal with which it is asso-
ciated. Iron, for instance, is electronegative towards
zinc, but electropositive towards copper ; while copper,
in its turn, is electronegative towards iron and zinc, but
electropositive towards silver, platinum, or graphite.

The force resulting from the contact of two metals,
in a liquid is called the electromotive force, and, as may
be supposed, is greater in proportion to the distance

2o8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of the two metals from one another in the above
list. Thus, the electromotive force between zinc and
platinum is greater than that between zinc and iron, or
between zinc and copper. Indeed the law, as estab-
lished by Poggendorfif, is, that the electromotive force
between any two metals is equal to the sum of the elec-
tromotive forces between all the intervening metals.*

The electromotfve force is influenced by the con-
dition of the metal ; rolled zinc, for example, is
negative towards cast zinc. It also depends on the
degree of concentration of the liquid ; thus, in dilute
nitric acid zinc is positive towards tin, and mercury
positive towards lead ; while in concentrated nitric
acid, the reverse is the case, mercury and zinc being
respectively electronegative towards lead and tin.

The nature of the liquid is also of influence, as
is seen from the change in the relative position of the
metals in the following lists : —

Caustic Potass.

Sulphide of Potassium

Zinc

Zinc

Tin

Copper

Cadmium

Cadmium

Antimony

Tin

Lead

Silver

Bismnth

Antimony

Iron

T«,d

Copper

Bismuth

Nickel

Nickel

Silver

Iron

In short, anything that affects the energy of the
chemical action on the positive plate, or the resultant
• Ganot's Elementary Treatise on Phyiics, London, 1881, p. 707.

to the Year 1837. 209

actions on the two plates, affects to a like degree the
electromotive force of the combination.

Of the theories proposed to explain chemical de-
composition by the voltaic apparatus, that of Grotthus
was the earliest and most plausible. To simplify the
view of this theory, we shall take as an example of its
application the decomposition of water. Each mole-
cule of water being composed of a molecule of oxygen
and a molecule of hydrogen, their natural electricities
are in equilibrium when not exposed to any disturbing
force, each possessing equal quantities of the positive
and negative fluids. The electricity of the positive
wire acting on the natural electricities of the conti-
guous molecule of water, attracts the negative and
repels the positive fluid. It is further assumed in
this theory, that oxygen has a natural attraction for
negative, and hydrogen for positive electricity ; there-
fore the positive wire in attracting the negative fluid
of the contiguous molecule of water, and repelling
its positive fluid, attracts its constituent molecule of
oxygen, and repels its molecule of hydrogen. The
particle of water, therefore, places itself with its
oxygen next the positive wire, and its hydrogen on
the opposite side.

The positive electricity of the first particle of water
thus accumulated on its hydrogen molecule, produces
the same action on the succeeding molecule of water
as the wire did upon the first molecule ; and a similar
arrangement of the second molecule of water is the

P

2IO A History of Electric Telegraphy

result. This second molecule acts in like manner
on the third, and so on. All the particles of water
between the positive and negative wires thus assume
a polar arrangement, and have their natural electri-
cities decomposed; the negative poles and oxygen
molecules looking towards the positive wire, and
the positive poles and hydrogen molecules looking
towards the negative wire. The electro-positive wire
now separates the oxygen molecule of the contiguous
particle of water from its hydrogen molecule, neutral-
ises its negative electricity, and either dismisses it
(the oxygen) in the gaseous form, or combines with
it, according to the degree of its affinity for the metal
of the wire. The hydrogen molecule thus liberated
effects in like manner the decomposition of the second
particle of water, combining with its oxygen, and thus
again forming water, and liberating hydrogen. The
latter acts in the same manner on the next particle of
water, and so on.

Thus, a series of decompositions and recompositions
is supposed to be carried on through the fluid, until
the process reaches the particle of water contiguous to
the negative wire. The molecule of hydrogen there
disengaged gives up its positive electricity (by which
an equal portion of negative electricity proceeding
from the wire is neutralised), and then escapes in the
gaseous form. It is equally compatible with this
theory to suppose the series of decompositions and
recompositions to commence at the negative and

to the Year 1837. 211

terminate at the positive wire, or to commence simul-
taneously at both, and terminate at an intermediate
point by the union of the last molecule of oxygen
disengaged in the one series with the last molecule of
hydrogen disengaged in the other.

Grotthus illustrated this ingenious hypothesis by
comparing the supposed phenomena with the mecha-
nical effects produced when a number of elastic balls
— ivory balls for example — are suspended, so that
their centres shall be in the same straight line, and
their surfaces mutually touch, and either of the ex-
treme balls of the series is raised and let fall against
the adjacent one. The effect is propagated through
the series, and although action and reaction are
suffered by each ball, and each is instrumental in
transmitting the effect, no visible change takes place
in any ball except the last, which alone recoils in
consequence of the impact.*

The investigations of which the pile became the
instrument now began to assume an importance which
rendered it necessary to give it greater power, either
by increasing its height, or by enlarging the surfaces
of the plates. In either case, inconveniences were
encountered which imposed a practical limit to the
increase of its power. When the number, or magni-
tude, of the discs was considerable, the incumbent
pressure discharged the liquid from the intermediate

* Lardner's Electricity, Magnetism, and Meteorology, vol. i. pp.
135-37 ; also Phil. Mag., for 1806, vol. xxv. p. 334.

P 2

212 A History of Electric Telegraphy

card-board, so that the energy of the pile gradually-
diminished from the first, and ultimately ceased
altogether.* It had then to be taken to pieces, the
metals cleaned, and the card-board re-soaked in the
solution, every time it was required.

Volta himself, seeing these inconveniences, pro-
posed an arrangement which he called la couronne
des tasses, and which consisted of a circle, or row, of
small cups containing a solution of salt. In each cup
were placed a small plate, or bar, of zinc, and another
of silver, not touching, the zinc of the first cup being
connected metallically to the silver of the second,
the zinc of this to the silver of the third, and so on.
The silver rod of the first cup and the zinc rod of
the last formed the poles of the apparatus. Twenty
such combinations were able to decompose water,
and thirty gave a distinct shock to the moistened
hands.

A still more convenient form was that known as
CruickshanKs Battery, which was introduced in 1800,
within a few weeks of the announcement of Volta's
discovery. It consisted of a number of pairs of zinc
and copper plates soldered together and cemented
into grooves in an oblong trough of wood, the spaces
between each being filled with the exciting liquid.
On this plan was constructed the great battery of

* To prevent this, Ritter turned up the edges of the lower discs so
as to retain the liquid. His piles were thus able to preserve their
powers for a fortnight. See the Phil. Mag., vol. xxiii. p. 51.

to the Year 1837. 213

600 pairs given to the Polytechnic School of Paris by
Napoleon I., and with which Gay Lussac and Th^nard
made their experiments in 1808.*

Dr. Babington's arrangement was a great improve-
ment upon this form. The plates of copper and zinc,
four inches square, were united in pairs by soldering
at one point only. The trough in which they were
immersed was made of porcelain, and divided into
ten, or twelve, equal compartments. The plates were
attached to a strip of wood, well baked and varnished,
and so arranged that each pair should enclose a par-
tition between them when let down into the trough.
By this means the whole set could be lifted at once
into, or out of, the little cells, and thus, while the ex-
citing fluid remained in the trough, the action of the
battery could be suspended at pleasure, and the plates,
when corroded, could be easily replaced.

A battery of 2000 pairs, with a surface of 128,000
square inches, was made on this plan for the Royal

* An amusing story anent this battery is told in Dr. Paris's Life of
Sir Humphry Davy : — When Napoleon heard of the decomposition of
the alkalies by an English philosopher, he angrily questioned the savans
of the Paris Institute why the discovery had not been made in France.
The excuse alleged was the want of a battery of sufficient power. He
immediately commanded one to be made, and when completed he went
to see it. With his usual impetuosity, the Emperor seized the terminal
wires, and, before he could be checked by the attendant, applied them
to his tongue. His Imperial Majesty was rendered nearly senseless by
the shock, and as soon as he recovered from its effects he walked out
of the laboratory with as much composure as he could assume, not
requiring further experiments to test the power of the battery, nor did
he ever afterwards allude to the subject. — Vol. ii. p. 24.

214 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Institution of London, with which Davy and Faraday-
performed those long-continued and brilliant series of
experiments, for which the Royal Institution will ever
be celebrated.* Children in 1809, WoUaston in 1815,
Berzelius in 1818, and others, proposed various modi-
fications of the trough battery, all having for their
object increase of power, with more cleanliness and
less waste.

But all these arrangements of two metals in one
fluid, constituting what are now called single-fluid
batteries, had one great defect : their power, variable
from the first, rapidly declined, and, sooner or later,
ceased altogether.

This defect was due to two causes, first, the decrease
in the chemical action owing to the neutralisation of
the sulphuric acid by its combination with the zinc ;

* "When the whole series was put into action, platina, quartz,
sapphire, magnesia, and lime, were all rapidly fused ; while diamond,
charcoal, and plumbago, in small portions disappeared, and seemed to
be completely evaporated. A singularly beautiful effect was produced
by placing pieces of charcoal at the two ends of the wires ; when they
were brought within the thirtieth, or fortieth, part of an inch of each
other, a bright spark was produced, above half the volume of the
charcoal, which was rather more than an inch long, and the points
became ignited to whiteness. By virilthdrawing them from each other,
a. constant discharge took place through the heated air, in a space
equal to at least four inches, producing a most brilliant arc of light" —
Bostock's History of Galvanism, p. gj. This refers to Davy's experi-
ments of i8og, when he for the first time produced a contimtous arc of
light, but long before this the electric light, as a spark, had been ob-
tained from charcoal points, as by Davy himself (Nicholson's Journal,
Oct 1800, p. 150), by Moyes (Phil. Mag., vol. ix. p. 219), and by
Robertson, to whom we referred on p. 187 (Journal de Paris, Mar. 12,
1802). See The Electrician, vol. xi. p. 162.

to the Year 1837. 215

second, polarisation of the negative, or copper, plate,
giving rise to secondary currents. These are currents
which are produced in the battery in a contrary direc-
tion to the principal one, and which destroy it, either
totally, or partially. In a couple of zinc, copper, and
sulphuric acid diluted with water, for example, when
the circuit is closed sulphate of zinc is formed which
dissolves in the liquid, and at the same time hydrogen
gas, in what is called its nascent state, is gradually
deposited on the copper.

Now, it has been found that hydrogen deposited in
this manner on metallic surfaces acts far more ener-
getically than ordinary hydrogen. In virtue, there-
fore, of this increased action it gradually reduces
some of the sulphate of zinc dispersed in the liquid,
causing a layer of metallic zinc to be formed on the
surface of the copper plate ; hence, instead of having
two different metals, copper and zinc, we have two
metals becoming gradually less different, and, conse-
quently, in the connecting wire there are two currents
in opposite directions tending to become equal, and so
to neutralise one another. When the copper plate is
entirely covered with zinc the action of the couple
ceases, for the condition essential to this action no
longer exists, viz., two dissimilar metals.

Becquerel, of Brussels, was the first to recognise
these causes of the inconstancy of the voltaic battery,
and, in 1829, he devised the first double-fluid arrange-
ment, which, while it prevented polarisation, main-

2i6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

tained the supply of acid around the positive plate,
thus removing both sources of weakness at once.

It was composed of two small glass vessels, one of
which contained concentrated nitric acid, and the other
a solution of caustic potash, also concentrated. The
two vessels communicated with _^^each other by means
6f a bent glass tube, filled with fine clay, moistened
with a solution of sea-salt. In the vessel which con-
tained the alkali was immersed a plate of gold, and
in the other a plate of platinum. By connecting the
two through a galvanometer a constant and tolerably
energetic current was perceived, resulting from the
reaction of the acid on the sea-salt and potash.*

In 1830, Wach constructed double- fluid batteries
on this plan, using animal bladders as the separating
medium.

Professor Daniell, of King's College, London, is
commonly supposed, in England at all events, to
have been the first to make a double-fluid battery ;
but although he was not the first, as we see, his in-
dependent researches and his beautiful memoir on the
subject, in the Philosophical Transactions, for 1836,
were the means of bringing the improvement into
general notice, and hence, no doubt, the popular belief.f

• Comptes Rendus, for 1837, No. 2.

t For much valuable information on this question, as between
Daniell and Becquerel, see Sturgeon's Annals of Elatricity, vol. ix.
pp. 534-49. Zetzsche, at p. 45 of his Geschichte der Elektrischen Tele-
graphic, says that Dobereiner, Privy Councillor at Jena, had, as far
back as 1821, constructed such a battery as the constant form of
Daniell. See also Dove's Uber Elektricitat, Berlin, 1848, p. 24.

to the Year 1837.

217

Fig. 4.

Double-fluid batteries are so simply constructed
nowadays that our readers will probably be surprised
to learn the pains that Daniell was at in contriving
his. Fig. 4 represents a section of one of his original
cells ; a, b, c, d, is a cylinder of copper, six inches high
and three and a half inches wide ; it is open at the
top a, b, but closed at the bottom, except for a collar
e,f, one inch and a half
wide, intended for the re-
ception of a cork into which
a glass syphon tube, g, h, i,
7* ^,is fitted water-tight. On
the top a, b, a copper collar,
corresponding with the one
at the bottom, rests by
two horizontal arms. Pre-
viously to fixing the cork,
a membranous tube, formed
of part of the gullet of an
ox, Js drawn through the
lower collar e, f, and fast-
ened with twine to the
upper, l,m,n,o, and, when

tightly fixed by the cork plug below, forms an in-
ternal cavity to the cell, communicating with the
syphon tube, so that, when filled with any liquid to
the level, m, 0, any addition causes an overflow at
the aperture k.

The objects which Daniell proposed to himself in

2i8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

constructing this cell were (i) the removal of the
oxide of zinc as fast zs formed, and (2) the absorp-
tion of the hydrogen evolved upon the copper, with-
out the precipitation thereon of any substance that
could impair its action.

The first he effected by suspending the zinc rod,
which he took care to be amalgamated,* in the in-
terior membranous cell, into which fresh acidulated
water was allowed slowly to drop (from a funnel
suspended over it, whose aperture was adjusted to
this purpose), whilst the heavier solution of the oxide
was withdrawn from the bottom at an equal rate by
the syphon tube. The second object was attained by
charging the exterior space surrounding the mem-
brane, with a saturated solution of sulphate of copper.
When the circuit was completed the current passed
freely, no hydrogen was observed to collect on the
negative plate, but, instead, a beautiful pink coating
of pure copper was deposited upon it, and thus per-
petually renewed its surface.

Although this cell was much more steady and per-
manent in its action than one of the ordinary single-

• The first mention of amalgamated zinc in voltaic arrangements
occurs in Sir H. Davy's Bakerian lecture, for 1826, in which he simply
remarked that "zinc in amalgamation with mercury is positive with
respect to pure zinc" (Phil, Trans., 1826, part iii.), without any
allusion to the probable beneficial employment of it in the general
construction of batteries. Kemp of Edinburgh was the first to employ
amalgamated zinc and copper in the regular construction of batteries.
See his paper in Jameson's New Edinburgh Philosophical Journal,
for Dec 1828.

to the Year 1837. 219

fluid construction, it still showed a gradual but very-
slow decline, which Daniell traced to the weakening
of the saline solution by the precipitation of its copper
and consequent decline of its conducting power. To
obviate this defect some crystals of sulphate of copper
were suspended in muslin bags, which just dipped
below the surface of the solution in the copper cylinder,
and which, gradually dissolving as the precipitation
proceeded, kept the solution in a state of saturation.
This expedient fairly answered the purpose, and its
author was delighted to find that " the current was
now perfectly steady for six hours together."

Such, in brief, is the evolution of the far-famed
Daniell cell. Its further development we need not
pursue in these pages, as all the later forms, as well
as many other kinds of double-fluid, or so-called
constant, batteries, are to be found in all the text-
books on electricity.

220 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER VIII.

TELEGRAPHS (CHEMICAL) BASED ON DYNAMIC
ELECTRICITY.

" Awhile forbear,

*****

Nor scorn man's efforts at a natural growth,
Which in some distant age may hope to find
Maturity, if not perfection."

Hotisehold Words, June 14, 1851.

1800-4. — Salv£s Telegraph.

It is generally supposed that Sommerring was the
first to employ the electricity of the pile for tele-
graphic purposes ; but M. Saavedra * has shown that
this honour belongs to his distinguished country-
man, Don Francisco Salvd, whose name has already
occurred in our pages (pp. 101-8).

At a meeting of the Academy of Sciences of
Barcelona, held on the 14th May, 1800, Salva read
a paper, entitled Galvanism and its application to
Telegraphy, in which, after an elaborate dissertation
on the phenomena and theories of the new science,
he proceeds to consider its application to telegraphy.

* Tratado de Telegrafia, Barcelona, 1880, voL i. pp. 331-35. In
our account of Salva we translate, literally, from this excellent treatise.

to the Year 1837. 221

He relates the experiments made for this purpose at
his residence with line wires, some 310 metres long,
stretched across the terrace and garden, and fastened
at the ends to varnished glass insulators, and through
which he distinctly perceived the convulsions of the
frog, notwithstanding the distance. The fact that
the contractions sometimes took place without closing
the circuit led to the discovery, that, on account of
the wire being uncovered, its extension permitted its
taking electricity from the atmosphere, so as to act
upon the frog. The conducting wires, adds Salvd,
can act by means of galvanism alone, as he demon-
strated by insulating his small line.* He expressed
the conviction that he could obtain a telegraphic
communication at a much greater distance.

The memoir does not enter into details as to this
new telegraphic proposal, limiting itself to saying that
it could be made by a process analogous to that
described at the meeting of December 16, 1795,! with
the advantages of greater durability and cheapness
as compared with the old plan.

Salvd employed, as his motive power, the elec-
tricity produced by a great number of frogs.

This illustrious Spanish physician was therefore
the first person who attempted to apply electricity
dynamically for the purpose of telegraphing. "It
is," says Saavedra, " not without reason I must con-

* These passages are obscure in the original,
t See p. loi, ante.

2 22 A History of Electric Telegraphy

fess, notwithstanding my cosmopolitan opinions on
scientific questions, that the Catalans hold SalvA to
be the inventor of electric telegraphy. With docu-
ments as authentic as those which I have seen with
my own eyes, in the very handwriting of this dis-
tinguished professor (which documents are at this
present moment to be found in the library of the
Academy of Sciences of Barcelona), it is impossible
for any author to henceforth deny, even if others did
precede Salvd in telegraphic experiments with static
electricity, that no one preceded him in the applica-
tion of the docile electro- dynamic fluid to distant
communications."

On the 22nd February, 1804, when the invention
of the voltaic pile had hardly begun to be known in
Europe (for in that period there were no telegraphs
or railroads), Don Francisco Salvd Campillo read
before the Academy of Sciences at Barcelona another
paper, called The Second Treatise on Galvanism applied
to Telegraphy. He therein enumerates the difficulties
which optic telegraphy presents in actual practice, and
shows its inadequacy to the amount of work required,
and its unproductiveness to the State, on account of
the great expense attending its erection and mainte-
nance. He relates, referring to two personal friends
as witnesses, that Napoleon I., in the midst of a
Session of the National Institute of Paris, declared
that he had often received news by express sooner
than by the optic telegraph, which, he says, is not

to the Year 1837, 223

to be wondered at, considering the fogs and other
impediments peculiar to that system.

Salvd says in this paper, that when he read the
previous one in 1800, he had not heard of the in-
strument invented by Volta, called Voltds Column,
which is not strange, considering its so recent inven-
tion, and that it was not made public at all until the
middle of the year 1800, when it was published in
Nicholson's Journal. This, says Salvi, yields more
fluid than the electric machine, and could be well
applied to telegraphy, as the force can be obtained
more simply and steadily than in the static form.
He describes what had been done by scientific men
towards improving its form ; he observes that the
force of the shock is in proportion to the number of
pairs, but not to the extent of surface in contact, and
relates the experiments made to demonstrate this ;
he proposes to avoid the excessive height of the pile
(the well-known objection to which is the great
weight of the upper discs pressing on those below),
by forming a battery of several piles united ; he
complains of its being so difficult to clean, and
concludes with his belief in the eventual obtainment
of piles in a much greater state of perfection.

As to the means of indicating the signals, Salva
shows some hesitation, since, although he alludes to
the contractions of frogs as adequate to the effect, he
manifests an inclination for employing the decomposi-
tion of water.

224 A History of Electric Telegraphy

For this last he gives sufficient explanation as to
the system that could be adopted. It would suffice
for the ends of each pair of wires to be inserted
through a cork into a glass tube containing water.
As the wire that communicates with the zinc plate
of the pile is covered with bubbles of hydrogen
gas, and the other is oxydated, these actions would
economise, in the diversity of their effects, one half
the conductors, since in applying the wires in a certain
way to the poles of the voltaic pile, the letter A, for
example, could be had, and, effecting the contact in
a contrary way, the letter B could be indicated. Six
wires would thus be enough for a telegraph, which
would greatly reduce the expense and simplify the
installation. After reading this paper the author
proceeded to the experiments necessary towards
perfectly understanding the above statements.

The apparatus constructed by Salvd on this occa-
sion has not been preserved, but from the descrip-
tion of it in the memoir M. Saavedra thinks that it
took a form similar to that shown in Fig. 5. On a
table was arranged a number of flasks of water, one
flask serving for two letters, or signals. Into each
dipped two metallic rods, one of which was connected
to a corresponding line wire, and the other to a return
wire, of which there was only one, common to all.
The different line wires and the return wire were
similarly connected at the distant end.

When it was desired to transmit a signal, all the

to the Year 1837.

225

line wire rods at the sending end were removed from
the flasks, or raised so as to be clear of the water, then
one pole, say the positive, of a pile was touched to
the return wire, and the other pole, the negative, to
the wire corresponding to the letter desired to be
signalled. Immediately this was done the water in
the flask, into which the distant ends of the wires

Fig. ,5.

Salva's Telegraph.

dipped, began to be decomposed, bubbles of oxygen
gas being given off at one rod, and bubbles of hy-
drogen at the other. By reversing the poles of the
pile at the sending end the bubbles of oxygen and
hydrogen changed places, thus making it possible for
one wire to serve for two signals, for since the bubbles
of hydrogen (being the more numerous) were taken

Q

226 A History of Electric Telegraphy

to represent the signals, their evolution at the line
wire might stand for the letter A, and at the return
wire for B, and so on. When the communication was
ended the rods were let down into the water, and the
distant correspondent proceeded in the same manner
to transmit his reply.

These notable and interesting memoirs, says Saa-
vedra, have, ever since they were read, slept the sleep
of the innocent on the shelves of the modest Scientific
Academjj of Catalonia ; no one took the trouble to
publish them at the time — a thing not strange in
those days when their transcendent value was not
appreciated, and when scientific journals were few in
number, and little given to investigation ; but it was
unpardonable to neglect their publication subse-
quently, when the glorious realisation of public tele-
graphy excited general enthusiasm, and all the civi-
lised nations made every effort to allege — through
their numerous scientific and literary publications —
the part each had taken in the great discovery. If,
therefore, neither the author, nor any one else in
Barcelona, or even in Spain, took the trouble to
publish these trials of an electric telegraph, is it to
be wondered at that foreign authors do not mention
them, attributing to Sommerring and to Coxe of
1809 and 1 8 16 the first application of voltaic elec-
tricity to telegraphy ? Is it strange that this should
be the case when even the few Spanish writers who
pay any attention to these matters, repeat the same

to the Year 1837. 227

words in chorus, as though the unfortunate country
of Cervantes and Balmes were not also the birthplace
of Blasco de Garay and of Salvd ?

In this connection we would ask our readers to
peruse again our account of Salvd's earlier experi-
ments, which will be found at pp. 10 1-8, ante.

We join with M. Saavedra in the hope that his
distinguished countryman will in future be better
known and appreciated for his early and valuable
contributions to the art of telegraphy.

1809-12. — Sommerrin^s Telegraph.

Sommerring's telegraph was based on the same
principle as SalvA's, and was not very dissimilar in
detail. There is an interesting account of this contriv-
ance in the Journal of the Society of Arts* for 1859,
contributed by Dr. Hamel, of St. Petersburg. Ac-
cording to this indefatigable writer, the war between
France and Austria, in 1809, gave rise to Sommerring's
discovery. On the 9th April in that year the Austrian
troops crossed the river Inn, and on the i6th occupied
Munich, whence King Maximilian had fled on hearing
of their approach. The Emperor Napoleon, having
speedy intelligence <^ this move by Chappe's sema-

* Vol. vii. pp. 595-99 and 605-10, Historical Account of the Intro-
duction of the Galvanic and Electro- Magnetic Telegraph into England.
Republished in pamphlet form, in Nov. 1859, by W. F. Cooke, with
comments. See also Der Elektrische Telegraph als Deutsche Erfindung
S. T. Von Sdmmerring's aus dessen Tagehiichern nachgewiesen, 21 pp.,
published at Frankfort in 1863, by Sommerring's only son.

Q 2

2 28 A History of Electric Telegraphy

phore, hastened away with some troops, and, so rapid
and unexpected were his movements, that in less
than a week the Austrians were obliged to retire, and
on the 2Sth Maximilian re-entered his capital.

This event in which Chappe's semaphore played so
important a part caused much attention to be directed
to the subject of telegraphy, and on the Sth July
following we find the Bavarian minister, Montgelas,
requesting his friend. Dr. Sommerring, to bring the
subject before the Academy of Sciences (of Munich),
of which he was a distinguished member.*

Sommerring at once gave the matter his attention,
and soon it occurred to him to try whether the visible
evolution of gases from the decomposition of water by
the voltaic current might not answer the purpose.
He worked at this idea incessantly, and, before three
days had elapsed, had constructed his first apparatus,
shown in Fig. 6. He took five wires of silver, or
copper, and, insulating each with a thick coating of
sealing-wax, bound the whole up into a cable. These
wires, at one end, terminated in five pins which
penetrated a glass vessel containing acidulated water ;
and, at the other, were capable of being put in con-
nection with the poles of a pile of fifteen pairs of zinc
discs, and Brabant thalers, separated by felt soaked
in hydrochloric acid. By touching any two of the
wires to the poles of the pile he was able to produce,
at their distant ends, a disengagement of gases, and
• Hamel, Cooke's reprint, pp. 5-7.

to the Year 1837.

229

thereby indicate any of the five letters a, b, c, d, e.
Having thus shown the feasibility of his project, he set
himself to perfect his apparatus, and worked at it with
such a will that by the 6th of August it was com-
pleted. He wrote in his diary on that day : — " I have
tried the entirely finished apparatus which completely
answers my expectations. It works quickly through

Fig. 6.

wires of 362 Prussian feet." Two days later he
worked it through 1000 feet, and then through 2000
feet, the wire in each case being wound round a
glass cylinder for greater compactness.*

As there is great diversity amongst writers on the
telegraph not only as regards the date of this inven-
tion, but as to the number of wires used, and other
details of its construction, we translate the following

' * Hamel, pp. 7, 8. On the 4th February, 1812, he worked through
4000 feet, and on the 15th March following through as much as 10,000
feet.

230 A History of Electric Telegraphy

description from the author's own paper, which was
read before the Munich Academy of Sciences, on the
29th August, 1809, on which occasion the telegraph
was exhibited in action : —

" In the bottom of a glass reservoir of water, 170 mm.
long, 25 mm. broad, and 65 mm. high, of which C, in
Fig. 7 is a sectional view, are thirty-five gold points,
or pins, passing up through the bottom of the trough,
and corresponding with the twenty-five letters of the
German alphabet and the ten numerals. The thirty-five
pins are each connected to as many insulated copper
wires, E, E,* which, extending to the distant station,
are there soldered, to thirty-five brass terminals
arranged on a wooden bar B. Through the front end
of each of these terminals there is a small hole for the
reception of brass pegs, one of which is attached to
the wire coming from the positive pole, and the other
to that from the negative pole of the voltaic pile A.
Each of the thirty-five terminals corresponds, through
its wire, with a pin in the distant reservoir, and is
lettered accordingly.

" When thus arranged, the two pegs from the pile
are taken, one in each hand, and, two terminals being
selected, are pushed into the holes. The communica-
tion is now established and gas is evolved at the
corresponding pins in the distant reservoir, hydrogen

♦ In September 1811, Sbmmerring reduced the number of wires to
twenty-seven, of which twenty-five were for the letters, one for the stop,
and one for the note of interrogation, or repetition. — Hamel, p. 19.

to the Year 1837.

231

at the pin in connection with the positive pole of the
pile, and oxygen at the other. In this way every
letter and numeral may be indicated at pleasure, and.

Fig. 7.

if the following rules be observed, one can com-
municate as much as, if not more than, is possible by
the common (semaphore) telegraph.

"First Rule. — As the hydrogen gas evolved is
greater in quantity than the oxygen, therefore those

232 A History of Electric Telegraphy

letters which the former gas represents are more easily
distinguished than those of the latter, and must be so
noted. -For example, in the words containing ak, ad,
em, ie, we indicate the letters a, a, e, i, by the hydrogen ;
k, d, m, e, on the other hand, by the oxygen.*

"Second Rule. — To telegraph two letters of the
same name, we must use a unit, unless they are
separated by the syllable. For example, the word
anna may be telegraphed without the unit, as the
syllable an is first indicated and then na. The word
nanni, on the contrary, cannot be telegraphed without
the use of the unit, because na is first telegraphed,
and then comes nn, which cannot be indicated in the
same vessel. It would, however, be possible to tele-
graph even three, or more, letters at the same time
by increasing the number of wires from twenty-five to
fifty, but this would very much augment the cost of
construction and the care of attendance.

" Third Rule. — To indicate the conclusion of a word,
the unit 1 must be used with the last single letter,
being made to follow the letter. It must also be
prefixed to the letter commencing a word when that
letter follows a word of two letters only. For example :
Sie lebt must be represented Si, e\, le, bt ; and Er lebt

* This plan of sending the current down one wire and making it
return by any other was employed by Cooke and Wheatstone in their
five-needle telegraph of 1837. It proved to be a little complicated in
the present instance, and Sommerring subsequently adopted the prac-
tice of signalling only one letter at a time, the oxygen signal being
neglected.

to the Year 1837. 233

must be represented Er, U, eb, t\. Instead of using
the unit, another signal may be introduced, the cross t,
to indicate the separation of syllables.

" Suppose now the decomposing table is situated in
one city, and the peg arrangement in another, con-
nected by thirty-five wires. Then the operator, with
his voltaic pile and pegs at one station, may com-
municate intelligence to the observer of the gas at
the decomposing table of the other station.

" The metallic plates, or terminals, with which the
wires are connected have conical-shaped holes in their
ends ; and the pegs attached to the two wires of the
voltaic pile are likewise of a conical shape, so that,
when they are put in the holes, there may be a close
fit, preventing oxydation and ensuring a good contact,
as it is well known that slight oxydation of the parts
in contact will interrupt the communication. The
peg arrangement might be so contrived as to use
permanent keys, which for the thirty-five plates would
require seventy pins. The first key might be for
hydrogen A ; the second key for oxygen A ; the third
key for hydrogen B ; the fourth key for oxygen B,
and so on.

" The preparation and management of the voltaic
pile is so well known that little need be said, except
that it should be of that durability as to last more
than a month. It should not be of very broad surfaces,
as I have proved that six of my usual pairs (each one
consisting of a Brabant dollar, felt moistened with a

234 A History of Electric Telegraphy

saturated solution of common salt, and a disc of zinc,
weighing 52 grains) would evolve more gas than five
pairs of the great battery of our Academy.

" As to the cost of construction, this model, which
I have had the honour to exhibit to the Royal
Academy, cost 30 florins. One line, consisting of
thirty-five wires, laid in glass, or earthen, pipes, each
wire insulated with silk, and measuring 22,827 Prus-
sian feet, or a German mile, might be made for less
than 2000 florins, as appears from the cost of my
short one."

On the 23rd August, 1810, Sommerring perfected
his apparatus by adding a contrivance D, Fig. 7, for
attracting attention at the distant station. He made the
gas, rising in small bubbles from two contiguous pins in
the water, collect under a sort of inverted glass spoon
at the end of a long lever, which, rising, made a second
lever bent in the opposite direction on the same axle
descend and throw oif a little perforated leaden ball,
resting lightly on it, and which, falling on an escape-
ment, set the clockwork of an ordinary alarum, D, in
motion. This arrangement, simple as it is, gave
Sommerring much trouble. He writes in his diary,
" If the principal part of the telegraph gave me no
trouble, and demanded no alteration, but was ready
in a few days, this secondary object, the alarum, cost
me a great deal of reflection, and many useless trials
with wheelwork, till, at last, I hit upon this very simple
arrangement," The existence of this alarum is not

to the Year 1837. 235

generally known, and, probably, because it is not
represented on the two plates which accompanied the
description of the telegraph in the Memoirs of the
Munich Academy, which plates, as Dr. Hamel has
shown, were engraved before the alarum was invented.*

Sommerring's wires, which were of brass, or copper,
were insulated with a coating of gum-lac, then wrapped
round with silk thread, and united into a cable, which
was also bound with thread, and covered with gum-
lac, or with a ribbon, soaked in that material. The
cable was then wound on reels. In practice there
was no appreciable retardation in the action of the
apparatus through the greatest length of wire, the
evolution of the gas appearing to begin as quickly as
if the current had only to traverse two feet. The only
effect of distance {i. e., resistance) was to reduce the
quantity of the gases evolved in a given time.f

This telegraph, complex and unpractical as it was,
was earnestly prosecuted by its author for several
years, and received a large share of attention, princes,
statesmen, and philosophers thronging to his lodgings
to witness its performances. He had a complete
apparatus connected up in his house, which worked
through insulated wires carried round on the outside,
and which he always took great delight in showing to

* Hamel, pp. 13, 14.

t In connection with this evolution Sommerring noticed a curious
phenomenon. Whenever the gases were evolved at two neighbouring
gold points, as A, and B, the hydrogen bubbles always ascended ver-
tically, but those of the oxygen inclined towards the hydrogen.

236 A History of Electric Telegraphy

his visitors. At the suggestion of one of the most con-
stant and intimate of these, Baron Schilling (of whom
more hereafter), Sommerring, on the 6th June, 181 1,
tried the action of his telegraph when the conducting
wires were cut and the ends separated by an interval
of water in wooden tubs. The result was that the
signals appeared just as well as if the wires had not
been cut, but they ceased as soon as the water in the
two tubs was connected by a wire, the current then
returning by this shorter road. On the two following
days he performed with his friend some other experi-
ments, first across a canal off the river Isar, and then
along the river itself, in which he showed that the
water and earth might be used instead of a return
wire, an experiment which was probably suggested by
the similar one of Aldini, in 1802, across the harbour
of Calais.*

Besides his own apparatus, Sommerring had pre-
pared other models for exhibition in France, Austria,
Russia, Switzerland, and England. With the latter,
which, by the way, was never forwarded, "fearing
difficulties at the custom-house," he sent a descrip-
tion in English, in which he expressed the hope that
"Sir Humphry Davy would receive it favourably,
perhaps improve it, and further its application in Great
Britain.t

The instruments designed for exhibition in Paris
were entrusted to Baron Larrey (an old friend and
* Hamel, pp. 15-17. t Ibid., p. 33.

to the Year 1837. 237

correspondent of Sommerring, and then Inspector-
General of the Army Medical Department under the
Empire), who happened to be passing through Munich
on his way home from the battle-fields of Aspern,
Esslingen, and Deutsch Wagram. This was on the
4th November, 1809, and, immediately after Larrey's
departure, Sommerring drew up an account of his
telegraph in French, under the title Mimoire sur le
Tiligraphe, which, on the 12th November, he forwarded
to his friend at Paris, accompanied by a private note
as follows : —

" I have the honour to enclose a memoir, which,
with the model that you have kindly taken charge of,
will, I hope, explain matters clearly and briefly. I am
anxious to know what reception His Imperial Majesty
will accord to my ideas. The memoir, as you will
see, describes the principal results of some experi-
ments as varied as I could make them ; and I hope
that they will interest many members of the Institute,
for independently of the great interest that attaches
to them they are not wanting in novelty."

Replying on the loth December, 1809, Larrey
says : — " His Majesty, being prevented by press of
business from occupying himself just now with scien-
tific matters, has informed me that he will inspect
your apparatus later on. Meanwhile I have decided
to present it to the first class of the Institute, which
[on the 5th December] received it with interest, and
appointed a commission to report upon it."

238 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Writing again, on the 28th December, to Baron de
Kobell, one of the Bavarian Secretaries of State,
Larrey says : — " I have the honour to send you the
little case for Doctor Sommerring of which I have
already spoken to you. Will you kindly send it on
to him by the first safe means that you can find.
I hope that the contents will please him.

"I shall take care to inform him of the nature
of the report of the Institute upon his telegraphic
machine as soon as it appears ; but in this there will
probably be some delay, as the academicians who
have charge of the matter are greatly occupied at
present on some pressing Government affairs."

The commission consisted of Biot, Carnot, Charles,
and Monge, but, for some unaccountable reason (at
least, Biot, in after years, could recollect none), no
report was ever made, and full eighteen months later
(May 12, 181 1) the instruments were sent back to
Munich.

Writing to Sommerring, on April 19, 18 10, Larrey
says : —

"My dear and respected friend, — Three months
ago I sent to Mr. de Kobell, for transmission to you,
a small case containing some remarkably diseased
bones, and some brief notices upon them ; your long
silence makes me fear that this case has not reached
you. Will you, my dear Doctor, kindly enlighten me
on this point ?

to the Year 1837. 239

"I also informed you that the Institute had ap-
pointed a commission to report upon your telegraph,
but certain persons, no doubt moved by jealousy, do
not regard the discovery with the interest that it
ought to inspire, and the report is, consequently, not
yet made.

"Wishing to meet your desires, at least in part, I
have inserted a notice of your instrument in the
current number of the Bulletin de la Sociiti Midicale
d Emulation, after having submitted it to the Society.
If you have not received the Journal I will send you
a copy."

In this paper. On the Origin and Structure of the
Encephalic Nerves, Larrey briefly introduces the tele-
graph, and then goes on to speak with much detail
of the analogy which its many wires offered to the
single fibres of the nervous system, an analogy which
Sommerring himself had pointed out in his French
memoir, as well as in the original account of his tele-
graph in the Transactions of the Munich Academy.*
Larrey's article was republished twenty years later (in
November 1829), in his Clinique Chirurgicale ;\ but,
in both publications, it was placed in the midst of

• The same analogy between the nerves of the body and the tele-
graphic system of the world has since been frequently noticed. See
Fechner's Lehrbuch des Galvanismus, Leipsic, 1829, p. 269 ; Mechanics'
Magazine, for 1 837-8, p. 262 ; and Notes and Queries, for August 27,
1870, p. 173.

t Vol. i. p. 361.

240 A History of Electric Telegraphy

pathological and surgical subjects, where one would
never look for an invention for telegraphic purposes.

On the 30th July, 1810, Sommerring replied in the
following curious letter : —

"I have read with great pleasure, sir, you disser-
tation on my telegraph. Have you received my
memoir, which I posted on the 12th November; and
have you kindly communicated it to the Institute .'

" The old conducting wires are somewhat damaged,
and as it was entirely to avoid delay that I did not
renew them before despatching the apparatus, I would
be glad if they could be replaced by new wires of the
sort used in harpsichords, covered with silk thread, as
the material of which these are composed is more
durable than the old copper wires. Had I imagined,
sir, that you would have taken such an interest in my
invention as to charge yourself with its transport to
Paris, I would certainly not have omitted, beforehand,
to eifect the necessary changes, which, without count-
ing the time, require only a little care. I am very
much afraid that, besides the fragility of the copper
wires, the rough usage to which they have been sub-
jected in the course of experiment may have rubbed
off in places the silk, and so may cause intermediate
contacts of the metal, whence must result a derange-
ment of the whole system.

" Allow me, then, to beg of you not to show the
instrument to the Prince de Neufchitel, or even to
His Majesty the Emperor, until the above-mentioned

to the Year 1837. 241

repairs have been effected, either by myself, or, if
its return would take too long, by some competent
mechanic in Paris."

Regarding the model of the telegraph which Som-
merring delivered to Count Jeroslas Potocki, a colonel
of Russian Engineers, for exhibition at Vienna and
St. Petersburg, the following letter has been pre-
served by Sommerring's family :* —

" Baaden, near Vienna, July S, 1811.

" Sir, — I hasten to inform you that, on my return
to Vienna, their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress,
signified their desire to see the electric telegraph —
an invention which does honour to human genius.
On the first of the current month I had the pleasure
to show your telegraph to their Majesties, and they
were enchanted. His Majesty was so pleased that
he expressed his desire to have a telegraph from
Laxenburg to Vienna (a distance of about nine
miles). He did not omit to ask me to whom we
are indebted for so ingenious an invention. He
knows you by reputation, and says that you are one
of the first anatomists living. In fact, I can assure
you that their Majesties, and the Archdukes, who
were also present, were enchanted.

" Professor Jacquin, of Vienna, wishes to come to

* We are indebted for this and the preceding extracts to Mr. Karl
Sommerring, of Frankfort, a grandson of the distinguished physicist
of whom we are writing.

R

242 A History of Electric Telegraphy

see me at Baaden, with the view of inspecting the
telegraph.

" In fine, your invention has had the greatest suc-
cess, and I do not doubt for an instant that, especially
in Russia, it will be carried out on a grand scale. I
shall not fail to acquaint you with the reception that
it may there meet with. Meanwhile I pray you accept
the assurance of the highest sentiments with which I
am, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant,

"JEROSLAS POTOCKI."

The apparatus which Sommerring sent to his son,
Wilhelm, at Geneva, where he was then studying, is
still preserved by the family of the latter at Frankfort.
It was exhibited at Vienna in 1873, at London (South
Kensington Museum) in 1876, and at the Paris Ex-
hibition of 1 88 1, at all of which places it elicited, as
may be supposed, the liveliest interest.

Sommerring, who was a distinguished anatomist
and physiologist, was born at Thorn, West Prussia,
on January 28, 1755, and died at Frankfort, on 2nd
March, 1830. He was elected a member of the
Munich Academy of Sciences in 1805, was made
Knight of the Order of St. Anne of Russia in 18 18,
and, in 18 19, was elected an honorary member of
the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.
Quite recently, we believe, a monument has been
erected to his memory in the city of Frankfort, where
he passed the last ten years of his interesting life.

to the Year 1837. 243

Dr. Hamel, in his Historical Account, &c., pays a
very just tribute to his worth, with which we will
close this account of his telegraph : — " When one
studies the life and the labours of Sommerring, it
is impossible not to feel the highest esteem for him,
as a man and as a philosopher. Not vanity, not
eagerness of gain, but pure love of science and the
wish to be useful were the motives of his incessant
activity. Nor was Sommerring too sanguine in his
expectation with regard to the application of his in-
vention. He expressed the hope that it might serve
to telegraph from Munich to Augsburg, nay, from one
end of the kingdom to the other, without intermediate
stations " (pp. 34, 35).

1 8 1 1 . — Schweigger's Telegraph.

In preparing an account of Sommerring's telegraph
for insertion in his Journal filr Chemie und Physik*
Schweigger of Niirenberg, and later of Halle — the
same who afterwards invented the galvanometer — was
struck with the insuperable difficulty there would be
in dealing practically with so many wires, and in his
paper he suggested a plan which required only two
wires, and two piles of different strengths, so that at
one time the weaker may be used, and at another
time the stronger, or even both combined. In this
way the quantity of gas produced in a given time at
the distant station would be varied, a small quantity

» Vol. ii. p. 240, for 181 1.

R 2

244 ^ History of Electric Telegraphy

denoting one letter, and a larger another. Again, by-
varying (i) the duration of the evolutions, and (2) the
intervals between, other letters might be indicated ;
and thus, by the combination of these primary ele-
ments of quantity and time, all the letters of the
alphabet could be expressed through two wires in-
stead of thirty-seven. In ignorance of Sommerring's
alarum, Schweigger suggested the firing of Volta's
gas-pistols by Leyden jars as a means of drawing
attention.*

1 81 3. — Sharps s Telegraph.

All that we know of this invention is contained in
the following paragraph, which we copy from the
Repertory of Arts, 2nd series, June 1816, p. 23 : —

" On the Electrical Telegraph. Communicated by
Mr. J. R. Sharpe, of Doe Hill, near Alfreton.' — In the
Repertory of Arts, vol. xxiv., 2nd series, p. 188, is an
account of an electric telegraph by M. Soemmering,
This account I did not see till a few weeks ago.
Without the slightest wish to throw a doubt over
the originality of M. Soemmering's invention, I beg
leave to mention that an experiment, showing the
advantages to be obtained from the application of the
certain and rapid motion of the electric principle

• He also described a sort of manifold short-hand, or sign-printer,
like that patented by Wheatstone in 1841 ; but this had nothing to do
with electricity, and was ■aneaXvm.^ii. par farenthlse.

to the Year 1837. 245

through an extensive voltaic circuit to the purposes
of the ordinary telegraph, was exhibited by me before
the Right Hon. the Lords of the Admiralty, in the
beginning of February 18 13."

My Lords are said to have approved the design,
but passed it over with the remark that " As the war
was over, and money scarce, they could not carry it
into effect." *

A nephew of the inventor, writing in i86i,t says,
in reference to the above announcement, that Mr.
Sharpe "conveyed signals a distance of seven miles
under water." In the hope of getting further in-
formation we addressed ourselves to this gentleman,
but, unfortunately, he could add nothing to the above-
mentioned facts.

Mr. J. R. Sharpe was bred in London as a solicitor,
but early left the profession, and retired to Doe Hill,
which he built in 1801. He was always of a studious
turn, and even in advanced age amused himself with
mathematical problems. He died November 11, 1859,
aged eighty-four years.

It was probably anent Sharpe's proposals that the
following squibs were written, which we extract from
The Satirist, September and October 18 13.

" On the report that it is in contemplation to sub-
stitute an electrical mode of communication with the

* Saturday Review, August 21, 1858, p. 190.

t A Treatise on the Construction and Submersion of Deep-Sea Electric
Telegraph Cables, by Benjamin Sharpe, London, 1861, p. 16.

246 A History of Electric Telegraphy

outposts (by means of wires laid underground) for the

existing telegraphic system : —

" Our telegraphs, just as they are, let us keep,
They forward good news from afar,
And still may send better — that Boney's asleep.
And ended oppression and war.

Electrical telegraphs all must deplore.
Their service would merely be mocking ;

Unfit to afford us intelligence more
Than such as would really be shocking I

"Tam Glen."

"On the Proposed Electrical Telegraph, October
1813:—

" When a victory we gain
(As we've oft done in Spain)
It is usual to load well with powder,
And discharge 'midst a crowd
All the Park guns so loud.
And the guns of the Tower, which are louder.

But the guns of the Tower,

And the Park guns want power
To proclaim as they ought what we pride in ;

So when now we succeed

It is wisely decreed
To announce it from the batteries of Leyden"

1 8 16. — Cox^s Telegraph.

In February 18 16, Dr. J. Redman Coxe, professor
of chemistry at Philadelphia, published some sug-
gestions for an electro-chemical telegraph on the
same principle as those already described. His
views are given in the following letter, which we
have extracted from Thomson's Annals of Phibsophy,

to the Year 1837. 247

vol. vii. pp. 162-3, headed "Use of Galvanism as a
Telegraph " : —

" I observe in one of the volumes of your Annals of
Philosophy a proposition to employ galvanism as a
solvent for the urinary calculus, which has been very
properly, I think, opposed by Mr. Armiger. I merely
notice this, as it gives me the opportunity of saying
that a similar idea was maintained in a thesis three
years ago by a graduate of the University of Penn-
sylvania.

"I have, however, contemplated this important
agent as a probable means of establishing telegraphic
communication with as much rapidity, and, perhaps,
less expense than any hitherto employed. I do not
know how far experiment has determined galvanic
action to be communicable by means of wires, but
there is no reason to suppose it confined as to limits,
certainly not as to time. Now, by means of appa-
ratus fixed at certain distances, as telegraphic stations,
by tubes for the decomposition of water and of me-
tallic salts, &c., regularly arranged, such a key might
be adopted as would be requisite to communicate
words, sentences, or figures, from one station to
another, and so on to the end of the line. I will
take another opportunity to enlarge upon this, as I
think it might serve many useful purposes ; but, like
all others, it requires time to mature. As it takes up
little room, and may be fixed in private, it might in
many cases, of besieged towns, &c., convey useful

248 A History of Electric Telegraphy

intelligence with scarcely a chance of detection by the
enemy. However fanciful in speculation, I have no
doubt that sooner or later it will be rendered useful
in practice.

"I have thus, my dear sir, ventured to encroach
upon your time with some crude ideas that may
serve perhaps to elicit some useful experiments at
the hands of others. When we consider what won-
derful results have arisen from the first trifling ex-
periments of the junction of a small piece of silver
and zinc in so short a period, what may not be
expected from the further extension of galvanic elec-
tricity \ I have no doubt of its being the chiefest
agent in the hands of nature in the mighty changes
that occur around us. If metals are compound bodies,
which I doubt not, will not this active principle com-
bine their constituents in numerous places so as to
explain their metallic formation ; and if such con-
stituents are in themselves aeriform, may not gal-
vanism reasonably tend to explain the existence of
metals in situations in which their specific gravities
certainly do not entitle us to look for them ? "

Dr. Coxe does not appear to have ever reduced
his ideas to practice, but the large faith which he
expresses in the capabilities of galvanism deserves
to be remembered to his credit. Indeed there can
be no doubt that, if electrical science had made no
further advances, the early projects that we have
been describing in this chapter would have gradually

to the Year 1837. 249

developed themselves into practical electro-chemical
telegraphs, such as were afterwards proposed by E.
Davy in 1838, by Smith in 1843, by Bain in 1846,
and by Morse in 1 849* But the grand discovery of
electro-magnetism was at hand, and soon turned the
tide of invention into quite another channel.

* Besides all these inventions, other electro-chemical telegraphs have
been proposed by Bakewell, Caselli, Bonelli, D'Arlincourt, Sawyer,
and others. All are dependent on a fact which, as we have shown in
our seventh chapter (p. 19S), was first observed by Cruickshank in
l8cx), very soon after the announcement of the voltaic pile, viz., the
power of electricity to discolour litmus paper.

250 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER IX.

ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY
— HISTORY IN RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY.

" Around the magnet, Faraday
Is sure that Volta's lightnings play,
But how to draw them from the wire ?
He took a lesson from the heart —
'Tis when we meet — 'tis when we part
Breaks forth the electric fire."

Impromptu, by Herbert Mayo,

in Blackwood's Magazine.

From an early period in the history of electricity
philosophers began to point out strong resemblances
between the phenomena which it exhibits and those of
magnetism. In both sciences there existed two forces
of opposite kind, capable, when separate, of acting
with great energy, and being, when combined, per-
fectly neutralised and exhibiting no signs of activity ;
there was the same attraction and repulsion between
the two magnetisms as between the two electricities,
and according to the same law of inverse squares ; the
action of free electricity on a neighbouring body was
not unlike that which a magnet exercises upon iron ;
and, lastly, the distribution of the two forces in the
one seemed to differ little from that of the two forces
in the other.

to the Year 1837. 251

These analogies were powerfully supported by
several facts. Thus, as early as 1630 Gassendi ob-
served that magnetism was communicated to ferru-
ginous bodies by lightning ; the compass needles of
ships were known to have their poles weakened, and
even reversed, by a similar cause — a fact first recorded
by English navigators in 1675 ; and, in 1750, Professor
Wargentin remarked that delicately-suspended mag-
nets were affected by the aurora borealis.*

With such analogies, and supported by such re-
markable facts as these, the suspicion was but natural
that the two sciences were allied in some close and
intimate way, and accordingly we find that, about
the middle of the last century, the discovery of this
relation became a favourite pursuit,

Swedenborg was the first to boldly express his
views on this subject in his Principia Rerum
Naturalium (Dresden, 1734), in which he argued a
close relationship between electricity and magnetism
on the ground of their both being polar forces.

In 1748, Beraut, professor of mathematics in the
College of Lyons, published at Bordeaux a thin
volume of 38 pages,t which is probably the first dis-

* Encys. Brit, and Metropol., articles Electricity and Magnetism.
A similar observation to that of Wargentin was made by Halley, and
afterwards more accurately by Dalton, both of whom likewise found
that the beams of the aurora were always parallel to the magnetic
meridian. — Trans. Cambridge Phil. Soc, vol. i.

t Dissertation sur le rapport qui se trouve entre la Cause des effets de
I'Aiman, et celles des Phinomlnes de t &lectriciti.

252 A History of Electric Telegraphy

tinct treatise on its subject, and which also goes to
show that a true connection exists ; that, in fact, it is
the same force only differently disposed, which pro-
duces both electric and magnetic phenomena.

In studying the points of analogy between lightning
and electricity, the great Franklin remarked that the
latter, like the former, had the power not merely of
destroying the magnetism of a needle, but of com-
pletely reversing its polarity. By discharging four
large Leyden jars through a common sewing needle,
he was able to impart to it such a degree of magnetism
that, when floated on water, it placed itself in the
plane of the magnetic meridian. When the discharge
was sent through a steel wire perpendicular to the
horizon it was permanently magnetised, with its lower
end a North, and its upper end a South pole ; and, on
reversing the position of the wire and again transmit-
ting through it the discharge, the polarity was either
destroyed, or entirely reversed. Franklin also found
that the polarity of the loadstone could be destroyed
in a similar manner.*

Dalibard, about the same time, imagined that he
had proved that the electric discharge gives a northern
polarity to that point of a steel bar at which it enters,
and a southern polarity to that at which it makes its
exit, while Wilcke, for his part, was equally satisfied
that an invariable connection existed between negative
electricity and northern polarity.

* 'Pnei'CLe.y's History of Electricity, London, 1767, p. 178.

to the Year 1837. 253

From a review of all these, and other observations
by himself made between 1753 and 1758, Beccaria
came to the conclusion that the polarity of a needle
magnetised by electricity was invariably determined
by the direction in which the electric discharge was
made to pass through it ; and as a consequence he
assumed the polarity acquired by ferruginous bodies
which had been struck by lightning as a test of the
kind of electricity with which the thunder-cloud was
charged.

Applying this criterion to the earth itself, Beccaria
conjectured that terrestrial magnetism was, like that of
the needle magnetised by Franklin and Dalibard, the
mere effect of permanent currents of natural electricity,
established and maintained upon its surface by various
physical causes ; that, as a violent current, like that
which attends the exhibition of lightning, produces
instantaneous and powerful magnetism in substances
capable of receiving that quality, so may a more
gentle, regular, and constant circulation of the electric
fluid upon the earth impress the same virtue on all
such bodies as are capable of it. " Of such fluid, thus
ever present," observes Beccaria, " I think that some
portion is constantly passing through all bodies situate
on the earth, especially those which are metallic and
ferruginous ; and I imagine it must be those currents
which impress on fire-irons, and other similar things,
the power which they are known to acquire of directing

254 A History of Electric Telegraphy

themselves according to the magnetic meridian when
they are properly balanced" *

Diderot, one of the editors of the celebrated " En-
cyclopaedia," and whom the Revue des deux Mondesi
calls a " Darwinist a century before Darwin," was also,
as early as 1762, a firm believer in the identity of
electricity and magnetism, and has left in his writings
some arguments in support of this hypothesis.

In his essay On the Interpretation of Nature he
says : — " There is great reason for supposing that
magnetism and electricity depend on the same causes.
Why may not these be the rotation of the earth,
and the energy of the substances composing it, com-
bined with the action of the moon ? The ebb and
flow of the tides, currents, winds, light, motion of
the free particles of the globe, perhaps even of the
entire crust round its nucleus, produce, in an infinite
number of ways, continual friction. The effect of
these causes, acting as they do sensibly and unceas-
ingly, must be, at the end of ages, very considerable.
The nucleus or kernel of the earth is a mass of glass,
its surface is covered only with remains of glass —
sands and vitrifiable substances. Glass is, of all
bodies, the one that yields most electricity on being
rubbed. Why may not the sum total of terrestrial

* Ampere's theory of electro-magnetism, and likewise his view of
terrestrial magnetism, are here distinctly foreshadowed by this most
acute and accurate observer. For a fuU account of Beccaria's researches,
see Priestley's History of Electricity, London, 1767, pp. 340-352.

t For December I, 1879, p. 567.

to the Year 1837. 255

electricity be the result of all these frictions, either
at the external surface of the earth, or at that of its
internal kernel ?

" From this general cause it is presumable that we
can deduce, by experiments, a particular cause which
shall establish between two grand phenomena, viz.,
the position of the aurora borealis and the direction
of the magnetic needle, a connection similar to that
which is proved to exist between magnetism and
electricity by the fact that we can magnetise a needle
without a magnet and by means only of electricity.

" These notions may be either true or false. They
have no existence so far but in my imagination. It
is for experience to give them solidity, and it is for
the physicist to discover wherein the phenomena
differ, or how to establish their identity." *

In the year 1774, the following question was pro-
posed by the Electoral Academy of Bavaria as the
subject of a prize essay : — " Is there a real and phy-
sical analogy between electric and magnetic forces,
and, if such analogy exist, in what manner do these
forces act upon the animal body ? " The essays
received on that occasion were collected and pub-
lished ten years later by Professor Van Swinden, of
Franeker — the winner of one of the prizes.f Some of

* The physicist has been true to the trast. See Collection Compute
des CEuvres Philosophiques, Littiraires, et Dramatiques de Diderot, 8vo.,
5 vols., Londres, 1773, vol. ii. p. 28.

t Recueil de Mimoires sur PAnalogie deP Electricity et du Magnitisme,
&c., 3 vols,, 8vo., La Haye, 1784.

256 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the essayists, and amongst them Van Swinden, main-
tained that " the similarity was but apparent, and did
not constitute a real physical resemblance ; " while, on
the other hand, Professors Steiglehner and Hubner
contended that " so close an analogy as that exhibited
by the two sciences indicated a single agency acting
under different circumstances." *

In this unsettled state the subject remained for
many years until the discovery of galvanism and the
invention of the voltaic pile, which, by furnishing the
philosopher with the means of maintaining a con-
tinuous current of electricity in large quantity, enabled
him to study its effects under the most favourable
circumstances.

Early in the present century philosophers thought
they saw an analogy between magnetism and galvanism
in a phenomenon, which we find thus referred to in
Lehot's Observations sur le Galvanisme et le Magnit-
isme ; t — " It has long been known that the two wires
which terminate a pile attract one another, and, after
contact, adhere like two magnets. This attraction
between the two wires, one of which receives, and
the other loses, the galvanic fluid, differs essentially
from electrical attraction, as Ritter observed, since it
is not followed by a repulsion after contact, but con-
tinues as long as the chain is closed " (note on p. 4).$

* Noad's Manual of Electricity, p. 641.
+ Paris, circa, 1806, 8vo., 8 pp.

J This discovery appears to have been made independently, and
about the same time, by Gantherot, in 1801 (Philosophual Magazine,

io the Year 1837. 257

In the same spirit of inquiry Desormes and
Hachette, in 1805, tried to ascertain the direction
which a voltaic pile, whose poles were not joined,
would take when freely suspended horizontally. The
pile, " composed of 1480 thin plates of copper tinned
with zinc, of the diameter of a five-franc piece," was
placed upon a boat, which floated on the water of a
large vat ; but it assumed no determinate direction,
although " a magnetised steel bar, of a weight nearly
equal to that of the pile, and placed like it upon the
boat, would turn, after some oscillations, into the
magnetic meridian." *

The honour of the discovery of the much-sought-for
connection between electricity and magnetism has
often, in the last fifty years, been claimed for Roma-
gnosi, an Italian writer who is justly esteemed for his
works on history, law, and political philosophy. Govi,t
however, in 1 869, showed in the clearest manner pos-
sible the absurdity of this claim ; but, notwithstanding,
it has been again put forward, and this time by no

for 1828, vol. iv. p. 458); by Laplace; and by Biot {Journal de
Physique et de Chimie, &c., for 1801, vol. liii. p. 266). The latter made
the further very acute observation that, if the wires be attached to
plates of metal, and theSe plates be approached by their edges, they
will attract one another ; while if approached by their faces no action
whatever takes place.

For other interesting experiments of this kind, see Nicholson's
jfournal, for 1804, vol. vii. p. 304.

* Philosophical Magazine, for 1821, vol. Ivii. p. 43.

t Romagnosi e P Elettro-Magnetismo, Turin, i86g.

S

258 A History of Electric Telegraphy

less an authority than Dr. Tommasi, of Paris, in a
recent number of Cosmos ks Mondes Qune 30, 1883).

Dr. Tommasi, in republishing Romagnosi's experi-
ment, asks the following questions, which he sub-
mitted, in particular, to the managing committee of
the (late) Vienna Exhibition, in the hope that they
might have been brought before electricians : —

" Is it to Oersted, or to Romagnosi, that we should
ascribe the merit of having first observed the deviation
of the magnetic needle by the action of the galvanic
current ?

" Had Oersted any knowledge of the experiment
of Romagnosi when he published his discovery of
electro-magnetism ? *

" Have any other savants taken part in this dis-
covery ? "

Now, we should have thought that after the admir-
able expos^ ol Govi, to which we have just referred, no
electrician would seriously put to himself these ques-
tions. But it appears that our Paris confrire does so,
although, if he had only read carefully the facts on
which he bases them, he would perceive that they
have no relation whatever to electro-magnetic action,
but are simply effects of ordinary electrical attraction
and repulsion brought about by the static charge
which is always accumulated at the poles of a strong
vo\taXcpile — the form of battery used in Romagnosi's

* Dr. Hamel, for one, thought he had, and tries to prove it in his
Historical Account, &c., of 1859 (pp. 37-9 of W. F. Cooke's leprint).

to the Year 1837. 259

experiments, and which, as is well known, exhibits
this phenomenon in a far more exalted degree than
the ordinary cell arrangement.

We cannot establish better the correctness of our
conclusions than by quoting in full the recital of
Romagnosi's experiment, as it originally appeared in
the Gaszetta di Trento, of August 3, 1802 : * —

" Article on Galvanism.

"The Counsellor, Gian Domenico de Romagnosi,
of this city, known to the republic of letters by his
learned productions, hastens to communicate to the
physicists of Europe an experiment showing the action
of the galvanic fluid on magnetism.

" Having constructed a voltaic pile, of thin discs of
copper and zinc, separated by flannel soaked in a
solution of sal-ammoniac, he attached to one of the
poles one end of a silver chain, the other end of which
passed through a short glass tube, and terminated in
a silver knob. This being done, he took an ordinary
compass-box, placed it on a glass stand, removed its
glass cover, and touched one end of the needle with
the silver knob, which he took care to hold by its
glass envelope. After a few seconds' contact, the
needle was observed to take up a new position, where
it remained, even after the removal of the knob. A
fresh application of the knob caused a still further

* Our translation is made from the ■ reprint at p. 8 of Govi's
Romagnosi e PElettro-Magnetismo.

S 2

26o A History of Electric Telegraphy

deflection of the needle, which was always observed
to remain in the position to which it was last deflected,
as if its polarity were altogether destroyed.

Fig. 8.

Romagnosi's Experiment, according to Govi.

" In order to restore this polarity, Romagnosi took
the compass-box between his fingers and thumbs, and
held it steadily for some seconds. The needle then
returned to its original position, not all at once, but
little by little, advancing like the minute or seconds
hand of a clock.

"These experiments were made in the month of
May, and repeated in the presence of a few spectators,
when the effect was obtained without trouble and at a
very sensible distance."

Here it will be seen that Romagnosi uses only one

to the Year 1837. 261

pole of the pile, and never speaks of the circuit being
closed — facts which show that his experiment has no
resemblance to that of Oersted.

The effects which he describes are, moreover, easily-
explainable on another hypothesis. The compass
needle, we may imagine, received a charge of static
electricity by contact with the charged pole of the
pile. Being insulated, it could not part with this
charge, and, consequently, as soon as it had attained
the same potential as the voltaic pole, mutual repulsion
ensued. As the needle belonged to " an ordinary
compass-box," we may assume it was neither strongly
magnetised, nor delicately suspended. Friction at
the point of support, then, might more than counter-
balance the directive force of the earth, and so the
needle would always remain in the position to which
it had been last repelled.

The " restoration of polarity," or the bringing back
of the needle to the magnetic meridian, by merely
holding the compass-box steadily between the fingers
and thumbs, although savouring of legerdemain, was
really due to a " simple turn of the wrist." Roma-
gnosi may have imagined that he held the compass-
box steadily, but there can be no doubt that his hands
suffered a slight and imperceptible tremor, which,
aided by the directive force of terrestrial magnetism,
sufficed to shake the needle into a north and south
position.

Another, and to us convincing, argument against

262 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the supposition that Romagnosi had any share in the
discovery of electro-magnetism is that he himself
never claimed any, although he lived down to the
year 1835, or fifteen years after the announcement of
the Danish philosopher*

To the same category belongs the contrivance of
Schweigger, which is described in Gehlen's Journal
fur die Chemie und Physik, for 1808 (pp. 206-8), and
on the strength of which a recent writer f says that
the celebrated inventor of the galvanometer ought
also to be considered as the discoverer of electro-
magnetism. There is no ground whatever for this
statement. Schweigger's paper, which is headed On
the Employment of the Magnetic Force for Measuring
the Electrical, simply describes an electroscope for
indicating the attraction and repulsion of ordinary, or
frictional, electricity, and which he used as a sub-
stitute for the torsion electrometer of Coulomb. It
consisted of a magnetic needle, armed at each end
with a brass knob, and mounted on a pivot, as in an
ordinary compass.

In fact, these experiments of Romagnosi and
Schweigger are but modifications of one which dates
back to the very earliest days in the history of elec-
tricity, and upon which, we have no doubt, Milner, in
1783, constructed the electrometer now known as

* For some very interesting experiments of this kind, see Van Mens'
Journal de Chimie, for Jan. 1803, p. 52; also Nicholson's Journal,
vol. vii. p. 304.

t In the Journal fur Math, und Physik, Berlin, 1873, P- 609.

to the Year 1837. 263

Peltier's. In our second chapter (p. 31) we have
said, when speaking of Gilbert : — " In order to test
the condition of the various substances experimented
upon, Gilbert made use of a light needle of any-
metal, balanced, and turning freely on a pivot, like
the magnetic needle, to the extremities of which he
presented the bodies after excitation." Romagnosi
and Schweigger have done no more than this — hardly
as much, for Gilbert's contrivance was a valuable in-
strument of research, while those of the later philo-
sophers were barren of results.

Other instances of this phenomenon, contributed
by Robins and Kinnersley respectively, occur in the
Philosophical Transactions, for 1746 and 1763 ; and a
recent example, which is described in the American
Polytechnic Review, for 1 881, is considered so puzzling
that " it is given for what it is worth " in the scientific
paper in which we find it :* —

" An American surveyor, who had been taking some
delicate bearings, was puzzled to find that the mag-
netic needle did not give the same bearing twice, and
he observed that it never quite settled. This could not
be explained as due to metallic articles in the dress,
or pockets, of the observer ; and an examination of
the magnifying glass used in reading the needle was
made. The magnifier was similar to those now uni-
versally used to read the verniers and needle-bearings

* An exactly similar case is recorded at p. 280, vol. xxi., of The
Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts (Royal Institution), for 1826.

264 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of field instruments, having a black vulcanite frame,
highly polished, and in this, it is stated, the whole
cause of the trouble lay. It was found that this frame
was peculiarly liable to become electrified, that the
slightest friction, even the mere carrying in the pocket,
was sufficient to charge it, and that, when thus electri-
fied, if brought near the needle of a compass, it had
almost the effect of a loadstone in drawing it from its
true settling place. On discarding this magnifier and
using an ordinary glass lens without a frame, no
further trouble was found in the field work done with
the compass. This must be taken for what it is
worth."

As little value attaches to the observation of
Mojon which we find recorded by Aldini, and which
seems to us but a repetition of Franklin's experiment
(before mentioned, p. 252), with this difference, that a
voltaic battery was used instead of one of Leyden
jars. Aldini says : — "The following experiment has
been quite recently communicated to me by its author
Mojon : —

" Having placed horizontally sewing-needles, very
fine, and two inches long, he put the two extremities
in communication with the two poles of a battery of
one hundred cups, and on withdrawing the needles, at
the end of twenty days, he found them a little oxidised,
but at the same time endowed with a very sensible
magnetic polarity. This new property of galvanism
has been verified by other observers, and lately by

to the Year 1837.

265

Romanesi, who has found that galvanism is able to
deflect a magnetic needle." *

At p. 120 of his Manuel du Galvanisme (Paris,
1805), Joseph Izarn describes Mojon's experiment, and
appends an illustration, which shows most conclusively
that it had no reference to electro-magnetism. His
words are : —

"Apparatus for observing the action of galvanism
on the polarity of a magnetised needle : —

Fig. 9.

C=

0=^1

h ^

lC=0

Mojon's Experiment, according to Izarn.

" Preparation. Arrange the horizontal rods ab, b d

(Fig. 9) so that they may approach the magnetic bar

shown between them, in place of the knobs b b, screw

on little pincers which take hold of the magnetic bar,

and attach one pole of a pile to a, and the other to d,

thus completing the voltaic circuit through the length

of the magnet.

» Essai Thlorique et Expirimental sur le Galvanisme, Paris, 1804,
vol. i. p. 339.

266 A History of Electric Telegraphy

"Effects. According to the observations of Roma-
gnosi the magnet experiences a declination, and
according to those of Mojon needles not previously-
magnetised acquire by this means a sort of magnetic
polarity." *

In a paper read before the Royal Academy of
Munich, in May 1805, Ritter, a Bavarian philosopher,
advanced some curious speculations, which, although
always quoted, as suggestive of electro-magnetism, are
really as- wide of the mark as the experiments of
Romagnosi, Schweigger, and Mojon. We find them
thus described in the Philosophical Magazine, for
1806 :t—

" The pile with which M. Ritter commonly performs
his experiments consists of 100 pairs of plates of
metal, two inches in diameter ; the pieces of zinc have

* Mr. Sabine appears to have studied Izam, yet he writes thus, at
p. 23 of his History and Progress of the Electric Telegraph, 2nd edit.,
London, 1869 : — " After explaining the way to prepare the apparatus,
which consists simply in putting a freely suspended magnet needle parallel
and close to a straight metallic conductor through which a galvanic cur-
rent is circulating, he describes the effects in the following words," &c.
The words that we have itahcised are altogether misleading.

t Vol. xxiii. p. 51. "An ingenious and extraordinary man, from
whom much might have been expected, had nature permitted the
continuance of his scrutiny into her secret operations. A prema-
ture death deprived the world of one whose constitutional singu-
larity of opinion, ardency of research, and originality of invention,
rendered him at once systematic in eccentricity, Inexhaustible in
discovery, and ingenious even in error." — Donovan's Essay on the
Origin, Progress, and Present State of Galvanism, Dublin, 1816,
p. 107.

Johann Wilhelm Ritter was bom December 16, 1776, and died at
Munich, January 23, 1810.

to the Year 1837. 267

a rim to prevent the liquid pressed out from flowing
away, and the apparatus is insulated by several plates
of glass.

" As he resides at present near Jena I have not had
an opportunity of seeing experiments with his great
battery of 2000 pieces, or with his battery of 50 pieces,
each thirty-six inches square, the action of which
continues very perceptible for a fortnight. Neither
have I seen his experiments with the hew battery of
his invention, consisting of a single metal, and which
he calls the charging pile*

" I have, however, seen him galvanise a louis d'or.
He places it between two pieces of pasteboard
thoroughly wetted, and keeps it six or eight minutes
in* the circuit of the pile. Thus it becomes charged,
though not immediately in contact with the conduct-
ing wires. If applied to the recently bared crural
nerves of a frog the usual contractions ensue. I put
a louis d'or thus galvanised into my pocket, and Ritter
tcld me, some minutes after, that I might discover it
from the rest by trying them in succession upon the
frog. I made the trial, and actually distinguished,
among several others, one in which only the exciting
quality was evident.

" The charge is retained in proportion to the time
that the coin has been in the circuit of the pile. Thus,

* The charging pile, or, as we now call it, the secondary battery,
was first described by Gautlierot in 1801. See Izarn's Manuel du
Calvanisme, Paris, 1804, p. 250; sXm Fhil. Mag:, for 1806, vol. xxiv.
p. 185.

268 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of three different coins, which Ritter charged in my
presence, none lost its charge under five minutes.

" A metal thus retaining the galvanic charge, though
touched by the hand and other metals, shows that this
communication of galvanic virtue has more affinity
with magnetism than with electricity, and assigns to
the galvanic fluid an intermediate rank between the
two.

"Ritter can, in the way I have just described, charge
at once any number of pieces. It is only necessary
that the two extreme pieces of the number communi-
cate with the pile through the intervention of wet
pasteboards. It is with metallic discs charged in this
manner, and placed upon one another, with pieces of
wet pasteboard alternately interposed, that he con-
structs his charging pile, which ought, in remembrance
of its inventor, to be called the Ritterian pile. The
construction of this pile shows that each metal galvan-
ised in this way acquires polarity, as the needle does
when touched with a magnet.*

» « « 4: * «

" After showing me his experiments on the different
contractibility of various muscles, Ritter made me

* We may here dispose of a paragraph which has hitherto puzzled
a good many writers, who have supposed it to refer to some kind of
magneto-electric machine. It occurs in The Monthly Magazine, for
April 1802, p. 268, and reads as follows : —

" Galvanism is at present a subject of occupation of all the German
philosophers and chemists. At Vienna an important discovery has
been announced — an artificial magnet — employed instead of Volta's

to the Year 1837. 269

obsei"ve that the piece of gold galvanised by com-
munication with the pile exerts at once the action of
two metals, or of one voltaic couple, and that the face,
which in the voltaic circuit was next the negative pole,
became positive; and the face towards the positive
pole, negative.

" Having discovered a way to galvanise metals, as
iron is rendered magnetic, and having found that the
galvanised metals always exhibit two poles as the
magnetised needle does, Ritter suspended a galvan-
ised gold needle on a pivot, and perceived that it had
a certain dip and variation, or deflection, and that the
angle of deviation was always the same in all his
experiments. It differed, however, from that of the
magnetic needle, and it was the positive pole that
always dipped." *

Ritter also observed that a needle composed of
silver and zinc arranged itself in the magnetic meri-
dian, and was slightly attracted and repelled by the
poles of a magnet ; and, again, that a metallic wire
through which a current had been passed took up of
itself a N.E. and S.W. direction.

pile, decomposes water equally well as that pile, or the electrical
machine ; whence it has been concluded that the electric, galvanic,
and magnetic fluids are the same." Clearly the artificial magnet here
mentioned can be none other than Ritter's secondary pile. One thing
is certain, it cannot be a magneto-electric machine, for magneto-
electricity was not known in 1802.

* C. Bernoulli, in Van Mon^ Journal, vol. vi. See further on this
subject in Phil. Mag., vol. xxv. pp. 368-9.

27° A History of Electric Telegraphy

As the result of all these observations the Bavarian
philosopher concluded that "electrical combinations,
when not exhibiting their electric tension, were in
a magnetic state ; and that there existed a kind of
electro-magnetic meridian depending on the electricity
of the earth, and at right angles to the magnetic
poles."* These speculations are, as we see, suffi-
ciently obscure, and, like those that we have hitherto
described, failed to throw any light on the relation so
anxiously sought after.

Nor can we give Oersted credit at this period for
any more distinct apprehensions. In a work which

* Phil. Mag., vol. Iviii. p. 43. It is carious to note that the
English philosophers entirely neglected this study, being content to
follow the brilliant lead of Sir Humphry Davy in another branch
of the science. Indeed, it seems to have been the general opinion
in this country, as late as the year 1818, that there was nothing
more to be discovered. Bostock, in his Account of the History
and Present State of Galvanism, published in London in that year,
says : —

"Although it may be somewhat hazardous to form predictions
respecting the progress of science, I may remark that the impulse,
which was given in the first instance by Galvani's original experiments,
was revived by Volta's discovery of the pile, and was carried to the
highest pitch by Sir H. Davy's application of it to chemical decom-
position, seems to have, in a great measure, subsided. It may be
conjectured that we have carried the power of the instrument to the
utmost extent of which it admits ; and it does not appear that we are
at present in the way of making any important additions to our know-
ledge of its effects, or of obtaining any new light upon the theory of
its action " (p. 102).

Napoleon did not hold these views. In the First Consul's letter to
the Minister, Chaptal, founding two prizes to encourage new researches
in galvanism, he said : — " Galvanism, in my opinion, will lead to
great discoveries."

to the Year 1837. 271

he published in German, in 1807, on the identity of
chemical and electrical forces, he observes : * —

"When a' plate composed of several thin layers is
electrified, and the layers afterwards separated, each
is found to possess an electric polarity, just as each
fragment of a magnet possesses a magnetic polarity.

" There is, however, one fact which would appear to
be opposed to the theory of the identity of magnetism
and electricity. It is that electrified bodies act upon
magnetic bodies, as if they [.' the magnetic bodies]
were endowed with no force in particular. It would be
very interesting to science to explain away this diffi-
culty ; but the present state of physics will not enable
us to do so. It is, meanwhile, only a difficulty, and
not a fact absolutely opposed to theory ; for we see in
frictional electricity and in that of contact [galvanism]
analogous phenomena. Thus, we can alter the tension
of the electric pile by bringing near it an excited glass
rod, and yet not affect in any way the chemical action.
A long column of water, or a wetted thread of flax or
wool, will also suffer a change in its electricity without
experiencing any chemical changes.

" It would appear, then, that the forces can be super-
posed without interfering with each other when they
operate under forms of different activities.

" The form of galvanic activity holds a middle place
between those of magnetism and [static] electricity.

* Chap. viii. pp. 235-6 of the French, edition, Recherches sur
VIdentiUdes Forces Chimiques et Electrigues, Paris, 1813.

2/2 A History of Electric Telegraphy

The force is in that form more latent than as electricity,
and less so than as magnetism. It is, therefore, pro-
bable that the electric force, when superposed, will
exercise a less influence on magnetism than on gal-
vanism. In the galvanic pile, it is the electric state
[tension] which it acquires that is affected by the
approach of an excited glass rod ; more, it is not that
interior distribution of forces constituting magnetism
that we can change by electricity, but it is the electric
state which belongs to the magnet as to bodies in
general.

"We do not pretend to decide anything in this
matter ; we only wish to clear up, as far as possible, a
very obscure subject, and, in a question of such im-
portance, we shall be very well satisfied if we have
made it apparent that the principal objection to the
identity of the forces which produce electricity and
magnetism is rather a difficulty of reconciling facts
than of the facts themselves."

And again, on p. 238, he says: — "Steel when
heated loses its magnetism, showing that it becomes
a better conductor by the elevation of temperature,
like electrical bodies. Magnetism, too, like electricity,
exists in all bodies in nature, as Bruckmann and
Coulomb have shown. From this it seems that the
magnetic force is as general as the electric; and it
remains to be seen whether electricity in its most
latent state \i. e., as galvanism] will not affect the
magnetic needle as such.

to the Year 1837. 273

" This experiment will not be made without diffi-
culty, for the electrical actions will blend and render
the observations very complicated. In comparing
the attractions on magnetic and non-magnetic bodies,
some data will probably be obtained."

In trying experiments with a view to the illustration
of these hazy notions Oersted is said to have succeeded
in obtaining indications of the action of the conducting
wires of the pile, during the passage of electricity, on
the needle ; but the phenomena were, at first view, not
a little perplexing ; and it was not till after repeated
investigation that, in the winter of 1819-20, the real
nature of the action was satisfactorily made out.*

Even then Oersted seems not to have clearly under-
stood the full significance of his own experiment.
Unlike Davy, who, when he first saw the fiery drops
of potassium flow under the action of his battery,
recorded his triumph in a few glowing words in his
laboratory journal,! Oersted took no immediate steps,

* " Professor Forchhammer, the pupil and friend of Oersted, states
that, in i8l8 and 1819, it was well known in Copenhagen that he was
engaged in a special study of the connection of magnetism and elec-
tricity. Yet we must ascribe it to a happy impulse — the result, no
doubt, of much anxious thought — that, at a private lecture to a few
advanced students in the winter of 1819-20, he made the observation
that a wire uniting the ends of a voltaic battery in a state of activity
affected a magnet in its vicinity." — Ency. Brit., 8th ed.. Dissertation vi.

P- 973-

t On i6th October, 1807, while investigating the compound nature
of the alkalies. On seeing the globules of potassium burst through the
crust of the potash, and take fire as they entered the atmosphere, he
could not contain his joy, but danced about the room in wild delight,

T

274 A History of Electric Telegraphy

either to complete, or to publish, his discovery.
" Although," he says, " the effect was unquestionable,
it appeared to me, nevertheless, so confused that I
deferred a minute examination of it to a period at
which I hoped for more leisure." * And when he had
made this minute examination and published the
results, he could not explain the phenomena by a
better hypothesis than that negative electricity acts
only on the northern pole, and positive only on the
southern pole of the needle.j

This most important discovery may be thus briefly
defined : — Supposing the electric current to pass from
north to south through a wire, placed horizontally in
the magnetic meridian, then a compass needle sus-
pended above it will have its north end turned to-
wards the west ; if below the wire, to the east ; if
on the east side of it, the north end will be raised ;
and if on the west side, depressed. These results
Oersted first published in a Latin tract, dated the
2 1st July, 1820, a copy of which (with translation in
English), will be found in the Journal of the Society
of Telegraph Engineers, vol. v. pp. 459-69.

and some time elapsed before he could sufficiently compose himself to
continue his experiments. — Bakewell's Manual of Electricity, London,
1857, p. 34-

* TyndaU's Lectures on Voltaic Electricity at the Royal Institution,
1876.

t See concluding paragraph of his paper in the Journal of the Soc.
of Tel. Engs., vol. v. p. 468.

to the Year 1837. 275

CHAPTER X.

ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY

— HISTORY IN RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY

(continued).

The effect of Oersted's pamphlet was most wonderful.
The enthusiasm, says Lardner,* which had been
lighted up by the great discovery of Volta twenty
years before, and which time had moderated, was
relumined, and the experimental resources of every
cabinet and laboratory were brought to bear on the
pursuit of the consequences of this new relation be-
tween sciences so long suspected of closer ties. The
inquiry was taken up, more particularly, by Ampere
and Arago, in France ; by Davy, Faraday, Gumming,
and Sturgeon, in England ; and by Seebeck, Schweig-
ger, De la Rive, Henry, and numerous other philoso-
phers in all parts of Europe and America.

Anjong these, Ampere has assumed the first and
highest place. No sooner was the fact discovered
by Oersted made known, than that philosopher com-
menced the beautiful series of researches which has
surrounded his name with so much lustre, and

• Electricity, Magnetism, and Meteorology, vol. i. p. 205.

T 2

276 A History of Electric Telegraphy

brought electro-dynamics within the pale of mathe-
matical physics. On the i8th of September, 1820,
within less than two months of the publication of
Oersted's experiments, he communicated his first
memoir on electro-magnetism to the Academy of
Sciences.

In this paper was explained the law which deter-
mined the position of the magnetic needle in relation
to the electric current. In order to illustrate this, he
proposed that a man should imagine the current to
be transmitted through his body, the positive pole
being applied to his feet, and the negative pole to
his head, so that the current shall pass upwards from
the feet to the head. This being premised, a magnetic
needle, freely supported on its centre of gravity, and
placed before him, will throw itself at right angles to
him ; the north pole pointing towards his left, and the
south pole towards his right.

If the person through whose body the current thus
passes turn round, so as to present his face in different
directions, a magnetic needle, still placed before him,
will have its direction determined by the same con-
dition ; the north pole pointing always to the left, and
the south to the right.

In the same memoir were described several instru-
ments intended to be constructed ; especially spiral, or
helical, wires, through which it was proposed to trans-
mit the electric currents, and which, it was expected,
would thereby acquire the properties of magnets, and

to the Year 1837. 277

retain these properties so long as the current might
be transmitted through them. The author also ex-
plained his theory of magnets, ascribing their attrac-
tive and directive powers to currents of electricity-
circulating constantly round their molecules, in planes
at right angles to the line joining their poles ; the
position of the poles, on the one side or the other
of these planes,* depending on the direction of the
revolving current.

While Ampere was proceeding with these researches,
Arago directed his inquiries to the state of the wire
through which the current was transmitted, so as to
determine whether every part of its surface was en-
dowed with the same magnetic properties. With
this view, he placed iron filings around the wire, and
found that they adhered to it so long as the current
flowed, and fell away immediately the connection
with the battery was broken. He also found that
on placing small steel needles across the wire
through which a current from a voltaic pile, or a
discharge from a Leyden jar, was sent, they were
attracted, and, on removal, were found to be perma-
nently magnetised. Acting upon Ampere's theory
of magnetism, he placed in a glass tube an ordinary
sewing needle, and wound round the tube a copper
wire. On sending a current through this wire the
needle was magnetised, its polarity depending on the

* Annales de ChimU el de Physique, Paris, 1820, vol. xv. pp. 59
and 170.

278 A History of Electric Telegraphy

direction of the current. If the helix were right-
handed, the north pole was found at the end at which
the current entered ; and if left-handed, the same
end was a south pole. In the same way he was
able to impart a temporary magnetism to soft iron
wires.*

Another important discovery, which followed fast
on the heels of Oersted's experiments, was that of
Schweigger, of Halle, announced on the i6th Sep-
tember, 1820. Observing that the deflection pro-
duced by the outward current of a battery flowing
over the needle was the same as that of the return
current under the needle, he made the wire pro-
ceed from and to his battery above and beneath
the needle, and obtained, as he expected, twice
the eifect ; by giving the wire another turn round
the needle the effect was again doubled ; a third
turn produced six times the original deviation ; a
fourth, eight times, and so on. This effect may be
thus formulated : — If a magnetised needle, free to
move, be surrounded by a number of convolutions
of insulated wire, the power of the current to deflect
it will increase in proportion to the number of con-

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, vol. xv. p. 93. Soon after,
and before any knowledge of Arago's experiments had reached England,
Davy also succeeded in magnetising needles by the voltaic current, as
well as by ordinary frictional electricity, and showed the effect of the
conducting wire on iron filings. See his letter to WoUaston, dated
November 12, 1820, in the Phil. Trans., for 182 1. About the same
time Seebeck communicated a paper to the Berlin Academy on the
same subject.

to the Year 1837. 279

volutions.* In this way the effect of a very feeble
current may be so multiplied as to produce as great
a deviation of the magnetic needle as would other-
wise be produced by a very strong current.

On this principle are constructed instruments for
indicating and measuring currents of electricity, called
electro-magnetic multipliers, or, more commonly, gal-
vanometers\ — the former being the name originally
given to the arrangement by Schweigger. His first
contrivance was a very humble affair, consisting of a
small compass-box, round which were coiled several
turns of copper wire in a direction parallel to the
meridian line of the card.f Yet this was the pro-
totype of the beautiful instruments of Du Bois-
Reymond and Sir William Thomson, in the former

' The practical reader is, of course, aware that this definition is not
strictly true, — for three reasons : ist, as the convolutions increase, the
strength of the current decreases, by reason of the increased resistance
in the circuit ; 2nd, each convolution has less and less effect, as it is
farther and farther removed from the needle ; and, 3rd, the current
exerts less and less force on the needle, as it is deflected farther and
farther from the plane of the current.

t In the early part of the century this name was applied to measuring
instruments based on the chemical and calorific properties of the cur-
rent ; but these are now denominated ■voltameters, and the name
galvanometer is reserved exclusively for the class of apparatus described
in the text.

X Schweigger's Journal fur Chemie und Physik, vol. xxxi. pp. 1-17.
A galvanometer of different form, called a galvano-magnetic conden-
sator, with vertical coils and unmagnetised needle, was shortly after,
but independently, devised by the celebrated Poggendorff, then a.
student at Berlin. As the published description of his apparatus pre-
ceded that of Schweigger's, he is sometimes regarded as the first
inventor (Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, vol. Ixvii. pp. 422-29).

28o A History of Electric Telegraphy

of which as many as 30,000 convolutions are some-
times employed.

There was, however, still wanting another discovery
to bring the galvanometer to its present perfection,
and this want was soon supplied. In deflecting a
magnetic needle the current acts against the direc-
tive force of terrestrial magnetism ; hence it is clear
that if this force could be neutralised the deflection
would be greater ; in other words, a galvanometer, in
which the needle is freed from the controlling action
of the earth's magnetism, would be more sensitive
than the same galvanometer when its needle was
not so freed. Ampere suspended a single needle
so that the earth's magnetism acted perpendicularly
to it, and had, therefore, no directive force upon it ;
and he found that it set accurately at right angles to
the current.

This led him to the invention of the double, or
astatic, needles, which he thus describes in his memoir
of 1821 : —

" When a magnetic needle is withdrawn from the
directive action of the earth, it sets itself, by the
action of a voltaic conductor, in a direction which
makes a right angle with the direction of the con-
ductor, and has its south pole to the left of the
current against which it is placed ; so that if M.
Oersted, in the experiments which he published in
1820, only obtained deviations of the needle which
were less than a right angle, on placing it above or

to the Year 1837. 281

below a conducting wire parallel to its direction, it
was solely because the needle which he subjected to
the action of the current was not withdrawn from that
of the earth, and took consequently an intermediate
position between the directions which the two forces
tended to give it. There are several means of with-
drawing a magnetic needle from the earth's action.
A very simple one consists in attaching to a stout
brass wire, which has its upper part curved and fitted
with a steel point of suspension, two magnetic needles
of equal strength, in such a manner that their poles
are in opposite directions, so that the directive force
of the earth upon one is destroyed by the action in
the opposite direction which it exercises on the other.
The needles are so arranged that the lower one is just
below the conducting wires, and the upper one close
above them. On sending a current through the con-
volutions the needles turn, until they take a direction
at right angles with the conducting wire." *

Having oscillated a magnetised needle, freely sus-
pended in a circular copper cage, the bottom and sides

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, vol. xviii. p. 320. In Professor
Cumming's paper On the connection of Galvanism and Magnetism,
read before the Cambridge Philosophical Society on April 2, 1821, he
described a near approach to the astatic needle. In order to neutralise
the terrestrial magnetism he placed a small magnetised needle under
the galvanometer needle. — Trans. Cam. Phil. Soc, vol. i. p. 279.
The credit of Ampere's discovery is usually attributed to Nobili. As
in Noad's Manual of Electricity, London, 1859, p. 327; also Roget's
Electro-Magnetism, in Library of Useful Knowledge, London, 1832,
p. 42.

282 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of which were very near the needle, Arago, in 1824,
noticed that the oscillations rapidly diminished in
extent, and very quickly ceased, as if the medium in
which they were being produced had become more
and more resistant. The proximity of the copper,
while thus checking the amplitude of the oscillations,
was observed to have no effect on their duration, they
being accomplished in exactly the same time as in
free air. By making the needle oscillate at different
distances above discs of different materials, Arago
found that distance considerably diminished the effect ;
and that metals acted with more energy than wood,
glass, &c.*

Arago now conceived the idea of trying whether the
disc which possessed this remarkable property would
not draw the needle with it if itself rotated. The
experiment was tried and resulted in the discovery of
a new class of phenomena to which its author gave the
name of magnetism by rotation. If we fix to a rotation
apparatus, such as a table made for experiments on
centrifugal force, a copper disc, about twelve inches
diameter, and one-tenth inch thick, and just above it
suspend, by a silk fibre, a magnetic needle, in such a
manner that its point of suspension is exactly above
the centre of the disc (care being taken to interpose a

* Annales de Chim. et de Physique, voL xxvii. p. 363. Seebeck, . of
Berlin, on repeating these experiments two years later, obtained analo-
gous results. SeePogg; ^»«., vol. vii. We shall see further on, pp. 321,
and 336-7, the use that has been made of this fact in the telegraphs of
Gauss and Weber, and Steinheil.

to the Year 1837. 283

screen of glass or paper, so that the agitation of the
air resulting from the motion impressed upon the disc
may have no effect upon the needle), and then put the
disc in rotation, the needle is seen to deviate in the
direction of this rotation, and to make with the mag-
netic meridian a greater or less angle according to
the velocity with which the disc is revolved. If this
movement be very rapid, the needle is deflected more
and more, until finally it rotates with the disc.

The effect diminishes very rapidly with the distance
of the needle from the disc ; and is still further lessened
by cutting slits in the latter in the direction of rays —
a fact which, as our practical readers know, is of the
highest importance in the construction of electro-
magnets.

Whilst Arago was analysing the force that he had
discovered, Babbage and Herschel, Barlow, Harris,*
and others, undertook an investigation of the causes
that may vary its intensity. Messrs. Babbage and
Herschel repeated Arago's experiment by inverting it.
They found that discs of copper, or other substances,
when freely suspended over a rotating horse-shoe
magnet, turned in the same direction as the magnet,
with a movement at first slow, but which gradually
increased in rapidity. The interposition of plates of
glass and of non-magnetic metallic bodies in no degree

* For researches of the three first-named philosophers, see Philo-
sophical Transactions, for 1825 ; for those of Sir W. Snow Harris, see
same for 1831.

284 A History of Electric Telegraphy

affected the results ; but it was not the same with
plates of iron. The action was then greatly reduced,
or even entirely annihilated.

These two philosophers confirmed the accuracy of
Arago's observations on the influence of solutions of
continuity, either partial or total, in the discs subjected
to experiment. Thus, a light disc of copper, suspended
at a given distance above a magnet, executed its (6)
revolutions in 5 5". When cut in eight places, in the
direction of radii near the centre, it required 121" to
execute the same number ; but, on the parts cut out
being again soldered in with tin, the original effect
was almost attained, the disc performing its revolu-
tions in 57". The same effects were obtained with
other metals.

Sir W. Snow Harris, who made a great number of
experiments on this .subject, not only found great
differences between bodies with I'egard to their power
of drawing the needle after them when rotating, but
also with regard to the property they possess of inter-
cepting this action. He observed that iron, and mag-
netic substances generally, are not the only ones that
are thus able to arrest the effect of magnetism by
rotation. Plates of non-magnetic substances, such as
copper, silver, zinc, will do the same, provided only
they be sufficiently thick, as from three to five inches.

From a study of all these experiments Christie
deduced the law that the force with which different
substances draw along the magnetic needle in their

to the Year 1837. 285

rotatory movement is proportional to their conducting
power for electricity. But a full explanation of these
phenomena could not be given until after Faraday's
discoveries in 183 1, when it was seen that they were,
one and all, the result of the electric currents induced
in the disc by its rotation in the field of the magnet.
In the case of those discs in which slits, or rays, were
cut, the free circulation of these currents was pre- ■
vented, and, consequently, there was no effect on the
needle.*

In November 1825, a great advance was made on
Arago's experiment of magnetising soft iron, by the
invention of the electro-magnet — an instrument which,
in one form or another, has become the basis of nearly
every system of electric telegraphy. We owe this
most important contrivance to Sturgeon, a well-known
electrician of Woolwich, who had worked in his earlier
days at the cobbler's last,t as Franklin had done at the
printing stick, and Faraday at bookbinding. Fig. 10
shows the earliest form of the instrument — a piece of
stout iron wire, bent into the form of a horse-shoe,

" See Yaxs.As.'f 5 Experimental Researches, 1831 ; also Henry's clas-
sical paper on Electro-dynamic Induction, in Trans. Amsr. Phil.
Society, for 1839, vol. vi. p. 318.

t He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and disliking the employ-
ment, at the age of nineteen entered the Westmoreland Militia, and
two years later enlisted in the Royal Artillery. While in this corps
he devoted his leisure to scientific studies, and made himself familiar
with all the great facts of electricity and magnetism, which were then
opening on the world. His subsequent career has created for him an
undying name in the annals of electricity.

286 A History of Electric Telegraphy

coated with an insulating varnish, and then bound
round loosely with bare copper wire, the turns (of which
there were sixteen) being, of course, separated from
each other. This electro-magnet, when excited by a

Fig. 10.

single voltaic pair of large (130 square inches) surface,
was capable of supporting a weight of nine pounds, a
wonderful performance in those days.*

Some of the further steps in the perfection of the
electro-magnet as used in telegraphy were made by
Professor Henry in America, between the years 1828
and 1 83 1, and it will be interesting to retrace them
here, if only to see how little learned professors, fifty
years ago, understood the conditions underlying the
conversion of voltaic into magnetic force, and conse-
quently how much groping in the dark, and stumbling
to conclusions, where now Ohm's celebrated law makes
everything so clear.

Henry was led to his first improvements in electro-
magnets by a study of Schweigger's galvanometer,

* Transactions Society of Arts, 1825, vol. xliii. pp. 38-52.

to the Year 1837. 287

which resulted in the idea that a much nearer approxi-
mation to the requirements of Ampere's theory could
be attained by insulating the conducting wire itself,
instead of the rod to be magnetised, and by covering
the whole surface of the iron with a series of coils in
close contact.

In June 1828, he exhibited at the Albany Institute
of New York, of which he was then professor, his
electro-magnet, constructed on this principle. It con-
sisted of a piece of soft iron, bent in the form of a
horse-shoe, and closely wound with silk-covered copper
wire, one-thirtieth of an inch in diameter. In this
way he was able to employ a much larger number of
convolutions, while each turn was more nearly at
right angles with the magnetic axis of the bar. The
lifting power of this magnet was, conformably to
Henry's anticipations, much greater, cceteris paribus,
than that of Sturgeon.

In March 1829, he exhibited, at the same place, a
somewhat larger magnet of the same character. A
round piece of iron, about one quarter inch diameter,
was bent into the usual horse-shoe form, and tightly
wound with thirty-five feet of silk-covered wire, in
about four hundred turns, with silk ribbon between.
A pair of small battery plates, which could be dipped
into a tumbler of dilute acid, were soldered, one to
each end of the wire, and the whole mounted on a
stand. With this small battery the magnet could be
much more powerfully excited than another of the

288 A History of Electric Telegraphy

same sized core, wound according to the method of
Sturgeon and excited by a battery of twenty-eight
plates of copper and zinc, each plate eight inches
square*

" In the arrangement," says Henry, " of Arago and
Sturgeon, the several turns of wire were not precisely
at right angles to the axis of the rod, as they should
be to produce the effect required by the theory, but
slightly oblique, and, therefore, each tended to develop
a separate magnetism not coincident with the axis of
the bar. But in winding the wire over itself, the
obliquity of the several turns compensated each other,
and the resultant action was at the required right
angles. The arrangement, then, introduced by myself
was superior to those of Arago and Sturgeon, first, in
the greater multiplicity of turns of wire, and second,
in the better application of these turns to the develop-
ment of magnetism.f

" The maximum effect, however, with this arrange-
ment and a single battery was not yet obtained.
After a certain length of wire had been coiled upon
the iron, the power diminished with a further increase
of the number of turns. This was due to the increased
resistance which the longer wire offered to the con-

* Smithsonian Report, 1878, p. 282.

t "When this conception," said Henry, "came into my brain, I
was so pleased with it that I could not help rising to my feet and
giving it my hearty approbation." It was his first discovery. See
Professor Mayer's Eulogy of Henry, before the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, 1880.

to the Year 1837. 289

duction of electricity. Two methods of improvement,
therefore, suggested themselves. The first consisted,
not in increasing the length of the coil, but in using a
number of separate coils on the same piece of iron.
By this arrangement the resistance to the conduction
of the electricity was diminished, and a greater quan-
tity made to circulate around the iron from the same
battery. The second method of producing a similar
result consisted in increasing the number of elements
of the battery, or, in other words, the projectile force
of the electricity, which enabled it to pass through an
increased number of turns of wire, and thus to develop
the maximum power of the iron." *

Employing a horse-shoe, formed from a cylindrical
bar of iron, half an inch in diameter, and about ten
inches long, and wound with thirty feet of fine copper
wire, he found that, with a current from only 2\ square
inches of zinc, the magnet held 14 Ibs.j Winding upon
its arms a second wire of the same length (30 feet)
whose ends were similarly joined to the same galvanic
pair, the magnet lifted 28 lbs. On these results Henry
remarks : —

" These experiments conclusively proved that a great
development of magnetism could be effected by a
very small galvanic pair, and also that the power of
the coil was materially increased by multiplying the

* Smithsonian Report, for 1857, p. 102.

t It must not be forgotten that at the time when this experimental
magnet was made, the strongest electro-magnet in Europe was that of
Sturgeon mentioned on p. 285, and then considered a prodigy.

U

290 A History of Electric Telegraphy

number of wires, without increasing the length of
each. The multiplication of the wires increases the
power in two ways : first, by conducting a greater
quantity of galvanism, and secondly, by giving it a
more proper direction ; for, since the action of a gal-
vanic current is directly at right angles to the axis of
a magnetic needle, by using several shorter wires we
can wind one on each inch of the length of the bar to
be magnetised, so that the magnetism of each inch
will be developed by a separate wire. In this way the
action of each particular coil becomes directed very
nearly at right angles to the axis of the bar, and con-
sequently the effect is the greatest possible. This
principle is of much greater importance when large
bars are used. The advantage of a greater conducting
power from using several wires might, in a less degree,
be obtained by substituting for them one large wire of
equal sectional area ; but in this case the obliquity of
the spiral would be much greater, and consequently
the magnetic action less." *

In the following year, 1830, Henry pressed forward
his researches to still higher results, assisted by his
friend. Dr. Philip Ten-Eyck. " A bar of soft iron,
2 inches square, and 20 inches long, was bent into the
form of a horse-shoe 0)\ inches high (the sharp edges
of the bar were first a little rounded by the hammer) ;
it weighed 2 1 lbs. A piece of iron from the same bar
weighing 7 lbs., was filed perfectly flat on one surface
* Silliman's American Journal of Science, Jan. 1831, vol. xix. p. 402.

to the Year 1837, 291

for an armature, or lifter. The extremities of the
legs of the horse-shoe were also truly ground to the
surface of the armature. Around this horse-shoe
540 feet of copper bell-wire were wound in nine coils
of 60 feet each ; these coils were not continued around
the whole length of the bar, but each strand of wire
(according to the principle before mentioned) occupied
about two inches, and was coiled several times back-
ward and forward over itself. The several ends of
the wires were left projecting, and all numbered, so
that the first and the last end of each strand might
be readily distinguished. In this manner we formed
an experimental magnet on a large scale, with which
several combinations of wire could be made by
merely uniting the different projecting ends. Thus,
if the second end of the first wire be soldered to the
first end of the second wire, and so on through all the
series, the whole will form a continued coil of one long
wire. By a different arrangement the whole may be
formed into a double coil of half the length, or into a
triple coil of one-third the length, and so on. The horse-
shoe was suspended in a strong rectangular frame
of wood, 3 feet 9 inches high, and 20 inches wide." *

The accompanying figure, which we copy from the
Scientific American, December 11, 1880, is an exact
representation of this instrument, which is at present
preserved in the College of New Jersey.

Two of the wires, one from each leg, being soldered

* Silliman's journal, for 1 831.

U 2

292 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Fig. h.»

* The coil at the right of the engraving represents the original silk-
covered ribbon vfire used by Henry in his celebrated experiments on
induction. In the middle of the foreground is one of his pole-changers,
which could also be used as a circuit breaker. He was accustomed to
delight himself and his classes with this by making and breaking the
current so quickly that a 28-lb. armature could not fall off, but was
freed and attracted with a sharp snap.

to the Year 1837. 293

together so as to form a single circuit of I20 feet,
gave a lifting power of 60 lbs. The same two wires,
when connected with the battery so as to form double
circuits of 60 feet each, produced a lifting power of
200 lbs. ; and four wires used in the same way sup-
ported as much as 500 lbs. Six wires united in three
pairs, so as to form three circuits of 180 feet each,
gave a lifting power of only 290 lbs. ; while the same
wires, when separately connected, as six parallel cir-
cuits, supported 570 lbs., or nearly double. When all
the nine wires were joined up in parallel circuits with
the battery, a lifting power of 650 lbs. was produced.*

In all these experiments a small single pair was
used, consisting of two concentric copper cylinders,
with a zinc one between, the active surface of which
(on both sides) amounted to only two-fifths of a
square foot. The exciting liquid consisted of half a
pint of dilute sulphuric acid.

A maximum portative force" of 750 lbs. was ob-
tained from a zinc-copper pair of 144 inches of active
surface, all nine coils being joined in multiple arc.f

* Henry was called to the chair of Natural Philosophy in the
College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1832, and there he made
two larger magnets for use in his investigations. One weighing
59§ lbs., and capable of sustaining 2063 lbs., is now in the cabinet of
Yale College. The other, made in 1833, weighed 100 lbs., and could
support 3500 lbs. It was many years before any magnet approaching
this in power was constructed.

t SiUiman's Journal, Jan. 1831. With a pair of plates, exposing
exactly one square inch surface, the same arrangement of the coils could
sustain a weight of 85 lbs. !

294 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

The only European physicist, who, up to this time,
1830, had obtained any results even approaching these,
was Gerard Moll, professor of natural philosophy in
the University of Utrecht, who having seen in London,
in 1828, an electro-magnet of Sturgeon which could
support 9 lbs., determined to try the effects of a
larger galvanic apparatus. Having formed a horse-
shoe, 12J inches high, and 2\ inches diameter, he
surrounded it with 26 feet of insulated copper wire,
one-eighth of an inch thick, in a close coil of forty-
four turns. The weight of the whole was about
26 lbs. With a current from a pair of 1 1 square feet
of active (zinc) surface, this magnet sustained 1 54 lbs.
This result was considered astonishing in Europe,
yet Henry's horse-shoe, less in size and weight, sup-
ported nearly five times this load, with one-eleventh
of Moll's battery power.*

After finding that the maximum attractive power
was obtained by his artifice of multiple coils, Henry
proceeded to experiment with electro-magnets formed
of one long coil ; and soon he was rewarded by a new
discovery, namely, that, though multiple coils yielded
the greatest attractive power close to the battery, one
long continuous coil permitted a weaker attractive
power to be exercised at a great distance, or through
a great length of intervening wire.

Employing his earlier and smaller magnet of 1829,

* Brewster's Edinburgh Journal of Science, October 1830,
p. 214.

to the Year 1837. 295

formed of a quarter-inch rod, and wound with 8 feet
of insulated copper wire; he tried the effects of
different battery powers, of different lengths of ex-
ternal wire, and of different lengths of coil. Excited
with a single pair of zinc and copper, having 56 square
inches of active surface, the magnet alone in the
circuit sustained 4^ lbs. With 500 feet of copper
wire, "045 inch diameter, interposed between battery
and magnet, the weight supported was only two
ounces, or thirty-six times less than in the first case.
With 1000 feet of wire interposed, the lifting power
of the magnet was only half an ounce.

Using now a trough battery of twenty-five pairs,
the magnet in direct connection (which, with a single
pair, had supported 4J lbs.) lifted seven ounces,
while with the thousand feet of interposed wire it
sustained eight ounces.

" From this experiment," says Henry,* " it appears
that the current from a galvanic trough is capable of
producing greater magnetic effect on soft iron after
traversing more than one-fifth of a mile of intervening
wire than when it passes only through the wire sur-
rounding the magnet. It is possible that the different
states of the trough with respect to dryness may have
exerted some influence on this remarkable result ; but
that the effect of a current from a trough, if not
increased, is but slightly diminished in passing through

* Silliman's Journal, January 1831, p. 403. Here is an instance of
the stumbling to conclusions of which we spoke on p. 286.

296 A History of Electric Telegraphy

a long wire is certain. * * * From these experi-
ments it is evident that, in forming the coil, we may
either use one very long wire, or several short ones, as
circumstances may require. In the first case, our gal-
vanic combination must consist of a number of plates,
so as to give ' projectile ' force ; in the second, it must
be forrhed of a single pair."

Henry was thus the first to practically work out
the different functions of two entirely different kinds
of electro-magnet; the one, of numerous short coils,
which he called the quantity magnet, and the other,
of one very long coil, which he designated the in-
tensity magnet. The former and more powerful,
although little affected by a battery of many plates,
was fully charged by a single pair; while the latter
and feebler, which was but slightly affected by a
single pair, was not only greatly excited by a battery
of numerous elements, but was capable of receiving
this excitation from a distant source.

In fact, Henry * had experimentally established the
important principles at which Ohm had, a short time
before, arrived from purely theoretical considerations,
and which are now so universally applied under
the name of Okm's Laws. A corollary of these,
viz., that, by combining an intensity battery, of
many small pairs, with an intensity magnet, of a long
fine wire, a very long intervening conductor can be
employed without sensible diminution of the effect —
* For more about Henry, see Appendix A.

to the Year 1837. 297

is a fact which lies at the root of every system of
electro-magnetic telegraphy.*

In the course of these pages we have had abundant
evidence of the fact that motion could produce elec-
tricity, and electricity motion. Dessaignes showed us
how difference of temperature, or heat, could produce
electricity ; \ and Peltier gave us the strict converse
of this in the conversion of electricity into heat, in-
cluding both its relations — hot and cold ; again, we
have seen how the nervous force in certain fishes could

* In 1827, Georg Simon Ohm, professor of physics at Munich,
published his celebrated formulae ; but for many years they failed to
attract attention, and were no doubt unknown to Henry in 1830, as
they were to Wheatstone in 1837. Numerous researches have, since
Henry's time, been made with the view of determining in a rigorous
manner the conditions necessary for obtaining the greatest electro-
magnetic force. For these, see Ganot's Physics, London, 1881, p. 783;
Noad's Text Book of Electricity, London, 1879, p. 285 ; Du Moncel's
Elements of Construction for Electro-Magnets, London, 1883, passim;
and the back volumes of The Electrician, for papers by Schwendler,
Heaviside, &c.

t In 1815, or six years before Seebeck, who is always credited with
the observation. (See Bostock's History of Galvanism, London, 1818,
p. loi.) Many observations bearing on thermo-electricity had been
made even long before Dessaignes. Passing by that of Theophrastus,
321 B.C., that tourmaline could be electrified by friction, as irrelevant,
since he does not appear to have had any idea that the effect might be
due to heat produced by the friction, we find that, in the year 1707,
the thermo-electric properties of tourmaline were unmistakably pointed
out by a German author, "J. G. S.," in his Curious Speculations
during Sleepless Nights. In 1759, .ffipinus called attention to the
same phenomena, and pointed out that electricity of opposite kinds
was developed at opposite ends of the crystal. In 1760, Canton
observed the same properties in the topaz; and betwreen 1789 and
1791, Haiiy showed the thermo-electric properties of various other
substances, as mesotype, prehnite, Iceland spar, and boracite. —
Priestley's History of Electricity, 1767, pp. 314-26.

298 A History of Electric Telegraphy

produce electricity, the converse of which was long
and vainly sought after by Galvani and his disciples.

When, therefore, Oersted discovered the property
of electricity to deflect a magnetic needle, and Arago
its corollary — the magnetising power of the current,
the conviction became strong that magnetism must
be able in some way to produce electricity.

The credit of completely establishing this connec-
tion fell to the lot of our distinguished countryman,
Michael Faraday. In his brilliant series of Experi-
mental Researches commenced in 1 83 1, he says : —
" Certain effects of the induction of electrical currents
have already been recognised and described ; as those
of magnetisation, Ampere's experiments of bringing a
copper disc near to a flat spiral, his repetition with
electro-magnets of Arago's extraordinary experiments,
and perhaps a few others. Still, it appeared unlikely
that these could be all the effects which induction by
currents could produce. * * *

" These considerations, with their consequence, the
hope of obtaining electricity from ordinary magnetism,
have stimulated me at various times to investigate
experimentally the inductive effect of electric currents."
Faraday thus describes his first successful experi-
ment : — " 203 feet of copper wire in one length were
coiled round a large block of wood ; other 203 feet of
similar wire were interposed as a spiral between the
turns of the first coil, and metallic contact everywhere
prevented by twine. One of these helices was con-

to the Year 1837. 299

nected with a galvanometer, and the other with a
battery of 100 pairs. * * * When the contact was
made, there was a sudden and very slight effect at the
galvanometer, and there was also a similar slight effect
when the contact with the battery was broken. But
whilst the current continued to flow through the one
helix, no galvanometrical appearances, nor any effect
like induction upon the other helix, could be perceived."

The same effects were produced in another way.
Several feet of copper wire were stretched in wide
zigzag forms, representing the letter W, on the surface
of a broad board ; a second wire was stretched in pre-
cisely similar forms on a second board, so that when
brought near the first, the wires should everywhere
touch, except that a sheet of thick paper was inter-
posed. One of these wires was connected with a
galvanometer and the other with a voltaic battery.
The first wire was then moved towards the second,
and as it approached the needle was deflected. Being
then removed, the needle was deflected in the opposite
direction. As the wires approximated, the induced
current was in the contrary direction to the inducing
current; and as they receded, the induced current was
in the same direction as the inducing current.

Faraday next took a ring of soft iron, round the
two halves of which he disposed two copper-wire coils.
In passing a current through one coil, and thus mag-
netising the ring, a current was induced in the other
coil, but, as in the former cases, only for an instant.

300 A History of Electric Telegraphy

When the primary current ceased, and the magnet
was unmade, an opposite current shot through the
secondary coil. The primary coil was now sup-
pressed, and the piece of soft iron embraced by the
secondary coil was magnetised by a couple of powerful
bar magnets, with which contact was alternately made
and broken. Upon making contact the needle of the
galvanometer was deflected ; continuing the contact,
the needle became indifferent and resumed its first
position, and on breaking contact it was again deflected
in the opposite direction, and then became once more
indifferent. When the magnetic contacts were re-
versed the deflections of the needle were also reversed.

In order to prove that the induced current was not
occasioned by any peculiar effect taking place during
the formation of the magnet, Faraday made another
experiment in which soft iron was rejected, and nothing
but a permanent steel magnet employed. The ends of
the empty helix being connected as before with the
galvanometer, either pole of the magnet was thrust
into the axis, and immediately the needle was
momentarily deflected. On rapidly withdrawing the
magnet, a second and instantaneous deflection ensued,
and in the opposite direction.

The strength of these induced currents depended on
many circumstances ; as on the length and diameter
of the wires of the coils, the energy of the inducing
current, or the strength of the magnet, &c.

Hitherto, in order to produce the phenomenon of

to the Year 1837. 301

induction by electric currents we have spoken of two
conductors — one for the inducing, and another for the
induced current ; but experiment has shown that the
same result can be obtained with only one conductor,
and in this case the phenomenon is termed the induc-
tion of a current upon itself. In the sparking of relays
and commutators of dynamo machines, &c., we have
familiar examples of this action. Its discovery we owe
to Professor Henry as far back as 1832, for he was
the first to observe that, when the poles of a battery
are united by means of a copper wire and mercury
cups, a brilliant spark is obtained at the moment the
circuit is broken by raising one end of the wire out
of its cup of mercury. To obtain this effect it was
found that the wire must not be less than twelve
or fourteen yards long, and further, that if coiled into
a helix the effect would be greatly increased.*

Faraday made a particular study of this pheno-
menon, and showed the existence of the extra current
not only on the breaking, but also on the making of
the circuit. To the former he gave the name of extra
current direct, to the latter extra current inverse. The
latter, of course, cannot be directly perceived, since it
flows in the same circuit as the current of the battery
itself, and cannot be developed until this current is
established, and, consequently, not until the circuit is
closed. Its presence, however, is shown in an indirect
way by the well-known phenomenon of retardation
in magnetisations by means of the electric current.
* Silliman's Journal, vol. xxii.

302 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER XI.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY.

" The inyention all admired ; and each how he
To be the inventor missed ; — so easy seemed
Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought
Impossible." — Milton's Paradise Lost, book vi.

1820. — Amperis Telegraph.

Very soon after Oersted's discovery of the deflecting
power of the current, La Place, the distinguished
French mathematician, suggested its employment for
telegraphic purposes ; and, on the 2nd October in the
same year (1820), Ampere, in a paper read before the
Paris Academy of Sciences, sketched out roughly a
telegraph in which the signals were to be indicated by
the deflection of small magnets placed under the wires.
His idea was a purely theoretical one, and was thrown
out sinv^Xy par parenthese in the course of his memoir.
He says : — " According to the success of the experi-
ment to which La Place drew my attention, one could,
by means of as many pairs of conducting wires and
magnetic needles as there are letters, and by placing
each letter on a separate needle, establish, by the aid
of a pile placed at a distance, and which could be

to the Year 1837. 303

made to communicate by its two extremities with
those of each pair of conductors, a sort of telegraph,
which would be capable of indicating all the details
that one would wish to transmit through any number
of obstacles to a distant observer. By connecting with
the pile a key -board whose keys would carry the same
letters and establish the connection (with the various
wires) by their depression, this means of correspon-
dence could be established with great facility, and
would only occupy the time necessary for touching at
one end, and reading at the other, each letter." *

It will be seen from this passage, which we have
literally translated from the original, that Ampere
makes no mention of surrounding the needles with
coils of wire, as is so frequently stated by writers on
the telegraph. Indeed he could not then have even
heard of the galvanometer ; for, although Schweigger's
paper on the subject was read at Halle on the i6th
September, 1820, it was not published until the
November following.

1830. — Ritchie's Telegraph.

In order to increase the effect of the current on the
needles, and to enable this effect to be delivered
through a great length of intervening wire, Professor
Fechner, of Leipsic, suggested, in 1829, enclosing the
needles in the multiplier coils of Schweigger. He
says, in his Lehrbuch des Galvanismus : — "There is
» Annates de Chimie et de Physique, vol. xv. p. 73.

304 A History of Electric Telegraphy

no doubt that if the insulated wires of twenty-four
multipliers, corresponding to the several letters of the
alphabet, and situated at Leipsic, were conducted
underground to Dresden, and there connected to a
battery, we could thus obtain a means, probably not
very expensive comparatively speaking, of trans-
mitting intelligence from the one place to the other,
by means of signals properly arranged beforehand. I
confess it is a very seductive idea, to imagine that by
some future development of such a system, a com-
munication between the central point and the distant
parts of a country can be established, which shall
consume no time, like communication between the
central point of our organism and its members by
means of the nerves, by what appears to be a very
analogous arrangement " (p. 269).*

Acting^on this suggestion, Professor Ritchie, of the
Royal Institution, London, improved upon Ampere's
plan ; and, on the 12th of February, 1830, exhibited a
model of a telegraph in which were twenty-six
metallic circuits and twenty-six magnetic needles,
each surrounded by a coil of wire.

The exhibit is thus referred to in the Philosophical
Magazine, for 1830 (vol. vii. p. 212): — "Feb. 12. —
This evening Ritchie briefly developed the first prin-
ciples of electro-magnetism, with a view of setting
forth, in a distinct and practical manner, M. Ampere's
proposal of carrying on telegraphic communication
* See note on p. 239.

to the Year 1837. 305

by means of this extraordinary power. Of course, the
principle consists in laying down wires, which at their
extremities shall have coats [coils] of wire and
magnetic needles so arranged, that, when voltaic con-
nections are made at one end of the system, magnetic
needles shall move at the other. This was done by a
small telegraph constructed for the purpose, where,
however, the communication was made only through
a small distance, the principle being all that could be
shown in a lecture-room." *

In his paper On a Torsion Galvanometer, Ritchie
refers to the subject in these words: — "We need
scarcely despair of seeing the electro-magnetic tele-
graph established for regular communication from one
town to another, at a great distance. With a small
battery, consisting of two plates of an inch square,
we can deflect finely-suspended needles at the dis-
tance of several hundred feet, and consequently a
battery of moderate power would act on needles at
the distance of a mile, and a battery of ten times the
power would deflect needles with the same force, at
the distance of a hundred miles, and one of twenty
times the force, at the distance of four hundred miles,
provided the law we have established for distances of
seventy or eighty feet hold equally with all distances
whatever." t

* See also Quarterly Journal of the Royal Institution, for March
1830, vol. xxix. p. 185.
t Journal of the Royal Institution, October 1830, pp. 37-8.

X

3o6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

In speaking thus guardedly, the learned professor
had evidently in view Barlow's experiments of 1824,
which seemed to prove the utter impracticability of all
such projects. Barlow then wrote : — " In a very early
stage of electro-magnetic experiments it has been sug-
gested [by Ampere] that an instantaneous telegraph
might be constructed by means of conducting wires
and compasses. The details of this contrivance are
so obvious, and the principles on which it is founded
so well understood, that there was only one question
which could render the result doubtful, and this was,
is there any diminution of effect by lengthening the
conducting wire ? It had been said that the electric
fluid from a common electrical battery had been
transmitted through a wire four miles in length
without any sensible diminution of effect, and to
every appearance instantaneously, and if this should
be found to be the case with the galvanic circuit
then no question could be entertained of the prac-
ticability and utility of the suggestion above ad-
verted to.

" I was, therefore, induced to make the trial, but I
found such a sensible diminution with only 200 feet
of wire as at once to convince me of the imprac-
ticability of the scheme."

* Edinburgh Phil, yournal, for 1825, vol. xii. p. 105. It may save
some future inquirer a good deal of trouble if we here refer to a sup-
posed early suggestion of an electric telegraph, which we find thus
recorded in Notes and Queries, for October 30, 1858, p. 359 : —

"In Notes to Assist the Memory, 2nd edit., 1827 (the first edition of

to the Year 1837. 307

Dr. Jacob Green, of Jefferson College, Philadelphia,
rerechoed this opinion in 1827 ; and there can be no
doubt that the opinions of such men, so clearly
enunciated, and supported by such apparently irre-
futable experiments, had the effect of retarding for a
while the introduction of electric telegraphs.

182 5-3 7. — Schilling's Telegraph.

The invention that we are now about to describe
is a very interesting one, not only because it was
by far the most practicable of the proposals that had
hitherto been made, but because it was the prototype
of our well-known needle instruments, and was the
immediate cause of the introduction of electric tele-
graphs into England.

which was published in 1819), the following note is added to the article
on telegraphs : — ' The electric fluid has been conducted by a wire four
miles in length, apparently instantaneously, and without any diminution
of effect. If this should be found to be the case with the galvanic cir-
cuit, an instantaneous telegraph might be constructed by means of wires
and compasses.' "

Now if this passage occurred in the 18 19 edition it would be prior to
Oersted's discovery ! Our curiosity was aroused in the highest degree,
and we instituted a fatiguing search for the book in the British Museum.
We found at last a small 1 2mo volume, of which the following is the
full title : Notes to Assist the Memory in Various Sciences, London,
John Murray, 1825. On the face is written in pencil " By Walter
Hamilton, M.R.A.S." The note above quoted appears on p. no.
This is the only book of the name in the British Museum, and there
is no mention anywhere of a previous edition. The writer in Notes and
Queries must therefore be wrong in his figures, and this will appear all
the more certain on comparing the words of the note with those of
Barlow, which we give in the text.

X .3

3o8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

According to Dr. Hamel,* Baron Pawel Lwowitch
Schilling (of Canstadt), then an attache of the
Russian Embassy at Munich, saw for the first time,
on the 13th August, 18 10, a telegraph (Sommerring's)
in action, and so impressed was he with the beauty
and utility of the contrivance that, from that day,
electricity and its applications became one of his
most favoured studies. In the following five, or six,
years his duties frequently took him to Munich, and
at these times he was a constant visitor at Sommer-
ring's house, whither he delighted to bring his friends
from all parts of Europe to witness the performances
of the telegraph. Indeed, during much of this time
he may be said to have lived in an electrical atmo-
sphere in the society of Sommerring, Schweigger, and
other kindred spirits.

Schilling's first application of electricity was to
warlike ends. We learn from Hamelf that the war
impending between France and Russia, in 1812, made
him anxious to devise a conducting wire which could
be laid, not only through moist earth, but through
long stretches of water ; and which should serve for
telegraphic correspondence between fortified places
and the field, as well as for exploding powder mines.

So diligently did he work at this task that before
the autumn of the same year he had "contrived a

* Historical Account of the Introduction of the Galvanic and Electro-
Magnetic Telegraph into England, Cooke's reprint, London, 1859,

P- 13-
t Hamel, Cooke's reprint, pp. 20-2.

to the Year 1837. 309

subaqueous galvanic conducting cord " (a copper wire
insulated with a solution of india-rubber and varnish),
and an arrangement of charcoal points, by means of
which he was able to explode powder mines across
the Neva, near St. Petersburg. At Paris, during the
occupation of the allied troops, in 18 14, he also fre-
quently ignited gunpowder across the Seine with this
electric exploder, to the great astonishment of the
gamins.

In the next ten years (1815-25), Schilling divided
the spare moments of a busy diplomatic and military
career between lithography, an art then recently
developed at Munich and which he was anxious to
introduce into Russia, and electricity. In these cir-
cumstances, then, the surprise is, not that he brought
out an electric telegraph of his own construction, but
that he did not do so at an earlier date than the one
usually assigned. Dr. Hamel vaguely fixes this date
at about 1825, for he says that the Emperor Alexander
(who died on ist December, 1825) "had been pleased
to notice the invention in its earlier stage."*

Schilling's apparatus was based on the property of
a voltaic current to deflect a magnetic needle. It is
sometimes described as a single-needle telegraph, and
sometimes as one with five or six needles. What
seems probable is that he tried many arrangements,
that he first constructed a telegraph with one needle
and was thence led on to combine several into one
* Hamel, Cooke's reprint, p. 41.

3IO A History of Electric Telegraphy

system, so as to be able to transmit a number of
signals at once.

The signal-indicating part of the single-needle tele-
graph consisted of an ordinary Schweigger galvano-
meter. The needle was suspended horizontally by a
silken thread, to which was attached, parallel to the

Fig. 12.

needle, a little disc of paper, painted black on one
side, and white on the other. By the deflection of
the needle to the right, or to the left, according to
the direction in which the current moved in the coil,
either face of the disc could be shown at pleasure, and

to the Year 1837.

3"

two primary signals could be thus obtained, whose
repetitions variously combined would represent the
twenty-six letters of the alphabet, the ten ciphers, and
four conventional signs.

The following is Schilling's alphabet as given by
Vail, at p. 156 of his American Electro-Magnetic
Telegraph:* —

A = b w
B = bbb
C = bww
D = bbw
E = b
F = bbbb
G ^ wwww
H = bwww

I = bb

J = bbww
K = bbbw
L = wbbb
M = wbw

N

=

wb

0

=

bwb

P

=

wwbb

Q

=

w wwb

R

=

wbb

S

=

WW

T

=

w

U

=

wwb

V

=

www

w

=

bwb w

X

=

wbwb

Y

=

wbbw

z

;r

wbww

In order to prevent the prolonged, or violent, swing-
ing of the needle after each deflection. Schilling fixed
to the lower extremity of the axle a thin platinum
plate, or scoop, which, dipping into mercury placed
beneath, deadened the motions, changing what might

* The bi-signal alphabet is popularly supposed to have come into
existence with the Morse telegraph, but, in reality, its invention is
almost as old as the hills. It was constantly employed in all kinds of
semaphoric, luminous, and acoustic signalling from the days of the
Greeks and Romans down to our own time. Ixjrd Bacon gives an
example in the 6th book of his Advancement and Projicience of Learning,
published in 1605 ; and a still better one will be found in Cryptographia
Fredcrki (p. 234), published in 1685.

312 A History of Electric Telegraphy

otherwise be prolonged oscillations into dead-beat
movements — a method since adopted in a modified
form in some of Sir William Thomson's mirror gal-
vanometers.

As a means of attracting attention, Schilling added
a contrivance, the idea of which he clearly borrowed
from Sommerring's alarum. It differed from the in-
strument that we have been describing only in that

Fig. 13.

the rod whence the needle was suspended was made of
rigid metal (wire), and carried a horizontal arm, which,
when the needle was deflected, struck a finely balanced
lever, and caused a leaden ball resting upon it to fall
upon another lever, and so release the detent of an
ordinary clockwork alarum.

At first the currents were transmitted by touching

to the Year 1837. 313

the ends of the line wires (outgoing and returning)
direct to the poles of the battery in one way or
another, according to the direction in which the cur-
rents were required to flow through the coil. But
soon this primitive arrangement was superseded by
a simple commutator, consisting of (i) a wooden
board having four small holes arranged in a square
and filled with mercury, into which dipped, severally,
the terminal wires of the battery, and the ends of the
line wire; and (2) another similar board provided with
a handle on one side, and two metallic strips on the
other, the ends of which were turned at right angles
to the face of the board. They thus formed bridges
which were adjusted to dip into the holes of the first
board and so establish connection in one sense or
another between the poles of the battery and the
ends of the line. As a guide to the operator the
top of the second board was painted black and
white. This commutator is shown in two. pieces in
Fig. 14.

These instruments were placed on view by the
Russian Government at the Paris Electrical Exhi-
bition of 1 88 1, together with a model of Schilling's
six-needle telegraph. We translate the following
account of this instrument from La Lumi^re Elec-^
trique, for March 17, 1883 : —

" This apparatus," says the official (Russian) de-
scription of it, " consists of six multiplier-coils, each
enclosing a magnetic needle, suspended by a silken

314 A History of Electric Telegraphy

thread from a copper support. A little above each
needle is placed the paper disc, painted black on one
side, and white on the other, as in the one-needle
telegraph.

Fig. 14.

" The sending arrangement consists of a key-board
like that of a pianoforte, having sixteen keys, in pairs
of one black and one white. Each key, on being de-
pressed, closes the circuit of a galvanic battery, its
poles being connected to the lower contacts of the
black and white keys respectively. Thus, for ex-
ample, the negative pole may be connected to all
the black keys, and the positive pole to all the
white ones. The first six pairs of keys are joined
to the six line wires (of copper), which are connected
at the distant station to the six multiplier-coils ; the
seventh pair serves to work the alarum through its

to the Year 1837. 315

own line wire ; and the eighth and last pair is joined
to the return wire." *

The official account from which we are quoting is
very obscurely written, so that it is impossible to
gather in what way Schilling proposed to work this
telegraph. It would seem that he wished to show
from one to six signals at a time, sometimes black,
sometimes white, and sometimes both combined ; but
he could not effect the latter had he employed only
one battery, as the account we are following would
have us believe. He must, therefore, have used two
separate batteries, and granting this, it is easy to see
the immense number of permutations and combinations
of which his apparatus was susceptible.

In 1830, Schilling set out for a voyage in China,
and took with him a small model of his (? single-
needle) telegraph, with whose performances he asto-
nished the natives wherever he went. He returned
to Europe in March 1832, and again occupied
himself with telegraphic experiments, and hence,
possibly, the date, 1832, which many writers assign to
his inventions.t

* A short length of the original wires was shown in connection with
the apparatus at the Paris Exhibition. There were eight copper wires,
each separately insulated by a coating of resin, and all afterwards made
up into a cable and bound with hemp also soaked in resin.

t Besides this error in date, it is often stated that Schilling employed
vertical needles, that there were thirty-six of them, enclosed in as many
multiplier-coils ! and that the line wires (? thirty-six also) were of
platinum ! ! insulated with silk. All these mistakes are contained in
one short paragraph, which originally appeared in the Journal des

3i6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

In May 1835, he started for a tour in southern and
western Europe, taking with him a working model of
his one-needle telegraph. At Vienna, he engaged in
a series of experiments upon it in conjunction with
Baron Jacquin and Professor A. von Ettingshausen.
Amongst others they tried the comparative merits of
leading the wires over the roofs of the houses, and
burying them in the earth. The result was, as may be
supposed, in favour of the former plan, for, owing to
the defective insulation afforded by a thin coating of
india-rubber and varnish, the earth, in the latter case,
conducted the current from one wire to the other
which lay parallel to it, and at a little distance.*

In September 1835, he attended the meeting of
German naturalists at Bonn, and there, on the 23rd
instant, exhibited his apparatus before the Section of
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, over which Pro-
fessor Muncke, of Heidelberg, presided. Muncke was
so pleased with its performance that he had a model
made for exhibition at his own lectures at Heidel-
berg ; and other members of the Congress took away
with them to their respective homes such wonderful

Travaux de TAcad'emie de t Industrie Fran^aise, for March 1839, p. 43,
and which has since been copied unquestioningly into nearly every
history of the telegraph that we have seen.

* These experiments are always described as if they had reference
to an entirely new system of telegraph, the invention of Jacquin and
Ettingshausen (see Dr. Hamel's Historical Account, &c., p. 60, Cooke's
reprint). Andreas von Ettingshausen, a physicist of European fame,
died at Vienna, May 25, 1878, aged eighty-two years.

to the Year 1837. 317

accounts of its action that Schilling's telegraph was
henceforth an object of great curiosity, and became a
stock subject for popular lectures, and for articles in
all the scientific papers of the period.

Dr. Hamel tells us* that, on his return home from
Germany in 1836, Schilling received two letters urging
him to bring his inventions to England, but he declined
the suggestion, saying that he preferred to try to intro-
duce them first in his own country. He was soon after
honoured by a visit from the Emperor Nicholas, who
witnessed with the greatest interest the performances
of the telegraph " through a great length of wire," and
ended by expressing the desire of having it established
between St. Petersburg and Peterhoff. " Of all the
high dignitaries," says Jacobi, " who surrounded him.
His Majesty was the only one who foresaw the future
of what was then looked on only as a toy." t

As was the custom in such cases, a commission of
inquiry was appointed, which consisted of Lieut.-
General Shubert, Adjutant-General Count Klein-

* In his lecture on The Telegraph and Baron Paul Schilling, before
the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg.

t Du Moncel's Traiti Th'eorique et Pratique de Tiligraphie Electrique,
Paris, 1864, p. 217. Yet Russia was one of the last countries to adopt,
generally, the electric telegraph. Why? "Because the Emperor
Nicholas saw in it only an instrument of subversion, and by a ukase
it was, during his reign, absolutely prohibited to give the public any
information relative to electric telegraph apparatus, a prohibition which
extended even to the translation of the notices respecting it, which,
at this time, were appearing in the European journals." — Colonel
Komaroffs La Presse Scientifique des Deux Mondes, as quoted in the
Annales Tiligraphiques, for November-December 1861, p. 670.

3i8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Michel, and Flugel-Adjutants Heyden and Treskine,
with Prince Alexander Menshikoff as president.
Schilling, in due course, submitted his plans, and gave
the commissioners a choice of two modes of effecting
the communication — (i) either the wires should be
covered with silk and varnished, then bound together,
tarred, and deposited along the bottom of the Gulf of
Finland, or (2) " foreseeing the difficulties of such a
plan, they were to be suspended on posts erected
along the Peterhoff Road."*

An experimental telegraph was set up at the Ad-
miralty, the line consisting partly of overground, and
partly of " cable," which was submerged in the canal.
The ends of the line with the appropriate instruments
were placed at a great distance apart, one being at
the window of Prince Menshikoff's study, in the N.W.
corner of the building, and the other in a room near
the great entrance of " the building office."

The results appear to have been eminently success-
ful, for, in due course. Prince Menshikoff presented
to the Emperor a most favourable report, upon the
strength of which an Imperial Decree was issued
(in May 1837), ordaining the establishment of a
telegraph to connect Cronstadt with the capital by

* Du Moncel, p. 217. Jacobi, whom Du Moncel is quoting, says : —
" The latter proposition was received by the Commission with shouts
of derision, one of the members saying in my presence, ' Your proposi-
tion is foolish, your wires in the air are truly ridiculous.' " We wonder
what he would say, could he take a walk through some of our London
streets, where alas ! this folly has attained to ridiculously gigantic
proportions.

to the Year 1837. 319

means of a "cable," laid along the bottom of the
Gulf of Finland. But Schilling died on the 6th of
August, 1837, and he and his country missed the
glory of establishing not only the first really prac-
ticable telegraph, but also the first submarine line.*

1833-8. — Gauss and W chef's Telegraph.

In this year Messrs. Gauss and Weber constructed
an apparatus at Gottingen, which, although at first
intended for purely scientific purposes, soon came to
be employed as a means of ordinary correspondence
as well. The telegraph, as we must call it, contrived
by these well-known physicists is remarkable for three
reasons — ist, as being the first in which magneto-elec-
tricity was used; 2nd, for the ingenious, yet simple,
method of increasing the deviations of the signalling
needle — a plan which was long afterwards adopted
by Sir William Thomson in his beautiful mirror gal-
vanometers ; t and last, though not least, for having
had an actual existence for several years, during which
it rendered most excellent service.

The line, consisting of two copper wires, main and

* Of course a wire insulated with (l) a thin coating of india-rubber
and varnish, as in the Neva and Seine experiments of 1812-14 ; or
(2) with resin, and hemp saturated with resin, as in the "cable" shown
at the Paris Exhibition of 1881 ; or (3) with silk varnished and tarred,
as just mentioned, would not last long, but necessity is the mother of
invention, and practice makes perfect. The cable laid from Dover to
Calais in 1850 was only a little less crude.

t As early as 1826 Poggendorff applied a mirror to the magnetic
needle for accurately determining minute variations in its horizontal
declination. — Pogg. Ann. der Phys. und Chem., vol. vii. pp. 121-30.

320 A History of Electric Telegraphy

return, was carried upon posts over the houses, and
extended from the Physical Cabinet to the Obser-
vatory; whence, in 1834, it was continued to the
Magnetic Observatory of Professor Weber — a distance

Fig. 15.

altogether of one mile and a quarter English. An ordi-
nary voltaic pair was employed for generating the
current until 1835, when it was replaced by a magneto-
electric machine made by Steinheil of Munich.*

♦ In OUT account of Gauss and Weber's telegraph, we follow Sabine's
History and Progress of the Electric Telegraph, London, 1869, 2nd
edit., pp. 33-8; 3xALa Lumiire &lectrique, for March 17, 1883, p. 334.
See also Pogg. Anrt., xxxii. 568 ; and Dingler's Journal, Iv. 394.

to the Year 1837. 321

This instrument, called the Inductor, consisted of
a compound two-bar magnet A, Fig. 15, weighing
7S lbs., fixed vertically on a stool ; a wooden bobbin B,
supplied with a handle L, and wound with 3500 turns
(and later with 7000 turns) of insulated copper wire
(No. 14, silvered), rested on the stool and encircled
the magnet, as shown in the figure. On lifting the
bobbin by depressing the handle, a momentary cur-
rent would be induced in the coil in one direction, and
on lowering it again to its position of rest another
momentary current would be induced in the opposite
direction. The ends of the coil B, were connected
through the commutator, Fig. 17, to the line wires,
and the distant ends of these were similarly joined
to the ends of the coil of the receiver.

The receiver, shown in Fig. 16, consisted of a large
copper frame B, B,* upon which was wound 3000 feet
of insulated copper wire, like that of the inductor. A
permanent magnet A, 18 inches long, and 3'" x 5'"
transverse section, and weighing one hundred pounds,

* The copper frame, which Gauss called the damper, was necessary
in order to prevent the great number of oscillations which the magnet
would have made across the meridian had no such check been intro-
duced. The checking action of masses of metal, and indeed of any
other solid or liquid substance, in the vicinity of an oscillating magnet
was discovered by Arago, in 1824. Sir William Snow Harris found
that the oscillations of a freely suspended magnetic needle were reduced,
from 420 without a damper, to 14 with a damper. In the present case
the great mass of the magnet and the minuteness of the deviation must
have aided materially in bringing it quickly to a state of rest. See
pp. 282-3 "■nte-

32 2 A History of Electric Telegraphy

was suspended, in the interior of the coil, by a number
of untwisted silk fibres, from a hook above it. To
enable the observer to read off with care the minute

Fig, i6.

deviations of the magnet, a small mirror M, was affixed
to the supporting shaft, and in this was seen, through
a telescope, at ten or twelve feet distance, the reflec-
tion of a scale placed above it. Notwithstanding the
weight of the magnet, its movements were thus made
beautifully energetic and distinct, a very small force,
such as that supplied from a single cell, causing a
deviation of over a thousand divisions of the scale.

The commutator, by means of which the electric
currents were directed through the line wires in one
sense or another, was similar to that of Schilling,

to the Year 1837, 323

being simply an arrangement for bringing two "points
alternately in communication with two others. Let
a, and c. Fig. 17, be two points in connection with the
two poles of a battery, or other electromotive system,
and b, and d, the ends of any other circuit ; if the metal
bars e, and/", be pressed upon the ends a, b, and c, d,
respectively, the current will pass in the direction
'Q + a e b'R. dfc — B. But if the bars e, and f, be
removed from these positions and placed at right
angles, that is to say, e, between b, and c, and /, between
a, and d, as shown by the dotted lines, the current will
go through B + « a? R (in the opposite direction)
be -^.

Fig. 17.

The modus operandi was as follows : — On lifting up
the coil B, Fig. 1 5, by depressing the handle L, to the
position shown by the dotted lines, a current was
induced in the wire. This current passed by the com-
mutator, placed as in Fig. 17, from a, to b, through
one of the line wires and the multiplier R, of the

Y 2

324 A History of Electric Telegraphy

receiving station, deflecting the magnet for an instant
in one direction, and returned by the other wire over
d, and c, of the commutator. When it was wished to
deflect the needle of the receiving instrument in the
opposite direction, this was attained by simply lower-
ing the coil B, again to its original place, and the
observer at the receiving station read oif one deflection
to the right for instance, and one to the left. But, in
constructing a code of signals, it was necessary that
two or more deflections to the right or left should
frequently follow each other. This was done by
means of the commutator. Thus, on lifting the coil,
if we suppose a deflection of the magnet was pro-
duced to the right, by reversing the commutator and
then lowering the coil again, another deflection in the
same direction would be observed. To produce a third
deflection in the same direction it would be necessary,
evidently, to reverse the commutator again before
raising up the inductor. After this fashion Gauss and
Weber were enabled, by combining the deflections to
the right and to the left, to form the following alphabet
and numerals, with a maximum of four elementary
signals : —

Mr = 3
iirr = 4
///r = S
llrl = 6
Ml = 7
rm = 8
//// = 9

r — a

rlr:=f,v

rrlr = s

1= e

Irr = g

rlrr = t

rr = i

III = h

Irrr = w

rl=o

llr = /

rrll = z

Ir = u

lrl= m

rlrl = 0

11- b

rll= n

rllr = I

rrr = c, k

rrrr = /

Irrl = 2

rrl =: d

rrrl = r

to the Year 1837. 325

r, represents the swing of the north pole of the magnet
towards the right, and /, the swing of the same pole
towards the left of the magnetic meridian. Various
lengths of the pauses between the signals indicated
the conclusion of words and sentences.

In 1835, an alarum was added, which, according to
some accounts, consisted in giving to the magnet
A, Fig. 16, a more than ordinary deviation, and so
making it strike a bell ; while, according to others, it
it was very similar to that of Schilling, the magnet,
when largely deflected, upsetting a delicately-poised
lever in train with the detent of an ordinary clockwork
alarum.

Gauss and Weber's apparatus was in daily use for
telegraphic and astronomical purposes down to the
year 1838.

326 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER XII.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY {continued).

1836. — SteinheiUs Telegraph.

The apparatus last described was, as we have said,
established for other than telegraphic purposes, and
it was for this reason, that Gauss, unable him-
self to afford the time, invited Steinheil, of Munich,
to pursue the subject, and endow with a practical
form an invention which he believed capable of great
results.

The perfection to which this ingenious inventor
brought Gauss and Weber's telegraph has rendered it
as much, or more his than theirs. His own estimate,
however, of the changes effected in the telegraph
erected at Munich towards the end of 1836, is very-
modest and is worth quoting: — "To Gauss and
Weber," he says, " is due the merit of having actually
constructed the first simplified galvano-magnetic tele-
graph. It was Gauss who first employed magneto-
electricity, and who demonstrated that the appropriate
combination of a limited number of signs is all that is

to the Year 1837. 327

required for the transmission of intelligence.* Weber's
discovery that a copper wire 7460 feet long, which
he had led across the houses and steeples of Got-
tingen, required no special insulation, was one of
great importance, and at once established the practi-
cability of a galvanic telegraph in a most convenient
form.

"All, therefore, that was required was(i) an appro-
priate method of inducing, or exciting, the galvanic
current, with the power of changing its direction with-
out the need of any special contrivances ; and (2) a
mode of rendering the signals audible [or legible]. The
latter was a task that apparently presented no very
particular difficulty, inasmuch as in the very scheme
itself a mechanical motion — namely, the deflection of
a magnetic bar — was given. All that we had to do,
therefore, was to contrive that this motion should be
made available for striking bells, or for marking in-
delible dots.

" This falls within the province of mechanics, and
there are, therefore, more ways than one of solving the
problem. Hence the alterations that I have made in
the telegraph of Gauss and Weber, and by which it
has assumed its present form, may be said to be
founded on my perception and improvement of its
imperfections. I by no means, however, look on the
arrangement I have selected as complete ; but as it

* Steinheil was apparently unaware of all that Baron SchUling had
done in this direction.

328 A History of Electric Telegraphy

answers the purpose I had in view, it may be well
to abide by it till some simpler arrangement is
contrived." *

We condense the following account of Steinheil's
apparatus from an English translation of the author's
own classical memoir, which appeared in Sturgeon's
Annals of Electricity, for March and April, 1839.!

* To Steinheil's lasting honour be it said, that when some ten years
later " a simpler arrangement" in the shape of Morse's telegraph was
brought to his attention he was the first to appreciate it, and to urge
upon the Bavarian Government its adoption, to the abandonment of a
portion of his own beautiful system.

Apropos of this, we find an amusing story in Reid's Telegraph in
America, pp. 85-6 : — " The (Morse) relay could not be patented in
Germany, and, therefore, could not with safety be exposed. In 1848,
two young Americans had gone there with Morse machinery, and built
a line from Hamburg to Cuxhaxen, a distance of 90 miles, for the
transmission of marine news. The line worked charmingly, the registers
clicked out loud and strong at either end, but the relays were carefully
concealed in locked boxes. The German electricians scratched their
heads and wondered. Finally Steinheil was sent forward to reconnoitre ;
he looked carefully around, and his keen eyes soon detected the locked
boxes. He asked to see their contents, but the view was courteously
declined. So he returned and reported that the Yankees kept their
secret locked, but that the action was magnificent. And when at a
later date he did know all, he showed the grand stuff of which he was
made. He gave Morse his hand, confessed himself beaten, and the
two were friends for ever after."

t Vol. iii. pp. 439-52, and 509-20. See also Comptes Rendus,
September 1838; and Shaffner's Telegraph Manual, New York, 1859,
pp. 157-78. Shaffner says that "the first published notice of this
important invention will be found in the third volume of The Magazine
of Popular Science, in a letter from Munich, under date December 23,
1836." This letter appears on pp. 108-10 ; is chiefly concerned with
electro-magnetic experiments ; and in the last two paragraphs briefly
mentions Steinheil's telegraph.

to the Year 1837. 329

"The telegraph is composed of three principal
parts : —

1. A metallic connection between the stations.

2. The apparatus for exciting the galvanic current.

3. The indicator, or receiving apparatus.

I. Connecting Wire.

" This so-called connecting wire may be looked on
as the wire completing the circuit of a voltaic battery-
extended to a very great length. What applies to the
one holds good of the other. With equal thicknesses
of the same metal, the resistance offered to the passage
of the galvanic current is proportional to the length of
the wire ; and with equal lengths of the same metal,
the resistance diminishes inversely with the section.
The conducting power of metals is very different.
Thus,' according to Fechner, copper conducts six times
better than iron, and four times better than brass,
while the conducting power of lead is even lower ;
so that the only metals which can well vie with each
other in their technical use are copper and iron. But
although iron is about six times as cheap as copper,
it will be requisite to give the iron wire six times the
weight of a copper one to gain the same conducting
power with equal lengths. We thus see that as far as
the expense is concerned it comes to the same thing,
whichever of these metals is chosen. The preference

330 A History of Electric Telegraphy

will be given to copper, as this metal is less liable to
oxydation from exposure to the atmosphere.

" This latter difficulty may, however, be surmounted
by simple means, viz., by galvanising the iron. It
would even appear that the simple transmission of
the galvanic current, when the telegraph is in use, is
sufficient to preserve the iron from rust ; such at least
is observed to be the case with the iron portion of the
wire used for the telegraph here, and which has
already been exposed in all weathers for nearly a
twelvemonth.

" If the galvanic current is to traverse the entire
metallic circuit without any diminution of strength,
the wire during its whole course must not be allowed
to come into contact with \i. e., short-circuit] itself ;
neither should it be in frequent contact with semi-
conductors, for, since the power called into action
always completes its circuit by the shortest course,
the remote parts of the wire would be thus deprived
of a portion of the current.

" Numerous trials to insulate wires and to lay them
below the surface of the ground have led me to the
conviction that such attempts can never answer at
great distances, inasmuch as our most perfect insula-
tors are at best but very bad conductors. And since
in a wire of very great length, its surface in contact
with the so-called insulator is uncommonly large when
compared with its section, there necessarily must arise
a gradual diminution of the force, inasmuch as the

to the Year 1837, 331

outgoing and returning wire, although but slightly,
yet do communicate in intermediate points.*

"It would be wrong to think that this difficulty
could be got over by placing the two wires very far
apart. The distance between them is, as we shall
see in the sequel, almost a matter of indifference.
As, then, we shall never succeed in laying down
conductors that are sufficiently insulated beneath the
surface of the ground, there is but one other course
open to us, viz., leading them through the air. Upon
this plan, it is true, the conductor must be supported
from time to time, is liable to be injured by the
evil disposed, and is apt to suffer from violent storms,
or from ice which forms upon it. As we, however,
have no other method that we can avail ourselves of,
we must endeavour by suitable arrangements to get
the better of these difficulties in the best way we can.

" The conducting chain of the telegraph erected here

consists of three parts — one leads from the Royal

Academy to the Royal Observatory, at Bogenhausen,

and back. The total length of its wire is 32,506 feet,

and the weight amounts to 260 lbs. \_sic\. Both wires

(there and back) are stretched across the steeples of

the town at a distance apart of 4 feet i inch. The

distance from support to support ranges from 640 to

1279 feet ; this is undoubtedly far too great for a

single-strand wire, inasmuch as the ice that forms

* It should be remembered that when Steinheil wrote, gutta-percha
and india-rubber were both unknown as insulators.

332 A History of Electric Telegraphy

upon it materially increases its weight, and consider-
ably augments its diameter, so that it becomes liable
to be torn asunder by high winds.* Over those places
where there are no high buildings the wire is sup-
ported upon poles forty or fifty feet high, which are
let five feet into the ground, and at the top of which
it is fastened by twisting on cross wooden bars. At
the points of support the wire rests on pieces of felt.

" The conducting wire thus mounted is by no means
completely insulated. When, for example, the circuit
is broken at Bogenhausen, an induction-shock given
in Munich ought to produce no galvanic excitation
whatever in the parts of the chain then disconnected,
yet Gauss's galvanometer gives indication of a weak
current. Measurements, indeed, go to show that this
current goes on increasing, as the point at which the
interruption of the stream is made recedes from the
inductor. The total amount of this current [leakage]
is not constant, being, generally, greatest in damp
weather.

"At moderate distances of a few miles this loss
of power is of almost no importance, more especially
as the construction of the inductor places currents
of almost any strength we choose at our command.
When the distance, however, amounts to upwards of

' * All these evils coiild be got over by making the connection by at
least a triple strand (and not by a single wire), supporting it at intervals
of 300 feet, and giving it a tension not exceeding one-third of what it
would bear without ^ving way. This, however, in the experimental
telegraph erected here, was not practicable.

to the Year 1837. 333

200 miles \sic\ the greatest part of the efifect would be
dissipated. In such cases, therefore, much greater
precaution must be taken with regard to the points
of support of the metallic circuit.*

"A second portion of the conducting chain leads
from the Royal Academy to my house and observa-
tory in the Lerchenstrasse. This is of iron wire, its
length, there and back, is 5745 feet, and it is stretched
over steeples and other high buildings, as has already
been described.

"Lastly, a third portion of the chain, running
through the interior of the buildings connected with
the Royal Academy, leads to the mechanical work-
shop attached to the cabinet of Natural Philosophy.
It is composed of a fine copper wire 598 feet long, let
into the joinings of the floor, and, in part, imbedded
in the walls.

2. Apparatus for Generating the Galvanic Current.

" Hydro-galvanism, or the galvanic current gene-
rated by the action of the voltaic pile, is by no means
fitted for traversing very long connecting wires, because
the resistance in the pile, even when many hundred
pairs of plates are employed, would be always incon-
siderable compared with the resistance offered by
the wire itself. The principal disadvantages, however,

* When thunder-storms occur, atmospheric electricity collects on
this semi-insulated chain as upon a conductor, but the passage of the
galvanic current is not at all affected thereby.

334 A History of Electric Telegraphy

attendant on the use of the pile, or trough apparatus,
are (i) the fluctuations of its current, and (2) its speedy
loss of power.

"All these difficulties are got over_by having re-
course to Faraday's important discovery of magneto-
electric induction, that is to say, by moving magnets in
the neighbourhood of conducting coils. The better way
is, not to move the magnets as Pixii does, but rather
to give motion to coils of wire in close proximity to a
fixed magnet. This arrangement, known as Clarke's,
is the one which with some modifications we have
adopted.

" The magnet is built up of seventeen horse-shoe bars
of hardened steel. Fig. 21. With its iron armature its
weight is about 74 lbs., and it is capable of supporting
about 370 lbs. Between the arms, or poles, is fastened
a piece of metal which supports the axis on which the
coils revolve. These coils, of which there are two,
have in all 1 5,000 turns of silk-covered wire, a metre
of which weighs 1 5 J grains. The two ends of the
wire are passed up through the interior of the axis,
and terminate in two hook-shaped pieces which just
dip into semicircular cups of mercury, separated
from each other by a wooden partition. From
these cups there proceed short wires to which the
line wires are connected. The mercury, owing to its
capillarity, stands at a higher level in the cups than
the partitions, so that the terminal hooks pass over
the latter without touching them whenever the coils

to the Year 1837. 335

are revolved. The hooks are thus brought into the

cups alternately at every half turn of the coils, and as

a consequence the induced current preserves its sign

as long as the coils are turned in one direction, and

changes it on the motion being reversed. The current,

as we shall see when treating of the indicator, should

only be permitted to act during as short a time as

possible, while during that

time it should have the

greatest intensity we can give

it. To effect this the mercury

cups are arranged as shown

in the dark portion of Fig. 1 8.

The terminal hooks travel in

the white annular space, and

make contact only at the moments when passing over

the points a, and b.

" In order to cut off the inductor when not in action,
its axis is made to carry a cross-piece of metal, at
right angles to the terminal hooks of the coils, which,
when the inductor is at rest, dips into the mercury
cups. Whence it follows that the current, on being
transmitted from any other station, passes directly
from one cup to the other without traversing the wire
of the inductor coils. In order to put the coils in
motion without trouble a fly-bar terminating in two
metal balls is attached horizontally to the vertical
axis of the coils (see Fig. 21).

" At every half turn a spark occurs as the hooks of

336 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the coils leave the mercury. As this is for many-
reasons objectionable, we have latterly designed a com-
mutator of a far simpler construction. The ends of
the coil are in this case fastened to two strips of copper
let into the periphery of a wooden ring, directly oppo-
site each other. This ring is. placed upon the axis of
the coils and made fast to it by clamps, and the two
ends of the line wire are so disposed as to press like
springs against the copper strips as the coils are re-
volved. With this arrangement the ends of the coils
are in metallic connection with the line only during
a small portion of each revolution, while during
the rest of the time the metal cross-piece, with
which also the wooden ring is provided, brings the
two ends of the line wire into direct connection.
This form of commutator, in which mercury is en-
tirely dispensed with, is, on account of its greater
simplicity and durability, preferable to the arrange-
ment just described, and is employed in the appa-
ratus of the stations at Bogenhausen and in the
Lerchenstrasse.

3. The Indicator.

" Figs. 19 and 20 represent vertical and horizontal
sections of the indicator, containing two magnets,
movable on axes m, m, and which from their con-
struction are applicable either to strike bells, or to
note down signals. Round a frame formed of sheet

to the Year 1837.

337

brass are wound six hundred turns of the same in-
sulated copper wire as is used in the inductor. The
magnetic bars are, as Fig. 20 shows, so placed that
the north pole of the one is presented to the south

Fig. 19.

pole of the other. To these ends are screwed two
slight brass arms, supporting little cups which are
provided with extremely fine perforated beaks c, c

Fig. 2a

When printing ink is put into these cups it insinuates
itself into the beaks owing to capillary attraction,
and, without running out, forms at their orifices a

Z

338 A History of Electric Telegraphy

projection of a semi-globular shape. The slightest
contact, therefore, suffices for noting down a black dot.

" Two plates, or pins, h, h, prevent the magnets from
being deflected in a direction opposite to that in which
they are to print, as the deflection by the current
would otherwise cause them to swing, and, perhaps,
record false dots while thus oscillating. As a further
check to these oscillations, and in order to bring back
the bars quickly to their normal positions after each
deflection, recourse is had to smaller movable magnets
(Fig. 21) whose distance and position with regard to
the others are to be varied until the desired effect
is produced. Owing to the disposition of the magnet
bars and the controlling action of the pins h, h, a
current sent through the coil deflects only one magnet
at a time, the other being simply pressed tightly
against its pin ; and on the current being reversed,
the reverse takes place, the last-mentioned magnet
being deflected, while the first is held back.

"Much nicety is required in obtaining the magnets
of exactly the right size. They must not, for example,
be too large, because their inertia would be too great ;
nor too small, because then their mechanical force
would not be sufficient for printing or sounding the
signals.

" For the recording of the signals, a flat surface of
paper must be kept moving with a uniform velocity in
front of the little beaks. Fig. 21. The best way of
doing this is to employ very long strips of the sO-called

to the Year 1837.

339

endless paper which is to be wound round a cylinder
of wood and then cut upon the lathe into bands of
suitable width. One of these strips of paper must be
made to unwind itself from a cylinder, pass close in

Fig. 21.

front of the beaks, run along a certain distance in a
horizontal position, so that the dots noted down may
be read off, and lastly wind itself up again on to a
second cylinder. This second cylinder is put in
motion by clockwork, the regularity of whose action
is insured by a centrifugal fly-wheel.

" If this apparatus be employed for producing two
sounds easily distinguishable to the ear by striking on
bells, it will be right to select clock-bells, or bells of
glass, both of which easily emit sounds, and whose
notes differ about a sixth. This interval is by no
means a matter of indifference. The sixth is more
easily distinguished than any other interval ; fifths

Z 2

34° A History of Electric Telegraphy

and octaves would be frequently confounded by those
not versed in such matters. The bells are to be
supported on little pillars, and their position with
respect to the bars is to be determined by experiment.
The knobs let into the bars for striking the bells
must give the blow at the place which most easily
emits a sound. They are not, however, to be too close
to the bells, as in that case a repetition of the signal
can easily ensue. A few trials will soon get over this
difficulty.

" It is evident that the same magnetic bars cannot
be at once employed for striking bells and for writing,
the little power they exert being already exhausted
by either of these operations. But to combine them
both, all we have to do is, to introduce a second
indicator coil into the chain ; this can, however, only
be done at the cost of an increased resistance, and,
in order that this increase may be as little as
possible, it would in future be better that the coils
of the indicator should be made of very thick copper
wire, or of strips of copper plate. Fig. 2 1 shows two
coils in circuit, the one marked B, being used as an
alarum [which nb doubt the attendant could short-
circuit after replying to its call].

" At the central station in the Physical Cabinet a
commutator, C, Fig. 2 1 , is placed which enables us by
simple transpositions to effect the following changes
in the wires and apparatus : —

"(i.) The currents emanating at the central station

to the Year 1837. 341

traverse the receiving instruments of both the Bogen-
hausen and Lerchenstrasse stations at the same time.

" (2.) The currents traverse the Lerchenstrasse line
and instrument only, and the Bogenhausen line is
connected through the receiving instrument of the
central station, so that while one attendant at the
latter station is sending to Lerchenstrasse, another
attendant may be receiving from Bogenhausen.

" (3.) Is the reverse of the last-named arrangement.

" (4.) Bogenhausen and Lerchenstrasse are joined
direct, and the apparatus at the Physical Cabinet
cut out of circuit altogether.

" We have said before that at every half turn of the
fly-bar from (say) right to left, one of the magnets of
the indicator is deflected. Now we have so connected
the apparatus that every time this movement takes
place the high-toned bell should be struck, if the
receiver be arranged as an acoustic instrument ; or the
corresponding beak shall print a dot on the paper
strip, if the receiver be arranged as a recording instru-
ment. On turning the fly-bar from left to right, the
low-toned bell sounds, or the corresponding beak
prints a dot, not upon the same line as the first, but
on a lower one. High tones, therefore, correspond
with the dots on the upper line, and low tones with
the dots on the lower line, as in a musical score.

"As long as the intervals between the sounds or the
signs remain equal, the said sounds or signs are to be
read together as one signal, a longer interval indicates

342 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the completion of a letter or signal. We are thus
enabled by appropriately selected groups to represent
all the letters of the alphabet, or stenographic charac-
ters, and thereby to repeat and render permanent at
all parts of the chain where an apparatus like that
above described is inserted any information that we
choose. The alphabet that I have chosen represents
the letters that occur the oftenest in German by the
simplest signs. By the similarity of shape between
these signs and that of the Roman letters, they be-
come impressed upon the memory without difficulty.
The distribution of the letters and numbers into
groups consisting of not more than four dots is shown

below.

Fig. 22.

A . .

B . .

C, K . . „• N . . . . •• 2 . . . . •,••

D . . . . • O . . . . . -x . . . ••_*

E . . . . • P . . . . •__• a. . . . . •••.

F .
G .
H .
Ch
Sch
J .

" Messages were printed with this apparatus at the
rate of ninety-two words in a quarter of an hour, or
over six words per minute."

••••
..•

•
•

•

•••

• •••

• •■■

.:•

■

L . .
M . .
N . .
O . .
P . .
R . .
S . .
T . . .

u,v
w. .
z . . .

•••

■ •••
••

• ••
• •

••
•••

• •
••

o

I

2

3

4
5
6

7
8

9

to the Year 1837. 343

Discovery of the Earth Circuit.

In order not to interrupt the continuity of our
description of Steinheil's beautiful apparatus, we have
reserved for a special paragraph our notice of this
most important discovery.

As we have seen in our second, third, fourth, and
fifth chapters, the earth circuit was used, with few
exceptions, in all experiments with static electricity.
Its function, however, was either unsuspected or mis-
understood.* Of all the telegraphic proposals based
on static electricity, those of Bozolus, 1767, and of
the anonymous Frenchman, 1782, are the only ones
in which complete metallic circuits were proposed.
Reusser, 1794, used one common return wire; while
all the others employed the earth, Volta, Cavallo, and
Salva making distinct mention of their doing so.

The power of the earth to complete the circuit for
dynamic electricity has also been known for a very
long time. Thus, on the 27th of February, 1803,
Aldini sent a current from a battery of eighty silver
and zinc plates from the West Mole of Calais harbour
to Fort Rouge through a wire supported on the
masts of boats, and made it return through 200 feet
of intervening water.t

Basse, of Hamel, made similar experiments, and

* As in Watson's experiments, described at pp. ni-13 of Priestley's
History of Electricity, 1767. ,

t Aldini's Account of late Improvements in Galvanism, London, 1803,
p. 218.

344 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

about the same time, on the frozen water of the ditch,
or moat, surrounding that town. He suspended 500
feet of wire, on fir posts, at a height of six feet above
the surface of the ice, then making two holes in
the ice and dipping into them the ends of the wire, in
the circuit of which were included a galvanic battery
and a suitable electroscope, he found that the current
circulated freely. Similar experiments were made
in the Weser ; then with two wells, 21 feet deep,
and 200 feet apart ; and, lastly, across' a meadow
3000 feet wide. Whenever the ground was dry it
was only necessary to wet it in order to feel a shock
sent through an insulated wire from the distant battery.
Erman, of Berlin, in 1803, and Sommerring, of Munich,
in 18 1 1, performed like experiments, the one in the
water of the Havel, and the other along the river
Isar.*

All these are very early and very striking instances
of the use of the earth circuit for dynamic electricity ;
but the most surprising and apposite instance of all
has yet to be mentioned, in which the use of the earth

* Gilbert's Ann. der Physik, vol. xiv. pp. 26 and 385 ; and Hamel's
Historical Account, &c., p. 1 7 of Cooke's reprint. Fechner, of Leipsic,
after refening to Basse's and Erman's experiments in his Lehrbuch des
Galvanismus (p. 268), goes on to explain the conductibility of the
earth in accordance with Ohm's laws. As he immediately after alludes
to the proposals for electric telegraphs, he has sometimes been credited
with the knowledge of the fact that 'the earth could be used to complete
the circuit in such cases. This, however, is not the fact, as we learn
from a letter which Fechner addressed to Professor Zetzsche on the
19th February, 1872 (Zetzsche's Geschichte der Elektrischen Telegraphic,
p. 19).

to the Year 1837. 345

is suggested precisely as we employ it to-day. In a
letter signed " Corpusculum," and dated December 8,
1 837, in the Mechanics' Magazine* we read : —

" It seems many persons have formed designs for
telegraphs. I, too, formed mine, and prepared a speci-
fication of it five years ago, and that included the plan
of making one wire only serve for the returning wire
for all the rest, as in Alexander's telegraph ; but even
that might, I think, be dispensed with where a good dis-
charging train, as gas, or water, pipes, at each end of
the telegraph could be obtained"

In July 1838, or seven months after the publication
of " Corpusculum's " letter, Steinheil made his acci-
dental discovery in a way which we find thus related
by De la Rive :f —

" Gauss having suggested the idea that the two rails
of a railway might be employed as conductors for the
electric telegraph, Steinheil, in 1838, tried the experi-
ment on the railroad from Niiremburg to Fiirth, but
was unable to obtain an insulation of the rails sufiS-
ciently perfect for the current to reach from one station
to the other. The great conductibility, with which he
remarked that the earth was endowed, caused him to
presume that it would be possible to employ it instead
of the return wire. The trials that he made in order
to prove the accuracy of this conclusion were followed

* For 1837, p. 219. The full text of this interesting letter will be
found at p. 477, infra.
t Treatise on Electricity, London, 1853-58, vol. iii. p. 351,

346 A History of Electric Telegraphy

by complete success ; and he then introduced into
electric telegraphy one of its greatest improvements."

In Steinheil's own account of this discovery, he
begins by pointing out that Ampere required for his
telegraphic proposal more than sixty line wires ; that
Sommerring reduced the number to thirty or so ;
Cooke and Wheatstone to five ; and Schilling, Gauss,
and Morse to " one single wire running to the distant
station and back."

He then goes on to say : — " One might imagine
that this part of the arrangement could not be further
simplified ; such, however, is by no means the case.
I have found that even the half of this length of wire
may be dispensed with, and that, with certain pre-
cautions, its place is supplied by the ground itself.
We know in theory that the conducting powers of
the ground and of water are very small compared
with that of the metals, especially copper. It seems,
however, to have been previously overlooked that we
have it within our reach to make a perfectly good
conductor out of water, or any other of the so-called
semi-conductors.

"All that is required is that the surface that its
section presents should be as much greater than that
of the metal as its conducting power is less. In that
case the resistance offered by the semi-conductor will
equal that of the perfect conductor; and as we can
make conductors of the ground of any size we please,
simply by adapting to the ends of the wires plates

to the Year 1837. 347

presenting a sufficient surface of contact, it is evident
that we can diminish the resistance offered by the
ground, or water, to any extent we like. We can
indeed so reduce this resistance as to make it quite
insensible when compared to that offered by a metallic
wire, so that not only is half the wire circuit spared,
but even the resistance that such a circuit would pre-
sent is diminished by one half.

" The inquiry into the laws of dispersion according
to which the ground, whose mass is unlimited, is acted
upon by the passage of the galvanic current, appeared
to be a subject replete with interest. The galvanic
excitation cannot be confined to the portions of earth
situated between the two ends of the wire; on the
contrary, it cannot but extend itself indefinitely, and
it, therefore, only depends on the law that obtains in
this excitation of the ground, and the distance of the
exciting terminations of the wire, whether it is neces-
sary or not to have any metallic communication at all
for carrying on telegraphic intercourse.

" An apparatus can, it is true, be constructed in
which the inductor, having no other metallic con-
nection with the multiplier than the excitation trans-
mitted through the ground, shall produce galvanic
currents in that multiplier sufficient to cause a visible
deflection of the bar. This is a hitherto unobserved
fact, and may be classed amongst the most extra-
ordinary phenomena that science has revealed to us.
It only holds good, however, for small distances ;

34^ A History of Electric Telegraphy

and it must be left to the future to decide whether
we shall ever succeed in telegraphing at great dis-
tances without any metallic communication at all.
My experiments prove that such a thing is possible
up to distances of 50 feet. For greater distances we
can only conceive it feasible by augmenting the
power of the galvanic induction, or by appropriate
multipliers constructed for the purpose, or, in con-
clusion, by increasing the surface of contact presented
by the ends of the multipliers. At all events the phe-
nomenon merits our best attention, and its influence
will not perhaps be altogether overlooked in the
theoretic views we may form with regard to galvanism
itself." *

* Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity, vol. iii. pp. 450-2. Dr. O'Shaugh-
nessy (afterwards Sir William O'S. Brooke), the organiser of the East
Indian telegraphs, claims to have independently discovered the earth
circuit, and points for evidence to his paper in the Journal of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, for September 1839, pp. 714-31. See his
Electric Telegraph in British India, London, 1853, p. 21.

to the Year 1837. 349

CHAPTER XIII.

EDWARD DAVY AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
1836-1839.

" It seldom happens that the author of a great discovery, after failing
to attract attention to his application of science, lives to see his own

invention universally adopted. Mr. R appears to be the least

pushing of original inventors, and it is just that in his later years he
should have the satisfaction of knowing that he is appreciated by his
countrymen." — Saturday Review, November 17, 1866.

Few of our readers have heard of the name of
Edward Davy in connection with the history of the
telegraph, and for the sufficient reason that, beyond
a few very short and very imperfect accounts* of a
needle telegraph which he exhibited in London in
1837-38, and extracts, more or less copious, from the
specification of his electro-chemical recording tele-
graph, patented in July 1838, nothing has been pub-
lished regarding him and his early labours. Yet it
is certain that, in those days, he had a clearer grasp
of the requirements and capabilities of an electric
telegraph than, probably, Cooke and Wheatstone
themselves ; and had he been taken up by capitalists,
and his ideas licked into shape by actual practice, as
they and theirs were, he would have successfully
competed with them for a share of the profits and

* Mechanics' Magazine, for January 20, and February 3, and 17,
1838 ; on which are based the very meagre and, of course, incorrect
descriptions in all books on the telegraph. Also the Penny Mechanic,.,
for February 10, 1838.

35° A History of Electric Telegraphy

honours, which have so largely accrued to them as
the practical introducers of the electric telegraph.

This, at all events,' is the conclusion that we have
come to, after the perusal of a number of most inter-
esting MS. documents, which have been obligingly-
placed in our hands by Dr. Henry Davy, of Exeter,
Edward Davy's nephew; and it is a conclusion which,
we believe, our readers will cordially indorse when
they have read the extracts from them, which we are
now about to give.* We feel a peculiar satisfaction
at being thus the means of re-introducing to his
countrymen one who deserves a most honourable
recognition. Mr. Davy, we are glad to say, is alive
and well, and, though now 78 years of age, is still
following his profession, as a surgeon, in a far-off
colony, whither, for reasons which need not concern
us, he emigrated in 1839.

The idea of an electric telegraph first occurred to
him about 1836, when he sketched out a plan to
be worked by static, or frictional, electricity. We
give it almost in the author's own words : —

" Outline of a New Plan of Telegraphic Communica-
tion, by which Intelligence may be Conveyed, with
Precision, to Unlimited Distances, in an Instant of
Time, Independent of Fog or Darkness.

" The agent is electricity, which is well known to

pass through a conducting medium with the rapidity

* At our suggestion Dr. Davy has presented all these valuable MSS.
to the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians for deposition
in the library, where they may now be consulted.

to the Year 1837. 351

of lightning. The only difficulty is in the mode of
applying it to the end proposed. Our method is as
follows : —

" Let us suppose a number of copper wires, each
covered with silk, and varnished, to be laid under-
ground, side by side, from London to Liverpool.
For greater protection, they may be enclosed in an
iron pipe. If there be a small brass ball at each
end of each wire, an electric spark applied to the
ball at the London end of any of them might be
drawn at the same instant from the corresponding
ball at the Liverpool end.

" If there be twenty-four such wires, there will be
one for each letter in the alphabet ; but six wires
would be more than sufficient in practice, owing to
the numerous changes that might be made upon them
by combination. We will, however, suppose that
there are twenty-four, for the sake of illustration, and
that the intelligence is to be sent from London to
Liverpool.

" The questions, then, are —

" 1st. How the wires are to receive the signals in
London.

" 2nd. How they are to deliver them in Liverpool.

" A single letter may be indicated at a time, each
letter being taken down by the attendant as it arrives,
so as to form words and sentences ; but it will be easy
to see that, from the infinite changes upon a number
of letters, a great number of ordinary communications
[whole sentences] may be conveyed by a single pre-

352 A History of Electric Telegraphy

viously concerted signal [consisting of one, or more
letters in a group].

" Let a, b, Fig. 23, represent one of the wires — a, the
London end, and b, the Liverpool end. At a, is fixed
a small metallic cup of mercury ; c, d, e, is a bar of
metal moving on a hinge at d, so that when the end c,
is elevated, e, will dip into the mercury ; _/) is a chain,
or wire, communicating with the prime conductor of
an electrical machine, or with a powerful electro-

FiG. 23.
(Drawn from original Manuscript.)

phorus. The hinge, or pivot, d, may be continuous
metal, and common to all the bars belonging to all
the wires, g, h, i, is made of glass, or partly of seal-
ing wax, and turns on a hinge, or pivot, k, something
like the key of a pianoforte. The pressure of the
finger at i, will then raise g, and c, and depress e,
which, by dipping into the mercury, will communicate
the electric spark from/, to the wire a, b. This wire
may stand for the letter A; and each of the others will

to the Year 1837. 353

be connected to a similar key apparatus, the same
source of electricity sufficing for all.

" At the Liverpool end is a small brass ball b ; and
k, is another, communicating by means of a metallic
conductor with the earth ; /, is a light [pith] ball sus-
pended from m, by a rigid rod. When the electricity
arrives at b, I, is attracted, and immediately after
repelled to k, where it discharges itself, afterwards
resuming its normal position midway between b, and k.
0, contains the letters ranged in a row, and each letter
is connected to the rod of the corresponding electro-
meter by a stiff hair, as shown in the dotted line, n. It
is evident, then, that, at every movement of the rod
towards k, the letter will be drawn from its place of
concealment, and exposed to view in the open space
above."

This, as Davy himself distinctly says, was not the
plan that he would recommend in practice, and was
described merely as an aid to a clearer perception of
the principles involved. Accordingly, we find him,
very soon afterwards, drawing up a proposal for a
telegraph, based on the electro-magnetic properties of
the voltaic current.

This was to consist of as many line wires as there
were letters of the alphabet. Twenty, he says, would
have sufficed, or a still fewer number would do, by
having recourse to the various combinations of which
they would be, obviously, susceptible. Besides the
letter wires, there was to be one for the alarum,

2 A

354 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and another for the return circuit, which was to be
common to all. As to the form of the wires, Davy
says : — " Since the electricity is believed to move on
the surface, and not in the substance, of a conductor, I
conceive that where there is a long distance to travel,
instead of wires, it will be preferable to use broad
ribbons, such as would be obtained by passing a thick
copper wire between the rollers of a flatting mill."*

Each ribbon, for its perfect insulation and protec-
tion, was to be varnished with shellac, then covered
with silk, or woollen, and laid in a slight frame of
wood, well dried and varnished ; or each ribbon might
be bound from end to end with listing, saturated with
melted pitch, or surrounded with caoutchouc, or with
cloth saturated with this substance. All the ribbons,
in whatever way insulated, were to be laid together
underground in air-tight and water-tight pipes of iron,
or earthenware.

The best source of electricity Davy considered
would be, either one of Daniell's constant-current
cells, then just discovered, or, perhaps, a magneto-
electric machine as constructed by Newman or Clarke.
The electricity so obtained was to be set in motion in
the wires by a set of keys, resembling those of a
pianoforte, and connected to their respective wires in
the way that we have just described. On pressing a
key, its wire would dip into a cup of mercury con-

* It is but fair to mention that this and one or two others are the
only cases of false reasoning to be found in all Davy's MSS.

to the Year 1837. 355

nected with the source of, say, positive electricity, and
thus a communication could be readily established,
which would be instantly broken when the finger
ceased to press on the key. The return wire was to
be permanently connected to the source of negative
electricity.

At the receiving end the signals might be indicated
in various ways, in the adoption of one or other of
which much, he says, would depend on the actual
amount of electricity that would be available. Davy
gave the preference to the following method : — Each
line wire was to terminate in another of smaller size,
formed into a rectangular coil of from five to two
hundred turns, according to circumstances. All the
coils were to be ranged in a row in the magnetic meri-
dian, and in each was to be suspended a delicate
magnetic needle. The whole was then to be covered
by a board, the straight edge of which just concealed
the needles in their positions of rest, but, on any of
them being deflected, allowed one end to project, and
so expose the letter marked upon it. The feeblest
current, says Davy, would usually suffice to cause this
deflection ; but if, from the great distance that the elec-
tricity had to travel, it became too feeble, its effect on the
needles could be increased by multiplying the convolutions
of the coils.

"The quantity of electricity," he goes on to say,
" requisite to deflect a magnetic needle is so incon-
siderable, that if the current of a moderately-sized

2 A 2

356 A History of Electric Telegraphy

pair of plates were sent into one end of a wire, and
only one-hundredth part of it came out at the other
end, it would still be sufficient. It is for this reason
that I prefer the method just described, of indicating
the signals, to others which occur to me, and which, as
they may answer under certain circumstances, I will
briefly describe :—

" I . A coil of wire from each conductor may be
wound round a vertical glass tube, a light needle, or
slip, of iron inserted in this tube will be lifted up while
the electricity is passing through the coil ; a letter fixed
to the iron by a bristle will then appear above the lip
of the tube and be the signal.* The only objection
to this plan, in other respects the neatest and simplest,
is, that the force of the current after passing a long
distance may not be sufficient to raise the iron.

" 2. On the same principle, a piece of soft iron may
be surrounded by a helix of copper wire, so as to form
a temporary magnet, which will attract and relinquish
a small piece of iron carrying the signal letter, at every
make and break of the current.

" 3. Instead of steel needles, coils of copper wire may
be deflected in the neighbourhood of fixed magnets ;
thus, a b, Fig. 24, are mercury cups, into which dip the
line wires c, d, and the ends of the coil e, which are pro-
vided with steel points, and rest on agate surfaces, so
that the coil can revolve with perfect freedom; a

* Here we have the germ of the axial magnet used in Royal House's
telegraph.

to the Year 1837.

357

slender spring, /, keeps the coil in its normal position
of rest. During the passage of electricity in the coil
it [the coil] will be subject to the influence of g, and
be deflected." *

Fig. 24. (Drawn from original manuscript.) '

m^J\f

The alarum was to consist of a coil and needle,
similar to those used for the letters, only that the
needle was to carry a little fulminating silver card,
which, on the passage of a current through the coil,
was brought into the flame of a small lamp, and
exploded.

Davy concludes the document from which we have
been quoting with a few words on the general question
of conservancy, in which he says that the best situa-
tion for the lines would be along railways, where a

* Here we have the germ of the Brown and Allan relay. Davy says
this plan is suggested on the possibility of steel magnets being in-
fluenced by the wrong wires, which might happen when all are close
together in one parallel row.

358 A History of Electric Telegraphy

number of men are constantly watching, and would
prevent damage.

At short intervals, as every half mile, more or less,
he would have a contrivance (not described), for ascer-
taining in what precise spot a fault existed, in case of
any derangement of the wires. For this purpose the
continuity of the copper was to be interrupted, and
the two ends made to communicate by means of a cup
of mercury. The places where these interruptions
occurred were to be under lock and key in the posses-
sion of the surveyor.

According to the " Statement " which we find
amongst Davy's MSS., giving the order in which his
discoveries were made, he had not long finished the
preceding paper when he saw how the number of wires
might be reduced one half, by employing reverse cur-
rents to produce right and left deflections of each
needle, each of which deflections could represent a
letter. Other and very important improvements fol-
lowed in quick succession, until, at the commencement
of 1837, his ideas had not only assumed a really prac-
tical form, but his apparatus was so far complete that
he was able to submit it to the test of actual experi-
ment. For this purpose he obtained permission of the
Commissioners of Woods and Forests to lay down a
mile of copper wire, around the inner circle of the
Regent's Park, through which, with the help of his
friend, Mr, Grave, he performed many successful
experiments.

to the Year 1837. 359

Soon after this, in March 1837, Davy appears to
have been alarmed by the rumours which got abroad
of Professor Wheatstone being engaged on an electric
telegraph, and, in order to secure for himself a priority,
he hastened to lodge a caveat, and, at the same time,
deposited with Mr. Aikin, the Secretary of the Society
of Arts, a sealed description of his invention, in its
then state.

Davy now added the relay, or, as he called it, the
" Electrical Renewer," which was the only thing wanted
to make his apparatus complete and practicable, and
the idea of which, it appears, occurred to him after a
conversation on the subject of a telegraph, with a Mr.
Bush of the Great Western Railway.*

* Writing to the author, on June II, 1883, Mr. Davy says on this
subject : — " I procured access to the private part of the Regent's Park,
and laid down a mile of copper wire on the ground, without any in-
sulation. I, of course, found that the magnetic power was so much
reduced by the length of the wire that there might be difficulty at
great distances in working the contrivance I had in view for marking
down signals. The power was, however, sufficient to deflect a not
very delicate galvanometer needle.

" It then occurred to me that the smallest motion (to a hair's breadth)
of the needle would suffice to bring into contact two metallic surfaces
so as to establish a new circuit, dependent on a local battery; and
so on ad infinitum.

" In Cooke and Wheatstone's first patent there is a proposal to
produce a powerful alarum, by striking a bell through the interven-
tion of a local battery ; but not a word about any renewer, or relay, as
afplieable to general electric telegraphy.

"The relay was equally new to Mr. Morse, and was subsidiary, if
not essential, to his admirable method of dots and dashes. On the occa-
sion of my opposing his application for an English patent in 1838, the
Solicitor-General told me that he (Morse) had then no idea of the relay.

" The principle of the relay rendered demonstrably practicable the

360 A History of Electric Telegraphy

In May 1837, Cooke and Wheatstone applied for
their first patent, and to this Davy entered an opposi-
tion, lodging with the Solicitor-General, of the time, a
full description of his own apparatus. A copy of
this important document* is now before us, and as,
when taken in connection with what we have already
written, it shows, in a very clear way, Davy's position
in May 1837, we shall copy it in extenso, merely
omitting a few preparatory remarks on the general
principles of an electric telegraph, which, though
necessary, because little understood, in Davy's time,
need not now be repeated. We have also made a few
verbal alterations here and there, which, while they in
no way affect the sense, will, we hope, render the
writer's meaning more clear. A comparison of this
paper with Cooke and Wheatstone's first specification
will be a curious study, and, all things considered,
will certainly not be to Davy's disadvantage.

system of overland communication by electricity over unlimited dis-
tances, and, doubtless, had the effect of removing hesitation from the
minds of those who might otherwise have thought the success of electric
telegraphy problematical."

There can be no doubt that to Davy belongs the credit of the dis-
covery of the "relay system. The first Electric Telegraph Company
bought up his patent, chiefly for the reason that it covered the use of
the relay. See p. 366 infra.

* " This document is either a copy, or the identical one, left with the
Solicitor-General. It may not originally have been prepared for that
purpose, but, being ready and suitable, was so used. Perhaps it was
returned to me and so found its place amongst my other papers." —
Extract from Mr. Davy's letter of October 10, 1883, to the author.

to the Year 1837. 361

"OUTLINE DESCRIPTION OF MY IMPROVED ELEC-
TRICAL TELEGRAPH.

" The parts of the telegraph may be divided into
three, viz. : —

1st. Signal and alarum arrangements.

2nd. Originating mechanism.

3rd. Conducting and continuing arrangements.

" I. Signals and Alarums.

" These are eflfected by a number of galvanometer
needles, and conducting wires, each of which termi-
nates in a double coil, which acts upon two needles.
The form of the coil is that of the figure 8 (only the
loops are made rectangular), and in each loop a mag-
netic needle is suspended. The whole is so arranged
that all the needles point north and south. By means
of pins, or stops, each needle is prevented from having
its signal pole deflected except in one direction. It is
then evident that if the electric current be passing in
one direction the upper needle only, and, if in the
other direction, the lower needle only, will be de-
flected. This method greatly obviates the objection-
able vibration of such needles when suspended in the
ordinary f/^ay, which vibration is a great impediment
to transmitting the signals with sufficient rapidity of
succession.

36a A History 0/ Electric Telegraphy

" The needles are as follows, being altogether twelve
in number : —

4 pairs of letter needles,
I pair of colour needles,
I pair of alarum needles.

"Letter and Colour Needles. — The deflectable ex-
tremity of each letter needle bears three letters, A, B, C,
and so on, each differently coloured, say, A red, B
black, C white. Which of the three letters is intended
for the signal is decided by simultaneously observing
the colour needles, one of which has its deflectable
extremity red, and the other black. If neither of the
colour needles move, the white letter is the intended
signal. By this plan the number of needles, and,
consequently, of conducting wires, is reduced to the
minimum consistent with convenience. One of the
colour needles acting alone may, of course, convey
some arbitrary meaning, according to the exigencies
of the establishment.

"Alarum Needles. — Of these only one is essential,
so that the other is available for any other purpose
required. The alarum needle is shaped so that a suit-
able piece of card, loaded with fulminating silver, may
readily be slipped on to its extremity, which, when
the needle turns, is carried round into the heat of a
lamp constantly burning beside it. The card is to
be renewed as often as it has been exploded, and a
number are always at hand for the purpose. This

to the Year 1837. 363

alarum serves to call the attention of the person who
is to watch the signals, and the same principle is
evidently applicable to other purposes independent of
the telegraph.

"There are other modes of producing different
kinds of alarums, which, by the application of the
principle on which the electric currents are continued
\i. e., relayed], can be accomplished without difficulty.

" 2. Originating Mechanism.

" This consists of — 2 galvanic pairs of plates,
2 reversers,

4 pairs of communicating keys,
I pair of colour keys,
I pair of alarum keys.

" One pair of plates and one reverser belong to the
keys of the colour needles exclusively, the other pair
of plates and reyerser being common to all the other
keys. As the action of the two reversers is the same,
they may both be included under one description.

" The Reverser. — The zinc and copper plates are,
each, in communication with separate cups of mercury,
which we may call, severally, the zinc and copper cups.
There are two wires, one of which we may call the
common communicator, and the other the return wire,
each terminating in a double, or forked, extremity.
To a wooden beam, capable of a certain degree of
revolution on its axis, both of these forked pieces are

364 A History of Electric Telegraphy

fixed, so that if, in one position, the common com-
municator is in connection with the zinc cup, and the
return wire with the copper cup, a partial revolution
of the beam reverses the connections, making the
wire from the common communicator now dip into
the copper cup, and the return wire into the zinc cup.
The reverser is actuated by every alternate communi-
cating key.

" The Communicating Keys. — These somewhat re-
semble the keys of a pianoforte, and there is a pair
for each wire. Pressure upon the first of each pair
causes the point of the line wire connected with it to
dip into a cup of mercury continuous with the com-
mon communicator, which enables us to establish, or
cut off, in the most convenient way, the connection
between the galvanic pair at one end, and the signal
needles at the other. The second key of each pair,
when pressed, turns the reverser before effecting the
connection with the line wire, and, consequently,
causes a reversed current to flow into the line.

" The colour and alarum keys are operated in the
same way.

"3. Conducting and Continuing Arrangements.
" To command the signals not more than eight con-
ducting wires will be required (probably less). All the
letter and the alarum conductors, having, severally,
formed their double coils, terminate in a cup of mer-
cury from which a single conducting wire, called the

to the Year 1837. 3^5

return wire, reaches back to the originating station,
where it is in connection with either the copper, or the
zinc cup, according as the reverser may be set. The
colour needles have a separate return wire,* as well as
a separate reverser and pair of plates.

"The best mode of laying the conducting wires
remains to be determined by experience on a large
scale, and the localities through which they may have
to be brought. Either they may be somewhat flat-
tened between rollers, and bound together with inter-
posed pieces of cloth, soaked in pitch or rosin, &c.,
the whole being enveloped with canvas tarred, or im-
pregnated with melted caoutchouc and linseed oil, or
the like ; or they may be secured in a tube (jointed
laterally) of iron or earthenware. In the former case
they would admit of being suspended in the air, from
post to post, protected by lightning conductors, while in
the latter they would be laid along, or underground ;
or they may be separately coiled round with cotton,
and bound together, each being of a diff"erent colour
for guidance in case of repairs.

"As it may be more than doubted that an elec-
tric current in a circuit of great length, as between
London and Dover, or London and Liverpool, would
retain sufficient magnetic power to effect the signals

* Davy soon suppressed this, as he found that one return wire would
suffice for all. He thus reduced the number of hue wires to seven, viz.,
four for letters, one for the alarum, one for the colour needles, and one
return wire.

366 A History of Electric Telegraphy

after travelling so far, it may be made to renew itself
at given intervals, by the following self-acting con-
trivance : —

" The Electrical Renewer. — The principle of this
contrivance is that, the total distance being divided
into a number of shorter ones, there be a separate gal-
vanic circuit for each, and that, at the termination of
each length of wire, its current be made to produce a
motion, which establishes a communication between a
fresh source of electricity and the wire which extends
through the next succeeding distance. For instance,
the first . portion of wire terminates in a rectangular
figure of 8 coil, fixed horizontally, so as to act upon
needles, so suspended as to be capable only of vertical
motion. Each needle is rendered incapable of motion
except in one direction, so that one, or the other, will
be deflected according to the direction in which the
current is passing. At the end of each needle is fixed
a cross piece of copper wire, whose ends are turned
downwards. One of these ends is constantly im-
mersed in a cup of mercury, which is connected with
one of the plates of a galvanic pair, while the other
end dips into a second cup of mercury every time the
needle is deflected by a current in the coil. This
second cup is the commencement of the next circuit.

" To complete the circuit, a corresponding but re-
verse connection must be made with the return wire,
so that while the needle of the signal wire establishes
a communication with the zinc, that of the return wire

to the Year 1837. 3^7

establishes simultaneously a communication with the
copper, and vice versd.

" By this contrivance it is clear that there can be no
physical limit to the distance to which electric cur-
rents may be carried ; and, therefore, the expense of
long distances will cease to be in an increased ratio to
that of short ones.*

"Additional Observations.

"(i). The coils herein described may be either
simple, or multiplied, as the case may require. It
will probably be better that they should be multi-
plied, than that the needles should be too delicately
suspended.

"(2). For stopping more effectually the vibration
of the needles immediately on their relapse, on the
cessation of the current, the following plan is pro-
posed : — A portion of the wire is coiled round a small
piece of soft iron, which is rendered magnetic during
the passage of the electricity, its polarity varying with
the direction of the current. This is so arranged that
the end of the needle bears against it, and is held by
it, when no current of electricity is passing, or when it
is passing in one particular direction, and that, when
passing in the other direction, the iron will be so
polarised as to repel, instead of attract, the point of
the needlct

* See note on p. 359 supra. *

t There is a contrivance like this, and for exactly the same purpose,
in Cooke and Wheatstone's first patent of 1837.

368 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" (3). There is a variety of modes in which different
kinds of alarums may be made, when once the principle
of the Electrical Renewer is applied, as there is then
no limit to the power which may be obtained, and it
requires little reflection to suggest a multiplicity of
methods of making this power produce sound. A
piece of soft iron may be rendered alternately mag-
netic and non-magnetic, so as to withdraw, when
required, the peg of an alarum clock, &c., or a needle
may be made to carry round a red-hot wire, or match,
so as to explode a cannon, &c.

"(4). Portable Telegraphs. — Such a contrivance
might occasionally be useful in warfare. The con-
ductors should then be made in short lengths, each
conductor differently coloured for facility of distinction.

" (5). Marine Telegraphs. — Communications may be
effected through, or under, the water by enclosing the
conductors in ropes well coated, or soaked, in an in-
sulating and protecting varnish, as melted caoutchouc,
&c. The ropes could then be sunk to a certain depth
by weights, and supported by small floats, or buoys.
In connection with the rope we may have an air-tight
and water-tight electrical renewing apparatus \i. e..
Relay] at each requisite interval.* On this subject
further experiments are necessary.

" (6). Land telegraphs may, of course, be made to
indicate similar signals and produce similar alarums
at numerous places at the same time.

* As in Van Choate's patent No. 156 of January 19, 1865.

to the Year 1837. 369

" (7). Estimated expense of particular lines of com-
munication at 70/. per mile, which includes two sets
of wires for communicating in each direction : * —

From Miles. ^

London to Dover 71 t,,ooa

Brighton SI 3.500

Bristol 119 8,500

Portsmouth 73 5,000

Birmingham 109 7, 770

Liverpool 206 14,000

York 199 14,000

Newcastle 273 ig,ooo

Edinburgh 367 26,000

Glasgow 400 28,000

Exeter 164 11,500

Liverpool to Manchester 30 2,200

;^i44,ooo

"(8). Annual expense of each station, comprising
salary of four or five clerks, attendants, rent, and
workman to feed the batteries and keep the apparatus
in order, 600/.

Outlay from London through Birmingham to

Liverpool 14,000/., or say 20,000/., of which £

the interest at 5 per cent, per annum .. .. 1,000

Expense of three stations, one in each town, at

600/. each 1,800

Contingencies 200

;f3.ooo

* It is not that Davy did not know how to make his apparatus
reciprocating, so that one set of wires should sufl&ce for to and fro
correspondence, but because, as he explains in other places, he thought
that when once the telegraph was established there would be more
traffic than one set of wires could carry ; and he, therefore, recommends
here, as elsewhere, the laying down at once of an up and down set of
wires, for exactly the same reasons that we have up and down, lines of
railway.

2 B

370 A History of Electric Telegraphy

which, including Sundays, is about lo/. per day ; and
this, divided by 3, gives 3/. 6s. M. as the sum neces-
sary to be received, on an average per day, at each
station, in order to pay expenses and return an
interest of 5 per cent, for the outlay.

"(9). Capabilities. — The telegraph constructed on
the plan herein described is capable of transmitting
about fifty letters in two and a half minutes, but,
by an improvement devised subsequently to writing
the early part of this description, they may be sent
several times as rapidly. In fact, the only limit now
appears to be the quickness with which the eye can
catch the letter, and the hand note it down."

During the summer and autumn of 1837, as stated
in the last paragraph, Davy effected some important
changes in the mode of making the signals. In the
plan just described the needles were made to turn
horizontally, and the eye was obliged to attend to two
movements, at the same time, in order to distinguish
by the colour needle, which of the three letters was
meant. The oscillation of the needles in settling
down to their positions of rest caused a waste of time,
and was otherwise a bar to rapid signalling. By the
following plan both these disadvantages were obviated
without introducing fresh ones : —

The needles were all suspended, somewhat like
balance beams, so as to turn vertically, instead of
horizontally, and they were made long, so that their

to the Year 1837. 371

ends might describe large arcs, although the move-
ment at the centre might be small. The letter ends
were weighted so as, under ordinary circumstances, to
dip under cover, but, on the passage of a current, thCy
were raised, so as to bring the letters opposite an
illuminated sight groove.

What used to be the colour needles were now pro-
vided with small screens, which could be raised, or
depressed, in front of the letter needles, so as to
conceal, or expose, them at pleasure. Thus, if the

A
letter needle bearing B were shown, and neither of the

C
distinguishing needles moved, their screens would lay
so as to cover A, and C, B, only being visible. If now
one screen, say the top one, were deflected it would
cover B, and expose A, and, similarly, if the other
screen were moved it would expose C, and cover B.

In this arrangement the eye had to watch only one
signal, and, as all the letters could be arranged more
compactly, the field of view was greatly reduced, and
the letters could be easily caught and noted down,
without the necessity of even turning the eyes.

The next alteration was in^ the same direction of
simplification and perfection of the signalling appa-
ratus, and was a decided improvement even upon the
last. It consisted in making the letters immovable,
and covering them by three screens in such a way
as to be able to expose any desired letter at will.

2 B 2

37^ A History of Electric Telegraphy

Fig. 25 shows the arrangement, i, 2, 3, 4, were pairs
of screens, which, when at rest, covered all the letters,
ranged in rows of three behind them, and one, or
other, of which, in each pair, could be moved aside,
according to the direction of the current in the line
wire to which it belonged. The screens 5, 5, and 6, 6,
answering to the colour needles of the old plan, but
now called triplicators, were so arranged as, in their
ijormal position, to cover the top and bottom rows of
letters, and, on the passage of a current in their coils,
to move inward and cover the centre row.

Fig. 25.
(Drawn from original manuscript.)

I

^

S

r-

f

s

A

D

C

N

\

1

T

X

B

E

H

L

0

R

V

Y

C

F

■

M

P

s

W

Z

«1

If, now, any one of the letter screens, say that on
the extreme left of the figure, were moved aside, only
one letter, B, would appear ; because A, and all the
letters in the top row, would be covered by the tripli-
cator 5, 5, and C, and its fellows in the bottom row,
by the triplicator 6, 6 ; but if one of the triplicators,
as 5, 5, had been simultaneously moved, then only the
letter A, would appear. Thus, a single movement of
a letter screen will expose any letter in the centre row,

to the Year 1837. 373

and a combined movement of a letter screen and a
triplicator will exhibit any letter in the top, or bottom,
row according to the triplicator employed.

But, as each wire was to be provided with a separate
battery, and as the currents could be sent in one
direction, or another, in one, or more, wires at the
same time, it is clear that one to four letters could be
shown at once, provided they were all in the same row,
and were not covered by the same pairs of screens.
Thus, the word BOY could be signalled at once, by
sending, say, a positive current into the first wire (on
the left), exposing B, a positive current into the third
wire, exposing O, and a negative current into the
fourth wire, exposing Y. Again, the word ANT
could be shown at once, by sending a current into the
triplicator wire, so as to cause the screen 5, 5, to move
down, then a positive current sent into the first, third,
and fourth letter wires would uncover the letters
A, N, T, respectively. In this way, besides being able
to show all the letters of the alphabet singly, about
200 different groups of letters could be displayed at
one operation, which, by having certain meanings
attached to them, would greatly expedite a corre-
spondence.

The needles by which the screens were actuated
were, as before, suspended in the manner of ordinary
balance beams with horizontal axes ; but these axes
were now prolonged, and carried tall upright rods, at
the free ends of which the screens were fastened.

374 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

Thus, the slightest movement of the axes produced
a considerable deviation of the screens, while their
extension permitted of the needles (with, of course,
their coils) being placed at sufficient distances apart
to prevent their mutual disturbance.

In the working model which Davy had constructed
for exhibition all the letter-indicating mechanism was
enclosed in a mahogany case, which could serve also
as a desk for writing down the signals as they ap-
peared. In the front of the case there was an aperture
about sixteen inches long, and three or four inches
wide, and this, at ordinary times, was so dark that dif-
ference of surfaces of the screens could not be detected,
which led to the deception that only one screen was
used — a deception which the author purposely planned
and encouraged, in order that the modus operandi of
his instrument might not be divined, which would
prevent him taking out a patent for it afterwards, as
he contemplated doing,* Behind the screens was a
plate of glass, covered with black card-board, out of
which spaces, representing the letters of the alphabet,
were cut, and behind the glass was a white card-
board, on which the light of a lamp was thrown. The
result was that, whenever a screen was turned aside, a
beautifully white letter appeared to the spectator at
the aperture.

Attention, in the first instance, was called by three
strokes on a little electric bell, the termination of a

* This little ruse explains the fogginess of all accounts of Davy's
telegraph hitherto published. See p. 349 and foot-note.

to the Year 1837. 375

word was indicated by a single stroke, and the end of
the communication by two strokes.

A working model, embodying all the author's
improvements to date, was shown about November-
December 1837, at the Belgrave Institution, London,
and from the great interest which it there excited,
Davy resolved upon a more public exhibition ; accord-
ingly, he rented a room for one year in Exeter Hall,
and there installed his telegraph from December 29,
1837, to November 10, 1838.*

A writer in the Mechanic^ Magazine, for February
17, 1838, thus describes the exhibit. It will be
observed that, for the reason which we have given
above, his language in places lacks clearness, but this
is of little consequence, for we, who are now in the
secret, can easily follow him : —

" Davy's Electrical Telegraph.

" Sir, — The favourable notice of your correspondent,
' Moderator, 't on the subject of Mr. Davy's electrical
telegraph, induced me to visit Exeter Hall, for the
purpose of carefully inspecting the invention ; and I
am enabled to bear testimony to the general accuracy
of your correspondent's remarks, and also of the great

* Davy's MSS., No. 5. See also Mechanics' Magazine, for January
20, 1838, and "The Electric Telegraph Company ■verms Nott and
others," Nott's and Grane's affidavits. The room occupied by Davy
vpas that known as No. 5, for which he paid rent at the rate of 35/. per
annum.

t Correctly, " Moderatus," in Mechanics' Magazine, for February 3,
1838, p. 296.

376 A History of Electric Telegraphy

pleasure I experienced in the investigation of the
apparatus. Under these circumstances I beg to offer
a few additional remarks, in some measure corrective
of those made by ' Moderator.'

" As a preliminary observation, I would suggest to
the inventor the necessity of removing to some other
part of the building, or, if that cannot be accom-
plished, of quitting the place altogether, and locating
himself in some situation where his light may not,
literally, be ' hid under a bushel.' He appears to be
surrounded by rooms under repair or alteration, and
his delicate apparatus is, consequently, smothered
with dust ; the room is also small, dark, and alto-
gether of most unpromising appearance.

" In front of the oblong trough, or box, a lamp,
described by your correspondent, is placed, and that
side of the box next the lamp is of ground glass,
through which the light is transmitted for the purpose
of illuminating the letters. The oblong box is open
at the top, but a plate of glass is interposed between
the letters and the spectator, through which the
latter reads off the letters as they are successively
exposed to his view. At the opposite side of the
room a small key-board is placed (similar to that of
a pianoforte, but smaller) furnished with twelve keys ;
eight of these have, each, three letters of the alphabet
on their upper surfaces, marked thus, A. D., and so

B. E.

C. F.

to the Year 1837. ■^'j']

on. By depressing these keys in various ways the
signals, or letters, are produced at the opposite desk
as previously described. How this is effected is not
described by the inventor, as he intimated that the
construction of certain parts of the apparatus must
remain secret. By the side of the key-board there is
placed a small galvanic battery from which proceeds
the wire, 25 yards in length, passing round the walls
of the room. Along this wire the shock is passed,
and operates upon that part of the apparatus which
discloses the letters, or signals.

" The shock is distributed as follows : — The under
side of each signal key is furnished with a small pro-
jecting piece of wire, which, on depressing the key,
is made to enter a small vessel filled with mercury,
placed under the outer end of the row of keys. A
shock is instantly communicated along the wire, and
a letter, or signal, is as instantly disclosed in the
oblong box. By attentively looking at the effect
produced, it appeared as if a dark slide were with-
drawn, thereby disclosing the illuminated letter.
A slight vibration of the (apparent) slide occasionally
obscuring the letter indicated a great delicacy of
action in this part of the contrivance, and, although
not distinctly pointed out by the inventor, is to be
accounted for in the following manner : — When the
two ends of the wire of the galvanic apparatus are
brought together over a compass needle the position
of the needle is immediately turned at right angles

^yS A History of Electric Telegraphy

to its former one ; and again, if the needle is placed
with the north point southward, and the ends of the
wire are again brought over it, the needle is again
forced round to a position at right angles to its ori-
ginal one \sic\. Thus it would appear that the slide,
or cover, over the letters is poised similarly to the
common needle, and that, by the depression of the
key, a shock is given in such a way as to cause a
motion from right to left, and vice versd, disclosing
those letters immediately under the needle so
operated upon.

"A gentleman present hazarded a doubt as to the
shock being energetic enough for a considerable
distance. The inventor replied that he was in posses-
sion of means that would enable him to convey
intelligence to any distance that may be required.
Whether this was to be effected by coils of wire at
intervals was not stated ; such, however, appears to
me a reasonable supposition. The difficulty of tubing
for the protection of the wire was discussed. I took
the liberty of suggesting the employment of a proper-
sized tobacco-pipe tubing, which was received with
satisfaction. It was also stated by a gentleman
present that he was in possession of a smaller battery
than that at Exeter Hall, and had obtained from it
a power equal to forging iron plate ; it will, he said,
be shortly produced. — Yours respectively \sic\,

"Chris. Davy.
" 3, Furnival's Inn, Feb. S, 1838."

to the Year 1837. 379

CHAPTER XIV.

EDWARD DAVY AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
1 836-1 839 (continued).

Returning to our examination of the Davy MSS.,
we find a memorandum of another modification of
the screen arrangement, which would require only-
two line wires (and one return wire), and yet would
yield twelve elementary signals. This contrivance,
which is fully explained, need not, however, detain us
further than to indicate the highly ingenious plan
adopted for producing some of the necessary changes
of the screens. It consisted in the employment, at
certain times, of batteries of different strengths (they
being of necessity of opposite signs), so as to deter-
mine, at those times, a current of positive, or negative,
sign in the return wire, and thereby actuate screens
which, if the currents had been oi equal strength, would,
of course, be inoperative. This neat and effective
arrangement was utilised in another of Davy's instru-
ments, of which we must now say a few words.

The recording telegraph is a very beautiful piece
of mechanism — the first of a long line of chemical
telegraphs, — and we cannot help thinking that, had
it had a fair start in 1838, and been fined down by

380 A History of Electric Telegraphy

practice, as it could have been, and as Cooke and
Wheatstone's first inventions were, it would have
given to English telegraphy a somewhat different
character from that impressed upon it by the rival
plans, and chemical telegraphs might now be the rule
instead of the exception.

Like all his other inventions in telegraphy, Davy
perfected this apparatus before December 1837, or,
as he says in his " Statement," before the enrolment
of Cooke and Wheatstone's first specification, of the
nature of which he was, at the time, in perfect igno-
rance, " except in so far as it could be gathered from
paragraphs in the newspapers, which conveyed really
no information."

He wished to take out a patent at once for this
instrument, but, owing to legal formalities, and the
opposition of Cooke and Wheatstone, the specifica-
tion was not sealed until July 4, 1838. The opposition
was based on the plea that some parts of Davy's
mechanism were infringements of their patent of
June 12, 1837, but, on a reference to Professor Faraday,
who gave it as his opinion that the two inventions
were distinct, the Solicitor-General quashed the oppo-
sition, and allowed the application to pass.*

* Davy's MSS., No, 10, contain some warm passages on this most
unfair charge. Writing to the author, on June 11, 1883, Mr. Davy-
says further : — " On applying for my patent Messrs. Cooke and
Wheatstone opposed it, before Sir J. Rolfe, the then Solicitor-
General. That gentleman, however, told me that he would at once
pass my application if I confined myself to the renewer, as on some
other matters he had his doubts. I did not feel disposed to relinquish

to the Year 1837. 381

The following passages, which we have extracted, by-
kind permission of Mr. Latimer Clark, from the MSS.
correspondence of Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone, are
explanatory of this point : —

" 20, Conduit Street, Jan. 20, 1838.
"My dear Sir, —

# ^ * # # ifr

" Davy has advertised an exhibition of an electric
telegraph at Exeter Hall, which is to be opened on
Monday next. I am told that he employs six wires,
by means of which he obtains upwards of two hundred
simple and compound signals, and that he rings a bell.
I scarcely think that he can effect either of these
things without infringing our patent ; if he has done
so, I think some step should be taken. As the point
of resemblance in Davy's instrument is, no doubt, a
' return wire,' I do not think that an injunction could
be procured to restrain him, without proceeding also
against the exhibitors of Mr. Alexander's.

" The latter case is very clear. Previous to our
patent no person had ever proposed otherwise than
to employ a complete circuit {i. e., two wires) for each

any of my claims, so it was arranged to refer the whole matter for
advice to Mr. Faraday, with whom both parties were to communicate.
It appears that Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone were under the im-
pression that I wanted to patent only what had been exhibited at
Exeter Hall. I spent two or three hours with Mr. Faraday, and left
my papers (rough specification) with him, when he said that he would
take a week to consider, and report to the Solicitor-General. He
accordingly reported that my inventions were quite original, and
entitled to a patent. Probably, some notes of this transaction may be
found in the records of the Solicitor-General's office."

382 A History of Electric Telegraphy

magnetic needle. The most important original feature
in my instrument was that the same wire should be
capable of forming different circuits according as it
was conjoined with other wires.

" After the patent was sealed, a notice of some of
my experiments appeared in the Scotsman ; and some
weeks subsequently there appeared in the same paper
an account of what Mr. Alexander intended to do,
and, after a long interval, a description of a model
which he had produced.

" There is no doubt that in our Scotch patent we
must limit ourselves to the application of the permu-
tating principle ; but as our English patent was sealed
before the slightest publicity was given to Mr. Alex-
ander's intentions, I think no lawyer can doubt our
priority [in England].

" If Mr. Davy has taken the return wire because he
has seen it in Alexander's instrument, and therefore
thinks that we do not claim it, the point will be an
easy one to settle ; but it will be more difficult if he
had an idea of it before the hearing by the Solicitor-
General. Think over the matter, and let me know
your opinion before any proceedings are commenced.

" I remain, my dear Sir,

" Yours very truly,

" C. Wheatstone.
" W. F. Cooke, Esq.,
" Compton Street, Brunswick Square."

to the Year 1837. 383

In a letter dated March 10, 1838, Wheatstone
writes : —

" Let me know the title of Davy's patent, and also
when it is likely the opposition will be heard, as I wish
to make some preparations in time. I have heard
that a physician, residing in your neighbourhood, is
the party who encourages Davy, and furnishes him
with cash."

On March 24, 1838, he wrote : —

" My dear Sir, — The Solicitor-General was with me
twice yesterday at the College. Davy was extremely
anxious to obtain a decision on the plea* of going out
of town immediately. The Solicitor-General, how-
ever, has not yet given an answer, and on applying at
his office this afternoon I was informed he had left
word that he should not decide the question for several
days. I shall endeavour to see him again to-morrow,
as I know his difficulty, and have another argument

to offer him.

******

" Yours very truly,

" C. Wheatstone.
"W. F. Cooke, Esq."

The following account of the construction and
modus operandi of the apparatus we condense from
Davy's specification, to which we refer our readers for

* We have seen Mr. Davy's private letters of this date, and know
how true the plea was.

384 A History of Electric Telegraphy

fuller details.* It contains all the essentials of a
complete telegraphic system, and can be procured at
the Patent Office for a small sum.

"The drawing, Fig. 26, represents the apparatus
employed at the place of making a communication, say
London, and that at the place where the communica-
tion is received, say Birmingham, or Liverpool. The
wires A, B, C, are those which are laid down between
those places.t

" The principle on which this apparatus works is this,
that there be two, or more, wires which communicate
with another wire, and, for distinction sake, we will
call the former the signal wires, and the latter the
common communicator, for it should be understood
that no metallic circuit can be formed between the
signal wires of themselves, but only by the aid of
the common communicator ; and further, whatever
be the number of wires employed so having a con-
nection with a common communicating-wire, that
there be a suitable electric apparatus, such as a
voltaic battery, to each signal wire. The drawing
shows the apparatus to consist of two signal wires. A,
and B, and a common communicating-wire C ; and the

* See also Vail's American Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, Philadelphia,
1845, pp. 187-99, or Shaffner's Telegraph Manual, New York, 1859,
pp. 255-68.

t Sabine, on p. 50 of his History and Progress of the Electric
Telegraph, 2nd edit., London, 1869, states erroneously that at least
four wires were required. That excellent French journal, La Lumiire
Electrique (April 7, 1883), has recently committed the same mistake,
and shows four wires in its illustration, Fig. 33.

to the Year 1837. 385

drawing further shows the apparatus to have three
separate batteries ; the object in using the third is to
obtain a greater extent of signals than can be obtained
by the employment of only two. In this case, the
common communicating-wire may have needles and
suitable apparatus, and may thus become a means
of communicating signals as well as the signal
wires.

"D, E, are the pair of finger-keys, which cause
electric currents to pass through a circuit, partly made
up of the signal wire A, and the common communi-
cating-wire C, and it will be found that the parts are so
arranged that depressing the key D, will bring the
signal wire A, in metallic communication with the
negative pole of the battery No. i, and at the same
time cause the common communicating-wire C, to be
in metallic communication with the positive pole of the
same battery ; consequently, the currents will pass
positively through the wire C, and negatively through
the wire A. The course of the currents may be re-
versed by depressing the key E, instead of D.

" The keys H, and I, act on the wires B, and C, and
form metallic circuits through which currents from
the battery No. 2 may be transmitted in like manner
to what has just been described in respect to the
wires A, and C, and the battery No. i, by the keys
D, E.

"The wires A, B, C, just before being connected
together at the distant station, are each formed into

2 c

386 A History of Electric Telegraphy

two coils, or convolutions, similar to what are employed
for galvanometers, in order that the electric current
may operate with sufficient power on the needles
placed within them as to deflect them in a direction
corresponding to that in which the current is passing.
M, N, show these coils, or convolutions.

Fig. 26.

" The needles O, P, are little magnetised plates of
steel, moving on points similar to a magnetic needle ;
and, when at rest, are to be in a line with the coils in
which they move. To the upper part of eacb needle
is affixed the upright contacting-piece Q, which at its
lower end dips into a little cup of mercury. S, T, are
wires against which the upper ends of the contacting-
pieces, at times, come in contact in order to form
local metallic circuits for the purpose of producing

to the Year 1837.

387

marks on chemically-prepared fabrics, as hereinafter
explained.

"V, is a compound battery from the positive pole
of which a wire W, communicates with each and all
of the cups containing mercury. Consequently, when
any one of the contacting-pieces is caused to touch

Fig. 26.

its wire S, or T, as the case may be, there will be a
metallic contact with the positive pole of the battery
and the said wire S, or T. Thus, supposing a positive
current ' to be passing through the wire A, the con-
tacting-piece Q, of the needle O, of the wire A,
would be deflected towards, and would come in con-
tact with, the wire S, and would form a metallic
contact between it and the positive pole of the battery
V ; and, on the other hand, if a negative current pass

2 c 2

388 A History of Electric Telegraphy

through the wire A, the contacting-piece Q, of the
needle P, would be brought in contact with the wire
T. Thus it will be seen that each line wire has a
capability of giving two separate indications, and these
may be increased, by compounding, to eight, according
to the order in which they are communicated. The
number may be still further increased to twelve by
applying needles and coils to the wire C, and em-
ploying a third battery, marked No. 3, and two extra
keys F, G.

"The object of using a third battery is to give
greater quantity of electricity to certain currents.
Thus, supposing a positive current to be passing
through the wire A, and a negative current through
the wire B, there would be two currents passing to the
wire C, in opposite directions ; consequently, the
needles on that wire would not be acted on in such
manner as to produce a certain and definite indication,
•unless one of the currents so passing be made more
powerful than the other. And this may readily be
effected by the keys F, G, which can bring the wires
A, C, and B, C, in connection with the battery No. 3,
in addition to their own.

" The pairs of wires S, T, pass through a block of
wood X, which acts as a support. Their ends are
forked, and embrace (touch) the metallic rings (of
platina) y, y, affixed to the wooden cylinder Z. These
rings press closely against the metallic cylinder a,
which turns in suitable bearings carried by the framing.

to the Year 1837. 389

as shown in the drawing. This cylinder has a con-
stant tendency to revolve in one direction, commu-
nicated to it by a spring or weighted cord as in Fig. 27,
but is only permitted to turn a certain distance each
time that a signal has been made through the wires.

" It should be stated that there is a metallic con-
tact between the negative pole of the battery V, and
the metallic cylinder a, by means of the wire m, which
is coiled round a bent bar, or horse-shoe, of soft iron,
in order to produce an electro-magnet n, n, and from
thence the wire m, passes to, and is held in contact
with, the end of the cylinder a ; consequently, when-
ever any one or more of the contacting-pieces of the
needles come in contact with their wires S, or T, a
metallic circuit or circuits will be formed ; and it will
be evident that if properly prepared fabrics, such as
calico impregnated with hydriodate of potass and
muriate of lime,* be placed between the metallic

* " Although I have recommended the use of calico prepared in the
manner above stated as the fabric to be used for receiving the marks,
I do not confine myself thereto, as other fabrics may be used and the
chemical materials employed may be varied, so long as they will be
similarly marked by the passage of electric currents. The fabric so em-
ployed may be printed with subdivisions, as is shown in the drawing, or
it may be used plain, because the marks made, whether a single one or
more than one at a time, will be in rows across the fabric j and each
row, whatever be the number of marks, will be a signal, and this mode
of receiving marks in rows across and lengthwise of the fabric constitutes
an important feature in my invention ; for although I prefer that the
marks should be produced by the chemical action of the electric cur-
rents acting on fabrics properly prepared, yet it will be evident that
other means of producing a series of marks in rows, crossways and
lengthwise of the fabric, may be resorted to, such as pencils or ink

390 A History of Electric Telegraphy

rings y, y, and the cylinder a, whichever of these rings
are for the time being in circuit will, by pressing against
the cylinder a, pass the current through the prepared
fabric, and produce marks thereon. It will only be
necessary to assign to each mark so produced a
definite cypher referable to a proper key-book, as is
well understood in telegraphic communications.

" At the same time that the signal is being thus
recorded the armature D, Fig. 27, of the electro-
magnet M, is attracted, the forked piece J, in which it
terminates, goes up from the pallet a, of the fly-vane
G, and so allows the cylinder K, to revolve (carrying
with it the prepared fabric) until the pallet a, coming
in contact with the forked piece E, stops the mechan-
ism. When the hand of the person making the signal
is removed from the key or keys, the contacting-
pieces resume their vertical positions, thus opening
the local circuits. As a consequence, marks cease to
be made on the prepared fabric, and at the same time
the armature is drawn back by the spring S ; the fly-
vane G, is thus again liberated, and the cylinder K,

connected to, or carried by, proper holders acted on by electro-magnets,
one pencil, or other marking instrument, to each wire S, T ; by which
means every time a metallic circuit was produced by the aid of any of
the wires S, T, they would cause their electro-magnets to bring the.
marking instrument in contact with paper, or other suitable fabric,
and give marks thereto across such fabric ; and as the fabric was
moved forward, the next row of marks would be made at a distance
from the preceding row, and separated therefrom, the same instrument
producing its mark at all times in the same longitudinal row." —
Pp. II, 12 of Davy's specification.

to the Year 1837.

391

revolves through another space, until once more
stopped by the pallet a, catching in the arm J. The
first movement is for the making of the signals, the
second marks the intervals between them.* The fabric,

Fig. 27.

TL

1

1

1

1 1

1

1

1

I

ij

1

,\

1

1

I

1

1

'

1

/

\

as it is carried forward by the cylinder K, is conducted
away over a guide-roller, and drawn forward by a
weight, or in any other suitable manner."

Following the original drafts of this apparatus,
which are preserved amongst the Davy MSS., we find

* As the description of this portion of the instrument is somewhat
involved in Davy's specification, we have in the text used our own
words, which, with the illustration (borrowed from Schellen), will we
hope make the action clear. Vail's American Electro- Magnetic Tele-
graph, pp. 187-99, gives a full and well illustrated account, to which
we would refer our readers anxious for further information.

392 A History of Electric Telegraphy

a description of another telegraphic project, which,
as our readers will observe, is based on the same
electrical principles as the diplex and quadruplex
systems of the present day. It is a mode of ob-
taining one, two, or more signals through a single pair
of wires by means of currents of one, two, or more
degrees of strength, acting on needles so weighted
as only to respond to the currents destined to move
them.

For the signal-indicating part of this plan, Davy
proposed to employ a new form of galvanometer,
which he called an "electro-magnetometer," and
which he had designed, in the first place, " for mea-
suring with greater precision than heretofore the
exact quantity of electricity passing in any given
circuit." This instrument is figured and described in
his patent of July 4, 1838, pp. 16, 17.

Foreseeing that to operate a telegraph of this kind
it would be necessary to regulate, and keep regulated,
the currents with great accuracy, Davy devised, for
this purpose, a " self-regulating galvanic battery."
"The principle of the contrivance," to quote his
own words, " is that as soon as the magnetic energy
of its electric current rises above, or falls below,
a certain required standard, one of the metals of
the galvanic pair is, by the agency of this magnetic
energy, either raised out of, or further depressed into,
the acid, or exciting liquid, in the cell ; so as to
become, thereby, less, or more, exposed to the action

to the Year 1837.

393

of the liquid ; the extent of its exposure regulating
the quantity of electricity generated.

" To effect this intention, there are two coils in the
conducting wire proceeding from the battery, in which
are two of my electro-magnetometer needles. Of
these needles the dipping end of one is a certain
degree heavier than that of the other, and the inten-
tion is that the electric current should remain within
the limits of the two, so as just to act upon the lighter,
but not on the heavier.

Fig. 28. (Drawn from original manuscript.)

y

U

COUNTERPOISE

m

NoT

" Now, if the current be too powerful the heavier
needle, by dipping, will cause a communication
between a fresh, or distinct, source of electricity and
the two wires a, and i>, Fig. 28, attached to platina
plates in dilute sulphuric acid contained in the air-
tight tube, c. Then, by the decomposition of the
water, gases will be evolved, and depress the liquid

394 ^ History of Electric Telegraphy

at c, and also the mercury below it, d, so as to elevate
the piston, e, and its rod, /, whereby the lever, g, is
also elevated, and lifts the metallic plate, h, belonging
to the galvanic battery, so as to diminish the energy
of the said battery to the required degree.

" If, on the other hand, the electric current be too
feeble, then the lighter needle will fall and open a
communication with another distinct source of elec-
tricity through the coil of wire which surrounds the
electro-magnet, i, whereby it is rendered temporarily
magnetic and attracts the armature, k, which, through
the lever, /, removes a caoutchouc (or other suitable)
stopper from the minute aperture at m, so as to
allow the gas in the tube, c, to escape until the
metallic plate, h, has again sunk sufficiently into the
liquid in the battery cell to generate the required, or
standard, quantity of electricity, such standard being
allowed to vary between these minute differences
only.

"Having thus obtained the element of a uniform
battery, the quantity of electricity to be transmitted
through the circuit may be regulated, either by the
number of such batteries uniting their currents, or else
the current from one battery may be divided ; the
mode of so dividing it is the remaining consideration.

" The electric current may be made to travel through
pieces of platina, or other wire, of different diameters,
and of given lengths, so that the thicker the wire, the
greater will be the quantity of electricity to pass. The

to the Year 1837. 395

exact dimensions of these to be regulated by actual
experiment,* and, in order to prevent their ignition
and combustion, they may be arranged under water,
or, should water be objectionable, under some non-
conducting, and non-electro-decomposable liquid, such
as sulphuret of carbon, or naphtha, or whatever other
may be found advisable."

From amongst Davy's miscellaneous memoranda
we select two or three, with which we must close this
portion of our work. In the first our readers will, we
doubt not, be amazed, as we were ourselves, to find
how near the writer was to discovering the telephone
in 1837-8.

" 20. The plan proposed (loi) of propagating com-
munications by the conjoint agency of sound and electri-
city— the original sound producing vibrations, which
cause sympathetic vibrations in a unison sounding
apparatus at a distance, this last vibration causing
a renewing wire to dip\ and magnetise soft iron
so as to repeat the sound, and so on, in unlimited
succession."

The sheet from which we copy these remarkable
words is headed "Exclusive Claims," and seems to
have served as an aide mimoire to the drawing up of

* Here we have the germ of the rheostat, or set of resistance coils,
as used at the present day.

t i. e., causing a relay to close a local circuit containing an electro-
magnet. Davy always speaks of the relay as the "renewer," or the
" renewing wire." By dip he means to dip into mercury, or, as we say
nowadays, to close the circuit.

396 A History of Electric Telegraphy

his patent specification. If our surmise be correct, it
would fix the date of the paper as not later than
the beginning of February 1838, for we shall see,
later on, that he was, in that month, submitting his
inventions to Mr. Carpmael, a well-known patent
agent of that period. Unfortunately we can find
no further mention of the " plan proposed," and can
only suppose that Davy designed some kind of tele-
phonic relay.

In the following memorandum the writer could
only have in view a form of cell, which is now so well
and so deservedly esteemed under the name of its
recent inventor, M. Leclanch6 :* —

" A New Galvanic Battery,

" A particular mode of using oxide of manganese
as the electro-negative element of the battery, or in
connection with the electro-negative plate.

" Certain other improvements in the battery, which
will be described, if there be any opposition on this
head,

"An Improved Magneto-Electric Machine,

" To be described if there be any opposition on this
head."

* " The new galvanic battery was on the principle of Leclanche's ;
but, attention having been directed to other matters, it was never
perfected by me." — Extract from Mr. Davy's letter of October 10,
1883, to the author.

to the Year 1837. 397

The following extracts are from a paper headed —

"Elemental Forces and Alarums.
" There are two objects for which alarums may be
required as essential appendages to the Electrical
Telegraph.

1st. To give notice that communications are about
to be sent, and call the attention of the person
who is to receive them. For this purpose
alarums of great loudness will not, generally,
be required, unless the party be asleep, or not
in the same room, and even in these cases a
moderate loudness will suffice.
2nd. To give notice of accidents on a railway, or
in other cases where the alarum may require
to be heard by persons who may be at a dis-
tance at the time.
" 1st. With the first object an alarum is easily made.
One of my horizontal dipping needles (surrounded by
its coil) may have an upright rod, as a radius from its
axis, with a little hammer on a spring to strike a small
bell by the deflection, or dip, of the needle. Thus two
needles in the same wire may strike two distinct bells
and produce a kind of chime ; either one, or both, or
variations of which, may be advantageously used
according to the intention of the alarum.

* it -ti * » *

" 2nd. Whenever an almost irresistible, or, at least,
very great power is required, either to produce alarums.

398 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Fig. 29. (Drawn from
original manuscript.)

d

or for any other purpose, I claim the following mode
of effecting the object, which is also applicable in
other cases where temporary magnetisation may
prove insufficient.

"A piece of platina wire, a, Fig. 29, connected
in circuit with the conducting wire, b, and c, is
securely enclosed in an air-
tight, and strong vessel, d, d,
in contact, or proximity, with
a quantity of sulphuret of car-
bon, or other suitable vola-
tile liquid. Then the current
of electricity from b, to c, will
ignite, or heat, the platina
wire a, so as to convert a
portion of the volatile liquid
into vapour, which will then
expand with a degree of force, proportioned to the
heat of the platina wire, and its continuance in a
heated state. This will force the mercury, which is
below the volatile liquid, through the tube e, e, so as to
elevate the piston at/, and g. The force thus obtained
may be applied to any required purposes.

" When the current of electricity ceases to pass, the
sulphuret of carbon, or other volatile liquid, will
re-condense, and the piston gradually resume its
former position without the necessity for an attendant
to liberate the vapour. Of course a safety valve may
be attached, if necessary, either at h, or at d, or the

to the Year 1837. 399

self-regulating battery would be useful in combination
with this contrivance.

" A continuous sound may be produced by apply-
ing either of the above-mentioned forces to open a
valve so as to admit air, or gas, from a vessel con-
taining such air, or gas, under compression through a
whistle, horn, or other wind instrument. Air, or gas,
under compression for this purpose may be provided
by the action of dilute sulphuric acid on old iron, on
the principle of the hydrogen instantaneous light
apparatus, where, as soon as a certain quantity of
gas is generated, the liquid is forced into another
part of the vessel so as no longer to act on the metal ;
or air may be pumped in from time to time."

As we have in one or two places, in the course of
these pages, referred to Davy's " Statement," we think
it advisable to reproduce this important document,
as, while confirming our chronology, it will also
serve as an excellent rhumi of the writer's leading
discoveries : —

" Statement.

" The idea of an electrical telegraph first occurred
to me about the year 1836, at which time I was not
aware but that it was perfectly original. In the
commencement of 1837, having tried some experi-
ments with a mile of copper wire in the Regent's
Park, aided by my friend, Mr. Grave, I entered a
caveat, in March, and, about the same time, I deposited

400 A History of Electric Telegraphy

with Mr. Aikin, Secretary of the Society of Arts,
a sealed description of my invention, in its then
state.

" My earliest idea of applying the deflection of the
needle for telegraphic purposes, was similar to that
since claimed as a new invention by Alexander,
with a common return wire. The next improvement
was the obtaining the two actions upon each needle
by the reverse currents. Then, the fixing two instead
of one needle in each circuit, and subsequently, the
system of permutation described, with the use of the
colour needles, and the employment of more than one
battery. It was at this stage (in March 1837) that I
first heard of Professor Wheatstone being engaged
on the same subject, which led me to enter the
caveat. Shortly after this, the idea of the renewing
needles [relay] occurred to me. This was after a
conversation on the subject with Mr. Bush of the
Great Western Railway.

"In May 1837, Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone
applied for a patent, to which I entered opposition,
having provided myself with a written description of
my inventions, and prepared to attest it by the evi-
dence of several confidential friends. This evidence
was partly direct, and partly corroborative. I had
Dr. Grant, Mr. Thornthwaite, and Mr. Hebert, besides
the workman who helped me to make the models, and
the Solicitor-General on some specific, but all-suffi-
cient, points. The paper was carefully inspected by

to the Year 1837. 401

my friends, who were also present at the hearing on
the opposition.

" The SoHcitor-General at the time gave an opinion
that the two inventions were different, and allowed
the patent to pass, although time has since shown
that they contained some of the clearest identities.

" My remedies for the injustice thus sustained are,
that I may move a writ of scire facias to set aside
and annul Messrs. Cooke and Co.'s patent, on the
ground that the Crown was misled in granting it, or
else, or after failing that, to act upon the [my] inven-
tion so that they may bring an action for infringe-
ment, which I have ample grounds for defending, and
the failure of which will virtually render their patent
void. Litigation of this kind, which will be highly
injurious to one party, and but partially beneficial to
the other, is what it is in every way desirable to avoid,
if the matter can be otherwise adjusted.

" From the time of this decision (May 1837) up to
the time of the enrolment of their specification in
December, I was in perfect ignorance of the nature of
their invention, except in so far as it could be gathered
from paragraphs in the newspapers, which conveyed
really no information. In the meantime I introduced
into my plans first, the use of screens, then the
means of determining the signals to specific places
exclusively,* and finally, that which I believe is cal-

* Re-invented in 1853 by Wartmann. See De la Rive's Treatise on
Electricity, vol. iii. p. 783.

2 D

402 A History of Electric Telegraphy

culated to supersede all others, the recording telegraph
by electro-chemical decomposition." *

Through the kindness of Mr. Richard Herring,
whose name will be familiar to our readers as the
inventor of a beautiful recording telegraph, which
ought to be better known, we have lately been in
communication with Mr. Thornthwaite, one of the
gentlemen just mentioned, then Davy's assistant, and
now the chairman of the Gresham Life Assurance
Society. At our request he has jotted down his
reminiscences of this period, which, as corroborative
of Davy's " Statement," may fittingly be given here : —

" To J. J. Fahie, Esq.

"London, December 14, 1883.
" My dear Sir, — I find on examination of some old
papers that I was a pupil of Professor Daniell in 1834,
and that, through the introduction of a mutual friend,
I entered the service of Mr. Edward Davy about the
end of the year 1835, as pupil and laboratory assistant.
Very shortly after entering on my duties Mr. Davy
informed me confidentially that he was engaged in
some important investigations, the nature of which he
could only communicate under a bond of secrecy and
an understanding not to make use of the information

* To this may now be added (l) a block system for railways, (2) the
telephonic relay, and (3) the oxide of manganese (Leclanch^) cell,
besides numberless suggestions of a more or less practical nature,
many of which are noticed in these pages.

to the Year 1837. 403

to his detriment, or to my own advantage. On my
giving him the required undertaking he stated that his
investigations and ideas had reference to the trans-
mission of signals through great distances by electri-
city, and the employment of electricity as a motive
power, both of which he expressed his opinion were
of vast future moment.

" A short time after this conversation he took into
his employ a workman of the name of Nickols to
make a telegraph instrument to work by the galvanic
current causing a deflection of horizontally suspended
magnetised steel bars while circulating through coils
of insulated copper wire. Each magnetised bar was
to carry a light screen of thin paper to uncover
and indicate a letter when thus deflected. This
instrument, after many modifications of form, was
afterwards publicly exhibited in action in the small
room in Exeter Hall.

" My engagements in the laboratory prevented my
giving much personal assistance in the experiments
in Regent's Park, but I understood they were generally
successful as demonstrating the possibihty of sending
for some considerable distance very distinct signals,
amongst others firing a pistol by the agency of a
galvanic current transmitted through a thin uncoated
copper wire laid on the grass. These experiments
were brought to an abrupt termination by our finding
one morning that the cowherd had made the curious
discovery of some copper wire lying on the grass,

2 D 2

404 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and had amused himself by coih'ng up and removing
the same.

" I have no doubt the idea of using the fulminating
silver card as an alarum* was suggested by a circum-
stance which occurred about this time. Mr. Davy
was sent for one morning by Mr. Minshell,t the magis-
trate of Bow Street Police Court, and, on his return,
he placed on the counter a shallow wooden box, about
six inches by three, telling me that it had come into
the possession of one of the police officers in con-
nection with some explosive letters lately put into the
post, and that, when he arrived at Bow Street Court
House, he found the box, containing a brownish
powder, being handed about the Court, and its contents
being tested even by the smell. On his pronouncing
the powder to be fulminate of silver, of sufficient
quantity and power to blow the Court to pieces, and
liable to explode with the smallest particle of grit and
friction, the box was suddenly treated with the utmost
respect, and various suggestions were made as to its
disposal — the magistrate proposing that it should be
taken by an officer and thrown over one of the bridges
into the Thames. No one, however, appeared willing
to undertake the job. In this state of perplexity, and
on the appeal of Mr. Minshell, Mr. Davy took the box
and contents under his charge. Having told me these
particulars, he said : — ' Will you carefully separate the
powder into small parcels of about a dram each, and
» See p. 362, ante. t See p. 523, infra.

to the Year 1837. 405

wrap each parcel in two or three papers, and place
them separately in different parts of the house for
safety.' I need hardly say that I felt an infinite
amount of satisfaction when the last parcel was safely
disposed of.

"You are quite at liberty to make what use you
think fit of this letter, or any part thereof, that may
further your efforts, to honour the name of my old
friend and master, Mr. Edward Davy.
" I am, yours very truly,

"W. H. Thornthwaite."

As showing Davy's wonderful perception of the
uses which the telegraph would subserve, as well in
the internal economy of railways, as in the political
economy of the nation, and of the world at large, we
give below the concluding portion of a lecture, which
bears evidence of having been written about the
middleof 1838:*—

" The point which now remains for consideration is,
of what use will this electrical telegraph be } What
are its applications, how will society at large benefit
by it, and what inducements does it hold out to
private adventurers to take it up as a means of in-
vesting capital ?

" Now, at the outset of nearly all new propositions

* Referred to in his letter of l6th June, which see infra. "This
was given at an institution near Oxford Street, name forgotten." —
Extract from Mr. Davy's letter of October lo, 1883, to the author.

4o6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

of this nature, there are two kinds of objections which
we have to contend with. The first arises from the
circumstance of the invention being a novelty, and
different from all that people have previously been
accustomed to. We get laughed at ; the matter is
treated as a dream. ' Really, sir,' says one, ' you can-
not be serious in proposing to stop the escape of a
thief, or swindler, by so small an electric spark, acting
on a needle ; if you had talked of sending a thunder-
bolt, or flash of lightning, after him, I might have
thought there was some feasibility in it.' Another
tells us that the experiments are very well across a
room, but would not succeed on a large scale. Then,
as soon as the practicability of the thing is undeniably
established, the same people turn upon us with the
question, ' What is the use of it ? ' * There must be
some present who will recollect that the first introduc-
tion of gas was beset with the same objections. So
also were the railroads, and to a certain extent they
continue to be up to this time. So also was the steam
engine, printing; in fact, almost everything new is
discountenanced, or coldly received, by the public at
large in the first instance. However, the time has, I
believe, already arrived, when the practicability of this

* " As an instance of how new ideas are sometimes misjudged, even
by very intelligent men, I may mention that, in conversation with me
in 1837, Dr. Birkbeck, of Mechanics' Institute celebrity, expressed the
opinion that the electric telegraph, if successful, would be ' an unmixed
evil' to society — would only be used by stock-jobbers and speculators —
and that the present Post Office was all that public utility required." —
Extract from Mr. Davy's letter of June II, 1883, to the author.

to the Year 1837. 407

electric telegraph is no longer doubted, either by
scientific men, or by the major part of the public,
who have given any attention to the facts upon which
the invention rests.

" I have, therefore, to confine my remaining ob-
servations to the uses and application of it. And
first, I have a few words to say upon what must be
considered as a minor application, namely, the pur-
poses it will answer upon a railway, for giving notices
of trains, of accident, and stoppages. The numerous
accidents which have occurred on railways seem to
call for some remedy of the kind ; and when future
improvements shall have augmented the speed of
railway travelling to a velocity which cannot at pre-
sent be deemed safe, then every aid which science can
afford must be called in to promote this object. Now,
there is a contrivance, secured by patent,* by which,
at every station along the railway line, it may be seen,
by mere inspection of a dial, what is the exact situa-
tion of the engines running, either towards, or from,
that station, and at what speed they are travelling.!

* In the drawing up of the specification specific mention of this
invention was, most unaccountably, omitted. This enabled Wheat-
stone in 1840 to patent a similar step-by-step instrument, with dial
face, &c.

t At every railway station there will be a dial, like the face of a
clock, on which, by means of a hand, or pointer, it may be seen where
any particular train, running, towards, or from, that station, may be at
any particular instant. Every time the engine passes a milestone, the
pointer on the dial moves forward to the next figure, a sound, or
alarum, accompanying each successive movement. — Davy MSS., No. ii.

4o8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Not only this, but if two engines are approaching each
other, by any casualty, on the same rails, then, at a
distance of a mile or two, a timely notice can be
given in each engine, by a sound, or alarum, from
which the engineer would be apprised to slacken the
speed ; or, if the engineer be asleep, or intoxicated,
the same action might turn off the steam, independent
of his attention, and thus prevent an accident.*

" I cannot, however, avoid looking at the system of
electrical communication between distant places, in a
more enlarged way, as a system which will, one of
these days, become an especial element in social inter-
course. As the railways are already doing, it will tend
still further to bring remote places, in effect, near
together. If the one may be said to diminish distance,
the other may be said to annihilate it altogether, being
instantaneous. The finger of the London correspon-
dent is on the finger key ; and, anon, in less time than
he can remove it, the signal is already on the paper in
Edinburgh ; and almost as fast as he can touch
one key after another in succession, these signals are
formed into words and intelligible sentences. These
may either have private interpretations attached to
them, easily arranged between individuals, or they
may be translated according to rule by a clerk of the
establishment, supposing such an establishment to be
instituted and thrown open to the public like the Post

* The most perfect block systein of the present day does not do
anything like this.

X to the Year 1837. 409

Office, on the principle, that any one might send a
communication on paying some moderate fee, to be
charged according to length. All the practical details
of such an establishment are easily chalked out.

" Now, how far would there be sufficient employ-
ment, or business, to remunerate the projectors, and
how far would the public at large be benefited \ Pre-
mising that it is a very shallow supposition to consider
it as facilitating monopolies, inasmuch as it would be
open to all, the first question is, what would be the
cost, or original outlay, on a very complete system ?
I believe about 100/. per mile. That would be 10,000/.
from London to Birmingham, and about 10,000/. more,
making 20,000/., to bring these towns into communi-
cation with Liverpool and Manchester.

" Now, if there be 2000 miles of railway altogether
open, or likely to be open ere long, then the capital
requisite to carry such an enterprise generally through-
out the kingdom would be 200,000/., or about one-
fifteenth of what has been expended on the London
and Birmingham Railway alone. Let us first confine
ourselves to the line of communication between the
four great towns, London, Liverpool, Manchester, and
Birmingham, at an outlay of about 20,000/. When
once laid down, the repairs would be very inconsi-
derable, and very rare. The annual expenses, beyond
the interest of the money, would be almost confined
to the clerks and superintendents of the establishment,
making a total, which, for argument's sake, we will call

4IO A History of Electric Telegraphy

2000/., or 3000/. a year. Whence will be the revenues
to cover this expense, and leave a profit ?

" In the first place, there is a certain amount of
staple employment, which would be daily and regular.
We should inevitably have to communicate the prices
on exchanges, the market prices of commodities, rise
and fall in stocks and shares. There would be the
earliest information of commercial stoppages, arrival
of ships with cargoes, and their departures. Then
there would be Lloyd's shipping list, as a matter of
course. Government despatches, and certain portions of
banking correspondence and announcements. Lastly,
among the best regular customers would be the news-
papers. Public curiosity upon events of importance
would ensure that the press would generally get the
earliest possible information for their readers, and
competition alone would oblige it. There are certain
events which would be communicated by telegraph to
all the principal towns in the kingdom for publication
in the newspapers, as regularly as the publishing day
or hour came round. There would be Parliamentary
divisions, results of elections, public meetings, criminal
news, results of trials of general interest, and the earliest
foreign news of all kinds. So much for the regular
employment.

" But I conceive that the occasional employment of
individuals, for private family correspondence, or for
purposes of business, would make up in the aggregate
even a far greater amount. Here it is quite impossible

to the Year 1837. 411

to see how multifarious may be the occasions on which
such a means of rapid communication would be of vital
moment. Let any individual reflect whether in the
course of his life, whether in the course of the past
year, there has not been more than one occasion when
he would eagerly have availed himself of it, if it had
been in existence ? Generally speaking, we know that
the post is fast enough, and often letters are sent by
private hands, when they are many days delayed, and
it is of no consequence. But such occasions there are,
and though, for argument's sake, I suppose them rare,
yet in reality they are not so. If in the population of
London, upon an average, only one private person in
eight employed the telegraph only once in six
months, and received an answer by the same means,
at no higher charge than the present postage, say is.,
we should have at once a revenue of 40,000/. a year,
which I take to be infinitely within the mark.

" Now, what are the occasions on which private
individuals would prefer the telegraph to the post ?
Let us say to announce a birth, or marriage, in a family
connection, a death, or sudden illness. No one would
be satisfied to convey intelligence of such an event to
anxious relatives by any other than the most rapid
communication, and if the medium was in existence
people would be expected to use it. If one death in ten
which take place in London were communicated by
telegraph, and that to only one person at a distance,
the amount of income from this single source alone

412 A History of Electric Telegraphy

would exceed looo/. a year. Announcements of dan-
gerous illnesses, and daily communications thereon,
which would often be transmitted, would considerably
exceed even those of the deaths. But this is not all ;
all sorts of family events, besides births, deaths, and
marriages, and all business transactions, as urgent
communications between commercial travellers and
their principals, errors and oversights to correct before
too late, &c., all these would be of no very unfrequent
occurrence in every family, or business firm, and taken
on the whole, among the great population of this active
nation, they would supply the telegraph with as much
employment as it could well get through.

" But now some one will say, supposing it all very
true that these things can be done, supposing that it
will pay very well to speculators, of what advantage
will it be to society at large ? Railroad travelling is
quick enough in all conscience ; people used to say
that stage coach travelling was quick enough ; and
some years before that, they were no doubt very well
satisfied with the waggons. Now here is a means of
communication compared with which the railroad
travelling is as a snail's pace. The electrical telegraph
can be considered as only one means of facilitating
intercourse between distant places ; and it is adapted
for occasions where all other means would fail. It
will in some respects give to persons living at remote
distances the same advantages as if they lived in the
same street. Should the system ever be adopted

to the Year 1837. 413

generally throughout Europe, what a vast field does it
not open to us. Whatever is going on in Turkey, or
in Russia, may be known in London the same hour ;
and, though it may seem a bold speculation, I can see
no improbability that this will be realised wherever the
line of country admits of it. In fact, the greater the
distance the more valuable in proportion will be the
information communicated.

" Goods ordered from a distant country will, of
course, arrive in just half the time they otherwise
would, because the outward voyage, or journey, for
carrying out the order by letter is dispensed with.
On general principles, whatever tends to promote
intercourse between distant countries, or distant parts
of the same country, will inevitably promote civilisa-
tion and increase the comforts of life.

" I must now conclude by stating that the electrical
telegraph is already in progress of being established
through a considerable line of this country, and there
is every encouragement for supposing that it will,
without delay, be brought into operation on a still
more extended scale. I trust, therefore, that the
company present will live long enough to see that,
while we have not presumed to use the thunderbolts
of Jupiter for destructive ends, we have acquired a
command over the same electrical principle, for pur-
poses infinitely more beneficial."

414 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER XV.

EDWARD DAVY AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH —
1836-1839 (continued).

Having now given a full and impartial account of
Davy's many and wonderful discoveries in electric
telegraphy, it will be interesting to follow him in the
steps which he took to get his inventions adopted.
For this purpose we must turn to another class of his
MSS., viz., his private letters to members of his
family, and chiefly, to his father, Mr. Thomas Davy,
surgeon, of Ottery St. Mary. In the extracts which
we shall give from these the reader, who knows any-
thing of the similar negotiations of Cooke and Wheat-
stone during the same period, will find some startling
revelations.

At one time his inventions were on the point of
being adopted by more than one English railway, and,
had he stood his ground but six months longer, there
can be no doubt that it would have gone hard with
his rivals, Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone. But alas !
just as his labours seemed on the point of fruition,
private affairs, which we can never cease to deplore,
drove him from England, and, of course, left them an
easy triumph. Davy sailed from the Thames for

to the Year 1837. 415

Australia, on April 15, 1839, and, amid the new cares
of a somewhat unsettled Colonial life, soon forgot all
about the telegraph. Indeed, we believe that nobody
will read these pages with more surprise than the old
man himself who is the subject of them.

The first extracts that we shall give have reference
to the Exhibition at Exeter Hall, described on pp.
374-78. In a letter to his father, dated January 23,
1838, he says : —

" I write you a few lines in haste, upon a different
subject from the last. By the advice of several
friends, whom I have deemed trustworthy counsellors
in such matters, I have been induced to open an
exhibition of my electrical telegraph, accompanied
with electrical and galvanic experiments of a some-
what novel nature to illustrate its principle.* You
will observe that the present apparatus is, in ap-
pearance and effect, totally different from what you
have seen, though founded on similar elementary
principles.

" The degree of success of the last three days has
been sufficient to encourage me in the correctness of
what I have done. I have had Captain Beaufort
from the Admiralty to look at it, as well as Mr. Jay,
who is superintendent of the Government telegraphs,

* "This exhibition is accompanied with a variety of interesting
experiments, the room lighted by an enormous galvanic battery, and,
altogether, I have seldom passed an hour more amused." — Extract
from letter in Mechanics' Magazine, for February 3, 1838, p. 296.

4i6 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and who invited me to the Admiralty to-morrow, to
examine the telegraphic arrangements, and furnish
me with an exact estimate of the expenses of the
present system for the sake of comparison. This I
think a good introduction. To-day I have had
eighteen persons, paying their \s. each, and yesterday
twelve, to see it, several expressing themselves
gratified, and saying that they should bring their
friends. An old gentleman came yesterday, and to-
day he came again with four ladies. He says he is
coming again to-morrow with some male friends and
others.

" On the principle, parvis componere magna, I am
led to presume that if the thing were generally
known (instead of being merely left to the attraction
of a board or two at the door) a great many persons
would come to see it, paying their \s. each, and that
thus I might realise a considerable sum [which would
be] very acceptable. To make it pretty generally
known is impossible without some expense, which, at
present, it is out of my power sufficiently to compass.
And yet the thing appears to me so promising in
success, that I would not willingly lose the chance,
after having bestowed so much care, anxiety, and
labour on the invention, and having, as I have now
the best reason to believe, brought it to greater perfec-
tion than any other person. It is my anxious wish,
now that every principal expense has already been
met, immediately to advertise the exhibition, once or

to the Year 1837. 417

more, in every principal newspaper, and to take other
necessary means of making it public. From present
experience I believe the returns will be speedy, and
in any case the prospect of indirect advantage to me
is sufficient to justify so doing. If I neglect, or am
unable to avail myself of, the present opportunity,
there are others ready who will instantly take it up.

" Clarke, Palmer, and Cooke himself have been to
see it at the private exhibition on Thursday last, and
though they could not immediately make out the
principle on which the effects were produced, yet it. is
all come-at-able by dint of pondering and patient
experiment by such long-headed persons.

******

" From II to 5, exhibition hours, I have scarcely
had time to warm my fingers in the late bitter
weather, from the all-sorts of questions, explanations,
illustrations, demonstrations, &c., I have had to deal
forth to the learned and unlearned — the former being
the least troublesome."

A few days later he wrote to the same address : —
" The exhibition to-day had about the same number
of visitors within two or three, which, all things con-
sidered, is pretty well, and, if continued, would set
aside all apprehension of losing by it.

#****»

" Among the visitors were Lord Euston and his
son, who were pointed out to me by a gentleman

2 E

4:1 8 A History of Electric Telegraphy

present. Mr. James Wheeler, my old master's
brother, was there. He was at a lecture at the Royal
Institution last week, when Cooke and Wheatstone's
telegraph was exhibited, and said that, on comparison
of action and effect, he much preferred mine. He
also said that theirs would be rather advantageous to
me than otherwise, as the public would soon draw the
parallel.

"It is my earnest desire now to make the thing
promptly known in eveiy direction [by advertising
largely].

I calculate that by the time looo persons have been
to see the telegraph their retail conversation will be
enough to dispense with other advertisements than
rare and occasional ones, because, out of lOOO persons
on an average computation, lOO,. by their gossiping
propensities, will act as walking advertisements.

" I have with me a boy who is remarkably sharp and
handy at repeating the experiments. * * * The little
fellow appears to be able to understand anything he
has once seen, and has, moreover, a very good address,
asking for the One Shilling, Sir, or Madam, very
genteely, &c.

" You did not expect to have a son turn showman,
but I trust I am merely instrumental in promulga-
ting a useful discovery, and that you will live to see
it established, generally, throughout the country. I

to the Year 1837. 419

must endeavour to persuade the Admiralty to lay it
down from London to Chelsea, or Putney, for experi-
ment, this being the most foggy part of the line
towards Portsmouth ; but I fear they are too stingy
of the revenues of the nation. I rather expect that
some enterprising individuals will take it up for
public use. Time will show.

" P.S. — Receipts to-day about 2%s. Among the
visitors was pointed out, after he had left the room,
Earl Grosvenor."

Towards the end of February, 1838, he wrote: —
" My dear Father, — My business, with Mr. Welch
is concluded — my lease cancelled — and I am no
longer the occupier of the house 390, Strand. Please,
therefore, address to me at Mr. Smith's, 199, Fleet
Street.

******

"As we some months ago prognosticated, the
telegraph, being once promulgated, has interested
the public, and is in a fair way to be generally
adopted. The Great Western Railway have decided
upon laying it down upon their line, and the only
question, both in this, and in all subsequent cases,
will be, whether my plan, or that of Cooke and
Wheatstone, be preferred.

" Mr. Brunei, Junior, Engineer to the Great Western
Railway, with Mr. Tite, and other Directors of the
company, came to see my apparatus, and wished

2 E 2

420 A History of Electric Telegraphy

me distinctly to point out the advantages which it
possessed over the rival scheme. Mr. Brunei, being
on intimate terms with Mr. Cooke, was somewhat
inclined to lean the other way, but the principal
difficulty under which I laboured was the impossi-
bility of rendering manifest all the advantages of my
mechanism, without entering, more or less, into such
explanations as would, more or less, betray my secret
— as yet unpatented. When, therefore, I stated that
I could effect such and such objects he could not see
how it was possible — thought the attempt would be
dangerous, or precarious. Seeing also that I employed
six wires, he could not conceive but that my plan
must be an infringement upon the patent of Cooke
and Wheatstone, and that the company could not
safely carry it into execution without risk of action
for damages, &c.

"Moreover, that, as I was not prepared fully to
develop my plans, I could not be considered in a
condition to treat with them, for they would have to
buy of me what he designated 'a pig in a poke,'
which, though it might produce very pretty effects,
yet, as the rationale was not open for canvass, its
practicability could not fairly be judged of, nor could
he confidently assure the company but that it might
prove to be an infringement on the others' patent.
Mr. Brunei is a particularly sharp, intelligent man,
capable of comprehending anything in all its bearings,
and of improving the barest hint. I had, of course,

to the Year 1837. 421

to be on the alert to divulge nothing that would
impair the security of a future patent-right. I could
not fail to learn something from him, and the result
of this interview has been to prove to me the necessity
of ascertaining, with the greatest care, the precise
footing upon which I stand, before taking any further
steps. I have endeavoured to persuade the company
to delay a week, or two, before they ultimately decide
on adopting any plan.

" In the meantime, my first object will be to obtain
the opinion of the most eminent lawyer in patent
affairs, and I have been nearly all this day engaged
in conference with Mr. Carpmael upon the subject.
This may cost me two or three guineas, but will be
infinitely cheaper than a blindfold course of pro-
ceeding. To-morrow I shall get his opinion. Should
this be favourable to my views, I shall almost think
it right to obtain a second opinion of some eminent
barrister, or of the Attorney, or Solicitor-General,
before venturing to act upon it. But if fully con-
firmed as to my right to secure as exclusive, and to
act upon, or license others to act upon, my own
invention, there can be little question as to the
peremptory necessity for immediately raising funds
to take out a patent, which will place me on a par,
or more than a par, with Cooke and Wheatstone.
The time has now arrived when the thing is on the
point of being acted upon throughout Europe.

" As to the particulars of my mechanism, there are

42 2 A History of Electric Telegraphy

guesses enough at it, but, though it is simple as can
be, the guesses are as far wide of the actual truth as
need be. Mr. Cooke himself is in perfect ignorance
of it*

" I hope, in a postscript, to subjoin Mr. Carpmael's
opinion. He told me this evening that, though he
would not record it on paper until he had investigated
the matter fully, yet his present impression was that
the two inventions \i. e., Cooke and Wheatstone's and
his own] differed most essentially in all main points,
and that a separate patent might be obtained and
maintained without hazard of litigation. He has ap-
pointed to-morrow morning to inspect my mechanism
(of which as yet he has seen the description only)
at lo o'clock, at Exeter Hall.

"28 February, 1838 : I enclose a copy of Mr. Carp-
mael's opinion.f I am now passing the patent
through the first stage, which will cost about 12/., but
beyond this, unassisted, I shall not be able to go.
Mr. Carpmael thinks it may not be difficult to get
some one to advance money for future patents, if I
can only place myself in a condition to explain, by

* " I have sufficient reason to know that the true principle of [my
apparatus] has not been discovered by any one, not even by Mr.
Wheatstone. I have purposely, and for a veil, allowed it to be
supposed that the principle is the same as that in Mr. Cooke's in-
vention, which, as I designed, is taken for granted." — Davy MSS.,
No. 10.

t This document, copied by Davy himself, is preserved amongst his
MSS., No. II. It bears the date February 24, 1838.

to the Year 1837. 423

securing the English patent first, after which it will
be just as desirable to do the same thing in Belgium,
America, and other places.

" Your ever affectionate Son,

"E. Davy."

" May 30, 1838.

" My dear Father, — This long-pending decision upon
my application for a patent has at length been given.
I believe I told you that, owing to the Solicitor-General
not being able fully to comprehend some points, it had
been agreed to call in the assistance of some eminent
scientific man, and, accordingly, Mr. Faraday was re-
ferred to as being the highest electrical authority in
the kingdom, and he was kind enough to undertake
[the examination of the points in question]. The
result has been in my favour, i. e., I am entitled to the
patent I am applying for with the retention of every
point of the least value. The Solicitor-General's
report will be ready for delivery to-morrow, Thurs-
day, and then all that will be wanted to proceed with
the patent will be the money. It will then take about
ten days to pass the Great Seal, and until that there
is no security for it, and I will still labour under the
difficulty of not being able to explain its nature, or

424 A History of Electric Telegraphy

advantages, to any one so as to get it taken up.
Besides, there is every day the risk of persons finding
out the particulars for themselves.

" Once the patent secured, I think it not improbable
that it may end in a compromise with Cooke and Co.,
for when I have the patent I must get connected with
some one possessed of capital. They have, I under-
stand, already laid out 2000/. upon their telegraph,
and are very anxious at present, as Mr. Wheatstone
told me they were in treaty with some of the great
railway companies, but that the latter delayed coming
to a decision, understanding that there might pro-
bably be another patent in the market. So, if I
pass my patent, they will either have to wait six
months to see the specification, or else offer me
terms at once.

"Whether the Great Western is the company
alluded to I know not, but I had previously been
given to understand by Mr. Gibbs that they had
already contracted with them, and were going on
with the preparations (as I was told by a different
party) of coating an immense quantity of copper wire
with india-rubber. It may, therefore, or may not,. be
some other great company.

"I am happy in being able to communicate the
intelligence contained in this note, for, from the long
and vexatious delay, I have been not without appre-
hension that the decision would be against me. The

to the Year 1837. 425

circumstance of Mr. Faraday having been called in
will also render the patent safer, as his opinions on
such matters would naturally be looked upon by the
public with some confidence.

" With kindest" loves, believe me,
" My dear Father,

" Your ever affectionate Son,

" E. Davy.

" P.S. — I enclose a copy of the claims upon which
Mr. Faraday advised that my patent might be
granted. You will perceive that it contains the most
important points." *

"June 16, 1838.

" My dear Father, — I have only time to say that I
received from Messrs. Gibbs 130/., and Mr. Carpmael
informs me that the patent will be sealed early in
next week. I must write you again to explain what I
purpose doing as soon as that is accomplished, viz.,
to send circulars immediately to all the Boards of
Directors of Railway Companies, and to give one, or
more public lectures on the subject, inviting as many
influential people as possible to attend. It must now

» This document is preserved amongst the Davy MSS., No. ii.

426 A- History of Electric Telegraphy

be pushed forward with all our might and main, and
I hope it will not be long before it does some good.
" You will soon hear from me again, and believe me,
" My dear Father,

" Your ever affectionate Son,

" E. Davy."

"June23, 1838.

" My dear Father,— I think that I ought to give you
notice from time to time of my moves with the tele-
graph, in order that, in case of any sudden accident to
me, and the concern being in a promising state, my
successors might know better where to take it up, and
what I had been doing.

" The patent has not yet passed the Seal. I expect
that it will about Wednesday, or Thursday next.

" I have been endeavouring to make connections
with some business men, to assist me in making nego-
tiations with the railway companies, or in getting up
a general telegraph company.* The principle on
which I endeavour to engage their services is that of
percentage on whatever money I may obtain for
licenses under my patent, through their particular
influence, or interference. The amount I have fixed
upon is 10 per cent, which will, perhaps, be liable to
deviations in some cases. The present difficulty is in
getting the thing started. When known practically

* A few letters to and from business men and Railway Boards on
this subject are preserved amongst the Davy MSS,, No. 11.

to the Year 1837. 427

and appreciated, it may be tiiat the companies will

come to me, instead of my having to seek after them.

" The best business man I have at present retained

is Mr. P * * « I requested him to apply first

to the Birmingham Railway Company, and the sub-
ject has been brought before the directors. The only
answer obtained is that, if ever the directors should
deem it necessary to adopt any electrical telegraph,
they will make the most minute and careful examina-
tion into the comparative merits and advantages of
each plan before deciding on either. I saw Mr. Creed,
secretary to, and original getter-up of, the Birmingham
Railway Company, who told me only that he would
be happy to receive any memorial from me on the
subject of my invention in order to lay it before the

directors. Mr. P is to introduce me to their

domestic engineer in about a week.

"Mr. P; is next about to apply to the South-
ampton Railway, and I am now preparing letters* for
him to make use of, setting forth that, when once
laid down, the Admiralty will, no doubt, be glad to
make advantageous contracts with them for the use of
it for Portsmouth, which is at no great distance.

" We must, of course, rake our brains to find out
all the inducements we can to tempt people to these
speculations.

* Original drafts of these preserved. — MSS., No. ii.

428 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" That will be the next move. Then there will be
the grand junction from Birmingham to Liverpool
and Manchester.

" The next business man I hope to retain, and have

partly, is Captain B . He is intimate with the

engineer of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway,
and has influence with the Midland Counties Railway,
either of which would be a good step.

"Another is Mr. B , of whom you have heard

before.

" I have an appointment to meet a capitalist, name
as yet unknown, at three o'clock on Monday about
money for taking out the foreign patents, all which
may, or may not, come to nothing. Another appoint-
ment with a broker, named L , to aid in getting

up a company, at four o'clock the same day. There
are many of these appointments for the one that leads
to any result. Therefore, do not be on the look-out
for such results, I will be sure to tell you if anything
good comes. It is no use to be either sanguine, or
easily put out of one's opinions.

" Believe me, my dear Father,

" Your ever affectionate Son,

" E. Davy.

" P.S. — My impression at this moment is that it will
be better, if possible, to get up a general company,

to the Year 1837. 429

and sell the patent out and out, particularly as the
Birmingham directors scarcely appear to comprehend
the advantages of the system further than for mere
railway uses. It will, I know, be a very difficult
matter to get the proper people in the mind for
entering into such a scheme. Mr. Hesseldine appears
to listen to the proposition, but has some objections
of which I cannot clearly see the drift, unless it be
this — that the Government could scarcely allow such
a powerful instrument to be in the hands of individuals,
or a private company, and would either prohibit it, or
else take it under their own management ; and, there-
fore, that the best possible parliamentary, or govern-
ment, influence ought to be made in order to secure
the probability that such future arrangements with
the Government may be advantageous to us. — I know
very well that the French Government would not
permit it except in their own hands ; but though I
think our Government ought, and, perhaps, will even-
tually take it upon themselves as a branch of the Post
Office system, yet I can scarcely imagine that there
would be such absurd illiberality as to prohibit, or
appropriate it, without compensation.

" There is, however, prudence in what he suggests
as to making friends in high places, if it can only be
done.

" Are there any of the directors of the Bristol and
Exeter Railway with whom interest could be made ?
They are, I believe, in great part Exeter people."

430 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" July 4, 1838.

" My dear Father, — It was not until this morning
that my patent actually passed the Great Seal. It
is now secure for England and Wales, and you will
see it in the list in the next Gazette.

" The enclosed was written some time back. It may
be well to preserve whatever details I send you with
regard to the telegraph.

" My object now is to get a company formed to take
my patent off my hands, and, either pay me a large
sum down for it out and out, or else a smaller sum
down, and an agreement for a further remuneration
hereafter, and proportioned to the success of the
scheme, such as a percentage on dividends, &c.

" There is plenty of money in the market, and
plenty of people ready to vest it in such schemes, if
they can only be satisfied that they will pay more than
5 per cent, interest. All I have to do is to make people
believe this, and the money will come without any
pressing on my part. But this is the difficulty, and
one which I have now to make every possible exertion
to overcome. The practicability of the plans will, I
believe, not be much longer doubted. I have several
persons at work to get some influential names suffi-
cient to head a prospectus* as Directors, &c., and find

* A draft of such a prospectus, headed "Voltaic Telegraph Com-
pany," is preserved in the Davy MSS., No. 9. It is a powerfully-
written and exhaustive document, and will well repay perusal. A propos

io the Year 1837. 431

current expenses of printing, advertising, journeys,
models, &c.

" Mr. P. says that ' before forming a company, we

must first secure the consent of some railway company
to the laying down of the wires upon their line on
certain terms. If one railroad will do this, we may
afterwards reason that others will agree to the same ;
otherwise people will say, ' How are you going to en-
force permission from the railways, or turnpike trusts,
without an Act of Parliament ' ? ' Now, I don't see
that the want of previous agreement with a railway
should at all deter us from endeavouring to form a
company, but it is clear enough that such an agree-
ment, previously obtained, ^would be a step gained,
and an argument in our favour. With this view an
appointment is now pending with the domestic, or
resident, engineer of the Birmingham Railway.
******

"I have had notice of another application for a
patent by a person named Morse. Messrs. Cooke and
Wheatstone have entered an opposition to this ap-
plication, and I shall have to do the same, .so that one,
or other, of us may be able to stop it. We are now

of the name, the following memorandum may be quoted ■.-^" A satis-
factory name is not yet decided on. It might be called the ' Oerstedian,'
after Oersted, the Danish philosopher, who first discovered the magnetic
powers of electricity ; or the ' Instanterian ' ; but a better name may
turn up." — MSS., No. II. In another place Davy speaks of a system
oiElectroloquisml (MSS., No. 7).

432 A History of Electric Telegraphy

both equally interested in keeping a third rival out of
the field, and it may save much after trouble and
competition. * * *

" Your ever affectionate Son,

"E. Davy."

In a letter to the same address, dated July 21, 1838,
the following passage occurs : — " I find the people who
undertake to make appointments about the telegraph
very dilatory in so doing, which prevents my making
progress as fast as I could wish. I trust the prospectus
will be a help.

" It is not every one who is willing to be a director
that will suit, as I wish to confine it to the highest

respectability, and avoid all poison. Mr. E has

evidently his enemies, but if I can find that he has also
his friends, he will be a valuable acquisition, having
much money and connections, and I believe he would
liberally support me, or lend his voice to pay me a
large sum."

Two days later he wrote : — " I had a further con-
versation with Mr. P on Saturday. He expects

an appointment with the engineer in question
[ ? Mr. Fox] on Tuesday, and entertains a hope that
we may also secure Mr. — — , the chairman of the
Southampton Railway Company, than whom, for one,
we need not have a better. Mr. P having con-
sidered the prospectus, and suggested some slight
alterations, said that, now the thing was distinctly laid

to the Year 1837. 433

out, his views had quite altered, and he should have a
difficulty in seeing how the thing should do otherwise
than 'pay' to the shareholders. He would be the

managing director, or whipper-in, as he is in the A

Mining Company. As I have but slender acquaint-
ance among the great commercial people, I am obliged
to apply to, and make use of, persons of this kind, and
I believe he is well known and knows many, and that
his persuasion may have some effect, where I should
not be listened to. The difficulty is to get him to stir
himself sufficiently. I do not anticipate much good

from either Captain B , or Mr. B , but perhaps

they may be of some aid."

"July 30, 1838.

" My dear Father, — * * * \ jjad an interview on
Wednesday last with Mr. Fox, resident engineer of
the Birmingham Railway, the whole particulars of
which I can scarcely enter upon at this moment, ex-
cept that it was quite satisfactory and friendly, as fa.
as it went The main purport of it was that if we
had a company who would go to the expense of laying
down the wires, &c., the railway directors would
willingly grant the use of their line and afford every
facility and protection, on condition only of a license
under the patent as far as relating to railway purposes
only.

" This has been one of the problems, ' How is the
Telegraph Company, without an Act of Parliament,
to lay down the wires ?' He says there is no doubt

2 F

434 -^ History of Electric Telegraphy

that few of the railway companies will object to these

terms. Mr. P has promised to-morrow to see

the Southampton Railway people, and I shall have
another interview with Mr. Fox for further explana-
tions, so that I trust we shall soon be enabled to
come before the public ; but it is a tedious business.

" 3 1st July. — Since writing the above I have received
M. A.'s letter and enclosure, to which I shall give the
earliest attention. You may presume, if you do not
hear from me for some little time together, that there
is nothing particular going forward. I understand
the directors of the Great Western Railway are under
discussion to ascertain the nature of my patent, but
I shall take no notice at present. — With kindest love,
believe me,

" My dear Father,

" Your ever affectionate Son,

"E. Davy."

In a postscript to a letter dated Aug. i, 1838, he
writes : —

" I spent yesterday evening with Mr. Fox, explain-
ing my inventions to him. He expressed the most
favourable opinions of them, and, if he does not alter
his mind, we may consider the Birmingham line as
secured, or nearly so. He is the sharpest and
quickest man I have yet had to talk to, comprehend-
ing everything jaefore it was half explained, and
suggesting improvements, or remedies for difficulties,
&c. We are in other quarters making slow but, I trust,

to the Year 1837. 435

effective progress, and the chances against eventual
success appear daily diminishing."

"August 17, 1838.

" My dear Father, — Mr. P has had interviews

with Mr. Easthope and his son. Mr. E seemed

to take very enlarged views of the applications of the
telegraph, and the revenues to be derived from it,
and promised his strenuous influence for its imme-
diate adoption on the Southampton and Portsmouth
line, of which he is chairman of the directors. The
conversation, as repeated to me, coincides with my
own (perhaps sanguine) idea to an extent which I
have never had the satisfaction of meeting with before.

Mr. P came home quite red-hot upon the matter,

sees it in a new light, and has this morning agreed to
take out the principal foreign patents (to find the
money and have half), on condition that I would also
give him a further interest in the English patent
already obtained. I have, consequently, agreed that
he shall pay me ijo/., and have one-fourth of the
patent right. This I have done, not but that the
patent may be worth far more than four times 1 50Z,
but with ulterior objects, to secure his interest and
exertion to help it on, for I could do little by myself
And it appears to me the remaining three-quarters
may be thereby increased in value more than they

will have lost. I do not suppose that Mr. P will

go from this arrangement, which yet remains to be
executed. He says, that, if sufficiently interested, he
will devote nearly all his time to it.

2 F 2

436 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" I spent yesterday evening and took tea with Mr.
Fox, resident engineer of the Birmingham Railway.
I have his decided approbation of my plans, in pre-
ference to those of the other party, and, therefore,
a powerful voice is secured on that line. We had
much conversation on various details of the subject,
but it takes time to work people into an acting

humour. Until now Mr. P has been lukewarm,

or, at least, tardy, in his movements. The encourage-
ment, which Mr. Easthope has given, has put a new
life into the thing.

" I believe I told you that Mr. Easthope is a Member
of Parliament, proprietor of the Morning Chronicle,
and a large shareholder in the Southampton, and in
the Havre and Paris Railways. He is, perhaps, as
good a patron as could be obtained for one. He
said that the subject was not new to him, and that it
had been frequently under discussion in society where
he had been.

" You will perceive that if I have been in error as
to the prospects of this invention, I have now some
people of high standing to keep me in countenance in
the ' moonshine.' Mr. Easthope speaks of its opening
communications between London, or Liverpool, and
the Mediterranean ! With kindest love to all the
circle, believe me, my dear Father,

" Your affectionate Son,

"E. Davy."

to the Vear^^S^y. 437

About the end of August, or beginning of Septem-
ber, 1838, he wrote : —

" My dear Brother, — I have just received a packet
enclosing, among others, a letter from you. You will
perceive by my communications to Father, &c., that I
am trying hard to dispose of my telegraph. I wish
to get it clean off my hands, and, if possible, an
employment in laying it down at an annual salary.
I believe I may now almost calculate on the Birming-
ham Railway, the best line in the kingdom ; there is
little now to fear from the rivals, Cooke and Wheat-
stone, and there are no others. My object is to form
a company of affluent people, who will purchase my
patent right, and, if this succeeds, it will produce a
large sum of money, as 10/. or 20,000/., just as easily
as so many hundreds. The value of the invention
has very greatly increased since what it was six
months ago, and I would not now sell it to Cooke
and Co. for any sum they would be likely to offer,
and which I would gladly have accepted once.* I
have every assurance that I shall get together a set of
wealthy directors, and that the shares will be taken
up. We have, as you will perceive, some first-rate
people already engaged, and much interested in it.
Mr. Wright could, if he chose, advance 200,000/. We

* From a letter of Wheatstone to Cooke, in Mr. Latimer Clark's
possession, dated July 1 8, 1839, it seems that they then contemplated
buying up Davy's patent. Ultimately it was bought for 600/. by the
old Electric Telegraph Company, and — smothered, like a good many
others. See letter of May 12, 1847, amongst the Davy MSS., No. 12.

438 A History of Electric Telegraphy

are promised the Marquis of Douro and Lord Sandon
for trustees, through the interest of Messrs. Mac-
Dougall, the soHcitors in Parliament Street. There is
no present reason to apprehend but that I shall get
my price for it by persevering and securing influence
step by step. But for all this my presence here is
indispensable. It would come to nothing if I left
London at this juncture which would be madness.
There is no one able, or willing, to push it forward
for me, and, if allowed to sleep, the patent would not
be worth a rush. I am now anxious to connect with
some sharp, wary solicitor, not too young, whom I
can engage to protect my own personal interests in
driving the bargain with the directors, which will be
very essential — one is so apt to be talked over by
these keen monied men.

" The enclosed piece of paper contains a statement
of the progress made in organising our company.
Only the names with asterisks are fully secured, but
the others we have not much reason to doubt of.

"When a meeting of the directors can be called
together, I shall propose that as soon as the deposits
are paid up they give me 10,000/. in money and
one or two thousand shares ; in fact, the best bargain
I can make. Something will come of it.

" Your ever affectionate Brother,

"E. Davy.

to the Year 1837. 439

" P.S. Exeter Hall cannot be said to pay at present.
It is kept open rather to answer a purpose in getting
up the company."

The above letter, as appears from another to his
father of September 9, 1838, was written to his
brother, Henry Davy, about the end of the previous
month.

The piece of paper referred to contains the fol-
lowing : —

Trustees.

Marquis of Douro, and Lord Sandon,

Directors.

*Sir F. Knowles, Bart., F.R.S.
*John Wright, Esq., Banker.
Em Tennant, Esq., M.P.

Mr. Bagge (of Norfolk), MP.
Mr. Harrison (Chairman of the
Southampton Railway).

Engineer.
Mr. Fox.

Superintendent of Machinery.
E[dward] D[avy].

Solicitors.

*Messrs. M'Dougall and Co.

Capital ;£'5oo,ooo in 10,000 shares, £</a each, deposit £1.

In a letter to his sister, dated September 22, 1838,
he says : —

" I am obliged to remain in, or near, London, on
account of the telegraph, as there is a probability that
the arrangements with the Southampton Railway will
soon be completed. Nothing is certain as yet, but

440 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the directors appear decided upon having one on their
line. The Birmingham line also is in prospect.

" I have sent a circular to all the principal railway
companies. The Grand Junction say they have no
intention of adopting any telegraph at present, and
the Birmingham and Derby seem to imply, in their
answer, that they have it in contemplation, and will
take it into consideration as soon as they are prepared
to do so, &c. All that could be expected from the
circular was to prevent them from engaging with the
other party before they knew anything about me.

" The idea of forming a company is suspended for
the present, on account of the opinion of the South-
ampton Railway directors, that all the railway com-
panies would eventually take it upon themselves, and
find the capital. If so, it is all that is wanted.

" I presume that if terms are made with the South-
ampton, which is the first company that is likely
(being on the line of the Government telegraph to
Portsmouth, and having a probability of a contract
with the Admiralty), they will require me to superin-
tend the laying it down at a salary, independent of
the remuneration for license under the patent.''

On October 8, 1838, he writes to his father : — "I
have done all I can to bring my patent before the
Southampton Railway Company, and have received
every assurance as to their intention of adopting it. I
must now wait their final decision if they do so as to
the precise terms, and also as to the time when they

to the Year 1837. 441

will be ready to commence operations. What I have
proposed to them is, that they shall be at all the
expenses, pay me one-third of the net profits, and
employ me, at a reasonable salary, to lay down the
telegraph and keep it in repair.

" I will shortly make an attempt to urge forward
the Birmingham Company, where, I believe, I have
sufficiently secured the preference. As soon as one of
these companies brings the telegraph into operation
along the entire line, and it is found to answer, the
others will quickly follow.

"The Polytechnic Institution, after giving much
trouble, declined purchasing the Exeter Hall model,
and I am now in treaty for it with a Mr. Coombes, an
American, who proposes to take it home with him,
and open an exhibition, with some other models, in his
own country. I have closed the Exeter Hall room,
and paid off Mr. Spicer, my assistant, and also
Downy, the other man who used to attend there."

Again on November 17, 1838, he says: — "I have
made some arrangements with Mr. Watson, rather on
the principle of co-operation than of actual partner-
ship, and have pretty well explained to him how I am
situated. * * *

"You will perceive I am anxious to be doing
something, independent of my expectations from the
telegraph. I have put it into as good a position as
possible, and have no doubt of its final success ; and
must now wait the answer from the Southampton

442 A History of Electric Telegraphy

directors, who have verbally promised its adoption, as
well as from other quarters. I shall not let the matter
go to sleep, but as it is in a channel, and as my inter-
ference will not hasten it, there is little to be gained
by thinking of it ; so I must be doing other things.

" There is no relying on Mr. P . He agreed to

purchase a fourth of the patent for 1 50/., and was red-
hot to conclude the bargain, but after a few days he
told me that he could not at present provide the
money. I cannot help these disappointments.

" Mr. Fox is steadily friendly to me as yet."

"November 29, 183S.
" My dear Father, — * * * \ h^ye go^- j-id of my
room at Exeter Hall, which, now it is no longer re-
quired, is a saving of 14J. a week. Altogether it has
somewhat more than paid its expenses, or thereabouts.
It would doubtless have done better, but I was driven
from personally attending to it by incessant annoy-
ances. It has, however, answered more effectually by
the notoriety which it has given to the telegraph. You
will perceive by a number of the Railway Times which
I shall enclose, a reason for the delay in the decisions
of the Southampton Company, viz., the question
whether they would obtain the branch line to Ports-
mouth. Mr. Easthope is a spirited man, by whom
many other monied persons are guided, and he has
influence with the present Government. I have as
yet no reason to doubt that he will keep his word with

to the Year 1837. 443

me, that my telegraph shall be adopted immediately
they are prepared to commence operations with it.*
The bringing this to bear may be a work of some
little time, as such things usually are, but I am sure
you will not regret the attention I have paid to it,
nor even the manner in which it has diverted me from
my other business ; nor do I think you need feel
doubtful as to its eventual success. The next month
will be occupied with completing the specification (due
Jan. 4), much of which will have to be remodelled by
Mr. Carpmael's direction. Everything depends upon
this being as perfect as it can be, and I wish I were
more fit for the task, by having a mind more at ease
than is at present possible.

* The following extract is i fropos. It is from a letter of Wheatstone
to Cooke, now in Mr. Latimer Clark's possession, dated July l8, 1839 :—
" Now on another subject, Mr. Easthope, the chairman of the board of
directors of the Southampton Railway, wishes to see the telegraph at
work. Will Saturday next be a convenient day for the purpose ? If
so, I will bring him with Mr. Irving and Mr. Wright, the banker. This
visit will be an important one. He is fully impressed with the ad-
vantages which may result from the invention, and I think would not
be disinclined to encourage it. I need not say that he is » person of
influence and wealth.

" One great difficulty with respect to him and the railway with which
he is connected is now obviated, for I understand he gave considerable
encouragement to Davy so long as he thought his plans likely to
succeed."

It will be remembered that at this date Davy was in Australia, and
"his plans" in the hands of people who did not understand them.
Naturally, then, Mr. Easthope turned to Cooke and Wheatstone. It
is also interesting to note that Mr. Wright was one of the fully secured
directors of Davy's proposed Telegraph Company. See p. 439.

444 A History of Electric Telegraphy

"I have to-day been informed that the Brighton
Railway Company are about to adopt an electrical tele-
graph, which is a quarter in which I scarcely expected
it. I must look after them to ascertain if it is correct,
for Mr. Cooke is making all his interest. I think the
London and Dover will be a better line, but will not
be complete for a long while. I am obliged to employ
a good deal of Nickols' time on the working model,
which will be the principal thing in the specification,
in order that it may be ready to show at work. The
month after the specification is enrolled it will appear,
at length, in the Repertory of Arts' 2. number of which
I shall purchase and forward to you. With kindest
loves to mother, brothers, and sisters, believe me, your

ever affectionate Son,

" E. Davy."

" December 12, 1838.

"My dear Mother, — « * * My specification must
be enrolled by the 4th January, and afterwards will be
published, gratuitously, by the patent agents, in the
Repertory of Inventions. This also I shall have to
look to, procure a few copies, and send them to the
parties most likely to serve us. After this, for aught
I know at present, there is little more I can do to
forward the matter, and it must wait the good time of
the railway directors to take it up, which there is no
reason to doubt nearly all of them will do eventually.

" I believe I have effectually barred any hasty

to the Year 1837. 445

adoption of Cooke and Wheatstone's telegraph, which
has made no further progress,

" You must be aware that, although it may come
into operation almost immediately, yet it may possibly
not until some little time hence ; but this is a question
which now rests with others, and not so much with
me, and we must not, therefore, be disappointed at
some delay.

" Your ever affectionate Son,

"E. Davy."

We have arrived at the end of our MSS., and, conse-
quently, at the end of our task, which, we need hardly
say, has been to us a labour of love ; but before dismiss-
ing the subject we cannot resist the pleasure of quoting
two short passages,* which will serve to show in what
estimation Mr. Davy was held by those most capable
of comprehending his character. The first is from
Mr. Thomas Watson, Dentist, London, a gentleman
of great scientific attainments, to Davy's father : —

"May 20, 1839.

" My dear Sir, — I have to apologise for not ac-
knowledging the receipt of your kind present ere this,
an exceeding pressure of business must plead my
excuse.

■'Permit me to say that any service I may have

* Davy MSS., No. 12.

•446 A History of Electric Telegraphy

rendered your son has been to me a source of much
gratification. I much regret, upon private grounds,
that by his absence I lose an acquaintance which I
highly prized, while, upon public grounds, science has
lost an adjunct as talented, as zealous, and, without
flattery, I must add his pursuits would have so en-
lightened and benefited his countrymen that his seces-
sion to the primitive shores of South A ustralia must be
deplored as a national calamity.

" Believe me, yours sincerely,

" Thos. Watson."

The next extract is from a letter (October 21, 1839),
of Charles Pain, the family solicitor, of Surrey Street,
Strand, to the same address : —

"Mr, Carpmael passed some high encomiums on
your son's talents in matters of science, and said he
considered his leaving England a great loss to the
country, and he particularly regrets his absence on
account of the telegraph, which, had he been present,
he would have had no difficulty in disposing of to the
Great Western Railway Company, who are now
adopting that of Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone, and
to whose, he says, your son's is very superior."

The rest can be told in a few words. For a year or
two after Davy's departure for Australia, his father
and one or two friends tried, but in a half-hearted way,
to carry on the negotiations from the point where he

to the Year 1837. 447

himself had left them. Another exhibition of both
the screen and recording telegraphs was opened in
Exeter Hall for a few months in 1839-40, but, as
those in charge of the instruments did not thoroughly
understand them, and could not always get them to
work satisfactorily, no good came of it.

The machines were sent down to Ottery St. Mary
at the end of 1840, and were stowed away in an out-
house as so much rubbish. In the hope of rescuing
them we lately paid a visit to Davy's native place, but
found, to our grief, that only three years before, on a
change of residence, they were broken up and sold as
old metal ! Our informant, the family gardener, added
" 'twas such a pity, as there was as much mechanism
about them as would fit up a hundred clocks !"

In a field we found some pieces of cotton-covered
iron and copper wire, and six of the Daniell cells — huge
things of three or four gallon-capacity.* The outer
jars are of glazed earthenware about eighteen inches
high, and the porous pots are more than half an inch
thick ! These relics will now be carefully preserved.

And so ends the story of a magnificent failure.^

* Two of these are now in the Library of the Society of Telegraph-
Engineers and Electricians. Nov. 15, 1883.

t In the belief that our readers will now be interested in everything
relating to Mr. Davy, we have collected a few biographical notes of the
venerable pioneer, which will be found in the Appendix B, to this
volume.

448 A History of Electric Telegraphy

CHAPTER XVI.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY {continued).

1837. — Alexander's Telegraph.

In May 1837, William Alexander, of Edinburgh,

published a scheme for telegraphic communication,

which was the realisation of Ampere's and Ritchie's

ideas. It was widely noticed at the time, having

appeared in the following amongst other journals : —

Edinburgh Scotsman, July i, and November 18 ;

Edinburgh Evening Courant, July 3 ; London Times,

July 8 ; and London Mechanics' Magazine, August

12, and November 25, 1837. In this paper he

showed the practicability of his project ; estimated

its cost ; and pointed out its utility as well to the

public as to the state.

After a brief reference to the then existing system

of semaphoric signalling, he says :* — " The plan of

a telegraph underground, by means of electric or

voltaic currents, transmitted by metallic conductors,

was some time ago devised, and its practicability

supported by electricians of eminence ; but their

ideas on the subject have not hitherto been matured,

* We quote from his Plan and Description of the Original Electro-
Magnetic Telegraph, &c., 8vo., 30 pp., London, 1851.

to the Year 1837. 449

or carried into actual practice upon the scale which is
now contemplated.

" It has been found by experiments made with
a view to ascertaining the velocity of electricity, that
it is transmitted instantaneously, by means of a
common iron wire, a distance of eight miles ; and
electricians of the first eminence have declared their
opinion that, judging from all scientific experience,
the electric or galvanic influence would be almost
instantaneously transmitted from one end to the
other of a metallic conductor, such as ordinary
copper wire of moderate thickness, of some hundred
miles in length.

" If this scientific theory is correct, it follows that
a wire, secured by a coating of non-conductors, and
protected from external influence or injury, and laid
under the turnpike road between Edinburgh and
London, could be the means of distinctly indicating
to a person stationed in London that such wire had
been electrified or galvanised in Edinburgh — the
transmission of the electric or galvanic influence being
clearly discernible by various well-known means.

" How, then, is this scientific fact to be applied to
purposes of practical and general utility ? Simply
by laying as many wires, separated from each other,
as will correspond to the letters of the alphabet, and
preconcerting between the persons stationed at two
extremities of the line of communication that each
individual wire is to represent a particular letter ;

2 G

45 o A History of Electric Telegraphy

because, if the person stationed in Edinburgh can,
by applying the electric influence to any one wire,
instantaneously apprise another person stationed in
London that a particular letter of the alphabet is
thereby indicated, words and sentences ad infinitum
may be communicated, and the idea of a perfect
telegraph would be realised.

"Without experience it is impossible to say with
what rapidity this electro-magnetic telegraph could
be worked, but in all probability intelligence could
be conveyed by such a medium as quickly as it is
possible to write, or at least to print ; and apparatus
could be constructed somewhat resembling the keys of
an organ, by which the letters of the telegraph could
be touched with the most perfect ease and regularity.

"It has been mentioned that the ti'ansmission of
the electricity or galvanism could be discernible by
various means well known. If any indication, how-
ever slight, is made, that is enough — all that is
wanted being that it should be perceivable by the
person placed to watch the telegraph.

" It has been assumed that the electric current is
capable of transmission by means of a single impulse
from Edinburgh to London. But it is not indispens-
able that so great a distance should be accomplished
at once. Intermediate stations for supplying the tele-
graph with new galvanic influence could be resorted
to, and its perfect efficiency still be preserved.*

* Manual retransmission, not automatic translation, is here meant.

to the Year 1837. 451

"The best mode of troughing or protecting the
metallic conductors, and separating them both from
each other, and from the surrounding substances
by which the electric or galvanic influence might
be diverted, would of course require considerable
scientific and mechanical skill ; but the object
appears perfectly attainable. Insulating or non-
conducting substances, as gumlac, sulphur, resin,
baked wood, &c., are cheap, and the insulation might
be accomplished in many ways. For example, by
laying the wires, after coating them with some non-
conducting substances, in layers betwixt thin slips of
baked wood, similarly coated, the whole properly
fastened together and coated externally. These slips
might be perhaps ten yards long, and at the joinings
precautions for the expansion and contraction of the
wire, by the change of temperature, might be
adopted. The whole might be enclosed in a strong
oblong trough of wood, coated within and pitched
without, and buried two or three feet under the
turnpike road.

" The expense of making the telegraph proposed,
is of course an important element in the considera-
tion of its practicability and utility.

" The chief material necessary, viz., copper wire, is
by no means expensive. It is sold at \s. 6d. per
pound, of sixty yards in length. The cost of a wire
from Edinburgh to London, say 400 miles, would
thus be about 900/. — but say for solderings, &c.,

2 G 2

452 A History of Electric Telegraphy

lOO/. additional ; or that each copper wire, laid from
Edinburgh to London, would cost looo/. sterling, and
that the total expense for the wires necessary to
indicate separately each letter of the alphabet, would
be 25,000/. The purchase of so large a quantity
would of course be made at a considerably less price ;
but probably one or two additional wires might be
needed, and the circuit of the electrical influence
must be provided for by one or more return wires.

"The coating, separating, and troughing of the
wires can be accomplished by low-priced materials,
and the total expense of the whole work (except the
price of the wires), allowing a large sum for incidental
expenditure, has been roughly estimated at 75,000/. ;
making a maximum expenditure of, say 100,000/, for
the completion of the telegraph. For a proportionately
additional sum it might be extended to Glasgow,

" The average of the parliamentary estimates for
railways is about 1 5,700/. per mile, so that the whole
cost of the electro-magnetic telegraph proposed would
only amount to as much as the construction of a
railway of between six and seven miles in length.
Were the details of this plan decided on by com-
petent scientific and practical persons, the cost would
be accurately estimated with unusually few sources of
error. Here are no levels to adjust — :no viaducts to
erect — no morasses to cross — no property to purchase.
Buried under the public road to the depth of two or
three feet, the machine would be amply protected

to the Year 1837. 453

against injury, as well as from any atmospheric
influence. For change, or damage occasioned by
changes in the road, it would be easy to provide.
Damage by mischievous persons is quite unlikely, as
is shown by the safety of water-pipes, gas-pipes, and
railroads. But it would be quite easy to arrange a
system for immediately detecting the seat of any
damage, and its repair would be perfectly easy.

" As to the working of the telegraph, it is appre-
hended that even if the speed of writing were not
attained, there could at least be no difficulty in indi-
cating one letter per second. At this rate, a commu-
nication which would contain sixty-five words would
occupy about five minutes. This is supposing the
vowels to be all indicated. But abbreviations in this,
and many other respects, would no doubt be con-
trived ; and the number of words in the communica-
tion supposed, are greater than necessary for an
ordinary banking or commercial letter, or for friendly
inquiries and responses. Supposing, however, that
each communication was to occupy five minutes, and
to be charged five shillings — if the telegraph was
worked twelve hours a day (that is, six hours from
each end), it would produce a revenue of 36/. daily,
or 10,800/. per annum, supposing there were to be
300 working days in the year. If, however, the plan
is practicable, the public intelligence that would no
doubt be transmitted by the telegraph, would be
sufficient to keep it in operation night and day.

454 ^ History of Electric Telegraphy

"No one can doubt that there would be a very great
demand for the services of such a perfect telegraph as
is here supposed capable of being constructed. In
every department of commerce, in shipping, in bank-
ing, and all money transactions, in the communica-
tion of public and political intelligence, in the law,
and in family and friendly intercourse, the utility of
the telegraph would be immense. By coming at the
same time to the two ends of the telegraph, parties
might almost enjoy all the advantages of a personal
interview, at a trifling expense. The consequence of
such a machine being established, would be to bring,
as it were, the cities of London and Edinburgh into
the immediate neighbourhood of each other, and to
produce transactions and communications of kinds
not hitherto known or practised — communications
which do not at present pass through Edinburgh or
London would be brought to these points for the sake
of rapid transmission — communications might be
made to intermediate points, and public intelligence
could be disseminated all along the line. Were the
example followed all over the kingdom, it would
create perhaps one of the greatest changes in human
affairs, called into operation by the ingenuity of man.

" After the uses to which the power of steam and
coal-gas has been so successfully and wonderfully
applied, the telegraph now proposed may not be an
unworthy follower in the march of discovery and
improvement.

to the Year 1837.

455

"The present sketch is submitted for the private
consideration of a limited number of scientific and
influential gentlemen, of whom a meeting will soon be
convened, to give their opinion of the practicability
and utility of the plan here generally developed."

The following is a description of the apparatus as
given by the author at p. 19 of his pamphlet : —

"The model is contained in a mahogany case, or
frame, 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 3^ feet high.

Fig. 30.

^y^m

^y.y,y/A fc~|-//^/,« ^n]m^ fl^piiu

rjEsa

[^l ^^smf^/^^fpyf^raTH^T \iMd

[0"^^

^^^i[T^®0

E^

^^^EHB^

y^ \jj^/M

^jaiaa pW |aaa [V [aaa [V ^^

^^\mA

^Ty^^^\^l^^'^"ymjz\iiia

"The end of the case, intended to face the north, is
composed of a wooden board or tablet coloured black,
with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, a comma,
a semicolon, a full point, and an asterisk, shown on
white enamel, at equal distances, in six rows or tiers.
The tablet is protected by a sheet of plate glassy and

456 A History of Electric Telegraphy

the top or lid of the case is also of glass, for more
easy inspection of the interior.

" Behind the tablet are placed (also in six rows or
tiers) thirty steel magnets, about two inches long,
poised on their centres, so as to admit of their assum-
ing their natural position in the magnetic meridian,
and thus having their north poles pointed to the
back of the tablet.* On the north pole of each of
the thirty magnets a small piece of brass wire is fixed,
protruding through a slit or aperture in the tablet ;
and from the point of this brass wire a thin piece of
brass of about one-half inch square, coloured black
outside, is suspended.

" Each of these thirty pieces of brass, when the
needles are in their natural direction of north and
south, conceal or veil one of the letters or points
marked on the tablet ; and in this position the observer
of the tablet perceives nothing but one uniform black
surface.

"Each of the magnets is poised within a coil of
several convolutions of copper wire, and a galvano-
meter is thus formed.

" At the other, or south end of the model, is a
horizontal line of thirty wooden keys, resembling the
keys of a pianoforte, and on these keys are marked
the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, a comma, a
semicolon, a full point, and asterisk, in the same

* Many writers, as Moigno and Shaffner, describe and illustrate these
needles as suspended vertically, which is a mistake.

to the Year 1837. 457

manner as on the tablet. Thirty insulated copper
wires traverse the model from the keys to the galva-
nometers, with both of which they are connected.

" Each galvanometer is also connected by an insu-
lated wire, about three inches in length, with a
transverse copper rod, extending from one side of the
model to the other. There are six such transverse
rods, placed horizontally and at right angles with the
six rows or tiers of galvanometers. These copper
rods are connected by wires with each other — and a
thick copper wire traverses the model from the under-
most rod to the south end of the model, and is there
connected with the copper plate or positive pole of a
small galvanic battery.

" In a small trough or reservoir, extending under the
whole length of the line of keys, a small quantity of
mercury is deposited, and the zinc plate or negative
pole of the galvanic battery is connected by a wire
with the mercury in the trough.

" It must be here noticed that the two poles of the
galvanic battery are thus connected together by the
wires and metallic conductors above described, except
in the space that intervenes between the keys and the
trough of mercury placed beneath them.

" It has, therefore, in the next place to be remarked,
that thirty pendant platinum wires are attached to the
under part of the thirty keys of the model, and that
when any key is pressed down with the finger, the
pendant platinum wire is immersed in the mercury,

458 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and the galvanic circuit, by means of metallic con-
ductors, between the two poles (copper and zinc) of
the battery completed.

" The instantaneous effect of the galvanic circuit being
so completed is to cause one of the magnets to deflect
towards the west, carrying the small brass veil along
with it, and thereby exhibiting on the tablet the same
letter of the alphabet or point that is marked on the
key pressed down.

" When the finger is taken off the key it rises, by
means of a spring underneath, to its former position
on a level with the other keys ; and the pendant
platinum wire ceasing to be dipped in the mercury,
the galvanic ciixuit is again broken, and the magnet
returns to its natural position, and veils the letter
that was shown on the tablet.

" Hence it follows, that by simply pressing down
with the finger any of the keys (precisely in the same
manner as the keys of a pianoforte are touched), the
same letter that is marked on the key is shown on the
tablet for a sufficient length of time to allow it to be
observed by any person watching the motions of the
veils on the tablet ; and words are thus communicated
in rapid succession from the one terminus of the tele-
graph to the other.

"When, in the course of a communication, it is
wished to indicate a comma, semicolon, or full period,
these will be disclosed on the tablet on the corre-
sponding key being pressed down ; and in order to

to the Year 1837. 459

indicate that the spelling of a word is finished, the
key marked with the asterisk may be pressed down,
and the asterisk being at the same instant exhibited
on the tablet, will show the observer that the word
is completed, and that a new one is about to be
spelled.

" In order either to send or receive a communica-
tion by a telegraph of the simple construction proposed,
no greater learning would be required than is neces-
sary in reading a common book ; and the rapidity
with which a communication could be made, would
be as great as that with which most persons are
able to- write, or as a compositor is able to set up
types.

"In telegraphing between distant points, the con-
necting wires would be made to traverse the inter-
mediate space through a tube of wood, or some
other material that would protect the wires from
external injury ; and the wires would of course be
separated from each other by laying them in separate
grooves in the tube, or by coating them with some
non-conducting substance. The diameter of the tube
might be very small ; and in order to protect the
wires from any atmospheric influence, and the tube
itself from violence, it would be best placed under
ground.

"Followingout the scientific principles that have been
explained, and taking advantage of the mechanical
contrivances illustrated by the model now exhibited,

460 A History of Electric Telegraphy

it appears perfectly practicable to construct an electro-
magnetic telegraph surpassing all other kinds of
telegraphs in respect to the rapidity, facility, and
certainty with which every species of communication
can be made between points, however distant."

Having perfected his plans, Alexander submitted
them to the Government in the following letter which
he addressed to Lord John Russell, Home Secretary,
on June 12, 1837, the date, by the way, of Cooke and
Wheatstone's first patent : —

" Edinburgh, 19 Windsor Street,
" 12th June, 1837.

" My Lord, — I have the honour to enclose for your
Lordship's consideration a plan for an electro-magnetic
telegraph between Edinburgh and London, and capa-
ble of being adopted all over the kingdom with the
most important national advantages.

" I have had the honour of submitting the plan to
some of the most eminent scientific and influential
persons here, and have met with the most flattering
approbation from them.

" In order to test the practicability of the plan,
experiments have, by the obliging permission of Dr.
Hope, the professor of chemistry, been made in his
class-room in our University, by his very able prac-
tical demonstrator Mr. Kemp, both upon a small and
pretty extensive scale — a metallic conductor of about
four miles in circuit having been operated upon both

to the Year 1837. 461

by mechanical electricity and by galvanism. These
experiments have been performed in the presence
of Professor Hope himself, and also of the Lord
Provost ; the Solicitor-General ; the Master of the
Merchant Company ; Sir Charles Gordon, the
secretary of the Highland Society ; Sir John Hall ;
Professor Jameson ; Professor Traill ; Mr. Patrick
Robertson ; Mr. George Monro ; Mr. Hamilton,
architect ; and other scientific and literary gentlemen,
and have proved most satisfactory. A plate of
copper and a plate of zinc (about the size of a crown-
piece each) immersed in a little acid water, were
found sufficient to move an ordinary magnetic needle
at the termination of a copper wire of four miles
in length, notwithstanding numerous joinings and
sinuosities in the conductor.

" Should the telegraph projected ultimately prove
capable of the general utility and application con-
templated, I humbly think, from its affinity to the
Post Office Department, it may prove worthy of the
attention of Government, in place of being left to
individual enterprise.

" In either case, I venture to hope that sufficient
has been already demonstrated both of its practica-
bility, and national importance and utility, to excuse
my bringing the plan under your Lordship's notice,
and to request your distinguished patronage.

" It has been suggested to me that the fund,
amounting to upwards of 6000/. per annum, ad-

462 A History of Electric Telegraphy

ministered, subject to the orders of the Lords of the
Treasury, by the trustees for the encouragement of
arts and manufactures in Scotland, could not be
better applied to the extent of a few hundred pounds
than by defraying the cost of additional experiments
under the superintendence of the gentlemen I have
named, or such others as may be selected, upon a
still larger scale than it can be expected that in-
dividuals should supply for a national object.

" If upon an extent of 50 or 100 miles of metallic
conductors, the same instantaneous and perfect
indication of the passage of the electric or galvanic
fluid is found, as has been in the case of our recent
experiments at the University, the triumph of the
scheme would be complete.

" May I request the favour of your Lordship's views.

" The Solicitor-General transmitted a print of the
plan about a week ago to the Lord Advocate, and I
have since made a communication to his Lordship (to
whom I have the honour of being known) on the
subject.

" I have the honour, &c.,

"W. Alexander."

The reply was as brief and as little satisfactory as
those vouchsafed to Wedgwood (1814), Ronalds (1816),
Porter (1825), and " Corpusculum " (1832). It ran
as follows : —

to the Year 1837. 463

" Whitehall, isth June, 1837.
"Sir, — I am directed by Lord John Russell to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th
instant, enclosing a Plan for an Electro-Magnetic
Telegraph.

" I am, Sir,

" Your obedient servant,

"S. M. Phillips."

In December 1837, Alexander memorialised the
Lords of the Treasury on the subject, but with no
better fortune. The memorial set forth

" That the attention of your memorialist has been
for some time past directed towards effecting an in-
stantaneous telegraphic communication between Lon-
don and Edinburgh by means of electro-magnetism ;
and he now respectfully submits to your Lordships
a print of the plan respecting this object, that was
circulated by him last summer for the consideration
of certain scientific and official gentlemen in Scotland.

"The result of the investigation instituted was,
that the heads of the public bodies in Edinburgh,
and the most scientific persons resident in that city,
concurred in the accompanying testimonials of their
belief of the success of the plan, and an expression
of their readiness to act as a committee to direct and
superintend experiments further to test the practica-
bility of the proposed undertaking.

"That in order further to illustrate your memorialist's

464 A History of Electric Telegraphy

views, he caused to be prepared a model of the
projected telegraph, and exhibited the same to the
first meeting of the Society of Arts in Edinburgh,
and refers to a copy of the Scotsman newspaper of
the 1 8th November, 1837, ^s containing a description
of the model, and its powers in effecting instan-
taneous telegraphic communication between distant
places.

" That your memorialist, from a strong conviction
of the vast national importance attached to the
completion of an instantaneous telegraphic com-
munication between all parts of the kingdom, at a
moderate expense, feels himself warranted in laying
the above-mentioned documents before your Lord-
ships, and in praying that such provision may be made
by a grant of money, reference to scientific persons
or otherwise, as to your Lordships may seem meet.

" That the model above referred to has been
conveyed from Edinburgh to London ; and your
memorialist will have much satisfaction in exhibiting
it in complete operation to your Lordships, and to
give any further explanations that may be thought
proper.

" All which is respectfully submitted by

"W. Alexander."

The following is the paragraph in the Scotsman
referred to in the memorial : —

"The telegraph thus constructed operates with

to the Year 1837. 465

ease and accuracy, as many gentlemen can witness.
The term model, which we have employed, is in
some respects a misnomer. It is the actual machine,
with all its essential parts, and merely circumscribed
as to length, by the necessity of keeping it in a room
of limited dimensions. While many are laying claim
to the invention, to Mr. Alexander belongs the
honour of first following out the principle into all
its details, meeting every difficulty, completing a
definite plan, and showing it in operation. About
twenty gentlemen, including some of the most
eminent men of science in Edinburgh, have sub-
scribed a memorial, stating their high opinion of the
merits of the invention, and expressing their readi-
ness to act as a committee for conducting experi-
ments on a greater scale, in order fully to test its
practicability. This ought to be a public concern.
A machine which would repeat in Edinburgh words
spoken in London three or four minutes after they
were uttered, and continue the communication for
any length of time, by night or by day, and with
the rapidity which has been described — such a
machine reveals a new power whose stupendous
effects upon society no effort of the most vigorous
imagination can anticipate."

Alexander opposed the application of Cooke and
Wheatstone for a Scotch patent in 1837, but ulti-
mately withdrew his opposition under circumstances
which are thus described in a letter of Miss

2 H

466 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Wheatley (now Lady Cooke), dated December 2,
1837:*-

"I have the pleasure to tell you that the Scotch
patent is now free from all opposition, and will be ob-
tained immediately. William had an interview with
Mr. Alexander on Thursday at the Lord Advocate's
(of Scotland) office, and he agreed to accompany the
Judge and Lord Lansdowne to see some experiments
yesterday at Euston Square terminus. These proved
so satisfactory that Alexander at once acknowledged
the superiority of William's and Mr. Wheatstone's
plans, and gave up his own. This was an agree-
able way of arranging the matter, and William was
pleased with Alexander's manner of yielding the
point ; though, of course, he saw he had no chance of
succeeding."

Alexander did not, however, cease to advertise his
own invention. Wheatstone, writing to Cooke,
December 15, 1837, says: — "Alexander continues to
make a great noise about his invention. A few days
ago he took it to Kensington Palace for the inspec-
tion of the Duke of Sussex ; and last night he was
at the Royal Society." Early in 1838 he placed
it on exhibition at the Royal Gallery of Practical

* Extracted by kind permission of Mr. Latimer Clark. See also
Cooke's evidence in The Electric Telegraph Company versus Nott and
others. Chancery Proceedings, p. 49. A printed copy of the evidence
and affidavits in this celebrated case is preserved in Mr. Latimer
Clark's magnificent collection of books on electricity and magnetism —
a collection which rivals and, in some respects, excels that of the late
Sir Francis Ronalds.

to the Year 1837. 4^7

Science, Adelaide Street, Strand ; * at the Poly-
technic Institution, London, in 1839 ; at the Glasgow
meeting of the British Association, in 1 840 ; and
finally at the Great Exhibition (Hyde Park), in 1851.
In answer to some inquiries of ours, Mr. George P.
Johnston, the well-known bookseller, of 21, Hanover
Street, Edinburgh, has kindly sent us the following

letter :—

" Edinburgh, 5th May, 1883.

" Dear Sir, — I fear you will think I have forgotten
about your queries as to Mr. Alexander, but the
delay has been caused by the difficulty of finding
people in, &c.

" I can obtain no information regarding his family
whatever, and he seems to have passed out of the
remembrance of Edinburgh people. All I can gather
is that he was considered by some 'a clever man
always inventing,' by others as 'half-crazed on the
subject of inventions.' I am sure he is the same
W. Alexander who is author of several treatises on
Scotch Bankruptcy Acts, &c., published between
1847 ^^^ 1859. It is curious that one philosophical
instrument maker here — the only one old enough to
have known him — never heard of him.

" I am, yours respectfully,

"Geo. p. Johnston.
" To J. J. Fahie, Esq."

* See p. 381, ante. He also brought it before theSociety of Arts, which,
however, decided that it was not new, and, on that account, unworthy
of attention.— Letter, Wheatstone to Cooke, of 24th March, 1838.

2 H 2

468 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Dr. Edward Sang, Secretary of the Royal Scottish
Society of Arts, informs us that Alexander proposed
a bridge over the Forth at Inch-Garvie, just where
one is now about to be built.

Alexander's death is mentioned in the Transactions
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh as having occurred
during the session of 1859-60; but there is no

obituary notice.

»i

1837-8. — Mungo Ponton's Telegraph.

On the iSth November, 1837, a working model of

the apparatus last described was exhibited at the

Society of Arts, Edinburgh, and excited the keenest

interest amongst all the members present. One of

these, the late Mr. Mungo Ponton, was so impressed

with the subject that he set about at once to devise a

telegraph of his own, which should be free from the

imperfections with which he saw that Alexander's

was hampered ; and so rapidly did execution follow

upon the heels of design, that in five days, i. e., on the

20th November, 1837, he forwai'ded to the Society a

"Model and Description of an Improved Electric

Telegraph." The paper was read at the meeting of

the loth January, 1838 ; and again, on the 20th June

following, a supplement was presented, together with

a model of the telegraph in an improved form.*

* Both these documents are now before us, having been lately
discovered after a long search which was kindly made for us by Dr.
George Macdonald, of Edinburgh. The model was for many years in
the museum of the Society, but on a change of offices it was put away
in a damp cellar, where it soon fell to pieces.

to the Year 1837. 469

In the first communication Ponton begins by saying :
" When, on a former evening, Mr. Alexander's electric
telegraph was exhibited, I took occasion to point out
one or two defects under which it appeared to me to
labour. These were — ist, the weak and vacillating
character of the force employed to discover the letters ;
2nd, the great size of the reading-board ; and 3rd, the
very unnecessary multiplication of the lines of wire.
Had Mr. Alexander had a just claim to the original
invention of an electric telegraph, I should have con-
sidered it only fair to have pointed out to him the
remedies which had occurred to me for the removal of
those defects ; but as I am led to understand that his
claim to originality extends no further than to the
mode of constructing the telegraph, I felt myself at
liberty to follow out my own ideas.

" The objects I have had in view in the construc-
tion of the models now submitted to the Society are
— 1st, to show how a powerful and decided force may
be developed at the reading end of the telegraph ;
2nd, how the reading surface may be reduced within
very narrow limits ; 3rd, how the quantity of motion
required for the display of the characters may be made
very minute, only a quarter of an inch ; 4th, how that
motion may be rendered independent of the swing of
the needle ; and Sth, how with only eight lines of wire
we may exhibit all the letters of the alphabet, all the
figures, a variety of points and signs, and a con-
siderable number of combinations of letters.

470 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" The first model to which I would call attention is
that which shows the method of developing a powerful
and steady force at the reading end of the telegraph.
This consists of a dipping needle, delicately poised,
and furnished with a galvanometer coil. From either
side of the centre of the needle is suspended a small
slip of wood, from which project downwards the four
ends of two bent wires, which dip into mercury cups.
The mercury in the cups is connected with the oppo-
site ends of the wires of a pair of common electro-
magnets, whose poles are opposed to each other.
When one end of the dipping needle is down, and the
wires on one side touching the mercury in the cup,
the effect is to make the two electro-magnets attract
each other. When the other end of the needle is sent
down by means of the electric current passing through
the galvanometer coil, the effect is to make the two
electro-magnets repel each other. In this manner a
very considerable and a perfectly steady force is pro-
duced, which may be employed for the raising and
depressing of levers for the display of the characters.

" Although I should consider this a very decided
improvement, yet it is not necessary for the other
improvements which I have suggested, and accord-
ingly I have not used it in the construction of the
model telegraph now before the Society. To that
model I would now direct attention.

"It will be seen to contain eight galvanometers.

to the Year 1837. 471

having their needles suspended vertically like a dip-
ping needle. These are placed in two sets of four,
piled one above another, each lower needle pro-
jecting beyond the one immediately above it. To
the end of each needle is attached a fine thread,
which is stretched upwards and attached to the
bottom of a card. There are eight of these cards
placed one before another. They are suspended by
threads to the end of eight levers placed one above
another. When the needles are in their natural
position they hold down the cards against two bars
which are placed so as to support them. When the
needles are affected by the electric current passing
through their coils, they swing upwards, and slacken
the thread by which the cards are held down, and
the cards are then pulled upwards by the levers
attached to their upper ends. Their motion, however,
is checked after they have moved a quarter of an inch,
by a piece of wood placed for that purpose. Thus
the motion of the cards is rendered in a great measure
independent of the swing of the needle.

"The ends of the galvanometer wires are passed
onwards to a key-board at the working end of the
telegraph. This key-board contains eight keys, a
pair being attached to each wire, the one passing a
negative, the other a positive electric influence through
the line of wire. The needles are so adjusted that
the one is affected by the positive, the other by the

472 A History of Electric Telegraphy

negative current, so that each wire works a pair
of needles.

" Behind the cards at the reading end of the tele-
graph is a permanent back, with characters upon it,
disposed in four columns and nine lines. The two
backmost cards have also characters upon them,
disposed in two columns and nine lines. There are
thus in all eight columns and nine lines, or seventy-
two distinct signals. The cards have a variety of
openings cut in them for displaying the characters, so
arranged that only one character is displayed at a
time. The four hinder cards are cut so as to display
in succession the eight columns, and the four front
ones so as to display eight of the nine lines, also in
succession, the uppermost line being seen when the
four front cards are at rest.

"Thus when any one of the four hinder cards is
touched alone, it displays a character on the first line.
The outermost displays the character situated on the
extreme left column of the permanent back, and the
innermost that situated on the extreme right. When
the first and third keys are touched, the characters on
the left column of the backmost card are discovered,
while the first and fourth display those in the right-
hand column. When the second and third keys are
touched, those in the left-hand column of the second
backmost card are displayed ; the second and fourth
display those on the right. It will be thus seen how
the whole eight columns are displayed. The inner-

to the Year 1837.

473

most of the four front cards, corresponding to No. 5
of the keys, when raised alone, uncovers the second
line; the next the third, the next the fourth, and
the outermost the fifth. When the fifth and seventh
keys are touched, the sixth line is displayed ; the
fifth and eighth display the seventh line. The sixth
and seventh keys display the eighth line ; the sixth
and eighth display the ninth.

" From this explanation it is easy to see how any
one of the seventy-two signals can be made to appear.

" The following is the arrangement adopted in the
present model : —

Signs.

Keys.

Signs.

Keys.

Signs.

Keys.

A . . .

. . I

I . . .

• • 3

Q . . .

• . 3-S

B . . .

. . 2-7

J • . .

. . I-3-6

R . . .

. . 4-8

C . . .

. . 4-5

K . . .

i-S

S . . .

1-6

D . . .

. . 4-6

L . . .

. . 3-8

T . . .

. . 3-6

E . . .

. . 2

M . . .

. . 1-8

U . . .

1-3

F . . .

• . 3-7

N . . .

. . 2-8

V . . .

. . 4-7

G . . .

■ • 2-S

0 . . .

. • 4

w. . .

. . 1-4

H . . .

. . 2-4

P . . .

1-7

X . . .

. . i*4'6

2-3

2-6

The remaining signals are dedicated to the exhibition
of figures, points, arithmetical signs, and combinations
of letters ; but it is unnecessary to particularise the
arrangement. Of course they are all produced by
touching either three or four keys together.

" It will be observed that any one of the four front
cards may be touched alone without producing any
signal. This might be taken advantage of to extend
the number of signals to 120, by employing the

474 A History of Electric Telegraphy

needles which move the front cards to shift the per-
manent back."

In the improved model of June 20, 1838, Ponton
had so contrived matters as to be able to reduce the
number of line wires to four, by the various combina-
tions of which into metallic circuits as in Cooke and
Wheatstone's five-needle telegraph, and by using
positive and negative currents, he was able to show
forty-eight diiiferent signals. The work of the electric
currents' was also reduced to a minimum, slight devi-
ations of the needles being all that was necessary.

Proceeding on the principle that in all correct
telegraphing every signal made from one end should
be repeated back from the other, he adopted the plan
of exhibiting the signals, not in their direct transmis-
sion, but on their repetition, and by an arrangement
which allowed the signal-indicating apparatus to be
worked, not by the needles as before, but by the hand
of the receiver in the act of repetition.

The galvanometer needles were eight in number
(two in the circuit of each wire), and bore marks cor-
responding to keys, which, on being depressed, sent
positive or negative currents into their respective line
wires, and, at the same time, uncovered the letters,
figures, or signs with which they were in train.
Whenever, therefore, any of the needles were de-
flected, the receiver had only to depress the corre-
sponding keys, by which act he repeated the signal
back to the sending station, and uncovered the letter,

to the Year 1837.

475

figure, or sign which that signal was intended to
express.*

The following table shows all these signs and the
numbers of the keys which entered into their form-
ation : —

Signs.

A . ,

B . .
C .

D . ,

E . ,

F . .

G . .

H . ,

Keys.

Signs

1-4

I .

1-6

J •

1-8

K .

2"3

L .

2-S

M .

2-7

N .

3-6

0 .

3-8

P .

. . .

2-4"

Sig.
ER.
RE.
END.

2-S-8
2-6-7
3-5-8
3-6-7
3-6-8

4-S-7
4-S-8
4-6-7

Keys.

4-S

4-7

S-8

6-7

I-3-6

I-3-8

I-4-5
l'4'6
Z . .

I-3-S-8
I-3-6-7
I-3-6-8
1-4-S-7
r4-S-8
I-4-6-7
i-4"6-8

Signs.

Q .

R .

S .

T .

U .

V .

w.

X .

Keys.
I-4-7
I-4-8
I-6-8

2-3-S
2-3'6

2-3'7
2-3-8

2-4'S

2-3'5"7
2-3-S-8
2-3-6-7
2-3-6-8

2-4-S-7
2-4-5-8
2-4-6-7

Ponton added an alarum which was a very simple
affair, and recalls a somewhat similar one of Edward
Davy described on p. 357. An extra galvanometer
was placed in the circuit of one of the line wires, and
across its needle was placed a fine platinum wire,

* With a little practice this would have been found to be a work of
supererogation, for the operators would soon have come to know the
values of the deflections, without the need of reproducing them in
black and white. Again, it would soon have been found that four
galvanometers would suffice ; and thus the system would resolve itself
into a four-needle telegraph.

476 A History of Electric Telegraphy

which, normally, rested against a lucifer or other quick
match. Above the match was a thread holding back
the hammer of a bell or the detent of an alarum. To
sound the alarum the proper keys were held down for
a few seconds, the needle of the galvanometer was
deflected and carried the piece of platinum wire into
the flame of a spirit lamp ; then on reversing the
direction of the current in the line the red-hot wire
was suddenly brought in contact with the match,
which, igniting, burnt the string above it and so re-
leased the hammer of the bell or the detent of the
alarum.*

On the report of a committee an honorary silver
medal was awarded in December 1838 to Mr. Ponton
" for the ingenuity of his plans as manifested in the
working model which had been presented to the
Society."

* A supply of matches and strings would of course be necessary. In
the ordinary course of signalling, the platinum wire would often be in
the flame of the lamp, but never sufficiently long to be heated to the
point of igniting the match ; so that, as Ponton points out, there would
be small risk of unseasonable alarums. Ponton also suggested an alarum
by the direct action of a rather heavy galvanometer needle striking
against a bell when deflected by the current.

to the Year 1837. 477

CHAPTER XVII.

TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY {continued).

1837. — " Corpusculum's" Telegraph.
We copy the following letter from the Mechanics'
Magazine, for' December 30, 1837, P- 219 — a most
valuable work for all engaged in scientific research,
and to which we gratefully acknowledge ourselves
indebted : —

" Sir, — I first met with an account of Alexander's
telegraph last night in the Mechanics' Magazine, and
a very important improvement suggested itself, which
will render fifteen of the thirty-one wires unnecessary.
I see no reason why each of fifteen wires should not
represent two letters, thus ; let each of the letter
screens affixed to the movable magnets be wide
enough to cover two letters. Then the positive end
of the galvanic battery being connected with the
conducting wire, by a touch of the keys, the magnet
an \ screen will move in one direction and discover
one letter. The negative end of the battery being
then connected with the same wire, the magnet will
move in the contrary direction and discover the other
letter. There must of course be something fixed to
prevent the magnet going so far in either direction as

478 A History of Electric Telegraphy

to discover both letters. The returning wire connected
with all the other thirty (? fifteen), must, of course,
have its connection with the battery poles reversed,
at the same time as the lettered wire.

" Not having seen a model of the instrument, I am
in doubt whether the magnet would not, on returning
to its stationary position, want a contrivance to pre-
vent its oscillation ; I have, therefore, devised the
following plan which would perhaps be the best of
the two : — Let each wire act upon two magnets and
screens, one magnet and screen moving in one direc-
tion, but prevented from moving in the other as now.
The current of electricity if reversed, would, on
account of this prevention, not move this magnet and
screen in the opposite direction, but it would the
other magnet and screen, having a similar stop or
prevention, but placed on the other side of the pole.

" It seems many persons have formed designs for
telegraphs, I, too, formed mine, • and prepared a
specification of it five years ago, and that included
the plan of making one wire only serve for the
returning wire for all the rest, as in Alexander's
telegraph ; but even that might, I think, be dispensed
with where a good discharging train, as gas or water,
pipes, at each end of the telegraph could be obtained. I
wrote to the Admiralty at the time I mention on the
subject of my invention, but facilitating commercial
correspondence it seems was too contemptible a
subject for state philanthropy.

to the Year 1837. 479

" My telegraph was designed to print off its own
communications (and I think might be made to
convey hundreds in a minute) by means of a machine
I invented for rapidly writing in the common printing
characters, and which I wished to get some one to
join me in perfecting and patenting, but was unsuc-
cessful, as I have been in two or three other instances
in which others are now reaping the advantages which
I should have done myself, but for that infamous
plundering incubus upon talent, the English Patent
Laws. I think the following method might serve to
secure the poor man's patent without interfering with
the legal right of plunder. Let him have the liberty
of filing a specification (? sealed or open), which
should have the effect of preventing every other
person, and also himself, from deriving any benefit
from his invention, till the plunderers by legal
authority should have their ' pound of flesh.'

"This preliminary specification should enable the
inventor to take a patent for anything coming fairly
within its scope and spirit. It would enable him to
enter into a contract on fair terms with any person able
to bear the expense of a patent, which he cannot now
do without risk of being victimised, as I have lately had
reason to know to my cost. There is also a valuable
protection that I think might be extended to scientific,
as it is to literary, inventions. A man's play cannot
be exhibited to others without his sanction. There is
just as good reason why a working model of either a

480 A History of Electric Telegraphy

useful or pleasing piece of mechanism should be
protected from piracy. I may mention as an instance
(of which there are many others), that I am con-
structing a model twenty inches broad by twenty-four
long and twenty-four high, for a machine to produce
light by a succession of electric sparks. I have
completed one element which is, of itself, all but
sufficient to read by, and when the other elements
are complete, it will be certainly capable of being
thirty -two times as powerful, and not improbably
sixty or one hundred times. A larger one which I had
commenced (but which I fear will be too expensive for
me to complete, in the present unprotected state of
science) is eight feet, by four feet eight inches high,
and I calculate it would produce a million, and not
improbably many millions, of sparks of various colours
in a minute, and would give 100,000 moderate shocks,
or by (combination) 4000 or 5000 far too intense ' for
endurance, in the same short period.

" This would doubtless form a very excellent subject
for exhibition j but as any blockhead may imitate, I
have given up the thought, at least for the present.

" CORPUSCULUM.
"Decembers, 1837."

We have copied this letter in extenso, with all its
ambiguities, for two reasons, ist, because it is intrin-
sically interesting and valuable, and 2nd, in the hope

to the Year 1837. 481

that our doing so will afford a clue to some of our
readers who may wish to discover the true name of
the writer. The points of interest in this letter are : —
(i) The suggestion of a telegraph like Davy's.

(2) The suggestion of the earth circuit seven
months before Steinheil's accidental discovery of it,
and exactly as we use it to-day.

(3) The construction of a Roman type printing
telegraph in 1832.

(4) The suggestion of a patent law which was
subsequently passed, and of a law applicable to in-
struments, as copyright is to literary productions.

(5) A system of electric lighting — the light-giving
part to consist apparently of one or more vacuum
tubes, guardedly called " elements,'' no doubt, with
the object of misleading " pirates and blockheads."

1837. — Magrini's Telegraph.

The proposal that we have now to notice is one of
great merit, and resembles in some respects Cooke
and Wheatstone's five-needle, or Hatchment, telegraph
of 1837. It is the invention of Professor Luigi
Magrini, of Venice, and is described by him, at length,
in a brochure, which he published, at Venice, in 1838,
entitled Telegrafo Elettro-Magnetico, Praticabile a
Grandi Distanze. From an Appendix on pp. 85-6, it
appears that the first published account of this tele-
graph is that contained in the Gazzetta Privilegiata di

2 I

482 A History of Electric Telegraphy

Venezia, No. 189, of 23rd August, 1837;* but, as far
as we can discover, it was never tried on any extensive
scale. Had this been done, there can be no doubt
that it would have succeeded as well as the English
one, and we should have had the curious result of
seeing the simultaneous and independent establish-
ment in Italy and in England of electric telegraphs,
which are not only based on the same principles, but,
in some respects, are almost identical.

The signal apparatus consisted of a horizontal table,
one metre long, and sixty centimetres broad, into
which fitted three galvanometers as shown in the
Fig. 31. By means of two batteries of different
strengths, and a commutator, each needle was suscep-
tible of four movements, one weak and one strong to
the right, and one weak and one strong to the left.
These four positions indicated for each needle a
different letter which was suitably inscribed on the
board, or table. Thus, the letters appertaining to the
first galvanometer were A, B, C, D ; those of the
second, I, L, M, N ; and those of the third, S, T,
U,V.

In order to indicate all the other letters, the needles
were employed, two and two at a time ; F, for exam-
ple, corresponded to weak, right-handed deflections of
needles i and 2 ; H, to strong deflections of the same
two needles, and in the same direction ; O, to weak,

* In the Annales TiUgraphiques, for March-April 1882, p. 140, it is
said to date back to 1S32 ; but this is probably a misprint.

to the Year 1837.

483

left-handed deflections of the second and third
needles ; R, to strong deflections of the same needles,
but in the other, or right-handed direction ; and so
on for the rest.

Fig. 31.

Magrini employed six line wires, forming three
metallic circuits. At the sending station these dipped
into troughs of mercury placed on a table, and a
little above which was laid the commutating board
on short supports. This board, which for clearness
sake is shown in the Fig. 32, in a raised, or vertical,
position, carried, underneath, twenty-four glass rods,
in three rows of eight rods each. To the ends of each
rod were attached elastic strips of brass, terminating in
projecting pins of the same material, which could be
pushed downwards (by means of a handle affixed to
the centre of the rod and projecting through the top
face of the board) so as to dip into the mercury
troughs. The other ends of the elastic strips were
permanently connected, the one with the positive,

212

484 A History of Electric Telegraphy

and the other with the negative pole of one or other
of the batteries E, and E'. Taking, for example, the
first row of keys, or rods, on the left of the figure,
which, we will suppose, was connected to the first

Fig. 32.

galvanometer at the distant station, then the first
rod, at the top, was in connection with the poles of the
strong battery ; the second rod was connected to the
same battery, but in the reverse way to the first ; the
third and fourth rods were connected to the weak
battery in the same manner that the first and second
were to the strong. The remaining four rods were

to the Year 1837. 485

connected, rod for rod, like the last, that is to say, the
fifth was connected to the same battery as the first,
and in the same manner, the sixth like the second,
and so on.

Whenever, then, the first rod was depressed, a
current from the strong battery E, flowed out to line,
and circulating through the coils of the first galvano-
meter, produced a strong deflection of the needle
(say, to the left), and so pointed to the letter C. De-
pressing the second rod produced a strong deflection
of the same needle to the right, and so indicated D ;
and so on for all the rest. With regard to the last
four rods of each row they were used in pairs, one
from each row ; thus, when the fifth rods in the first
and second rows were depressed, the needles of the
first and second galvanometers were strongly deflected
to the left, and indicated the letter G ; while depress-
ing the last rods of the second and third rows
produced feeble deflections to the right of the second
and third galvanometers, and indicated P.

It is easy to see that all these combinations could
be obtained by making use of the first four rods of
each row, but it was no doubt in order to avoid all
chance of confusion that the inventor introduced
spepial ones for this purpose.

Magrini added an alarum whose construction will be
seen from the accompanying Fig. 33 ; the bar m, 0, n,
was so balanced that in its normal state its hammer
m, rested against the bell. When it was required to

486 A History of Electric Telegraphy

attract attention a current was set up in the electro-
magnet a, b, c, which brought down the soft iron
armature F, G ; then by means of a pole-reversing
arrangement Q, S, the direction of the current in

Fig. 33.

a, b, c, was altered. Owing to the residual magnetism
in F, G, the first effect of this inversion of current was
to repel the armature, then immediately after to
attract it afresh. At each reversal, therefore, of the
current the hammer m, clicked against the bell and
produced a tinkling sound.

1837. — Straiingh's Telegraphs,

These aim no higher than to be lecture-room
demonstrations of the possibility of an electric tele-
graph, and coming as they do at a time when not

to the Year 1837. 487

only the possibility, but the practicability of this mode
of communication was completely established, they
would not deserve notice, were it not that they contain
the suggestion of a contrivance which, we believe, to be
of great practical utility in the construction of relays,
and electro-magnets generally, and which, in this con-
viction, we utilised in our patent of February 3, 1876.*
On p. 3 of our Provisional Specification we say : —

" I will now describe the second part of the invention,
which relates to improvements whereby the ordinary
unpolarised relay, or electro-magnet, is rendered sus-
ceptible of great sensibility both for duplex and for
single transmission. This is done for duplex by so
utilising the local current, which the working of the
relay brings into play at certain times, that the arma-
ture, at these times, is itself an electro-magnet and
opposes the attraction subsisting between its poles and
those of the coils to the pulling force of the spring, so
that, if need be, the magnetism of the coils has only to
overcome the inertia of the lever, and not the force of
the spring as well ; and for single working by making
the counteracting springs parts of the local battery
circuits and placing within them cylindrical bar-
magnets or bars of soft iron."

As will presently be seen (p. 490), the words that

* No. 433. "Improvements in Electric Telegraphs, comprising an
Improved System of Duplex Working, and an Improved Relay or
Electro-Magnet, the principle of which may also be used in any
Instrument or Contrivance where Relays or Electro-Magnets with
Counteracting Springs are employed."

488 A History 0/ Electric Telegraphy

we have italicised in the above extract are but the (of
course unconscious) realisation of a suggestion made
by Professor Stratingh nearly forty years before.

For the following account of Stratingh's telegraphs
we are indebted to Mr. J. M. CoUette, engineer of th6
Netherlands telegraphs.

" To Mr. J. J. Fahie, London,

" The Hague, April 28, 1883.

" Sir, — In reply to your letter of 17th instant, I
have the honour to inform you that the late Mr.
Stratingh, professor in the University of Groninque,
published his article, " lets over eenen Electro-
Magnetischen Klokken-Telegraaf" (On an Electro-
Magnetic Acoustic Telegraph), in the Journal for the
Encouragement of Industry* for 1838.

" I send you a copy of the woodcut, Fig. 34, which
accompanied the description of his apparatus. The
latter consisted of two electro-magnets of the horse-
shoe form, two levers, each having at one end an
armature, and at the other a small hammer, and two
bells, or gongs, of different tones. It is evident that
when a current passed, for example, through the coil
i, the armature e, would be attracted, and the hammer
attached to the other end of the lever would descend
and strike the bell h. To prevent the sticking of the
armature it was provided on its under surface with a
thin plate of ivory. The ordinary clockwork alarum
0, d, 0", 0"', was intended to warn the attendant of the,
* T'ydschrift ter bevordering van Nyverheid, vol. v. part 2.

to the Year 1837.

489

coming of a despatch. The armature e, in ascending
released the detent q, and so set the wheel work in
motion.

Fig. 34.

" The current was produced by a pair v, composed
of a copper cylinder containing acidulated water, in
which was plunged when required another cylinder
of zinc. Wires from the copper and zinc poles dipped
into little cups of mercury, into which were also
plunged as required the terminal wires of the electro-
magnets.

" In the above-mentioned paper Professor Stratingh
, stated that experiments made with this apparatus
before the Physical Society of Groninque succeeded
perfectly through twenty metres of line wire, but that
when the distance was increased to one hundred
metres the results were not so good, the current then
proving to be insufficient.

490 A History of Electric Telegraphy

" It would seem that the Professor did not continue
his experiments. He was content with describing his
plans ' for what they were worth,' and added that
better results would probably be obtained (i), by in-
creasing the force of the battery ; (2), by employing
insulated wires ; (3), by the use of thicker wires ;
(4), by more delicately suspending the levers, &c. He
even remarked that he had surrounded the armatures
with covered wire in such a way that the current in
circulating through this wire and through the coil i,
should produce opposite poles in the contiguous parts
of the armature and electro-magnet, which would make
the attraction stronger.

Fis. 35.

" In continuation of these experiments the Professor
made and tried an acoustic apparatus of a simpler
construction. This, as represented in Fig. 35, con-
sisted of a stand a, supporting a copper biand k, U,
bent on itself and holding cups of mercury into
which dipped the wires coming from the electromotor.
Within the band h, K, was pivoted a bar magnev d,

to the Year 1837. 491

which, when deflected to one side or the other, struck
one of the bells e, or ^'. Instead of the simple band
of copper, Schweigger's multiplier coil could be used.

"As electromotor Stratingh employed a magneto-
electric arrangement, consisting of a helix g, g', and a
bar magnet f. By introducing/, into^, ^', first from
one side and then from the other, he caused the needle
d, to be deflected, and so to strike the bell e, or e', as
required.

" The above, dear Sir, is the substance of Mr. Stra-
tingh's paper, and I hope it will be sufficient for your
purpose.

" Receive, &c.,

" COLLETTE."
1837. — Amyot's Telegraph.

For much the same reason that we have noticed
Stratingh's crude proposals, we must say a few words
on another plan which dates from about the same
time, and which, if we comprehend it rightly, must be
regarded as the first automatic telegraph. Unfortu-
nately, we know very little of Amyot's plans — no
more, in fact, than is contained in the foUov/ing para-
graph which we extract from his Note Historique,
in the Compte Rendu * : —

" As for myself, after having studied the problem [of

* For July 9, 1838, pp. 80-3. The yournal des Travaux de
PAcadhnie de V Industrie Fratifaise, for March 1839, p. 43, says that
Amyot's note was addressed to the Academy of Sciences in April
1838 ; but the date of his telegraph appears to be still earlier, for it is
Teferred to in the Compte Rendu, for December 26, 1837, p. gog.

492. A History of Electric Telegraphy

electric telegraphy] as thoroughly as I could, I con-
trived an apparatus, with only one current and one
needle, which itself wrote down on paper and with
mathematical precision whatever a simple wheel
[drum] at the distant end of the line transmitted.
The signals were previously arranged on the wheel by
means of points differently spaced, as on the wheels
of our Barbary organs, and, as in these, the motion of
the wheel was obtained from an ordinary clock
spring. To transmit a despatch it was only neces-
sary to set it up on the wheel by means of movable
characters [types], and to deposit it in a box, and
immediately it would be reproduced at the distant
station on paper which was moved along regularly by
a machine. The attendant had only to collect the
paper and hand it to an employi who was specially
charged with the interpretation of the ciphers. With
such an apparatus no errors could possibly occur, for
everything went like clockwork.

" As regards the conducting wires, it would suffice
to put them out of the way of oxydation, by burying
them in the earth, having previously coated them with
a simple varnish of mineral pitch.

" I have communicated all my ideas on this subject
to M. Savary, who has not only encouraged me in my
experiments, but has assisted me with his great
scientific knowledge."

, M. Guerout says that Amyot made a model of his
machine at the request of Baron de Meyendorff, who

to the Year 1837. 493

sent it to St. Petersburg,* and that he vainly urged its
adoption in his own country. M. Foy, the Sir John
Barrow of the French semaphores, decided that the
invention was public property, and that his depart-
ment would make the instruments for itself when it
was deemed necessary to do so.f

* From a passage in Vail's American Electro- Magnetic Telegraph,
p. 91, it would seem that in 1838 Amyot joined Morse in an attempt
to introduce the latter's invention into Russia, Everything had been
settled vfith Baron de Meyendorff, but at the last moment the Emperor
refused his sanction. Why ? See note p. 317.

t La Lumih-e Electrique, March 24, 1883, p. 364. In the Compte
i?^«(/a, for December 31, 1838, p. 1 162, vfe find the foUowring para-
graph:— "M. Amyot, who had presented in the month of June
[? December 1837] a note on it plan of correspondence by means of
electric telegraphs, addressed to-day tables on a language and a system
of signals which he proposed to be used in connection with this
correspondence."

( 495 )

APPENDIX A.

We make the following extracts from the Smithsonian
Reports, for 1857 and 1858 : —

Communication from Professor Joseph Henry, Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution, relative to a Publication by
S. F. B. Morse.

" Gentlemen, — In the discharge of the important and respon-
sible duties which devolve upon me as Secretary of the Smith-
sonian Institution, I have found myself exposed, like other men
in public positions, to unprovoked attack and injurious mis-
representation. Many instances of this, it may be remembered,
occurred about two years ago, during the discussions relative to
the organic policy of the Institution ; but, though very unjust,
they were suffered to pass unnoticed, and generally made, I
presume, no lasting impression on the public mind.

" During the same controversy, however, there was one attack
made upon me of such a nature, so elaborately prepared and
widely circulated, . by my opponents, that, though I have not
yet publicly noticed it, I have, from the first, thought it my
duty not to allow it to go unanswered. I allude to an article in
a periodical entitled ' Shaffner's Telegraph Companion,' from
the pen of Professor S. F. B. Morse, the celebrated inventor of the
American electro-magnetic telegraph. In this, not my scientific
reputation merely, but my moral character was pointedly
assailed; indeed, nothing less was attempted than to prove that
in the testimony which I had given in a case where I was
at most but a reluctant witness, I had consciously and wilfully

496 Appendix A.

deviated from the truth, and this, too, from unworthy and
dishonourable motives.

" Such a charge, coming from such a quarter, appeared to
me then, as it appears now, of too grave a character and too
serious a consequence to be withheld from the notice of the
Board of Regents. I, therefore, presented the matter unofficially
to the Chancellor of the Institution, Chief Justice Taney, and
was advised by him to allow the matter to rest until the then
existing excitement with respect to the organisation of the
Institution should subside, and that in the meantime the
materials for a refutation of the charge might be collected and
prepared, to be brought forward at the proper time, if I should
think it necessary.

"The article of Mr. Morse was published in 1855, but at the
session of the Board in 1856 I was not prepared to present the
case properly to your consideration, and I now (1857) embrace
the first opportunity of bringing the subject officially to your
notice, and asking from you an investigation into the justice of
the charges alleged against me. And this I do most earnestly,
with the desire that when we shall all have passed from this
stage of being, no imputation of having attempted to evade in
silence so grave a charge shall rest on mej nor on you, of
having continued to devolve upon me duties of the highest
responsibility, after that was known to some of you individually,
which, if true, should render me entirely unworthy of your
confidence. Duty to the Board of Regents, as well as regard to
my own memory, to my family, and to the truth of history,
demands that I should lay this matter before you, and place in
your hands the documents necessary to establish the veracity of
my testimony, so falsely impeached, and the integrity of my
motives, so wantonly assailed.

" My life, as is known to you, has been principally devoted to
science, and niy investigations in different branches of physics
have given me some reputation in the line of original discovery.
I have sought, however, no patent for inventions, and solicited
no remuneration for my labours, but have freely given their
results to the world, expecting only, in return, to enjoy the

Appendix A. 497

consciousness of having added, by my investigations, to the
sum of human knowledge, and to receive the credit to which
they might justly entitle me.

" I commenced my scientific career about the year 1828, with
a series of experiments in electricity, which were continued at
intervals up to the period of my being honoured by election to
the office of Secretary of this Institution. The object of my
researches was the advancement of science, without any special
or immediate reference to its application to the wants of life or
useful purposes in the arts. It is true, nevertheless, that some
of my earlier investigations had an important bearing on the
electro-magnetic telegraph, and brought the science to that
point of development at which it was immediately applicable to
Mr. Morse's particular invention.

" In 1 83 1 I published a brief account of these researches, in
which I drew attention to the fact of their applicability to the
telegraph; and in 1832, and subsequently, I exhibited experi-
ments illustrative of the application of the electro-magnet to the
transmission of power to a distance, for producing telegraphic
and other effects. The results I had published were com-
municated to Mr. Morse, by his scientific assistant. Dr. Gale,
as will be shown on the evidence of the latter ; and the facts
which I had discovered were promptly applied in rendering
effective the operation of his machine.

" In the latter part of 1837 I became personally acquainted
with Mr. Morse, and at that time, and afterwards, freely gave
him information in regard to the scientific principles which had
been the subject of my investigations. After his return from
Europe, in 1839, our intercourse was renewed, and continued
uninterrupted till 1845. In that year, Mr. Vail, a partner and
assistant of Mr. Morse, pubhshed a work purporting to be a
history of the Telegraph, in which I conceived manifest injustice
was done me. I complained of this to a mutual friend, and
subsequently received an assurance from Mr. Morse that if
another edition were published, all just ground of complaint
should be removed. A new emission of the work, however,
shortly afterwards appeared, without change in this respect, or

2 K

498 Appendix A.

further reference to my labours. Still I made no public com-
plaint, and set up no claims on account of the telegraph. I was
content that my published researches should remain as material
for the history of science, and be pronounced upon, according
to their true value, by the scientific world.

" After this, a series of controversies and lawsuits having arisen
between rival claimants for telegraphic patents, I was repeatedly
appealed to, to act as expert and witness in such cases. This I
uniformly declined to do, not wishing to be in any manner
involved in these litigations, but was finally compelled, under
legal process, to return to Boston from Maine, whither I had gone
on a visit, and to give evidence on the subject. My testimony
was given with the statement that I was not a willing witness
and that I laboured under the disadvantage of not having access
to my notes and papers, which were in Washington. That
testimony, however, I now reaffirm to be true in every essential
particular. It was unimpeached before the court, and exercised
an influence on the final decision of the question at issue.

" I was called upon on that occasion to state, not only what I
had published, but what I had done, and what I had shown
to others in regard to the telegraph. It was my wish, in every
statement, to render Mr. Morse full and scrupulous justice.
While I was constrained, therefore, to state that he had made no
discoveries in science, I distinctly declared that he was entitled
to the merit of combining and applying the discoveries of others,
in the invention of the best practical form of the magnetic tele-
graph. My testimony tended to establish the fact that, though
not entitled to the exclusive use of the electro-magnet for tele-
graphic purposes, he was entitled to his particular machine,
register, alphabet, &c. As this, however, did not meet the full
requirements of Mr. Morse's comprehensive claim, I could not
but be aware that, while aiming to depose nothing but truth and
the whole truth, and while so doing being obliged to speak of my
own discoveries, and to allude to the omissions in Mr. Vail's
book, I might expose myself to the possible, and, as it has
proved, the actual, danger of having my motives misconstrued
and my testimony misrepresented. But I can truly aver, in

Appendix A. 499

accordance with the statement of the counsel, Mr. Chase (now
Governor of Ohio), that I had no desire to arrogate to myself
undue merit, or to detract from the just claims of Mr. Morse.

" I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,

"Joseph Henry.
« To the Board of Regents."

Report of the Special Committee of the Board of Regents on the
Communication of Professor Henry.

"Washington, May 19, 1858.

" Professor Henry laid before the Board of Regents of the
Smithsonian Institution a communication relative to an article
in Shaffner's Telegraph Companion, bearing the signature of
Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the American electro-
magnetic telegraph. In this article serious charges are brought
against Professor Henry, bearing upon his scientific reputation
and his moral character. The whole matter having been
referred to a committee of the Board, with instructions to report
on the same, the committee have attended to the duty assigned
to them, and now submit the following brief report, with resolu-
tions accompanying it.

" The committee have carefully examined the documents
relating to the subject, and especially the article to which the
communication of Professor Henry refers. This article occupies
over ninety pages, filling an entire number of Shaffner's Journal,
and purports to be 'a defence against the injurious deductions
drawn from the deposition of Professor Joseph Henry (in the
several telegraph suits), with a critical review of said deposition,
and an examination of Professor Henry's alleged discoveries
bearing upon the electro-magnetic telegraph.'

" The first thing which strikes the reader of this article is,
that its title is a misnomer. It is simply an assault upon
Professor Henry ; an attempt to disparage his character ; to
deprive him of his honours as a scientific discoverer; to

2 K 2

500 Appendix A.

impeach his credibility as a witness and his integrity as a man.
It is a disingenuous piece of sophistical argument, such as an
unscrupulous advocate might employ to pervert the truth,
misrepresent the facts, and misinterpret the language in which
the facts belonging to the other side of the case are stated.

" Mr. Morse charges that the deposition of Professor Henry
' contains imputations against his (Morse's) personal character,'
which it does not, and assumes it as a duty ' to expose the utter
non-reliability of Professor Henry's testimony ;' that testimony
being supported by the most competent authorities, and by the
history of scientific discovery. He asserts that he 'is not
indebted to him (Professor Henry) for any discovery in science
bearing on the telegraph,' he having himself acknowledged such
indebtedness in the most unequivocal manner, and the fact
being independently substantiated by the testimony of Sears C.
Walker, and the statement of Mr. Morse's own associate.
Dr. Gale. Mr. Morse further maintains, that all discoveries
bearing upon the telegraph, were made, not by Professor Henry,
but by others, and prior to any experiments of Professor Henry
in the science of electro-magnetism; contradicting in this
proposition the facts in the history of scientific discovery per-
fectly established and recognised throughout the scientific
world.

" The essence of the charges against Professor Henry is, that
he gave false testimony in his deposition in the telegraph cases,
and that he has claimed the credit of discoveries in the
Sciences bearing upon the electro-magnetic telegraph which
were made by previous investigators ; in other words, that he
Has falsely claimed what does not belong to him, but does
belong to others.

" Professor Henry, as a private man, might safely have allowed
such charges to pass in silence. But standing in the important
position which he occupies, as the chief executive officer of the
Smithsonian Institution; and regarding the charges as un-
doubtedly containing an impeachment of his moral character,
as well as of his scientific reputation ; and justly sensitive, not
only for his own honour, but for the honour of the Institution,

Appendix A. 501

be has a right to ask this Board to consider the subject, and to
make their conclusions a matter of record, which may be
appealed to hereafter should any question arise with regard to
his conduct in the premises.

" Your committee do not conceive it to be necessary to follow
Mr. Morse through all the details of his elaborate attack.
Fortunately, a plain statement of a few leading facts will be
sufficient to place the essential points of the case in a clear
light.

" The deposition already referred to was reluctantly given,
and under the compulsion of legal process, by Professor Henry,
before the Hon. George S. Hillard, United States Commissioner,
on the 7th of September, 1849.

* « :f; « 4: :fe

" Previous to this deposition, Mr. Morse, as appears from his
own letters and statements, entertained for Professor Henry the
warmest feelings of personal regard, and the highest esteem for
his character as a scientific man. In a letter, dated April 24,
1839, he thanks Professor Henry for a copy of his 'valuable
contributions,' and says, ' I perceive many things (in the con-
tributions) of great interest to me in my telegraphic enterprise,'
Again, in the same letter, speaking of an intended visit to the
Professor at Princeton, he says : ' I should come as a learner,
and could bring no ' contributions ' to your stock of experiments
of any value.' And still further : ' I think that you have
pursued an original course of experiments, and discovered facts
more immediately bearing upon my invention than any that have
been published abroad.'

" It appears from Mr. Morse's own statement, that he had at
least two interviews with Professor Henry — one in May 1839,
when he passed the afternoon and night with him, at Princeton ;
and another in February 1844 — both of them for the purpose of
conferring with him on subjects relating to the telegraph, and
evidently with the conviction, on Mr. Morse's part, that Pro-
fessor Henry's investigations were of great importance to the
success of the telegraph.

" As late as 1846, after Mr. Morse had learned that some dis.

502 Appendix A.

satisfaction existed in Professor Henry's mind in regard to the
manner in which his researches in electricity had been passed
over by Mr. Vail, an assistant of Mr. Morse, and the author of
a history of the American magnetic telegraph, Mr. Morse, in an
interview with Professor Henry, at Washington, said, according
to his own account, 'Well, Professor Henry, I will take the
earliest opportunity that is afforded me in anything I may
publish, to have justice done to your labours ; for I do not think
that justice has been done you, either in Europe or this country.'

" Again, in 1848, when Professor Walker, of the Coast Survey,
made his report on the theory of Morse's electro-magnetic tele-
graph, in which the expression occurred, 'the helix of a soft
iron magnet, prepared after the manner first pointed out by
Professor Henry,' Mr. Morse, to whom the report was submitted,
said : ' I have now the long-wished-for opportunity to do justice
publicly to Henry's discovery bearing on the telegraph.' And
in a note prepared by him, and intended to be printed with
Professor Walker's report, he says : ' The allusion you make
to the helix of a soft iron magnet, prepared after the manner
first pointed out by Professor Henry, gives me an opportunity,
of which I gladly avail myself, to say that I think that justice
has not yet been done to Professor Henry, either in Europe
or in this country, for the discovery of a scientific fact, which,
in its bearing on telegraphs, whether of the magnetic needle or
electro-magnet order, is of the greatest importance.'

"He then proceeds to give an historical synopsis, showing that,
although suggestions had been made and plans devised by
Soemmering, in 181 1, and by Ampfere, in 1820, yet that the experi-
ments of Barlow, in 1824, had led that investigator to pronounce
' the idea of an electric telegraph to be chimerical ' — an opinion
that was, for the time, acquiesced in by scientific men. He
shows that, in the interval between 1824 and 1829, no further
suggestions were made on the subject of electric telegraphs.
Then he proceeds : 'In 1830, Professor Henry, assisted by Dr.
Ten Eyck, while engaged in experiments on the application of the
principle of the galvanic multiplier to the development of great
magnetic power in soft iron, made the important discovery that

Appendix A. ' 503

a battery of intensity overcame that resistance in a long wire
which Barlow had announced as an insuperable bar to the
construction of electric telegraphs. Thus was opened the way
for fresh efforts in devising a practicable electric telegraph ; and
Baron Schilling, in 1832, and Professors Gauss and Weber, in
1833, had ample opportunity to learn of Henry's discovery,
and avail themselves of it, before they constructed their needle
telegraphs.' And, while claiming for himself that he was ' the
first to propose the use of the electro-magnet for telegraphic
purposes, and the first to construct a telegraph on the basis of
the electro-magnet,' yet he adds, ' to Professor Henry is un-
questionably due the honour of the discovery of a principle
which proves the practicability of exciting magnetism through
a long coil, or at a distance, either to deflect a needle or to
magnetise soft iron.'

" What Mr. Morse here describes as a ' principle,' the dis-
covery of which is unquestionably due to Professor Henry, is
the law which first made it possible to work the telegraphic
machine invented by Mr. Morse, and for the knowledge of
which Mr. Morse was indebted to Professor Henry, as is posi-
tively asserted by his associate. Dr. Gale. This gentleman, in
a letter, dated Washington, April 7, 1856, makes the following
conclusive statement : —

'"Washington, D. C, April 7, 1856.

" ' Sir, — In reply to your note of the 3rd instant, respecting the
Morse telegraph, asking me to state definitely the condition of
the invention when I first saw the apparatus in the winter of
1836, I answer : This apparatus was Morse's original instru-
ment, usually known as the type apparatus, in which the types,
set up in a composing stick, were run through a circuit breaker,
and in which the battery was the cylinder battery, with a single
pair of plates. This arrangement also had another peculiarity,
namely, it was the electro-magnet used by Moll, and shown in
drawings of the older works on that subject, having only a few
turns of wire in the coil which surrounded the poles or arms of
the magnet. The sparseness of the wires in the magnet coils

504 Appendix A.

and the use of the single cup battery were to me, on the first
look at the instrument, obvious marks of defect, and I accord-
ingly suggested to the Professor, without giving my reasons for
so doing, that a battery of many pairs should be substituted for
that of a single pair, and that the coil on each arm of the
magnet should be increased to many hundred turns each ;
which experiment, if I remember aright, was made on the same
day with a battery and wire on hand, furnished I believe by
myself, and it was found that while the original arrangement
would only send the electric current through a few feet of wire, say
fifteen to forty, the modified arrangement would send it through
as many hundred. Although I gave no reasons at the time to
Professor Morse for the suggestions I had proposed in modify-
ing the arrangement of the machine, I did so afterwards, and
referred in my explanations to the paper of Professor Henry, in
the nineteenth volume of the American Journal of Science, p. 400
and onward. It was to these suggestions of mine that Professor
Morse alludes in his testimony before the Circuit Court for the
eastern district of Pennsylvania, in the trial of B. B. French and
others v. Rogers and others. — See printed copy of Com-
plainant's Evidence, p. 168, beginning with the words ' Early
in 1836 I procured 40 feet of wire,' &c., and p. 169, where
Professor Morse alludes to myself and compensation for services
rendered to him, &c.

" ' At the time I gave the suggestions above named. Pro-
fessor Morse was not famiUar with the then existing state
of the science of electro-magnetism. Had he been so, or had
he read and appreciated the paper of Henry, the suggestions
made by me would naturally have occurred to his mind as they
did to my own. But the principal part of Morse's great
invention lay in the mechanical adaptation of a power to
produce motion, and to increase or relax at will. It was only
necessary for him to know that such a power existed for him
to adapt mechanism to direct and control it.

" ' My suggestions were made to Professor Morse from
inferences drawn by reading Professor Henry's paper above
alluded to. Professor Morse professed great surprise at the

Appendix A. 505

contents of the paper when I showed it to him, but especially at
the remarks on Dr. Barlow's results respecting telegraphing,
which were new to him, and he stated at the time that he was
not aware that any one had even conceived the idea of using the
magnet for such purposes.

" ' With sentiments of esteem, I remain, yours truly,

'"L. D. Dalk.
" ' Prof. Jos. Henry,

" ' Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.'

" It thus appears, both from Mr. Morse's own admission
down to 1848, and from the testimony of others most famihkr
with the facts, that Professor Henry discovered the law, or
' principle,' as Mr. Morse designates it, which was necessary to
make the practical working of the electro-magnetic telegraph at
considerable distances possible; that Mr. Morse was first
informed of this discovery by Dr. Gale ; that he availed himself
of it at once, and that it never occurred to Mr. Morse to deny
this fact until after 1848. He had steadily and fully acknow-
ledged the merits and genius of Mr. Henry, as the discoverer
of facts and laws in science of the highest importance in the
success of his long-cherished invention of a magnetic telegraph.
Mr. Henry was the discoverer of a principle, Mr. Morse was
the inventor of a machine, the object of which was to record
characters at a distance, to convey inteUigence, in other words,
to carry into execution the idea of an electric telegraph. But
there were obstacles in the way which he could not overcome
until he learned the discoveries of Professor Henry, and applied
them to his machine. These facts are undeniable. They
constitute a part of the history of science and invention. They
were true in 1848, they were equally true in 1855, when Professor
Morse's article was published.

******

" What changed Mr. Morse's opinion of Professor Henry, not
only as a scientific investigator, but as a man of integrity, after
the admissions of his indebtedness to his researches, and the oft-

5o6 Appendix A.

repeated expressions of warm personal regard ? It appears
that Mr. Morse was involved in a number of lawsuits, growing
out of contested claims to the right of using electricity for
telegraphic purposes. The circumstances under which Professor
Henry, as a well-known investigator in this department of
physics, was summoned by one of the parties to testify have
already been stated. The testimony of Mr. Henry, while sup-
porting the claims of Mr. Morse as the inventor of an admirable
invention, denied to him the additional merit of being a dis-
coverer of new facts or laws of nature, and to this extent,
perhaps, was considered unfavourable to some part of the claim
of Mr. Morse to an exclusive right to employ the electro-magnet
for telegraphic purposes. Professor Henry's deposition consists
of a series of answers to verbal, as well as written, interrogatories
propounded to him, which were not limited to his published
writings, or the subject of electricity, but extended to investiga-
tions and discoveries in general having a bearing upon the electric
telegraph. He gave his testimony at a distance from his notes
and manuscripts, and it would not have been surprising if in-
accuracies had occurred in some parts of his statement ; but all
the material points in it are sustained by independent testimony,
and that portion which relates directly to Mr. Morse agrees
entirely with the statement of his own assistant. Dr. Gale. Had
his deposition been objectionable, it ought to have been impeached
before the Court ; but this was not attempted ; and the following
tribute to Professor Henry by the Judge, in delivering the opinion
of the Supreme Court of the United States, indicates the im-
pression made upon the Court itself by all the testimony in the
case : ' It is due to him to say that no one has contributed more
to enlarge the knowledge of electro-magnetism, and to lay the
foundations of the great inventions of which we are speaking,
than the Professor himself.'

" Professor Henry's answers to the first and second interroga-
tories present a condensed history of the progress of the science
of electro-magnetism, as connected with telegraphic com-
munication, embracing an account of the discoveries of Oersted,
Arago, Da\'y, Ampfere ; of the investigations by Barlow and

Appendix A. 507

Sturgeon ; of his own researches, commenced in 1828, and con-
tinued in 1829, 1830, and subsequently. The details of his
experiments and their results, though brief, are very precise.
There is abundant evidence to show that Professor Henry's ex-
periments and illustrations at Albany [in 1831], and subsequently
at Princeton, proved, and were declared at the time by him to
prove, that the electric telegraph was now practicable ; that the
electro-magnet might be used to produce mechanical effects at a
distance adequate to making signals of various kinds, such as
ringing bells, which he practically illustrated. In proof of this,
we quote a letter to Professor Henry, from Professor James Hall,
of Albany, late president of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science.

" ' January ig, 1856.

" ' Dear Sir,— While a student of the Rensselaer School, in
Troy, New York, in August 1832, I visited Albany with a friend,
having a letter of introduction to you from Professor Eaton.
Our principal object was to see your electro-magnetic apparatus,
of which we had heard much, and at the same time the library
and collections of the Albany Institute.

" ' You showed us your laboratory in a lower story or base
ment of the building, and in a larger room in an upper story some
electric and galvanic apparatus, with various philosophical in-
struments. In this room, and extending around the same, was
a circuit of wire stretched along the wall, and at one termination
of this, in the recess of a window, a bell was fixed, while the other
extremity was connected with a galvanic apparatus.

" ' You showed us the manner in which the bell could be made
to ring by a current of electricity, transmitted through this wire,
and you remarked that this method might be adopted for giving
signals, by the ringing of a bell at the distance of many miles
from the point of its connection with the galvanic apparatus.

" ' AU the circumstances attending this visit to Albany are fresh
in my recollection, and during the past years, while so much has
been said respecting the invention of electric telegraphs, I have
often had occasion to mention the exhibition of your electric
telegraph in the Albany Academy, in 1832.

5o8 Appendix A.

" ' If at any time or under any circumstances this statement
can be of service to you in substantiating your claim to such a dis-
covery at the period named, you are at liberty to use it in any
manner you please, and I shall be ready at all times to repeat
and sustain what I have here stated, with many other attendant
circumstances, should they prove of any importance.

" ' I remain, very sincerely and respectfully, yours,

"'James Hall.*
" ' Professor Joseph Henry.'

" In his deposition, Professor Henry's statements are within
what he might fairly have claimed. But he is a man of science,
looking for no other reward than the consciousness of having
done something for its promotion, and the reputation which the
successful prosecution of scientific investigations and discoveries
may justly be expected to give. In his public lectures and
published writings he has often pointed out incidentally the,
possibility of applying the facts and laws of nature discovered
by him to practical purposes ; he has freely communicated
information to those who have sought it from him, among whom

* In the American telegraph suit, Smith v. Downing, Oliver B)mie
gave evidence as follows : —

" In the year 1830, I attended the public lectures of Abraham Booth
(afterward scientific reporter for The Times newspaper, and who
became Dr. Booth), delivered in Dublin, among other subjects, on
electricity and electro-magnetism. In said lectures, the said Booth, in
my presence, used in combination a long circuit of insulated wire con-
ductors, a galvanic battery, an electro-magnet with an armature and
mercury cups to join and disjoin the circuit, with which he magnetised
and demagnetised the iron of the electro-magnet, causing it to attract
the armature when the circuit was joined, and to recede from it [allow
it to fall away] when disjoined. Mr. Booth, at that time, stated to his
audiences that that power could be produced and used at distant places,
as signs of information ; and he repeatedly illustrated what he meant,
by causing the armature to approach the magnet, and then to fall from
it on the floor, stating at the same time that it made marks by so
falling." — Jones' Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph, &c.. New
York, 1852, p. 32.

Appendix A. 509

has been Mr. Morse himself, as appears by his own acknowledg-
ments. But he has never applied his scientific discoveries to
practical ends for his own pecuniary benefit. It was natural,
therefore, that he should feel a repugnance to taking any part in
the litigation between rival inventors, and it was inevitable that,
when forced to give his testimony, he should distinctly point out
what was so clear in his own mind and is so fundamental a fact
in the history of human progress, the distinctive functions of
the discoverer, and the inventor who applies discoveries to
practical purposes in the business of life.

" Mr. Henry has always done full justice to the invention of
Mr. Morse. While he could not sanction the claim of Mr.
Morse to the exclusive use of the electro-magnet, he has given
him full credit for the mechanical contrivances adapted to the
application of his invention. In proof of this we refer to his
deposition, and present also the following statement of Hon.
Charles Mason, Commissioner of Patents, taken from a letter
addressed by him to Professor Henry, dated March 31, 1856: —

" ' U.S. Patent Office, March 31, 1856.

" ' Sir, — Agreeably to your request, I now make the following
statement :

" ' Some two years since, when an application was made for
an extension of Professor Morse's patent, I was for some time in
doubt as to the propriety of making that extension. Under
these circumstances I consulted with several persons, and
among others with yourself, with a view particularly to ascertain
the amount of invention fairly due to Professor Morse.

" ' The result of my inquiries was such as to induce me to grant
the extension. I will further say that this was in accordance
with your express recommendation, and that I was probably
more influenced by this recommendation and the information I
obtained from you, than by any other circumstance, in coming
to that conclusion.

" ' I am, Sir, yours very respectfully,

'"Charles Mason.
" ' Professor J. Henry.'

5 10 Appendix A .

" To sum up the result of the preceding investigation in a few
words.

" We have shown that Mr. Morse himself has acknowledged
the value of the discoveries of Professor Henry to his electric
telegraph ; that his associate and scientific assistant, Dr. Gale,
has distinctly affirmed that these discoveries were applied to his
telegraph, and that previous to such application it was im-
possible for Mr. Morse to operate his instrument at a distance;
that Professor Henry's experiments were witnessed by Professor
Hall and others in 1832, and that these experiments showed the
possibility of transmitting to a distance a force capable of pro-
ducing mechanical effects adequate to making telegraphic
signals ; that Mr. Henry's deposition of 1849, which evidently
furnished the motive for Mr. Morse's attack upon him, is strictly
correct in all the historical details, and that, so far as it relates
to Mr. Henry's own claim as a discoverer, is within what he might
have claimed with entire justice ; that he gave the deposition
reluctantly, and in no spirit of hostility to Mr. Morse ; that on
that and other occasions he fully admitted the merit of Mr.
Morse as an inventor ; and that Mr. Morse's patent was ex-
tended through the influence of the favourable opinion expressed
by Professor Henry.

" Your committee come unhesitatingly to the conclusion that
Mr. Morse has failed to substantiate any one of the charges he
has made against Professor Henry, although the burden of proof
lay upon him ; and that all the evidence, including the imbiassed
admissions of Mr. Morse himself, is on the other side. Mr.
Morse's charges not only remain unproved, but they are posi-
tively disproved."

Extract from Professor Henry's evidence in the
Telegraph suit of Morse v. O'Reilly, Boston, Sep-
tember, 1 849 : —

" In February 1837, I went to Europe ; and early in April of
that year Professor Wheatstone, of London, in the course of a
visit to him in King's College, London, with Professor Bache,
now of the Coast Survey, explained to us his plans of an electro-

Appendix A. 511

magnetic telegraph ; and, among other things, exhibited to us
his method of bringing into action a second galvanic circuit.
This consisted in closing the second circuit by the deflection of
a needle, so placed that the two ends of the open circuit pro-
jecting upwards would be united by the contact of the end of the
needle when deflected, and of opening or breaking the circuit so
closed by opening the first circuit and thus interrupting the
current, when the needle would resume its ordinary position
under the influence of the magnetism of the earth. I informed
him that I had devised another method of producing effects
somewhat similar. This consisted in opening the circuit of my
large quantity magnet at Princeton, when loaded with many
hundred pounds weight, by attracting upward a small piece oT
movable wire, with a small intensity magnet, connected with a
long wire circuit. When the circuit of the large battery was
thus broken by an action from a distance, the weights would
fall, and great mechanical effect could thus be produced, such
as the ringing of church bells at a distance of a hundred miles
or more, an illustration which I had previously given to my class
at Princeton. My impression is strong, that I had explained
the precise process to my class before I went to Europe, but
testifying now without the opportunity of reference to my notes,
I cannot speak positively. I am, however, certain of having
mentioned in my lectures every year previously, at Princeton,
the project of ringing bells at a distance, by the use of the
electro-magnet, and of having frequently illustrated the principle
«f transmitting power to a distance to my class, by causing in
some cases a thousand pounds to fall on the floor, by merely
lifting a piece of wire from two cups of mercury closing the
circuit.

*' The object of Professor Wheatstone, as I understood it, in
bringing into action a second circuit, was to provide a remedy
for the diminution of force in a long circuit. My object, in the
process described by me, was to bring into operation a large
quantity magnet, connected with a quantity battery in a local
circuit, by means of a small intensity magnet, and an intensity
battery at a distance."

512 Appendix A.

Up to the date of Henry's visit to Wheatstone in
February 1837, the latter did not know how to
construct an "intensity" electro-magnet. It will be
remembered by all readers of Mr. Latimer Clark's
interesting biography of Sir W. F. Cooke,* that it
was a difficulty of this kind that first brought Cooke
and Wheatstone together. Cooke had contrived a
telegraph and alarum, to be operated by clockwork
mechanism, the detents of which were to be released,
as occasion required, by electro-magnets. The appa-
ratus worked well enough on short circuit, but when
he came to try it through such lengths as a mile of
wire, the electro- magnets were so enfeebled that they
could not withdraw the detents. In this difficulty
Cooke sought the advice of Roget, Faraday, Clarke,
and Wheatstone.

The latter's opinion was very unfavourable. " Re-
lying," he says, " on my former experience, I at once
told Mr. Cooke that his plan would not and could not
act as a telegraph, because sufficient attractive power
could not be imparted to an electro-magnet interposed
in a long circuit ; and to convince him of the truth
of this assertion, I invited him to King's College to
see the repetition of the experiments on which my
conclusion was founded. He came, and after seeing
a variety of voltaic magnets, which even with powerful
batteries exhibited only slight adhesive attraction, he
expressed his disappointment."

* Journal of the Soc. of Tel. Engs., vol. viii. p. 374.

Appendix A. 513

And again : — " When I endeavoured to ascertain
how a bell might be more efficiently rung, the attrac-
tive power obtained by temporarily magnetising soft
iron first suggested itself to me. The experiments
I made with the long circuit at King's College, how-
ever, led me to conclude that the attraction of a piece
of soft iron by an electro-magnet could not be made
available in circuits of very great length, and, there-
fore, I had no hopes of being able to discharge an
alarum by this means." *

In reference to these experiments, Cooke wrote on
March 4, 1837 : —

" Mr. Wheatstone called on Monday evening, and ppstponed
our meeting at King's College till Wednesday. The result was
nearly what I had anticipated, the electric fluid losing its mag-
netising quality in a lengthened course. An idea, however,
suggested itself to Mr. Wheatstone, which I prepared to experi"-.
ment on last Saturday, but again failed in producing any effect.
I gave up my object for the time, and proposed explaining the
nature of my discomfited instrument to the Professor. He, in
return, imparted his to me. He handsomely acknowledged the
advantage of mine, had it acted ; his are ingenious, but pot
practicable. His favourite is the same as mine, made at Heidel-
berg, and now in one of my boxes at Berne, requiring six wires,
and a very delicate arrangement. He proposed that we should
meet again next Saturday, and make further experiments. For
a time I felt relieved at having decided the fate of my own plan,
but my mind returned to the subject with more perseverance than
ever, and before three o'clock the next morning I had re-arranged
my unfortunate machine under a new shape.

* The Electric Telegraph, was it indented fy Professor Wheatstone!
by W. F. Cooke, London, 1856-57, See part ii. pp. 87 and 93.

2 L

514 Appendix A.

" I now use a true [permanent] magnet of considerable power,
with the poles about four inches apart, and a slender armature,
four and a half inches long, covered with several hundred coils of
insulated copper wire, and suspended like a mariner's compass in
the plane of the poles of the magnet. Whenever the galvanic
circuit is completed, the ends of the armature are respectively
attracted by the poles of the magnet with a force sufficient to
overcome the opposition of a feeble spring, the movement not
exceeding one-twentieth of an inch. A lever forming part of the
detent of my fan is moved by a projecting pin, and liberates the
clockwork. I have seen an arrangement of this sort in the
Adelaide Gallery, but used there merely as a toy." *

Even this arrangement, which was obviously capable
of good results, and in which our practical readers will
recognise the germ of the Brown and Allan relay,
was not approved by Professor Wheatstone. Cooke
writes : — " On many occasions during the months of
March and April 1837, we tried experiments together
upon the electro-magnet ; our object being to make
it act efficiently at long distances in its office of re-
moving the detent. The result of our experiments
confirmed my apprehension that I was still without
the power of exciting magnetism at long distances.
* * * In this difficulty we adopted the expedient of
a secondary circuit, which was used for some time in
connection with my alarum." f

"From all this," says Mr. Latimer Clark, "it is
evident that Professor Wheatstone at this time [April
1837] did not appreciate the importance of using fine

* Jour. Soc. Tel. Engs., vol. viii. p. 378.

t The italics are our own. See The Electric Telegraph, was it
invented by Professor Wheatstone ! part ii. p. 27.

Appendix A. 515

wire, and that he had not studied Professor Henry's
paper on electro-magnets, in the twentieth volume
of Silliman's Journal, for January 183 1, in which
he so clearly shows the advantage of using long fine
wires [in the coils] and numerous elements for long
circuits." *

It is equally evident that it was not until after the
interview with Henry that Wheatstone recognised the
applicability of Ohm's laws to telegraphic circuits, the
study of which would, likewise, have enabled him to
ascertain the best proportions between the length,
thickness, &c., of the coils, as compared with the
other resistances in the circuit, and to determine
the number and size of the elements of the battery
necessary to produce a maximum effectt

* Jour. Soc. Tel. Engs., vol. viii. p. 381.

t As soon as Professor Wheatstone had thus learnt how to construct
an "intensity" electro-magnet, the use of the secondary or relay circuit
referred to on pp. 511 and 514 was abandoned. "These secondary
circuits," says Wheatstone, " have lost nearly all their importance, and
are scarcely worth contending about, since my discovery that electrOT
magnets may be so constructed as to produce the required effects by
means of the direct current, even in very long circuits. Previously,
however, to this discovery they appeared to be of great importance to
both of us — to me, as the means of ringing the alarum connected with
my telegraph ; to Mr. Cooke, as the only means of enabling him to
work his instrument." — The Electric Telegraph, was it invented by
Professor Wheatstone ? part ii. pp. 95-6.

As these words were written in the winter of 1840-41, they must be
taken to represent Professor Wheatstone's estimate of the relay at that
date. It was not thus that Edward Davy appraised it. From March
1837 onward he steadily regarded it to be what it is — one of the key-
stones of electric telegraphy. See pp. 359 and 366, ante.

2 L 2

( 5i6 )

APPENDIX B.

Short Memoir of Edward Davy, M.R.C.S., M.S.A. By
Henry Davy, M.D. (Lond.), M.R.C.P., Physician to the
Devon and Exeter Hospital. Reprinted from " The
Electrician^ No. ii, vol. xi., 1883.

The following short biographical sketch of my uncle has been
written by me at the request of Mr. Fahie in order to complete
the history of the MSS. which he has lately published : —

Edward Davy's family originally settled near the coast in
Dorsetshire, where, about the year 1616, they were living on
their own estates. Unfortunately, they took an active part
against the king in the Monmouth Rebellion, and, when Judge
Jefferys commenced the " Bloody Assize," they found it con-
venient to migrate into Devonshire, where they commenced life
afresh, mostly pursuing the occupation of farmers. His grand-
father was a farmer,_j)artly owning, and partly renting, his
estates in the neighbOui;'hood of Exeter ; while his father was
Thomas Davy, who resided at Ottery St. Mary, and had an
extensive medical practice in Ottery and the neighbourhood.
Thomas Davy was educated at Ottery and Guy's Hospital, at
the latter, being a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper, but from the time
he left London it is much to be questioned whether he was ever
out of Devonshire more than five or six times in his life.

Edward Davy was born on June 6, 1806, and was educated
at a school kept by his maternal uncle, Mr. Boutflower, in
Tower Street, London. Subsequently he was apprenticed to
Mr. Wheeler, house surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
and, about the year 1828, he became a " Member of the Royal

Appendix B. 517

College of Surgeons,'' and soon after a " Member of the Society
of Apothecaries." Shortly after this he bought a business at
390, Strand. I have always heard it stated that some eight or
nine hundred pounds were advanced by his father to buy a
medical practice, but that he was taken in, and found that the
so-called practice was that of a dispensing chemist. However
this may be, he soon began to trade as an operative chemist,
under the name of Davy and Co., and in 1836 he published a
small work, termed " Experimental Guide to Chemistry," at the
end of which is a catalogue of the instruments, &c., supplied by
his firm. This guide book might even now serve as a useful
text-book for a beginner in experimental work, whilst in the
catalogue at the end he mentions several of his original modifica-
tions of instruments, such as "Davy's Blow-pipe,'' "Davy's
Improved Mercurial Trough," &c., proving how completely he
had given himself up to his favourite pursuit.

About this time, 1835, he invented and patented a cement
for mending broken china and glass, which for many years
brought him in a small income, and was well known as " Davy's
Diamond Cement," and it was during these years that he first
commenced to experiment on the Electric Telegraph ; but this
part of his history up to the time of his leaving England
has already been told by Mr. Fahie. One question which will
be asked by all the readers of Mr. Fahie's narrative is : Why did
Edward Davy fail in his attempt to get his system of telegraphy
adopted? It seems certain that at the time of his leaving
England his system was in a more perfect state than that of
Cooke and Wheatstone. It is seen, too, that Edward Davy
was and had been negotiating with some of the leading en-
gineers, railway companies, and railway directors, and that
many of them had promised to adopt his system. Why, then,
did he fail ? Chiefly because he left England just at the wrong
moment. Into the reasons of his leaving there is no occasion
to enter. Suffice it to say he had been contemplating doing so
all through the end of 1837 and 1838, and that his reasons were
entirely of a private kind. But in leaving England when he did,
he struck the death-blow to all his hopes ; and had he remained,

5i8 Appendix B.

his system, as Mr. Fahie says, would probably have been
adopted. It is important to note that he himself did not realise
the fact that his leaving England would ruin his invention, and
that had he realised his true position he would probably have
stayed on until his negotiations with the railway companies
were concluded. In a letter to his father early in 1839, in which
he announces his final decision to leave, he says : —

" I have perfected, as far as I can, secured, and made public
the telegraph. What remains, i. e., to make the bargain with
the companies when they are ready and willing, can be managed
by an agent or attorney as well as if I were present."

How entirely wrong this opinion was subsequent events soon
proved, for the directors, having no one to deal with who
thoroughly understood his instruments, adopted those of his
rivals, Cooke and Wheatstone.

But other causes greatly contributed to his failure. The
first is brought out in the sketch I have given of his family.
His father was, for his day, a well-qualified medical man, but he
was quite destitute of any scientific training, whilst his close
residence in Devonshire had prevented his seeing the direction
in which the thought of the day was moving. To most people
in 1837 the idea even of a railway was new ; and when Edward
Davy talked of " sending messages along a wire for hundreds of
miles!'' when he predicted the use of " marine cables," hinted at
the " telephone}' and prophesied that the " Government would
adopt the telegraph as part of their postal system}'' it is excusable
that his father should regard him as a visionary, and should
tell him that his plans were all " moonshine.'" When, too, he
found that he had to pay for this '^moonshine" by constant re-
mittances, one can easily forgive his anxiety that his son should
go back to the regular practice of his profession ; especially
when to his old-fashioned ideas it was almost a disgrace for a
medical man to have a son an operative chemist. Not only did
his father discourage Edward Davy in his pursuits, but he took
no pains to bring his invention to the notice of many influential
friends, who might have helped him in his endeavours to make
it known to the public.

Appendix B. 519

From Mr. Fahie's narrative, it seems evident that had any-
well-known firm taken up the invention, and pressed its advan-
tages on the public, the railway directors would have adopted it.
Thomas Davy's brother was a merchant of wide local reputation,
who at one time had been one of the Government's largest con-
tractors for building wooden frigates, while his nephew was a
rising partner in one of the best-known and largest mercantile
houses of the day (Anthony Gibbs and Co.), and yet neither of
these was in the least made acquainted with the patent of the
electric; telegraph. This was the more deplorable, since Edward
Davy was evidently unfortunate in his choice of business men.
Repeatedly in his letters to his father he states that neither Mr.

P nor Captain B nor Mr. B was assisting him as he

should wish, and had he been assisted by any energetic man of
business it is probable that Mr. Fahie's history would have ended
very differently. Like most other geniuses, Edward Davy had
no marked business capacity ; he could invent an original
machine, he was not able to hold his own with far-seeing men of
the world. He had no friend to advise him, and he was un-
fortunate in the agents whose assistance he obtained. Had he
offered 50 per cent, of his eventual gains he would have attracted
the service of men of acknowledged position. As it was, his offer
of ID per cent, did not attract these, and even when he offered

25 per cent, to Mr. P , the latter did not keep his part of the

undertaking, so that the compact broke through. After careful
perusal of the MSS., I am convinced that Edward Davy did
everything in his own power to make his invention succeed ; he
failed because he had little business capacity, and his father's
line of action prevented his getting even friendly advice from
quarters where it might have been obtained. But the questions
will be asked. Why has Edward Davy allowed his claims as a
pioneer in telegraphy to be so completely ignored ? And why
have not his family published these MSS. before.'

The answer to the latter question is simple. I very much
doubt if the family knew anything about these MSS. They
were collected and labelled by another uncle of mine long since
dead, and it was only after the death of my father last year that

S 20 Appendix B.

they fell into my hands, after having narrowly escaped being
burned as rubbish. They came into my possession last March
[1883], and when by chance Mr. Fahie in April 1883 wrote to ask
me for information as to my uncle, I readily placed them at his
disposal, only stipulating that, as he was quite a stranger to me,
he should publish nothing without my permission. Until I saw
his annotations I was not aware of the extent of Edward Davy's
inventions, and I am quite sure my father had no idea as to the
value of these MSS., for his training as a solicitor had not
taught him any science.

I do not know why Edward Davy himself allowed his claims
to be ignored. Probably he did not know that these MSS. had
been preserved, and without them he would have no proof with
which to support his claims.* After leaving England in 1839 he
threw all his energies into the colonial life he had adopted. His
letters to his father, mother, and brothers are full of references to
this new mode of life. He busied himself in acclimatising trees,
grasses, &c., the seeds of which he obtained from England. His
leisure he fiUed up with writing newspaper articles on hygiene
and other subjects. He also pursued his favourite subject,
chemistry, and patented a " plan for saving fuel during the
process of smelting ores," which he had invented in 1838. For
many years he was assayer to the Mint at Melbourne, while for

* In a letter, dated October 10, 1883, and received since the above
was written, Mr. Edward Davy himself says, in answer to our inquiry,
" How is it that, being alive, you have never asserted your claims?" —
"When the Solicitor-General passed Cooke and Wheatstone's first
patent in the face of my opposition and of the grounds thereof, how
could I say that he had not done rightly ! Again, when my father sold
the patent for so insufficient a sum, I looked upon it that all hope of
pecuniary benefit to myself was gone. I liiight still have fought for the
credit of the invention, but I was not aware that the documents, which
you have unearthed, had been so carefully preserved ; besides, being at
such a distance, I should have had to carry on a controversy at a great
disadvantage, with the risk of being considered an impostor. I had
friends in England ; but none able, if ever so willing, to defend the
claim. The other party was in the midst of friends, and in possession
of the field."

Appendix B. 521

the past twenty-five years he has carried on a medical practice,
latterly in partnership with one of his sons. In this busy
colonial hfe he has, no doubt, found more happiness than in
brooding over his disappointments. Only in one letter to his
family do I find any reference to the telegraph. Writing to one
of his sisters in 1841, after saying that a storm is preventing him
from going to sleep, he adds : — " I shall therefore enter into some
conversation with you, although, from there being no electro-
telegraph, it may be five months ere my voice reaches you."
Whatever be the cause, it is certain that he has never once
referred to this period of his hfe, and, as Mr. Fahie says, he will
be quite as surprised as any one at finding that his labours of
forty-five years ago have now been made public.

Mr. Fahie concludes the narrative of Edward Davy's in-
ventions and negotiations by terming it a magnificent failure,
and I think no one will deny this who has read how nearly he
obtained complete success. It was, however, only a failure as
far as he, himself, was concerned. His labours were, in reality,
most useful. His experiments in Regent's Park, his exhibition
of his instrument in Exeter Hall, brought electric telegraphy
before the public in a way which was done by no other person. His
correspondence with, and the constant advocacy of his invention
to, such men as Brunei, Fox, and Easthope forced the electric
telegraph on their notice with a double force, and, no doubt, did
much to cause its early adoption. I do not here enter into the
question as to how far his ideas were adopted by others. It is
certain that, with a strange lack of business-like foresight, he
exhibited his machine before it was patented, and that his
exhibition was visited by Cooke, Wheatstone, &c. Probably
his work has assisted many of his successors in working
out improvements ; but quite apart from this his labours were
useful, and are well worthy of recognition. It is interesting
to note that he spent some thousands in experimenting and
making his experiments public. Mr. Fahie has shown me a
letter printed in The Electrician (October 11, 1879) from the
late Dr. Cornish, vicar of Ottery St. Mary. This letter says
Edward Davy's family spent thirty thousand pounds on the

522 Appendix B.

electric telegraph. I do not know whether there is a misprint
here, but if the thirty be divided by ten I think the resulting
three thousand would be more near the mark. It is also interest-
ing to note that Edward Davy is still alive, and well appreciated
by his fellow-townsmen in his colonial home. Almost the last
paper I got from him contained an account of an entertainment
given in his honour, at which, he having refused any more sub-
stantial acknowledgment, he was presented with an illuminated
address in recognition of his having been for many years a
magistrate and on three occasions mayor of his town, and for
having for twenty-five years gratuitously held the office of
medical officer of health to the district.

It is to me a satisfaction that these MSS. have come to light
during his lifetime. He is now seventy-seven years of age, and
for the past forty-five years his claims have been quite ignored.
He, I am sure, would be the last to claim any position which was
undeserved, but it cannot but be a pleasure to him to see the
real value of his work recognised, and his name rescued from an
unmerited oblivion, and placed in its proper position as one of
the very first pioneers of electric telegraphy.

A writer in The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, for
September 25, 1883, supplies the following additional
information : — •

" My attention having been called to the series in The Elec-
trician by a recent article from the pen of the ubiquitous Harry
Hems, I made inquiries of an old and respected inhabitant of
Ottery (Mr. Jeffrey, solicitor), who knew the Davy family well.
He says that at the end of the last century Thomas Davy, surgeon,
commenced practice at Ottery St. Mary. Soon after, he married
the daughter of a Uterary gentleman of Exeter, named Bout-
flower. Trade in the town of Ottery at that time was brisk.
In the year 1782 a large woollen manufactory was completed, at
a ruinous cost to Sir George Younge, Bart., the then lord of the
manor. The manufactory was conducted by Messrs. Ball and
Fowell, a daughter of the former of whom is still alive. It was

Appendix B. 523

always said that Mr. Davy was of the same family as Sir
Humphry Davy, who was born at Penzance in the year 1778.
He also was intended for the medical profession, and served
under an apothecary in order to study chemistry — a circum-
stance that resulted in his invention of the Davy safety lamp,
the metallic bases of the alkalies and earths, and of the prin-
ciples of electro-chemistry. Mr. Thomas Davy had possessions
in the West Indies, and held them until his death, in the year
1852. At the end of the last century a large fire occurred in
Mill Street, Ottery, in a butcher's shop occupied by a person
named James. Mr. Thomas Davy became the purchaser of the
ruins, and erected on the site a mansion, where he resided until
his death. He was blessed with four sons and two daughters.
Edward Davy (the inventor of telegraphy) was the eldest son.
At an early age he showed precocity, and having his father's
surgery at command, he for a time quite gave himself up to the
study of chemistry, particularly electro-chemistry. He was con-
vinced that the time would arrive when communication would be
made by wire round the world. Later on in life he left Ottery for
London, where he married the daughter of a London magistrate
named Minshell [see p. 404]. He then again followed his old
hobby, and expressed himself confident of discovering the secret
of communication by telegraphy. At last he accomplished his
end, and took a room in the Exeter Hall, Strand, where his
instrument, not unlike a piano, was exhibited. He cut letters
from a printed bill, and gummed them on to the keys. Wires
were placed round the room, which he said were one mile long.
Attached were a number of small jets like lamps, placed at
intervals, which he instantaneously hghted through the wire^
He said to his audience, ' The most extraordinary part of it is,
that if I touch one of these letters it moves a corresponding letter
instantaneously at the end of the wire.' A person asked if
distance made any difference, and Mr. Davy replied, ' No ; if I
had these wires 3000 miles long, or even round the world, one
could not discover the difference of time.' Strange to say, he
ultimately sold his discovery and right for 600/., and left for
Australia. As a young man he took a great interest also in

524 Appendix B.

geology, and frequently started off from Ottery to examine the
hills in the district. On reaching Melbourne he pursued his
study of geology, and in due time appeared an article from his
pen in the Melbourne Argus (which by-the-by was edited by a
gentleman who had been educated at the King's Grammar
School, when kept by the Vicar of Ottery, Dr. Cornish), showing'
that he was of opinion that the country, or certain parts of it,
was auriferous. This article Mr. Thomas Davy retained up to
the time of his death, and often read it to his friends. Mr.
Thomas Davy had an extensive practice at Ottery. He had
more than an ordinary share of common sense, and was amiable
and kind, particularly to the poor. For many years he studied
the art of producing fat stock, and was the only person who then
grew mangel-wurzel in the parish, which was called at that
period by the farmers ' A gentleman's crop.' He was brother to
the late — I had almost said centenarian of Topsham — James
Davy, whose remarkable career is worthy of notice, and who
possessed a successful business for over sixty years in a ship-
building, coal, and lime trade. Although deprived of sight for a
great number of years, his energy of mind and body was not
impaired. He was benevolent and much respected. The only
representative of Mr. Thomas Davy left in the county is Dr.
Davy, of Exeter."

We make the following extract from the Mel-
bourne Argus, for November 16, 1883 : —
Royal Society of Victoria.

The ordinary monthly meeting of the Royal Society was held
on Thursday evening ; Mr. R. L. J. EUery (president) in the
chair. Mr. EUery read the following paper describing an
interesting fact in connection with the early history of the
electric telegraph ; —

" It is no new thing to say that the one who by intellectual
process, or rational experiment, makes a discovery seldom
reaps the benefit, either as regards reputation, or more sub-
stantial results. The man of science, or the patient investigator,

Appendix B. 525

is nowhere in the race, as compared with the man of business,
and so it often, almost always, happens that the discoverer is
forgotten, while those who, ghoul-like, turn his brains to
account are the only ones who reap the reward and are re-
membered. This is because men like Faraday, and many
more, are not business men ; their life is spent in inquiring of
nature's forces and nature's laws, and giving the results for the
benefit of mankind, and not in learning and following the more
popular ways of money-making. The instance I am about to
refer to is a case in point. Let us think for a moment what a
mess we should be in if we were suddenly deprived of the
electric telegraph, or electricity as a means of communication at
a distance, and we may perhaps form some sort of an idea of
what we owe to those early workers who laid the foundation-
stones of this great and universal benefit. Nevertheless one,
and, as it now seems likely, the first who by his discoveries
made the electric telegraph a fact has been hidden among us
for over thirty years, scarcely known except as a country surgeon,
and certainly never till now recognised as one to whom the
gratitude, if nothing else, of the whole civilised world belongs
for his investigations into the applications of electricity and
magnetism, which are now considered by competent authorities
to have constituted those first important steps which rendered
all subsequent details of the electric telegraph an easy task.
From some articles in The Electrician, it is pretty clear that
Dr. Edward Davy (who was known by some of us thirty years
ago, as superintendent of the Assay Office in Melbourne, was
one of the founders of the Philosophical Institute, the parent of
this Royal Society, and now resides at Malmesbury, following
his profession as a medical man), must be regarded in virtue of
his most important discoveries, exhibitions of working models
at Exeter Hall, and his invitation to carry out his electric
telegraph on the Great Western line in England, the real first
inventor of the electric telegraph. The history in brief seems
to be this : As early as 1836 Davy conceived the possibility of
an electric telegraph, and appears to have had an excellent
knowledge and thorough grasp of the properties of electricity.

526 Appendix B.

He had been educated for the medical profession, and took his
diploma at the Royal College of Surgeons in 1828. He then
seems to have taken up the business of an operative or analy-
tical chemist, and we have heard of several chemical instru-
ments invented or improved by him. During this time (about
1835) he seems to have made some investigations into electri-
city, and in 1836 the possibility of using the electric current
for telegraphic purposes suggested itself to him, and he matured
a method, which he patented in 1838, as already stated.
Cooke and Wheatstone patented in 1837, and afterwards actually
carried their needle telegraph into operation, and obtained
its adoption on the railway lines of Great Britain. Davy, who
had matured his plan and exhibited working models before
this time, contested unsuccessfully the granting of the patent.
Perhaps from the want of means, or perhaps for lack of the
commercial afflatus, so often absent in scientific men, yet so essen-
tial to the substantial success of a discovery or invention, Davy
failed to carry his telegraph into practical use, and eventually
we hear of his having come to Australia in 1839 ; his connection
with the early discovery of the electric telegraph was forgotten,
nor does he ever seem to have in any way resuscitated the matter
until his work is referred to in Mr. Fahie's papers on the early
history of the electric telegraph, published lately in The Electri-
cian. Although Cooke and Wheatstone succeeded, and Dr. Davy
did not, this does not alter the fact that to the latter we are de-
cidedly indebted for discoveries which eventually resulted in the
perfection of both what are known as the needle and Morse
systems. To those interested in this subject, I may state that
copies of Dr. Davy's work and inventions can be seen in
The Electrician, vol. xi., Nos. 8, 9, 10, and ll of this year.
There is, however, one paragraph taken from his letters and
communications which is interesting and prophetic ; it is in a
postscript to a letter to his father, dated July 1838. Speaking of
a suggestion that had been made, to the effect that Government
would scarcely allow such a powerful instrument to be in the
hands of individuals, he says : —

" ' I know very well the French Government would not permit
it except in their own hands, but though I think our Government

Appendix B. 527

ought, and perhaps will eventually take it upon themselves as a
branch of the Post Office ; yet I can scarcely imagine that there
would be such absurd illiberality as to prohibit or appropriate it
without compensation.'

''Again in 1838 Davy wrote : —

" ' I cannot, however, avoid looking at the system of elec-
trical communication between distant places, in a more enlarged
way, as a system which will one of these days become an
especial element in social intercourse. As railways are already
doing, it will tend stiU further to bring remote places, in
effect, near together. If the one may be said to diminish dis-
tance, the other may be said to annihilate it altogether, being
instantaneous.'

" There is a ring of prescience in these words, uttered as they
were forty-five years ago, before a mile of telegraph wire had
been erected except the single mile he constructed himself for
experimental purposes in Regent's Park ; and although, so far as
is known, the idea of submarine communication was at that
time scarcely dreamt of, Davy, in his ' Outhne description of his
improved electrical telegraph,' refers to and describes an insu-
lated conductor or 'cable' for such a purpose. This Society
will, I am sure, feel proud to know that it may rank among its
founders the name of Edward Davy, the almost forgotten pioneer
and inventor of the electric telegraph, and at the eleventh hour
to do what honour to him it may be within its province and
power to do."

Mr. EUery intimated, amidst applause, his intention to move
at next meeting that Dr. Davy be elected a life honorary member
of the Society.

Professor Kernot thought a much higher honour was due to
Dr. Davy, if he was really the actual first discoverer of the
electric telegraph.

Mr. C. R. Blackett suggested the appointment of a sub-com-
mittee to look into the matter, and report as to the best means of
recognising the scientific services of Dr. Davy.

The suggestion was adopted, the sub-committee appointed
being Messrs. S. W. M'Gowan, J. Cosmo Newbery, C. R.
Blackett, Professor Kernot, and Dr. Wilkie.

528 Appendix B.

The following paragraph appeared in The Elec-
trician, for January 12, 1884: —

^^ Edward Davy. — The graphic and interesting accounts, of
Edward Davy's telegraphic inventions, which have appeared in
these pages from the pen of Mr. J. J. Fahie, have aroused con-
siderable interest in the colony of Victoria, Dr. Davy's adopted
home. We notice that Mr. EUery recently read a paper before the
Royal Society of Victoria in which he concurred with Mr. Fahie
in thinking that, if Davy had stayed in the Strand instead of
emigrating to Australia in disgust, he would have succeeded in
establishing his claim to be the first inventor of the electric
telegraph. At the conclusion of his paper, Mr. Ellery proposed
that the Society should do him such honour as lay in their power
by electing him a life honorary member. The meeting, however,
were of opinion that Dr. Davy deserved some still better recog-
nition of his so long neglected genius, and appointed a sub-
committee to report upon the best means of doing him public
honour. We hope that our colonial kinsfolk will not be allowed
to entirely show us the way in this matter. Davy lived in London,
and exhibited his apparatus here long before he went to live in
Australia. Who can tell how much modern telegraphy is in-,
debted to the inventive genius of the chemist who resided at
390, Strand ? Had he stayed here he would no doubt have exer-
cised a very powerful influence on the history of the telegraph,
for, as Mr. Fahie has so ably shown, he was far in advance of
his contemporaries both in theory and practice. Circumstances
caused him to leave us, and he was for a time forgotten. Do
not let us forget how much he is deserving of honour at our
hands, however — not a mere empty, formal, and official recog^ni-
tion of his services, but something substantial, and that may
prove of benefit to the man himself in his declining years. Why
not place his name on the Civil List, as has been already
suggested? There are many far less deserving than Dr.
Davy to be counted in this hst. We feel sure that the many
telegraph engineers and electricians of the present day who
know, how to appreciate Davy's genius will not allow their

Appendix B. 529

colonial brethren to out-do them in honouring him, nor let the
matter sleep for want of a little energy. It is curious to notice
that Dr. Davy was not altogether fortunate in his Australian
career, and that misfortune came upon him through no fault of
his. It appears that Dr. Davy was Assay Master at the Mel-
bourne Mint, from 1853 to 1855, and enjoyed a salary of 1500/.
This was when Mr. La Trobe was governor. Dr. Davy had
been specially invited to accept this post whilst occupying
another similar, but less lucrative position in Adelaide. A
succeeding governor, however, Sir Charles Hotham, abolished
the office, giving Dr. Davy, by way of compensation, six months'
salary. Here, then, was Davy once more turned adrift by
Fortune's wheel. At the time that he was at Melbourne, Mr.
Childers, the present Chancellor of the Exchequer, was Auditor-
General there. After this Davy tried his hand at farming, with
but indifferent success, and finally settled down in Malmesbury
to practise his profession of surgeon. Here he gradually rose
high in popular esteem, has been several times mayor, and has
been prime mover in several local public works of great benefit
to the town. Dr. Davy is now in his seventy-eighth year, and
is not so well able to carry on his profession as in his younger
days, and from various causes his practice is not so good as it
used to be, consequently a grant from the Civil List would be as
good a mode of honouring him as any, and we think it ought to
be made."

2 M

( 531 )

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

[See also Catalogue of Works in which the Sympathetic Telegraph is
referred to, p. 20.]

About, Edmond, Le Nee d'un
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B.

Bacon, Lord, Advancement
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and

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2 M 2

532

Bibliography.

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Cavallo, Complete Treatise on Elec-
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S.

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Franklin, B., Complete Works [}Sa(>),
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534

Bibliography.

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Le yournal des Sgavans, 89
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Linguet's MJmoires sur la Bastille,

88
Livy, Blasius de Vigenere, 5

Madrid, Gaceta de {i'jg6), 107
Magazine of Popular Science, 328
Magrini, Telegrafo Elettro - Mag-

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(1686), 2
Marana, G. P. (or the Turkish Spy),

Letters of (Vaxii, 1639), 12

Mavtyn and Chambers, The Phil.

Hist, and Mems. of the Roy. Acad.

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Mechanics' Magazine, 148, &c.
Melbourne Argus, for E. Davy, 524
Memorials Scientific and Literary of

Andrew Crosse, the Electrician,

137
Metra, Correspondance Secrite (1788),

87
" Misographos," The Student, or the
Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany

(1750), 9
Moiguo, Traiti de THigraphie Elec-

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Monthly Magazine, The, 107, 268
Morning Herald, for 1837, 152

N,

Nicholson's Journal of Natural

Philosophy, 194, &c.
Noad's Manual of Electricity, 256
Notes and Queries, 32, 74, 306

Oersted, Recherches sur Fldentiti
des forces chimiques et Slectriques
(Paris, 1813), 271

O'Shaughnessy's Electric Telegraph
in British India, 348

Paris, Life of Sir H. Davy, 213
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(1767), 77
Philosophical Magasine, 2H, &c.
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xxxvii. 3, 27
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Bibliography.

535

PoggendorlFs Annalen, &c., 282,

319
Porta, Baptista, Magia Naturalis

(1558), 6
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Practice of the Electric Telegraph

(Boston, i860), 160
Prevost, P., Notice de la vie et des

Scrits de George Louis Le Sage de

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of Electricity (1767), 38,' &c.
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Q.

Quarterly Journal of Science and
the Arts (Roy. Inst.), 263, &c.

B.

Recy, H., Tilitatodydaxie, ou Till-
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162

Raid, Telegraph in America (New
York, 1879), 98, 328

Revista de Telegrafos (1876), 102

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Robertson, Memoires Rkriatifs
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S.
Saavedra, Tratado de Telegrafia
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Construction and Submersion of
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Silliman's American Journal of
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Smith, Egerton (Editor), The Ka-
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Smithsonian Report, 405-11

Sommerring, Der Elektrische Tele-
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Stratingh, lets over eenen Electro-
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1838), 488

Stuart, Alex., Experiments to prove
the Existence of a Fluid in the
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Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity,
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536

Bibliography.

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Swammerdam, Biblia Natura, vol.

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Swedenborg, Principia Rerum

Naturalium (Dresden, 1734), 251

Telegrapher, The (vol. i. pp. 48, 163,

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Telegraphic Journal (Nov. 15,

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Theophrastus, De Lapiditms, 27
Thomson's Annals of Philosophy,

246
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Tomlinson, The Thunderstorm, 28
Transactions of the American Society,

172,285
Transactions of the Society of Arts,

286
Tyndall, J., Address to the British

Association (1874), 16
Notes on Electricity, 38

Vail, Electro-Magnetic Telegraph,

162, 311
Van Mons' Journal de Chemie (Jan.

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Van Swinden, Recueil de Mimoires

sur V Analogic, &'c., 255
Voigt's MagazinfUr das Neueste aus

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THigraphie Electrique (Deventer,

1839), 150

W.

Watson, Dr., An account of some
experiments made by some gentle-
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Wedgwood, W. R., Letter to the
Commercial Magazine [l%\b), 127

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(1814), 125

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Winkler, Thoughts on the Properties,
Operations, and Causes of Elec-
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Young, Arthur, Travels in France,
&c., 91

Z.

Zetzsche, Geschichte der Elektriichen
Telegraphic, 98, &c.

( 537 )

INDEX.

Air-pump, inventor of, 33
Alarum, first suggested by Daniel

Schwenter, 8
, electric-bell, first proposed by

a Frenchman, 87
, clockwork, first employed by

Sommerring, 234
Alarums, E. Davy's, 397-9
Alexander's, William, telegraph,

448
Alexandre's, Jean, telegraph, 109
Alphabet, telegraphic, invention of,

3"

Gauss and Weber's, 324

Mungo Ponton's, 473

Schilling's, 311

Steinheil's, 342

Amber, electrical properties of, 27-
29

Ampere's researches, 275

— — astatic needle, invention of,
280

telegraph, 302

Amyot's telegraph, the first auto-
matic printing one, 491

Analogies between electricity and
lightning, 252

electricity and magnetism,

250-6

Animal electricity, 169-74

Anonymous (French) telegraph, 85

Astatic needle invented, 280
Aurora borealis and magnetism,

251
Authors referred to, 531
Axial magnet, germ of, 356

B.

Baggs, Isham (patent 1856), 168

Barlow's dictum on the impractica-
bility of electric telegraphs, 306

Battery, voltaic, 192-219

the (so-called) constant, 215

Leclanche, invented by E.

Davy, 396

Beccaria, polarity of needle mag-
netised by electricity, 253

Bembo, Cardinal, origin of sym-
pathetic telegraph, 8

Berton, H. M., telegraph, 121

Bevis, Dr., experiments with the
Leyden jar, 57

Bibliography of the history of the
electric telegraph, 531

Block system for railways, 407

Bbckmann's telegraph, 98

Booth, Abraham, electro-magnetic
telegraph, 508

Boyle, R., supposed first observer
of electric light, 33

Bozolus' telegraph, 77

Brown, Sir T., and the sympathetic
telegraph, 12

538

Index.

c.

C. M.'s telegraph, 68

Who was he, Marshall or

Morrison [?], 72

Cabeus, Nicolas, and the sympa-
thetic telegraph, 17

Cable, aerial, first suggested by
Salva, 104

submarine, first suggested by

Salva, 105

E. Davy's curious pro-
posals for, 368

first ordered, 319

Caldani, "Revival of frogs by
electric discharge," 175

Catalogue of books referring to
sympathetic telegraph, 20

of works referred to, 53 1

Cavallo's telegraph, 98

Chappe's telegraph, the first syn-
chronous one, 93

Commutator, first employed by
Schilling, 313

Company, the first telegraph, and
prospectus, 430, 439

" Corpusculum's " telegraph, 477

Roman type printing,

481

Cotugno's experiments, 178

Coxe's telegraph, 246

Crosse, Andrew, prophesies electric
telegraphs in 1816, 137

Cruickshank's researches, 194

battery, 212

Cyr, Reveroni-Saint-, telegraph, 95

Dampers, copper, principle of, 281

uses of, 283, 321, 336

Davy's, E., correspondence, 415
et seq.

Davy's, E., diplex telegraph, 391-

39S

electro - chemical tele-
graph, 379-91

honours to, 524, 527, 529

needle telegraphs, 349-379

memoir of, 516

MSS., 350

relay or renewer, 359,

515

Sir H., experiments, 197-205

discovery of the alkalies,

273

De Heer's, Vorsselmann, physio--
logical telegraph, 150

Delambre, Report on Alexandre's
telegraph, 114

Desaguliers introduces terms con-
ductor and non-copductor, 48

his sad death, 49

Dream of Elector Frederick of
Saxony, i

Dufay's discoveries, 46

Du Jardin's telegraph, 166

Du Verney, experiments on frogs,

17s
Dyar, H. G., telegraph, the first
chemical and recording one, 155

£.
Earth circuit, discovery of, 343
Effects of static electricity wrongly
considered electro-magnetic, 262
Elector Frederick's dream, i
Electric conduction and insulation,

41

light, 33, 38

in vacuo first observed

by Picard (1675), 38

repulsion, discovery of, 35

telegraphs. See Telegraphs

Index.

539

Electrical machine, Faraday's, 65

Guericke's, 34

improvements, 1 741-42,

51
Electricity, earliest notices of, 26-

30
Electro-magnet, invention of, by

Sturgeon, 285
magnets. Prof. J. Henry's re-
searches on, 286

magnetism, historical, 250

Electrometer, invention of, 92, 318
Electromotive force, how affected,
206-208

r.

Fabroni's chemical theory of gal-
vanism, 188

Fahie's, J. J., duplex telegraph and
improved electro-magnet, 487

letters to, 402, 467, 488

Faraday's researches in magneto-
electricity and electro-magnetism,
298

Franklin's experiments with Leyden
jar, 58, 64

electrical battery, 65

on the analogies between

electricity and lightning, 252

Franz, J., experiments with Leyden
jar, 57

G.

Galileo and the sympathetic tele-
graph, II
Galvani's experiments, 180
Galvanism, early instances of, 175

limit of, supposed to have been

reached in 18 18, 270
Galvanometer, invention of, 278

, dead-beat, first constructed

by Schilling, 312

Galvanometer, mirror, first used by
Gauss and Weber, 322

Gauss and Weber's telegraph, the
first magneto-electric one, 319

Glanvill, Joseph, and the sympa-
thetic telegraph, 14

Gralath's experiments with Leyden
jar, 58

Gray, Stephen, experiments, 41

Grotthus's theory of voltaic action,
209

Hauksbee's experiments, 39-40

Henry, Prof. J., electro-magnets,
&c., 286

— on Morse, 495

discovery of the relay

circuit, 511

report of Smithsonian

Institution on, 499

electro-magnetic tele-
graph, 507

Highton, H. (patent 1844), 168

Induction, early instances of, 45

Newton's experiment, 35

Insulation, discovery of, 45

Kepler and the sympathetic tele-
graph, II

Kircher and the sympathetic tele-
graph, 18

Larrey, Baron, on Sommerring's
telegraph, 236

Lemonnier's experiments with Ley-
den jars, 60

540

Index.

Le Sage's telegraph, 89
Leydenjar, discovery of (1745), 52

improvements in, 56-58

experiments with, 58-67

predicted by Stephen

Gray, 54

wonderful effects of, 55

Lightning and electricity first com-
pared, 40

conductors, invention of, 67

Linguet's luminous (semaphore)

telegraph, 88
Lomond's telegraph, 91
Lullin's telegraph, 98
Luminous substances, 33

Magnetic lines of force, theory of,
explained and illustrated in the
17th century, 17-18

needle affected by aurora

borealis, 251
Magnetism ever a fruitful source of

impositions, 5
Magneto-electricity discovered by

Faraday, 298
Magrini's telegraph, 481
"Moderator's" telegraph, 148
Mojon's experiment not electro-
magnetic, 264
Mongenot's labial telegraph, 150
Morse, Prof. Henry on, 495
Musschenbrock's Leyden jar, 52

N.
Needles (balanced) used by Dr.
Gilbert in electrical experiments,

31
Newton's induction experiment, 35
Sir I., letter of, 37

Nicholson, W., experiments, 193
NoUet, L'Abbe, experiments with
Leydenjar, 59

Odier's telegraph, 79

Oersted's researches in electro-
magnetism, 270

Ohm, Prof G. S., 297

Ohm's laws experimentally arrived
at by Prof. J. Henry, 296

P.

Picard, electric light in vacuo, 38
Ponton, Mungo, telegraph, 468
Porta, Baptista, originated story of

sympathetic telegraph, 5
Porter's, S., telegraph, 152
Potocki, Jeroslas, letter to Sommer-

ring, 241
Prospectus, the first telegraph com-
pany's, 430

B.

R. H., telegraph (1825), 151
Railways, block system for, 407
Rapidity of electric discharge (1744),

59

Recy, H., telegraph, the first sylla-
bic one, 162

Relay, the, or renewer, 359, 366,
380, 515

, the Brown and Allan, germ

of, 357

Repulsion, electric, discovery of, 35

Retardation in buried wires pre-
dicted by Ronalds, 142

Reusser's telegraph, 96

Reversals, use of, first suggested by
Salva, 225

Index.

541

Richelieu, Cardinal, and the sym-
pathetic telegraph, 12
Richter's experiments on Gymnotus,

175

Ritchie's telegraph, 303

Ritter's researches in electro-mag-
netism, 266

Romagnosi's claim to the discovery
of electro-magnetism disproved,
257

Ronalds Catalogue, the, 128

MSS., the, 144

telegraph (1816), 127

F., on Volta's telegraph, 80

St. Amand, T. de, telegraph (1828),

161
Salva's telegraph, the first physio-
logical one, loi

the first galvano-chemical

one, 220
Schilling's telegraph, 307
Schweigger's telegraph, 243

galvanometer, invention of,

278
Schwenter, Daniel, and the sym-
pathetic telegraph, 6
Secondary battery, Ritter's, first de-
scribed by Gautherot, 267
Severus, Bishop, and early magnetic

attractions, 4
Sharpe's telegraph, 244
Smith, Egerton, telegraph, 146
Smithsonian Institution, report on

Prof. Henry re Morse, 499
Sommerring's telegraph, 227
Static or frictional electricity,

history of, 26
Steinheil's telegraph, 320
anecdote of, 328

Strada and the sympathetic tele-
graph, 8
Stratingh's telegraph, 486
Stuart's experiments on frogs, 1 76
Sturgeon, inventor of electro-mag-
net, 28s
Sulphur as an electric, 34
Sulzer's experiments, 178
Swammerdam's experiment, 175

Telegraphs, Electric : —
I7S3- C. M., 68
1767. Bozolus, 77
1773. Odier, 79
1777. Volta, 80
1782. Anonymous, 85
1782. Le Sage, 89
1787. Lomond, 91
1790. Chappe, 93
1790. Reveroni-Saint-Cyr, 95
1794. Reusser, 96

1794. Bockmann, 98
'794-5- Lullin, 98

1795. Cavallo, 98
'795-8- Salva, loi

1798 [?]. Berton, H. M., 121
1800-4. Salva, Dr. F., 220
1802. Alexandre, 109
1806-14. Wedgwood, 123
1809-12. Sommerring, 227
1811. Schweigger, 243
1813. Sharpe, J. R., 244
1816. Coxe, 246
1816. Ronalds, 127
1820. Ampere, 302

1824. Smith, Egerton, 146

1825. "Moderator," Mechanics'
Magazine, 148

1825. R. H., 151
1825. Porter, S., 152

542

Index.

Telegraphs, Electric — continued : —

1825-37. Schilling, 307
. 1826-7. Dyar, H. G., 155
1828. St. Amand, T. de, l6l
1830. Ritchie, 303
1830. Abraham Booth, 508
1830. Recy, H., 162
1831-Z. Prof. J. Henry, 507
1833-8. Gauss and Weber, 319
1836. Steinheil, 326
1836-9. Davy, 349

1836. Cooke and Wheatstone, 512

1837. Alexander, 448
1837. Du Jardin, 166
1837-8. Ponton, Mango, 468
1837. " Corpusculum," 477
1837. Magrini, 481

1837. Stratingh, 486

1837. Amyot, 491

1839. De Heer, 150
Telegraph, roman type printing in

1832, 481
, sympathetic, catalogue of

books referring to, 20

flesh, 19-20

needle, 1-19

snail, 20

Telegraphs, postal, foretold, 429
Telegraphing without wires, first

hinted at by Steinheil, 347
Telephone first suggested by E.

Davy, 395
Thermo-electricity discovered, 297
Thornthwaite, W. H., letter from,

on Edward Davy, 402

Tommasi on Romagnosi, 258
Torpedoes, electric, first used by
Schilling, 309

V,
Valens, Emperor, story of early

instance of (probably) magnetic

attractions, 3
Varley's, C. F., telegraph, 168
Vitreous and resinous electricity,

discovery of, 47
Volta's (so-called) telegraph (1777),

80

discoveries, 186

Volta, honours to, 183
, relics of, 84

W.

Water, composition of, first dis-
covered, 193

Watson, Wm., experiments with
Leyden jar, 56, 60

Wedgwood's telegraph (1806-14),
123

Wenckebach's telegraph, 168

Wheatstone, letters from, on Davy's
telegraph, 381, 443

, Sir Chas., and the use of the

relay, 512-515

Wires, telegraphic, overhead, folly
of, foreseen in 1837, 318

WoUaston, Dr., experiments, 205

Z.
Zinc, amalgamated, first used, 218

London: printed by William clowes and "sons, limited, stamtord stbeet
and charing cross.

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A Handbook of tlie Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. By A. E.

LoRiNG, a Practical Telegrapher.

With numerous Illustrations, 8vo, cloth, 21J.

Electricity and the Electric Telegraph. By G. B. Prescott.

With numerous Illustrations, royal 8vo, cloth, los. 6d.

Electricity in Theory and Practice, or the Elements of

Electrical Engineering. By Lieut. Bradley A. Fiske, U.S.N.
248 pp. and 7 Plates, 8vo, cloth, gs.

Reports of the Committee on Electrical Standards appointed

by the British Association. Revised by Sir W. Thomson, Dr. J. P. Joule, Pro-
fessors Clerk Maxwell and Fleeming Jenkin. With a Report to the Royal
Society on Units of Electrical Resistance, by Professor E. Jenkin. Edited by Pro-
fessor Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S.

With Illustrations, crown 8vo, clpth, 12J. 6d.

Elementary Treatise on Electric Batteries. From the French

of Alfred Niaudet. Translated by L. M. Fishback.
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Handbook of Electrical Diagrams and Connections. By C. H.

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Elements of Construction for Electro-Magnets. By Count

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Electricity as a Motive Power. By Count Th. Du Moncel,

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"-Public Slaughter-houseSj etc. — Giving numerous Forms of Notices, SpecificationSj. and
General Information upon these and other subjects of great importance to Municipal Engi-
neers and others engaged in Sanitary Work.

Metrical Tables. By Sir G. L. Molesworth,

M.I.C.E. 32mo, cloth, is. 6d.

Contents,

General — Linear Measures — Square Measures — Cubic Measures — Measures of Capacity-
Weights — Combinations — ^Thermometers.

Elements of Construction for Electro-Magnets. By

Count Th. Du Moncel, Mem. de I'Institut de France, Translated fiom
the French by C. J. Wharton. Crown Svo, cloth, 4J. (>d.

A Treatise on the Use of Belting for the Trartsmis-

sion of Power. By J. H. Cooper. Second edition, illustrated, Svo,
cloth, IS J.

A Pocket-Book of Useful Formula and Memoranda

for Civil and Mechanical Engineers. By Sir Guilford L. Molesworth,
Mem. Inst. C.E. With numerous illtistrations, 744 pp. Twenty-second
edition, 32mo, roan, (>s.

Synopsis of Contents;

Surveying, Levelling, etc..— Strength and Weight of Materials— Earthwot--, Brickwork
Masonry, Arches, etc. — Struts, Columns, Beams, and Trusses — Flooring, Roofing, and Roof
Trusses^Girders, Bridges, etc. — Railways and Roads — Hydraulic Formulae — Canals, Sewers,
Waterworks, Docks— Irrigation and Breakwaters— Gas, Ventilation, and Warming — Heat,
Light, Colour, and Sound — Gravity: Centres, Forces, and Powers — MiUwork, Teeth of
WTieels, Shafting, etc. — ^Workshop Recipes— Sundry Machinery— Animal Power — Steam and
the Steam Engine— Water-power, Water-wheels, Turbines, etc. — ^Wind and Windmills-
Steam Navigation, Ship Building, Tonnage, etc. — Gunnery, Projectiles, etc. — ^Weights,
Measures, and Money— Trigonometry, Conic Sections, and Curves— Telegraphy— Mensura-
tion—Tables of Areas and Circumference, and Arcs of Circles — Logarithms, Square and
Cube Roots, Powers— Reciprocals, etc. — Useful Numbers — Differential and Integral Calcu-
lus-^Algebraic Signs— Telegraphic Construction and Formulse.

8 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

Hints on Architectural Draughtsmanship. By G. W.

TuxFORD Hallatt. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, IS. dd.

Sponi Tables and Memoranda for Engineers;

selected and arranged by J. T. Hurst, C.E., Author of 'Architectural
Surveyors' Handbook,' ' Hurst's Tredgold's Carpentry,' etc. Eleventh
edition, 64mo, roan, gilt edges, is. ; or in cloth case. Is. 6d.
This work is printed in a pearl type, and is so small, measuring only ai in. by if in. by
i in, thick, that it may be easily carried in the waistcoat pocket.

" It is certainly an extremely rare thing for a reviewer to be called upon to notice a volume
measuring but zj in. by if in., yet these dimensions faithfully represent the size of the handy
little book before us. The volume — which contains ii8 printed pag^es, besides a few blanV
pages for memoranda — is, in fact, a true pocket-book, adapted for being carried in the waist-
coat pocket, and containing a far greater amount and variety of information than most people

would imagine could be compressed into so small a space The little volume has been

compiled with considerable care and judgment, and we can cordially recommend it to our
readers as a useful little pocket companion." — Eit^neering.

A Practical Treatise on Natural and Artificial

Concrete, its Varieties and Constructive Adaptations. By Henry Reid,
Author of the ' Science and Art of the Manufacture of Portland Cement.'
New Edition, with S9 woodcuts Und t, plates, 8vo, cloth, 15J.

Notes on Concrete and Works in Concrete; especially

written to assist those engaged upon Fublic Works. By John Newman,
Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., crown 8vo, cloth, 4?. ()d.

Electricity as a Motive Power. By Count Th. Du

MoNCEL, Membre de I'lnstitut de France, and Frank Geraldy, Ing^-
nieur des Fonts et Chaussees. Translated and Edited, with Additions, by
C. J. Wharton, Assoc. Soc. TeL Eng. and Elec. With 113 engravings
and diagrams, crown 8vo, cloth, "js. €d.

Treatise on Valve-Gears, with special consideration

of the Link-Motions of Locomotive Engines. By Dr. Gustav Zeuner,
Professor of Applied Mechanics at the Confederated Polytechnikum of
Zurich. Translated from the Fourth German Edition, by Professor J. F.
Klein, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa, Illustrated, 8vo, cloth, 12s. 6d.

The French- Polishers Manual. By a French-

Polisher; containing Timber Staining, Washing, Matching, Improving,
Painting, Imitations, Directions for Staining, Sizing, Embodying,
Smoothing, Spirit Varnishing, French-Polishing, Directions for Re-
polishing. Third edition, royal 32mo, sewed, td.

Hops, their Cultivation, Commerce, and Uses in

various Countries. By P. L. Simmonds. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4?. bd.

The Principles of Graphic Statics. By George

Sydenham Clarke, Major Royal Engineers. With 112 illustrations.
Second edition, 4to, cloth, \2s. 6d,

PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON.

Dynamo Tenders Hand-Book. By F. B. Badt, late

1st Lieut. Royal Prussian Artillery. With 'jaillustraMons. Third edition,
i8mo, cloth, 4r. (>d.

Practical Geometry, Perspective, and Engineering

Drawing; a Course of Descriptive Geometry adapted to the Require-
ments of the Engineering Draughtsman, including the determination of
cast shadows and Isometric Projection, each chapter being followed by
numerous examples ; to which are added rules for Shading, Shade-lining,
etc., together with practical instructions as to the Lining, Colouring,
Printing, and general treatment of Engineering Drawings, with a chapter
on drawing Instruments. By George S. Clarke, Capt. R.E. Second
edition, viith 21 plates. 2 vols., cloth, los. dd.

The Elements of Graphic Statics. By Professor

KA.RL Von Ott, translated from the German by G. S. Clarke, Capt.
R.E., Instructor in Mechanical Drawing, Royal Indian Engineering
College. With 93 illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, ^s,

A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture and Distri-
bution of Coal Gas. By William Richards. Demy 4to, with numerous
wood engravings and 29 plates, cloth, 28^.

Synopsis of Contents :

Introduction— History of Gas Lighting — Cliemistry of Gas Manufacture, by Lewis
Thompson, Esq., M.R.C.S. — Coal, with Analyses, by J. Paterson, Lewis Tliompson, and
G. R. Hislop, Esqrs. — Retorts, Iron and Clay — Retort Setting — Hydraulic Main — Con-
densers— Exhausters — Washers and Scrubbers — Purifiers — Purification — History of Gas
Holder — Tanks, Brick and Stone, Composite, Concrete, Cast-iron, Compound Annular
Wrought-iron — Specifications — Gas Holders — Station Meter — Governor — Distribution —
Mains — Gas Mathematics, or Formulae for the Distribution of Gas, by Lewis Thompson, Esq.—
Services — Consumers' Meters — Regulators — Burners — Fittings — Photometer — Carburization
of Gas — ^Air Gas and Water Gas — Composition of Coal Gas, by Lewis Thompson, Esq. —
Analyses of Gas — Influence of Atmospheric Pressure and Temperature on Gas — Residual
Products — Appendix — Description of Retort Settings, Buildings, etc., etc.

The New Formula for Mean Velocity of Discharge

of Rivers and Canals. By W. R. KUTTER. Translated from articles in
the 'Cultur-Ingenieur,' by Lowis D'A. Jackson, Assoc. Inst. C.E.
8vo, cloth, \2s. 6d.

The Practical Millwright and Engineers Ready

Reckoner; or Tables for finding the diameter and power of cog-wheels,
diameter, weight, and power of shafts, diameter and strength of bolts, etc.
By Thomas Dixon. Fourth edition, i2mo, cloth, 3*.

Tin : Describing the Chief Methods of Mining,

Dressing and Smelting it abroad ; with Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and
Wolfram. By Arthur G. Charleton, Mem. American Inst, of
Mining Engineers. With plates, 8vo, cloth, 12^. 6d.

10 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

Perspective, Explained and Illustrated. By G, S.

Clarke, Capt. R.E, With illustrations, 8vo, cloth, y. 6d.

Practical Hydraulics ; a Series of Rules and Tables

for the use of Engineers, etc., etc. By Thomas Box. Ninth edition,
numerous plates, post 8vo, cloth, ^s.

The Essential Elements of Practical Mechanics;

based on the Principle of Work, designed for Engineering Students. By
Oliver Byrne, formerly Professor of Mathematics, College for Civil
Engineers. Third edition, with 148 wood engravings, post 8vo, cloth,
ts. 6d.

Contents :

Chap. I. How Work is Measured by a Unit, both with and without reference to a Unit
of Time— Chap. 2. The Worlc of Living Agents, the Influence of Friction, and introduces
one of the most beautiful Laws of Motion— Chap. 3. The principles expounded in the first and
second chapters are applied to the Motion of Bodies— Chap. 4. The Transmission of Work by
simple Machines — Chap. 5. Useful Propositions and Rules.

Breweries and Mailings : their Arrangement, Con-
struction, Machinery, and Plant. By G. Scamell, F.R.I.B.A. Second
edition, revised, enlarged, and partly rewritten. By F. Colyer, MICE
M.I.M.E. mth 20 plates, 8vo, cloth, 12s. 6d. ' ' ''

A Practical Treatise on the Construction of Hori-
zontal and Vertical Waterwheels, specially designed for the use of opera-
tive mechanics. By William Cullen, Millwright and Engineer. With
II plates. Second edition, revised and enlarged, small 410, cloth, \zs. 6d.

A Practical Treatise on Mill-gearing, Wheels, Shafts,

Riggers, etc.; for the use of Engineers. By Thomas Box. Third
edition, with x i plates. Crown 8vo, cloth, 'js, 6d.

Mining Machinery: a Descriptive Treatise on the

Machinery, Tools, and other Appliances used in Mining. By G G
Andre, F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E., Mem. of the Society of Engineers"
Royal 4to, uniform with the Author's Treatise on Coal Mining con-
taining 182 plates, accurately drawn to scale, witii descriptive text in
2 vols., cloth, 3/. I2J. '

Contents ;

Machinery for Prospecting, Excavating, Hauling, and Hoisting— Ventilation— Pumninff—
Treatment of Mineral Products, including Gold and SUver, Copper, Tin, and Lead, Irtn,
Coal, Sulphur, China Clay, Brick Earth, etc. ' """»

Tables for Setting out Curves for Railways, Canals,

Roads, etc., varying from a radius of five chains to three miles Bv a'
Kennedy and R. W. Hackwood. Illustrated y.mo, zXoUsi, 2s'. td. '

PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. ii

Practical Electrical Notes and Definitions for the

use of Engineering Students and Practical Men. By W. Perren
Maycock, Assoc. M. Inst. E.E., Instructor in Electrical Engineering at
the Pitlake Institute, Croydon, together with the Rules and Regulations
to be observed in Electrical Installation Work. Second edition. Royal
32mo, roan, gilt edges, 4J. dd.

The Draughtsman s Handbook of Plan and Map

Drawing; including instructions for the preparation of Engineering,
Architectural, and Mechanical Drawings. With numerous illustrations
in the text, and 33 plates (15 printed in colours'). By G. G. Andre,
F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. 4to, cloth, gj.

Contents :

The Drawing Office and its Furnishings — Geometrical Problems — Lines, Dots, and their
Combinations — Colours, Shading, Lettering, Bordering, and North Points — Scales — Plotting
— Civil Engineers* and Surveyors* Plans — Map Drawing — Mechanical and Architectural
Drawing — Copying and Reducing Trigonometrical Formulae, etc., etc.

The Boiler-maker s andiron Ship-builder s Companion,

comprising a series of original and carefully calculated tables, of the
utmost utility to persons interested in the iron trades. By James Foden,
author of ' Mechanical Tables,' etc. Second edition revised, with illustra-
tions, crown 8vo, cloth, 5^.

Rock Blasting: a Practical Treatise on the means

employed in Blasting Rocks for Industrial Purposes. By G. G. Andr^,
F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E. With 56 illustrations and 12, plates, 8vo, cloth,
\0s. 6d. .

Experimental Science: Elementary, Practical, and

Experimental Physics. By Geo. M. Hopkins. Illustrated by 672
engravings. In one large vol., 8vo, cloth, \%s.

A Treatise on Ropemaking as practised in public and

private Rope-yards, with a Description of the Manufacture, Rules, -Tables
of Weights, etc., adapted to the Trade, Shipping, Mining, Railways,
Builders, etc. By R. Chapman, formerly foreman to Messrs. Huddart
and Co., Limehouse, and late Master Ropemaker to H.M. Dockyard,
Deptford. Second edition, l2mo, cloth, 3^.

Laxtoris Builders' and Contractors' Tables • for the

use of Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, Builders, Land Agents, and
others. Bricklayer, containing 22 tables, with nearly 30,000 calculations.
4to, cloth, 5j.

Laxton's Builders' and Contractors' Tables. Ex-
cavator, Earth, Land, Water, and Gas, containing 53 tables, with nearly
24,000 calculations. 4to, cloth, 5j.

CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

Egyptian Irrigation. By W. Willcocks, M.I.C.E.,

Indian Public Works Department, Inspector- of Irrigation, Egypt. With
Introduction by Lieut.-Col. J. C. Ross, R.E., Inspector-General of
Irrigation. With numerous lithographs and wood engravings, royal 8vo,
cloth, i/. i6j.

Screw Cutting Tables for Engineers and Machinists,

giving the values of the different trains of Wheels required to produce
Screws of any pitch, calculated by Lord Lindsay, M.P., F.R.S., F.R.A.S.,
etc. Cloth, oblong, 2s.

Screw Cutting Tables, for the use of Mechanical

Engineers, showing the proper arrangement of Wheels for cutting the
Threads of Screws of any required pitch, with a Table for making the
Uiiiversal Gas-pipe Threads and Taps. By W. A. Martin, Engineer.
Second edition, oblong, cloth, u., or sewed, dd.

A Treatise on a Practical Method of Designing Slide-

Valve Gears by Simple Geometrical Construction, based upon the principles
enunciated in Euclid's Elements, and comprising the various forms of
Plain Slide- Valve and Expansion Gearing ; together with Stephenson's,
Gooch's, and Allan's Link-Motions, as applied either to reversing or to
variable expansion combinations. By Edward J. Cowling Welch,
Memb. Inst. Mechanical Engineers. Crown 8vo, cloth, ts.

Cleaning and Scouring : a Manual for Dyers, Laun-
dresses, and for Domestic Use. By S. Christopher. i8mo, sewed, 6d.

A Glossary of Terms used, in Coal Mining. By

William Stukeley Gresley, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., F.G.S., Member
of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers. Illmtrated with
numerous woodcuts and diagrams, crown 8vo, cloth, 5^.

A Pocket-Book for Boiler Makers and Steam Users,

comprising a variety of useful information for Employer and Workman,
Government Inspectors, Board of Trade Surveyors, Engineers in charge
of Works and Slips, Foremen of Manufactories, and the general Steam-
using Public. By MAURICE John Sexton. Second edition, royal
32mo, roan, gilt edges, 5j.

Electrolysis: a Practical Treatise on Nickeling,

Coppering, Gilding, Silvering, the Refining of Metals, ^nd the treatment
of Ores by means of Electricity. By Hippolyte Fontaine, translated
from the French by J. A. Berly, C.E., Assoc. S.T.E. With engravings.
8vo, cloth, ^s.

PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 13

Barlows Tables of Squares, Cubes, Square Roots,

Cube Roots, Reciprocals of all Integer Numbers up to 10,000. Post 8vo,
cloth, 6j.

A Practical Treatise on the Steam Engine, con-
taining Plans and Arrangements of Details for Fixed Steam Engines,
with Essays on the Principles involved in Design and Construction. By
Arthur Rigg, Engineer, Member of the Society of Engineers and of
the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Demy 4to, copiously illustrated
with woodcuts and ^^ plates, in one Volume, half-bound morocco, 2/. is. ;
or cheaper edition, cloth, 25J.

This work is not, in any sense, an elementary treatise, or history of the steam engine, but
is intended to describe examples of Fixed Steam Engines without entering into the wide
domain of locomotive or marine practice. To this end illustrations will be given of the most
recent arrangements of Horizontal, Vertical, Beam, Pumping, Winding, Portable, Semi-
portable, Corliss, Allen, X)ompound, and other similar Engines, by the most eminent Firms in
Great Britain and America. The laws relating to the action and precautions to be observed
in the construction of the various details, such as Cylinders, Pistons, Piston-rods, Connecting-
rods, Cross-heads, Motion-blocks, Eccentrics, Simple, Expansion, Balanced, aud Equilibrium
Slide-valves, and Valve-gearing will be minutely dealt with. In this connection will be found
articles upon the Velocity of Reciprocating Parts and the Mode of Applying the Indicator,
Heat and Expansion of Steam Governors, and the like. It is the writer's desire to draw
illustrations from every possible source, and give only those rules that present practice deems
correct.

A Practical Treatise on the Science of Land and

Engineering Surveying, Levelling, Estimating Quantities, etc., , with a
general description of the seversd Instruments required for Surveying,
Levelling, Plotting, etc. By H. S. Merrett. Fourth edition, revised
by G. W. UsiLL, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E, 41 plates, with illustrations
and tables, royal 8vo, cloth, \zs. 6d.

Principal Contents :

Part 1. Introduction and the Principles of Geometry. Part z. Land Surveying ; com-
prising General Observations— The Chain— Offsets Surveying by the Chain only — Surveying
HiUy Ground — ^To Survey an Estate or Parish by the Chain only — Surveying with the
Theodolite — Mining and Town Surveying — Railroad Surveying— Mapping — Division and
Laying out of Land — Observations on Enclosures — Plane Trigonometry. Part 3. Levelling —
Simple and Compound Levelling— The Level Book — Parliamentary Plan and Section-
Levelling with, a Theodolite — Gradients — ^Wooden Curves — To Lay out a Railway Curve-
Setting out Widths. Part 4. Calculating Quantities generally for Estimates — Cuttings and
Embankments — Tunnels — Brickwork— Ironwork — ^Timber Measuring. Part 5. Description
and Use of Instruments in Surveying and Plotting — The Improved Dumpy Level — ^Troughton's
Level — The Prismatic Compass — Proportional Compass — Box Sextant — Vernier — Panta-
graph — Merrett's Improved Quadrant — Improved Computation Scale — The Diagonal Scale-
Straight Edge and Sector. Part 6. Logarithms of Numbers — Logarithmic Sines and
Co-Sines, Tangents and Co-Tangents — Natural Sines and Co-Sines — Tables for Earthwork,
for Setting out Curves, and for various Calculations, etc., etc., etc.

Mechanical Graphics. A Second Course of Me-
chanical Drawing. With Preface by Prof. Perry, B.Sc, F.R.S.
Arranged for use in Technical and Science and Art Institutes, Schools .
and Colleges, by George Halliday, Whitworth Scholar. 8vo,
cloth, 6x.

B 4

14 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

The Assayers Manual: an Abridged Treatise on

the Docimastic Examination of Ores and Furnace and other Artificial
Products. By Bruno Kerl. Translated by W. T. Brannt. With 65
illustrations, 8vo, cloth, \2s. 6d.

Dynamo - Electric Machinery : a Text - Book for

Students of Electro-Technology. By Silvanus P. Thompson, B.A.,
D.Sc, M.S.T.E. [New edition in the pras.

The Practice of Hand Turning in Wood, Ivory, Shell,

etc., with Instructions for Turning such Work in Metal as may be required
in the Practice of Turning in Wood, Ivory, etc. ; also an Appendix on
Ornamental Turning. (A book for beginners.) By Francis Campin.
Third edition, with wood engravings, crown 8vo, cloth, ds.

Contents :

On Lathes — ^Turning Tools — Turning Wood — Drilling — Screw Cutting — Miscellaneous
Apparatus and Processes — Turning Particular Forms — Staining — Polishing — Spinning Metals
— Materials — Ornamental Turning, etc.

Treatise on Watchwork, Past and Present. By the

Rev. H. L. Nelthropp, M.A., F.S.A. With 32 illustrations, crown
8vo, cloth, 6s. 6d.

Contents :

Definitions of Words and Terms used in Watchwork — Tools— Time— Historical Sum-
mary— On Calculations of the Numbers for Wheels and Pinions ; their Proportional Sizes,
Trains, etc. — Of Dial Wheels, or Motion Work — Length of Time of Going witiiout Winding
up— The Verge— The Horizontal — The Duplex— The Lever— The Chronometer— Repeating
Watches— Keyless Watches— The Pendulum, or Spiral Spring — Compensation— Jewelling of
Pivot Holes'— Clerkenwell— Fallacies of the Trade— Incapacity of Workmen— How to Choose
and Use a Watch, etc.

Algebra Self-Taught. By W. P. Higgs, M.A.,

D.Sc, LL.D., Assoc. Inst. C.E., Author of ' A Handbook of the Differ-
ential Calculus,' etc. Second edition, crown Svo, cloth, is. 6d.

Contents :

Symbols and the Signs of Operation — The Equation and the Unknown Quantity-
Positive and Negative Quantities— Multiplication— Involution — Exponents— Negative Expo-
nents—Roots, and the Use of Exponents as Logarithms — Logarithms — Tables of Logarithms
and Proportionate Parts — Transformation of System of Logarithms— Common Uses of
Common Logarithms— Compound Multiplication and the Binomial Theorem— Division,
Fractions, and Ratio— Continued Proportion — The Series and the Summation of the Series-
Limit of Series — Square and Cube Roots — Equations — List of Formulae, etc.

Spons' Dictionary of Engineering, Civil, Mechanical,

Military, and Naval; with technical terms in French, German, Italian,
and Spanish, 3100 pp., and nearly 8000 engravings, in super-royal Svo,'
in 8 divisions, 5/. 8j. Complete in 3 vols., cloth, 5/. 5^. Bound in a
superior manner, half-morocco, top edge gilt, 3 vols., 6/. 12s,

PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 15

Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Compiled prin-
cipally for the use of the Students attending the Classes on this subject at
the City of London College. By Henry Adams, Mem. Inst. M.E.,
Mem. Inst. C.E., Mem. Soc. of Engineers. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2j. dd.

Canoe and Boat Building: a. complete Manual for

Amateurs, containing plain and comprehensive directions for the con-
struction of Canoes, Rowing and Sailing Boats, and Hunting Craft.
By W. P. Stephens. IVM numerom illustrations and 24 plates of
Working Drawings. Crown 8vo, cloth, gj.

Proceedings of the National Conference of Electricians,

Philadelphia, October 8th to 13th, 1884. i8mo, cloth, y.

Dynamo - Electricity, its Generation, Application,

Transmission, Storage, and Measurement. By G. B. Prescott. With
54S illustrations. 8vo, cloth, l/. is.

Domestic Electricity for Amateurs. Translated from

the French of E. Hospitalier, Editor of " L'Electricien," by C. J.
Wharton, Assoc. Soc. Tel. Eng, Numerous illustrations. Demy 8vo,
cloth, (ts.

Contents :

I. Production of the Electric Current— 2. Electric Bells — 3. Automatic Alarms — 4. Domestic
Telephones — 5. Electric Clocks — 6. Electric Lighters — 7. Domestic Electric Lighting —
8. Domestic Application of the Electric Light — 9. Electric Motors — 10. Electrical Locomo-
tion— II. Electrotyping, Plating, and Gilding — 12. .Electric Recreations — 13. Various appli-
cations— Workshop of the Electrician.

Wrinkles in Electric Lighting. By Vincent Stephen.

With illustrations. iSmo, cloth, 2s. 6d.

Contents :

I. The Electric Current and its production by Chemical means — 2. Preduction of Electric
Currents by Mechanical means — 3. Dynamo-Electric Machines — 4. Electcic Lamps —
5. Lead — 6. Ship Lighting,

Foundations and Foundation Walls for all classes of

Buildings, Pile Driving, Building Stones and Bricks, Pier and Wall
construction, Mortars, Limes, Cements, Concretes, Stuccos, &c. 64 illus-
trations. By G. T. Powell and.F. Bauman. 8vo, cloth, \os. 6d.

Manual for Gas Engineering Students. By D. Lee.

iSmo, cloth, i.r.

1 6 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

Telephones, their Construction and Management.

By F. C. Allsop. Crown 8vo, cloth, Sj.

Hydraulic Machinery, Past and Present. A Lefcture

delivered to the London and Suburban Railway Officials' Association,
By H. Adams, Mem. Inst. C.E. Folding plate. 8vo, sewed, is.

Twenty Years with the Indicator. By Thomas Pray,

Jun., C.E., M.E., Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
2 vols., royal 8vo, cloth, 12s. bd.

Annual Statistical Report of the Secretary to the

Members of the Iron and Steel Association on the Home and Foreign Iron
and Steel Industries in \%%^. Issued June 1890. 8vo, sewed, 5^.

Bad Drains., and How to Test them ; with Notes on

the Ventilation of Sewers, Drains, and Sanitary Fittings, and the Origin
and Transmission of Zymotic Disease. By R. Harris Reeves. Crown
8vo, cloth, y. 6d.

Well Sinking. The modern practice of Sinking

and Boring Wells, with geological considerations and examples of Wells.
By Ernest Spon, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., Mem. Soc. Eng., and of the
Franklin Inst., etc. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Crown 8vo,
cloth, 10s. 6d.

The Voltaic Accumulator : an Elementary Treatise.

By I^MILE Reynier. Translated by J. A. Berly, Assoc. Inst. E.E,
JVith 62 illustrations, 8vo, cloth, gj.

Ten gears' Experience in Works of Intermittent

Downward Filtration. By J. Bailey Denton, Mem. Inst. C.E.
Second edition, with additions. Royal 8vo, cloth, 5j-.

Land Surveying on the Meridian and Perpendicular

System. By William Penman, C.K 8vo, cloth, %s. 6d.

The Electromagnet and E lectromagnetic Mechanism.

By Silvanus p. Thompson, D.Sc, F.R.S. 8vo, cloth, 15^-.

PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 17

Incandescent Wiring Hand-Book. By F. B. Badt,

late 1st Lieut. Royal Prussian Artillery. With 41 illustrations and
5 tables. iSino, cloth, 4J. dd.

A Pocket-book for Pharmacists., Medical Prac-
titioners, Students, etc., etc. {British, Colonial, and American). By
Thomas Bayley, Assoc. R. Coll. of Science, Consulting Chemist,
Analyst, and Assayer, Author of a 'Pocket-book for Chemists,' 'The
Assay and Analysis of Iron and Steel, Iron Ores, and Fuel,' etc., etc.
Royal 33mo, boards, gilt edges, 6s.

The Fireman's Guide ; a Handbook on the Care of

Boilers. By Teknolog, fdreningen T. I. Stockholm. Translated from
the third edition, and revised by KARL P. Dahlstrom, M.E. Second
edition. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s.

A Treatise on Modern Steam Engines and Boilers,

including Land Locomotive, and Marine Engines and Boilers, for the
use of Students. By Frederick Colyer, M. Inst. C.E., Mem. Inst. M.E.
With 2f> plates. 4to, cloth, 12s. 6d.

Contents :

I. Introduction — 2, Original Engines — 3. Boilers— 4. High-Pressure Beam Engines— 5.
Cornish Beam Engines — 6. Horizontal Engines — 7. Oscillating Engines — 8. Vertical High-
Pressure Engines — 9. Special Engines — 10. Portable Engines— 11. Locomotive Engines^
Z2. Marine Engines.

Steam Engine Management; a Treatise on the

Working and Management of Steam Boilers. By F. Colyer, M. Inst.
C.E., Mem. Inst. M.E. i8mo, cloth, 2.s.

A Text-Book of Tanning, embracing the Preparation

of all kinds of Leather. By Harry R. Proctor, F.C.S., of Low Lights
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