BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME EROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg HI. Sage 1891 MlOioS.^..', JiJih ^//^f Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. 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 CHIEFLY COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES, AND HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS.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. 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 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, 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, £), 65-67 Bibliography. 533 Frost, A. J., Biographical Memoir of Sir Francis Ronalds (Lond.,i88o), i8, 134 G. Galileo, G., Dialogus de Systemate Mundi (FiorenzsL, 1632), II Galvani (see Bologna Academy) Gamble, Rev. J., Essay on the Different Modes of Communication by Signals, 103 Ganot, Elementary Treatise on Phy- sics (Lond., 1881), 208 Gauss and Weber's Resultate, dfc., for 1837, 108 Gaxzetta di Trento, for Romagnosi's experiment, 259 Gehlen's yournalfiir die Chemie und Physik, 262 Gerspach, Histoire administrative de la Tiligraphie cUrienne en France (Paris, 1861), 95 See Annales Tiligraphiques (1859), 109 Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, 279, 344 Gilbert, Dr., De Magnete {1600), 30 Glanvill, J., Scepsis Scieniifca (1665), 14 Gordon, Mrs., HomeLifeof Sir David Brewster (1869), 75 Govi, Romagnosi e PElettro-Mag- netismo (Turin, 1869), 257 Gray, Stephen, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (1735-6), 41 Guericke, Otto, Experimenta Nova Magdeburgica (Amstelodami, 1672), 33 Guerout, A., La Lumiire Eltctrique (Mar. 1883), 119 Guyot, Nouvelles Ricrlations Phy- siques etMathimatiques(\']f^), 119 H. Hakewill, An Apologie or Declara- tion of the Power and Providence of God in the Government of the JVorld {1630), 9 Hamel, Dr., Historical Account of the Introduction of the Galvanic and Electro- Magnetic Telegraph into England {i%t,ci), 105, 227 Hercules de Sunde, see Schwenter Highton, Electric Telegraph : its History and Progress (l%t,2), 107. Humboldt, Cosmos (1849), 29 Izarn, J., Manuel du Galvanisme (Paris, 1805), 26s Jameson, New Edinburgh Philoso- phical yournal, 218 Jewitt, L., Life ofjosiah Wedgwood (Lond., 1865), 124 Ceramic Art in Great Britain (Lond., 1878), 124 Jones, Historical Sketch of the Electric Telegraph (New York, 1852), 160, S08 Journal de Paris (1782), 85 Journal de Physique, ^'c, 189, &c. Journal des Travaux de PAcad. de t Industrie Franfaise (March 1839), 161, 316, 491 Journal fUr Math, und Physik, 262 Journal of the Society of Telegraph Engineers, 80, 274, 512 Journal Tillgraphique de Berne, 168 534 Bibliography. Kirby and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, 169 Kircher, A., Magnes, sive de arte magnetica (1641), 18 Komaroffs La Presse Scientifique des Deux Mondes, 317 La Lumih-e Electrique (Mar. 1883, Guerout), 119, 162 Lardner, Manual of Electricity, 27, &c. La Rive, De, Treatise on Electricity (1853-58), 345 Larrey, Baron, Clinique Chirurgi- cale and Bulletin de la Societe Medicate d^ Emulation, 239 Z« Correspondant (1867), 82 Lehot, Observations sur le Galvan- isme et le Magnitisme (Paris, i8o6), 256 Le yournal des Sgavans, 89 Le Mercure de France (1782), 87 Leonardus, Camillus, Speculum La- pidum (1502), 4 Les Mondes (1867), 82 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- netico (Venezia, 1838), 167, 481 Maimbourg, Hist, de rArianistne (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. of Sciences at Paris (1742), 176 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- trique (Paris, 1852), 91, loi, 150 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 Parthenius, J. M., Electricorum (1767), 77 Philosophical Magasine, 2H, &c. Philosophical Transactions, 33, &c. Pliny, Nat. Hist, xxxii. 2, 170; xxxvii. 3, 27 Plutarch, Life of Timoleon, 28 Bibliography. 535 PoggendorlFs Annalen, &c., 282, 319 Porta, Baptista, Magia Naturalis (1558), 6 Prescott, G. B., History, Theory, and Practice of the Electric Telegraph (Boston, i860), 160 Prevost, P., Notice de la vie et des Scrits de George Louis Le Sage de Genkie (1805), 91 Priestley, History and Present State of Electricity (1767), 38,' &c. Public Characters of 1800-1801, 89 Q. Quarterly Journal of Science and the Arts (Roy. Inst.), 263, &c. B. Recy, H., Tilitatodydaxie, ou Till- graphic Electrique (Paris, 1838), 162 Raid, Telegraph in America (New York, 1879), 98, 328 Revista de Telegrafos (1876), 102 Rive, De La, see La Rive Robertson, Memoires Rkriatifs Scientifiques et Arucdotiques (Paris, 1840), 179, 187 Roget, Electro-Magnetism, 281 Romagnosi (see Gazzetta di Trento, and Govi) Ronalds, Sir F., Catalogue of Elec- trical Works, edited by A. J. Frost (London, 1880), 128 Francis, Descriptions of an Electrical Telegraph (Lond. 1823), 128 (see also Frost, A. J.) Ronalds' MSS., 144-5 S. Saavedra, Tratado de Telegrafia (Barcelona, 1880), 102, 220 Sabine, R., History and Progress of the Electric Telegraph (London, 1869), 266, 384 Satirist, The, 245 Schott, Schola Steganographica, 7 Schweigger's Journal fiir Chemie und Physik, 243, 279 Schwenter, Daniel, Steganologia et Steganographia (Niirnberg, 1600), 6 Scots' Magazine (1753), 68 Scribonius Largus, De.Compositione Medicamentorum Medica, 171 Shaffner, Telegraph Manual (New York, 1859), 328 Sharpe, J. R., On the Electrical Telegraph (Repertory of Arts, June 1816), 244 Benjamin, A Treatise on the Construction and Submersion of Deep-Sea Electric Telegraph Cables, 245 Silliman's American Journal of Science, 290, &c. Smith, Egerton (Editor), The Ka- leidoscope, or Literary and Scien- tific Mirror (Liverpool, 1824), 146 Smithsonian Report, 405-11 Sommerring, Der Elektrische Tele- graph, &c., 227 Strada, F. , Prolusiones Academicif (Rome, 161 7), 8 Stratingh, lets over eenen Electro- Magnetischen Klokken- Tekgraaf 1838), 488 Stuart, Alex., Experiments to prove the Existence of a Fluid in the Nerves (Phil. Trans., 1732), 176 Sturgeon's Annals of Electricity, 216, 328 536 Bibliography. Sulzer, Nouvelk TMorie des Plaisirs (1767), 150, 178 Swammerdam, Biblia Natura, vol. ii. p. 839, 175 Swedenborg, Principia Rerum Naturalium (Dresden, 1734), 251 Telegrapher, The (vol. i. pp. 48, 163, New York), 160 Telegraphic Journal (Nov. 15, 187s, from Strada), 9 Theophrastus, De Lapiditms, 27 Thomson's Annals of Philosophy, 246 Times, 124 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. 1803), 262, &c. Van Swinden, Recueil de Mimoires sur V Analogic, &'c., 255 Voigt's MagazinfUr das Neueste aus der Physik, 96, 107 _ Vorsselmann de Heer, Thiorie de la THigraphie Electrique (Deventer, 1839), 150 W. Watson, Dr., An account of some experiments made by some gentle- men of the Royal Society (1748), 61 Wedgwood, W. R., Letter to the Commercial Magazine [l%\b), 127 R., Book of Remembrance (1814), 125 Wilson, Dr. Geo., Elect. Tel. (1852), 2 Winkler, Thoughts on the Properties, Operations, and Causes of Elec- tricity (Leipsic, 1744), 59 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. LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO ELECTRICITY, TELEGRAPHY, THE ELECTRIC LIGHT, &c. PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY E. & F. N. SPON, 16, CHARING CROSS, LONDON. i8mo, boards, ss. 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. 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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 Tanneries. With illustrations. Croym 8vo, cloth, \os. 6d. Aid Book to Engineering Enterprise. By Ewing Matheson, M. Inst. C.E. The Inception of Public Works, Parlia- mentary Procedure for Railways, Concessions for Foreign Works, and means of Providing Money, the Points which determine Success or Failure, Contract and Purchase, Commerce in Coal, Iron, and Steel, &c. Second edition, revised and enlarged, 8yo, cloth, 2%s. i8 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Pumps, Historically, Theoretically, and Practically Considered. By P. R. Bjorling. With 156 illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7^. 6d. The Marine Transport of Petroleum. A Book for the use of Shipowners, Shipbuilders, Underwriters, Merchants, Captains and Officers of Petroleum-carrying Vessels. By G. H. Little, Editor of the ' Liverpool Journal of Commerce.' Crown 8vo, cloth, lar. iid. Liquid Fuel for Mechanical and Industrial Purposes. Compiled by E. A. Brayley Hodgetts. With wood engravings. 8vo, cloth. Is. (sd. Tropical Agriculture : A Treatise on the Culture, Preparation, Commerce and Consumption of the principal Products of the Vegetable Kingdom. By P. L. Simmonds, F.L.S., F.R.C.I. New edition, revised and enlarged, Svo, cloth, 2ij. Health and Comfort in House Building ; or. Ventila- tion with Warm Air by Self-acting Suction Power. With Review of the Mode of Calculating the Draught in Hot-air Flues, and with some Actual Experiments by J. Drysdale, M.D., and J. W. Hayward, M.D. With plates and woodcuts. Third edition, with some New Sections, and the whole carefully Revised, Svo, cloth, 7j. dd. Losses in Gold Amalgamation. With Notes on the Concentration of Gold and Silver Ores. With six plates. By W. McDermott and P. W. Duffield. Svo, cloth, 5j-. A Guide for the Electric Testing of Telegraph Cables. By Col. V. HosKicER, Royal Danish Engineers. Third edition, crown Svo, cloth, 4J. dd. The Hydraulic Gold Miners' Manual. By T. S. G. Kirkpatrick, M.A. Oxon. With 6 plates. Crown Svo, cloth, 6s. '[ We venture to think that this work will become a text-book on the important subject of which it treats. Until comparatively recently hydraulic mines were neglected. This was scarcely to be surprised at, seeing that their working in California was brought to an abrupt termination by the action of the farmers on the debris <|uestion, whilst their working in other parts of the world had not been attended with the anticipated success." — The Mining World and Engineering Record. The Arithmetic of Electricity. By T. O'Conor Sloane. Crown Svo, cloth, 4^. f>d. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 19 The Turkish Bath : Its Design and Construction for Public and Commercial Purposes. By R. O. Allsop, Architect. li^iA plans and sections. 8vo, cloth, 6j. Earthwork Slips and Subsidences upon Public Works : Their Causes, Prevention and Reparation. Especially written to assist those engaged in the Construction or Maintenance of Railways, Docks, Canals, Waterworks, River Banks, Reclamation Embankments, Drainage Works, &c,, &c. By John Newman, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., Author of 'Notes on Concrete,' &c. Crown 8vo, cloth, ys. 6d. Gas and Petroleum Engines: A Practical Treatise on the Internal Combustion Engine. By Wm. Robinson, M.E., Senior Demonstrator and Lecturer on Applied Mechanics, Physics, &c., City and Guilds of London College, Finsbury, Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., &c. Numerous illustrations. 8vo, cloth, 14J. Waterways and Water Transport in Different Coun- tries. With a description of the Panama, Suez, Manchester, Nicaraguan, and other Canals. By J. Stephen Jeans, Author of 'England's Supremacy,' 'Railway Problems,' &c. Numerous illustrations. Svo, cloth, 14J. A Treatise on the Richards Steam-Engine Indicator and the Development and Application of Force in the Steam-Engine. By Charles T. Porter. Fourth Edition, revised and enlarged, Svo, cloth, 9^. Contents. The Nature and Use of the Indicator : The several lines on the Diagram. Examination of Diagram No. I. Of Truth in the Diagram. Description of the Richards Indicator. Practical Directions for Applying and Taking Care of the Indicator. Introductory Remarks. Units. Expansion. . t^. Directions for ascertaining from the Diagram the Power exerted by the Engine. To Measure from the Diagram the Quantity of Steam Consumed. To Measure from the Diagram the Quantity of Heat Expended. ^ . ,-. Of the Real Diagram, and how to Construct it. Of the Conversion of Heat into Work in the Steam-engine. Observations on the several Lines ol the Diagram. Of the Loss attending the Employment of Slow-piston Speed, and the Extent to which this is Shown by the Indicator. Of other Applications of the Indicator. Of the use of the Tables of the Properties of Steam in Calculating the Duty of Boilers. Introductory. Of the Pressure on the Crank when the Con- necting-rod is conceived to be of Infinite Length. The Modification of the 'Acceleration and Retardation that is occasioned by the Angular Vibration of the Connecting-rod. Method of representing the actual pressure on the crank at every point of its revolu- tion. The Rotative Effect of the Pressure exerted on the Crank. The Transmitting Parts of an Engine, con- sidered as an Equaliser of Motion. A Ride on a Buffobeam (Appendix). 20 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. In demy 4to, handsomely bound in cloth, illustrated with ZQO full page plates. Price 15^, ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES IN BRICK, STONE, WOOD, AND IRON. A COMPLETE WOBK ON THE DETAILS AND ARRANGEMENT OP BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN. By WILLIAM FULLERTON, Architect. Containing aao Plates, with numerous Drawings selected from the Architecture of Former and Present Times. The Details and Designs are Drawn to Scale, -I", J", J", and Full size being chiefly used. The Plates are arranged in Two Parts. The First Part contains Details of Work in the four principal Building materials, the following being a few of the subjects in this Part : — Various forms of Doors and Windows, Wood and Iron Roofs, Half Timber Work, Porches, Towers, Spires, Belfries, Flying Buttresses, Groining, Carving, Church Fittings, Constructive and Ornamental Iron Work, Classic and Gothic Molds and Ornament, Foliation Natural and Conventional, Stained Glass, Coloured Decoration, a Section to Scale of the Great Pyramid, Grecian and Roman Work, Continental and English Gothic, Pile Foundations, Chimney Shafts according to the regulations of the London County Council, Board Schools. The Second Part consists of Drawings of Plans and Elevations of Buildings, arranged under the following heads :— Workmen's Cottages and Dwellings, Cottage Resi- dences and Dwelling Houses, Shops, Factories, Warehouses, Schools, Churches and Chapels, Public Buildings, Hotels and Taverns, and Buildings of a general character. All the Plates are accompanied with particulars of the Work, with Explanatory Notes and Dimensions of the various parts. specimen Pages, reduced from the originals. ArcfaTufvral Examfalu— ArofeTiefuriJ Ewn^Jifr— Wtidovr* CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Crown 8vo, cloth, with illustrations, 5^. WORKSHOP RECEIPTS, FIRST SERIES. By ERNEST SPON. Bookbinding, Bronzes and Bronzing. Candles. Cement. Cleaning. Colourwashing. Concretes. Dipping Acids. Drawing OiEce Details. Drying Oils. Dynamite. Electro - Metallurgy — (Cleaning, Dipping, Scratch-brushing, Bat- teries, Baths, and Deposits of every description). Enamels. Engraving on Wood, Copper, Gold, Silver, Steel, and Stone. Etching and Aqua Tint. Firework Making — (Rockets, Stars, Rains, Gerbes, Jets, Tour- billons, Candles, Fires, Lances,Lights, Wheels, Fire-balloons, and minor Fireworks). Fluxes. Foundry Mixtures. Synopsis of Contents. Freezing. Fulminates. Furniture Creams, Oils, Polishes, Lacquers, and Pastes. Gilding. Glass Cutting, Cleaning, Frosting, Drilling, Darkening, Bending, Staining, and Paint- ing. Glass Making. Glues. Gold. Graining. Gums. Gun Cotton. Gunpowder. Horn Working. Indiarubber. Japans, Japanning, and kindred processes. Lacquers. Lathing. Lubricants. Marble Working. Matches. Mortars. Nitro-Glyceiine. Oils. Paper. Paper Hanging. Painting in Oils, in Water Colours, as well as Fresco, House, Trans- parency, Sign, and Carriage Painting. Photography. Plastering. Polishes. Pottery — (Clays, Bodies, Glazes, Colours, Oils, Stains, Fluxes, Ena- mels, and Lustres), Scouring. Silvering. Soap. Solders. Tanning, Taxidermy, Tempering Metals. Treating Horn, Mother- o'-Pearl, and like sub- stances. Varnishes, Manufacture and Use of. Veneering, Washing, Waterproofing. Welding. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 23 Crown 8vo, cloth, 485 pages, with illustrations, 5s. WORKSHOP RECEIPTS. SECOND SERIES. By ROBERT HALDANE. Synopsis of Contents. and Disinfectants. Dyeing, Staining, Colouring. Essences. Extracts. Fireproofing. Gelatine, Glue, and Size. Glycerine. Gut. Hydrogen peroxide. Ink. Iodine. Iodoform. Isinglass. Ivory substitutes. Leather. Luminous bodies. Matches. Paper. Parchment, Perchloric acid. Potassium oxalate. Preserving, Acidimetry and Alkali- metry, Albumen, Alcohol, Alkaloids, Baking-powders, Bitters. Bleaching. Boiler Incrustations. Cements and Lutes. Cleansing. Confectionery. Copying. Pigments, Paint, and Painting : embracing the preparation of Fipnents, including alumfna lakes, blacks (animal, bone, Frankfort, ivory, lamp, sight, soot), blues (antimony, Antwerp, cobalt, caeruleum, Egyptian, manganate, Paris, Peligot, Prussian, smalt, ultramarine), browns (bistre, hinau, sepia, sienna, umber, Vandyke), greens (baryta, Brighton, Brunswick, chrome, cobalt, Douglas, emerald, manganese, mitis, mountain, Prussian, sap, Scheele's, Schweinfurth, titanium, verdigris, zinc), reds (Brazilwood lake, carminated lake, carmine, Cassius purple, cobalt pink, cochineal lake, colco- thar, Indian red, madder lake, red chalk, red lead, vermilion), whites (alum, baryta, Chinese, lead sulphate, white lead — by American, Dutch, French, German, Kremnitz, and Pattinson processes, precautious in making, and composition of commercial samples — whiting, Wilkinson's white, zinc white), yellows (chrome, gamboge, Naples, orpiment, realgar, yellow lakes) ; Paint (vehicles, testing oils, driers, grinding, storing, applying, priming, drying, filling, coats, brushes, surface, water-colours, removing smell, discoloration ; miscellaneous paints — cement paint for carton-pierre, copper paint, gold paint, iron paint, lime paints, silicated paints, steatite paint, transparent paints, tungsten paints, window paint, zinc paints) ; Painting (general instructions, proportions of ingredients, measuring paint work ; carriage painting — priming paint, best putty, finishing colour, cause of cracking, mixing the paints, oils, driers, and colours, varnishing, importance of washing vehicles, re-varnishing, how to dry paint ; woodwork painting). 24 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS Crown 8vo, cloth, 480 pages, with 183 illustrations, Ss. WORKSHOP RECEIPTS. THIRD SERIES. By C. G. WARNFORD LOCK. XTniform with the First and Second Series. Synopsis of Contents. Alloys, Indium. Rubidium. Aluminium. Iridium, Ruthenium. Antimony. Iron and Steel. Selenium. Barium, Lacquers and Lacquering. , Silver. Beryllium. Lanthanum. Slag. Bismuth. Lead. Sodium. Cadmium, Lithium. Strontium. Caesium. Lubricants. Tantalum. Calcium. Magnesium. Terbium. Cerium, Manganese. ThalUum. Chromium. Mercury. Thorium. Cobalt Mica. Tin. Copper. Molybdenum. Titanium. Didymium. Nickel. Tungsten. Electrics. Niobium. Uranium. Enamels and Glazes. Osmium. Vanadium. Erbium. Palladium. Yttrium, Gallium. Platinum. Zinc, Glass. Potassium. Zirconium, Gold. Rhodium. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 25 WORKSHOP RECEIPTS. FOURTH SERIES, DEVOTED MAINLY TO HANDICRAFTS & MECHANICAL SUBJECTS. By C. G. WARNFORD LOCK. 250 lUustrations, with Complete Index, and a General Index to the Four Series, 5s, Waterproofing — rubber goods, cuprammonium processes, miscellaneous preparations. Packing and Storing articles of delicate odour or colour, of a deliquescent character, liable to ignition, apt to suffer from insects or damp, or easily broken. Embalming and Preserving anatomical specimens. Leather Polishes: Cooling Air and Water, producing low temperatures, making ice, cooling syrups and solutions, and separating salts from liquors by refrigeration. Pumps and Siphons, embracing every useful contrivance for raising and supplying water on a moderate scale, and moving corrosive, tenacious, and other liquids. Desiccating — air- and water-ovens, and other appliances for drying natural and artificial products. Distilling — water, tinctures, extracts, pharmaceutical preparations, essences, perfumes, and alcoholic liquids. Emulsifying as required by pharmacists and photographers. Evaporating — saline and other solutions, and liquids demanding special precautions. Filtering — water, and solutions of various kinds. Percolating and Macerating. Electrotyping. Stereotyping by both plaster and paper processes. Bookbinding in all its details. Straw Plaiting and the fabrication of baskets, matting, etc. Musical Instruments — the preservation, tuning, and repair of pianos harmoniums, musical boxes, etc. Clock and Watch Mending — adapted for intelligent amateurs. Photography — recent development in rapid processes, handy apparatus, ■ numerous recipes for sensitizing and developing solutions, and applica- tions to modern illustrative purposes. 26 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS NOW COMPLETE. WilA nearly Ijoo illustrations, in super-royal 8vo, in 5 Divisions, cloth. Divisions I to 4, ly. 6d. each ; Division 5, l^s. 6d. ; or 2 vols., cloth, £% los. SPONS' ENCYCLOPAEDIA OP THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. Edited by C. G. WARNFORD LOCK, F.L.S. Among the more ii fbllowing : — Acids, 207 pp. 220 figs. Alcohol, 23 pp. 16 figs. Alcoholic Liquors, 13 pp. Alkalies, 89 pp. 78 figs. Alloys. Alum. Asphalt. Assaying. Beverages, 89 pp. 29 figs. Blacks. Bleaching Powder, ij PP- Bleaching, 51 pp. 48 figs. Candles, 18 pp. 9 figs. Carbon Bisulphide. Celluloid, 9 pp. Cements. Clay. Coal-tar Products, 44 pp. 14 figs. Cocoa, 8 pp. Coffee, 32 pp. 13 figs. Cork, 8 pp. 17 figs. Cotton Manufactures, 62 pp. 57 figs. Drugs, 38 pp. Dyeing and Calico Printing, 28 pp. 9 figs. Dyestuffs, 16 pp. Electro-Metallurgy, 13 pp. Explosives, 22 pp. 33 figs. Feathers. Fibrous Substances, 92 pp, 79 figs. Floor-cloth, 16 pp. 21 figs. Food Preservation, 8 pp. Fruit, 8 pp. mportant of the subjects treated of, are the Fur, S pp. Gas, Coal, 8 pp. Gems. Glass, 4S pp. 77 figs. Graphite, 7 pp. Hair, 7 pp. Hair Manufactures. Hats, 26 pp. 26 figs. Honey. Hops. Horn. Ice, 10 pp. 14 figs. Indiarubber Manufac- tures, 23 pp. 17 figs. Ink, 17 pp. Ivory. Jute Manufactures, 11 pp., II figs. Knitted Fabrics — Hosiery, 15 pp. 13 figs. Lace, 13 pp. 9 figs. Leather, 28 pp. 31 figs. Linen Manufactures, 16 pp. 6 figs. Manures, 21 pp. 30 figs. Matches, 17 pp. 38 figs. Mordants, 13 pp. Narcotics, 47 pp. Nuts, 10 pp. Oils and Fatty Sub- stances, 125 pp. Paint. Paper, 26 pp. 23 figs. Paraffin, 8 pp. 6 figs. Pearl and Coral, 8 pp. Perfumes, 10 pp. Photography, 13 pp. 20 figs. Pigments, 9 pp. 6 figs. Pottery, 46 pp. S7 figs. Printing and Engraving, 20 pp. 8 figs. Rags. Resinous and Gummy Substances, 75 pp. 16 figs. Rope, 16 pp. 17 figs. Salt, 31 pp. 23 figs. Silk, 8 pp. Silk Manufactures, 9 pp. II figs. Skins, 5 pp. Small Wares, 4 pp. Soap and Glycerine, 39 pp. 45 figs.' Spices, 16 pp. Sponge, S pp. Starch, 9 pp. 10 figs. Sugar, ISS pp. 134 figs. Sulphur. Tannin, 18 pp. Tea, 12 pp. Timber, 13 pp. Varnish, 15 pp. Vinegar, S pp. Wax, 5 pp. Wool, 2 pp. Woollen Manufactures, 58 pp. 39 figs. PUBLISHED BY E. & F. N. SPON. 27 In super-royal 8vo, 1168 pp., wHk 2400 illttsiraiions, in 3 Divisions, cloth, price 13J. 6rf. each ; or i vol., cloth, z/. ; or half-morocco, 2/. Zs. A SUPPLEMENT TO SPONS' DICTIONARY OF ENGINEERING. Edited by ERNEST SPON, Memb. Soc. Engineers. Abacus, Counters, Speed Indicators, and Slide Rule. Agricultural Implements and Machinery. Air Compressors. Animal Charcoal Ma- chinery. Antimony. Axles and Axle-boxes. Bam Machinery. Belts and Belting. Blasting. Boilers. Brakes. Brick Machinery, Bridges. Cages for Mines. Calculus, Differential and Integral. Canals. Carpentry. Cast Iron. Cement, Concrete, Limes, and Mortar. Chimney Shafts. Coal Cleansing and Washing. Coal Mining. Coal Cutting Machines. Coke Ovens. Copper. Docks. Drainage. Dredging Machinery. Dynamo - Electric and Magneto-Electric Ma- chines. Dynamometers. Electrical Engineering, Telegraphy, Electric Lighting and its prac- ticaldetailSjTelephones Engines, Varieties of. Explosives. Fans. Founding, Moulding and the practical work of the Foundry. Gas, Manufacture of. Hammers, Steam and other Power, Heat. Horse Power. Hydraulics. Hydro-geology. Indicators. Iron. Lifts, Hoists, and Eleva- tors. Lighthouses, Buoys, and Beacons. Machine Tools. Materials of Construc- tion. Meters. Ores, Machinery and Processes employed to Dress. Piers. Pile Driving. Pneumatic Transmis- sion. Pumps. Pyrometers. Road Locomotives. Rock Drills. Rolling Stock. Sanitary Engineering. Shafting. Steel, Steam Navvy. Stone Machinery, Tramways. Well Sinking. 28 CATALOGUE OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. JXJST PUBLISHED. In demy 8vo, cloth, 600 pages, and 1420 Illustrations, 6s, SPONS' MECHANICS' OWN BOOK; A MANUAL FOR HANDICRAFTSMEN AND AMATEURS. Contents. Mechanical Drawing — Casting and Founding in Iron, Brass, Bronze, and other Alloys — Forging and Finishing Iron — Sheetmetal Working — Soldering, Brazing, and Burning — Carpentry and Joinery, embracing descriptions of some 400 Woods, over 200 Illustrations of Tools and their uses, Explanations (with Diagrams) of 116 joints and hinges, and Details of Construction of Workshop appliances, rough furniture. Garden and Yard Erections, and House Building — Cabinet-Making and Veneering — Carving and Fretcutting — Upholstery -^Painting, Graining, and Marbling — Staining Furniture, Woods, Floors, and Fittings — Gilding, dead and bright, on various grounds — Polishing Marble, Metals, and Wood — ^Varnishing — Mechanical movements, illustrating contrivances for transmitting motion — Turning in Wood and Metals — Masonry, embracing Stonework, Brickwork, Terracotta, and Concrete — Roofing with Thatch, Tiles, Slates, Felt, Zinc, &c. — Glazing with and without putty, and lead glazing— Plastering and Whitewashing— Paper-hanging— Gas-fitting— Bell-hanging, ordinary and electric Systems — Lighting — Warming — Ventilating — Roads, Pavements, and Bridges — Hedges, Ditches, and Drains — Water Supply and Sanitation— Hints on House Construction suited to new countries. E. & F. N. SPON, 135, Strand, London. New York : 12, Cortlandt Street.