.Cfltl^> ^^'s..^ "3^^\| Cohimbiit ttntbcr^sittj) LIBRARY ■^5^V ^^^iJ^^vO'V ip/^^ 0^ ';■*> rj^I^C!^r^ LIVES OF THE ELECTRICIANS. LIVES OF THE ELECTRICIANS PROFESSORS TYNDALL, WHEATSTONE, AND MORSE. FIRST SERIES. BY WILLIAM T. JEANS. *'Tlie electric telegraph is the most precious gift which Science has given to civilisation." — Sir D. Brewster. LONDON: WHITTAKER & CO., 2, White Hart Street, Paternoster Square, E.G. GEORGE BELL & SONS, York Street, Covent Garden. 1887. Richard Clay akd Sons, london and bungat. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Use of lives of electricians — World-wide distribution of electricians — Eminent authorities on biographical studies Pages ix — xvi PROFESSOR TYNDALL, CHAPTER I. Position as a scientist — Origin and early career — Work on Ordnance Survey, and as a teacher — Student life at Marburg — Sense of duty and early friendships Pages i — 20 CHAPTER II. Subjects of study in Germany — Discovery of diamagnetism — Investigation cf it — Scientific acquaintances — Early connection with Royal Institution — Slaty cleavage — Glacier phenomena explained R^g^s 21 — 41 CHAPTER III. Researches on Radiant Heat — Aqueous vapour and new glacial theory — Calorescence — Formation of clouds — Germ theory — Smoke respirator — Experiments on sound and its production by heat Pages 42 — 59 CHAPTER IV. Alpine travels — Ascent of Monte Rosa, Mont Blanc, Weisshorn, Col-du-Geant. and Piz Morteratch — Visit to Vesuvius — An American's impressions — Visit to America — Exploration of Niagara Falls — Presidental address to British Association Pages 60 — 83 1 Q R 1 9 7 ^ %^ Vv ^i At I vi Contents. CHAPTER V. Changes at Royal Institution — Development of electricity explained — Experi- mental illustrations and anecdotes — Reminiscences of Thomas Carlyle — Scientific adviser to the Trinity House . Pages 84 — 104 PROFESSOR WHEATS TONE. CHAPTER I. Forecasts of the telegraph — Early descriptions and history of it — Birth and early achievements of Wheatstone — Enchanted lyre or first telephone — Experiments in audition — Invention of concertina — Velocity of electricity measured — Spectrum analysis — Lightning conductors . . Pages 105 — 132 CHAPTER II. Origin of telegraph — Early evidences of Wheatstone's — Working of first needle telegraph — Dispute with Mr.W. F. Cooke as to priority of invention — Wheatstone's vindication — His electro-magnetic telegraph, magneto- electric machine, electric clock, printing telegraph, chronoscope, method of measuring electricity, and improved needle telegraphs . Pages 133 — 172 CHAPTER HI. First uses of telegraph — Means of arresting criminals — Early charges for telegraphing — P^ormation of Electric Telegraph Company — Wheatstone's magneto-electric exploder — His early experiments with submarine cables — Cable from Dover to Calais — Faraday on Wheatstone's A. B.C. tele- graph instrument — His automatic instruments Pages 173 — 203 CHAPTER IV. Origin of Dynamo — Invention of stereoscope — Improvement by Sir D. Brewster — Illustration of earth's rotatory motion — Wheatstone's crypto- graph — His minor inventions — Honours conferred on him — His death. Pages 204 — 230 PROFESSOR MORSE. CHAPTER I. Birth and education — Diverted from electricity to art — Labours as an artist in England and America Pages 231 — 241 Contents. vii CHAPTER II. Travels to study art — First conception of Recording Telegraph — Experiments with it in New York — Invention of Relay — His poverty and disappoint- ments — His originality disputed — First exhibitions of his apparatus — Descriptions of it — Foreign patents — Introduction of photography — Congress asked to try his telegraph — Appropriation granted— Experimental line made and opened Pages 242 — 278 CHAPTER HI. INIorse Telegraph offered to Government and declined — Rapid extension of it by Companies — Determination of longitude ; Morse transmitter and sounder — First Atlantic Cable , . . Pages 279 — 301 CHAPTER IV. Rewards of inventors — Morse patents vindicated. — Rival inventions — Pioneers of practical telegraphy — Honours and emoluments of Morse — Statue in New York — Last days — Death Pages 2)02 — 322 INTRODUCTION. Although this work is the first of its kind relating to electricians, its design is neither novel nor tentative. Its object is not only to give a popular account of the most memorable achievements of those men who have succeeded in evolving the laws of electricity, but to convey to unscientific readers some knowledge of the nature of those laws, and the means by which they have been applied to the purposes of man. In some senses electrical science and its practical appli- cations might be described as the creation of the present century; and the author has been encouraged to adopt this method of giving a popular account of the great and useful work that our electricians have done by the success of a similar work dealing, in like manner, with the men and the inventions that have multiplied and cheapened the production and use of the most useful of metals.^ An eminent reviewer of that work justly observed that "our inventors might well boast that with a piece of steel and the recent developments of the magnetic force — so far at ^ The Creators of the Age of Steel. X Introduction. least as manufactures and commerce are concerned — they have revolutionised the world." It is this revolution and the men who have effected it, that this work proposes to give an account of, hoping to realise the truth of Tacitus' observation, that " the age which is most fertile in bright examples is the best qualified to make a fair estimate of them." Of books on electricity there is already abundance. They have been poured from the press in yearly increasing numbers. During the present generation the laws of electricity have been explained in every variet}^ of form — in the rigid demonstrations of the geometrician, in the abstract symbolism of the mathematician, in the technical language of numerous text-books, and in the experimental illustrations of popular lecturers. But to the ordinary reader the theorems of the mathematician are written in an unknown tongue ; and more elementary books on electricity, to be made interesting to the popular mind, would have to be written in " that language which can give a soul to the objects of sense, and a body to the abstrac- tions of mathematics." Add to this the fact that, as Prof C. A. Young puts it, ''since 1848 all things have become new in the scientific world. There is a new mathematics and a new astronomy, a new chemistry and a new elec- tricity, a new geology and a new biology. Great voices have spoken, and have transformed the world of thought and research as much as the material products of science hvae altered the aspects of external life. The tele- graph and dynamo-machine have not more changed the Introduction. xi conditions of business and industry than the speculations of Darwin and Helmholtz and their compeers have affected those of philosophy and science." The conquest of these fresh fields of knowledge has been almost the life's work of professional scientists ; and is that which was said of the past to continue true of the future, that ideas which in one generation are those of the learned few, in the next become those of the educated and middle class, and in the third those of the general public ? Even if no work were necessary to indicate the advances made in electrical knowledge, biographies of the elec- tricians would still be a desideratum. Carlyle has said of art in general that biography is almost the one thing needful. In the literature of electricity, it has hitherto been the one thing lacking. The subject is not destitute of historic as well as scientific interest ; and hence it is possible that the general reader may be led to regard it from Terence's point of view that ''whatsoever concerns mankind concerns me." It is possible, too, that a record of the achievements which have brought electricity to its present state of utility, may impart a reflex interest to that science. " Art is art," says Carlyle, " yet man also is man. Had the Transfigm^ation of Raphael been painted without human hand ; had it grown merely on the canvas, say by atmospheric influences, as lichen pictures do on rocks — it were a grand picture doubtless ; yet nothing like so grand as the picture which on opening our eyes we everywhere in heaven and earth see painted, and everywhere pass over with indifference, — because the Painter was not Man. xii Introduction. Think of this; much lies in it. The Vatican is great; yet poor to Chimborazo or the Peak of Teneriffe ; its dome is but the foohsh chip of an egg-shell, compared with that star-fretted dome where Arcturus and Orion glance for ever; which latter notwithstanding who looks at? The biographic interest is wanting : no Michael Angelo was He who built that 'Temple of Immensity ;' therefore do we, pitiful Littlenesses as we are, turn rather to wonder and to worship in the little toy-box of a Temple built by our like." Now it has been well observed that science is to the present age what art was to the middle ages ; and such being the case, may not a similar interest to that described by Carlyle attach to the marvellous things done by means of electricity ? A great deal is said about electricity, but very little about the men who made it subject to the will of man, who converted it into "the pulse of speech" which annihilates time and space, and who made it " the greatest blessing that science has given to civilisation." Of them it has often been said that " their line has g"one out throusfh all the earth, and their words to the end of the world," but of their lives not much has been communicated to the general public in a popular form. The men who have made electricity the handmaid of industry are nearly as widespread as the subtle force with which they have had to deal. The United Kingdom was the birth-place of the monarch of modern machinery — the steam-engine, — and also of the leading inventions in metallurgy which supply the framework of all our manu- facturing machinery; but the pioneers and engineers ol Introduction. xiii electricity have been of different nations and tongues. In the infancy of the science no country produced more electricians than Germany ; in the discovery and expo- sition of its subtlest laws, as well as in their application to useful purposes, no country has done more than England ; while in the most novel and most extensive use of electrical appliances for industrial purposes the New World may be said to have outstripped the Old. But smaller countries have also made splendid contributions to the general store of knowledge. Volta, the first philosopher who from his youth devoted himself to the study of electricity, and who has given his name to one department of it, was an Italian ; so was Galvani, who discovered that a frog was the most sensitive electrometer, and whose name became a synonym for electricity. Oersted, who made himself famous by the discovery of the mutual action of magnets and elec- trical conductors, was a Dane ; while Ampere, whom some writers have called " the Newton of electricity," and Arago, who discovered the development of magnetism by rotation, were Frenchmen. Most of these pioneers have already taken their place in the Temple of Science ; and this work not being intended to go over beaten ground, it was expected, at the outset, to comprise in one volume sufficient biographies to illustrate the more recent progress of electrical science and its applications to industrial purposes ; but the more the writer investigated the subject, the more it grew, not only in magnitude, but in magnetic attractiveness. He found that to give a complete account of the revolution xiv Introduction. effected by means of electricity would require biographies of the three classes of men, — scientific, engineering, and commercial — that had been instrumental in bringing electricity to its present state of usefulness ; while to do justice to these men would require such a varied picture of their lives as would illustrate their marvellous versatility, or their multifarious works, thus showing that they were among the ornaments as well as the benefactors of their race. He was encouraged to begin this work by the success of his previous effort, and he was encouraged to continue it beyond the limit originally intended by ex- periencing a feeling of pleasure akin to that which led Plutarch to say in the course of his work, that when he first applied himself to the writing of ancient lives it was for the sake of others, but he pursued that study for his own sake : for it was like living and conversing with these illustrious men, when he considered how great and wonderful they were. More recently Lord Bacon said he *' could not but wonder that our own times have so little value for what they enjoy, as not more frequently to write the lives of eminent men ; for though kings, princes, and great personages are few, yet there are many excellent men who deserve better than vague reports and barren eulogies." Nor is there any lack of authority as to the value of our subject in the estimation of contemporary schools of thought. An eminent Greek scholar (Dr. Lushington) in addressing the students of Glasgow University as their Lord Rector in 18S5, observed that '' the hope of adding something more to the store of Introduction. xv accomplished good to mankind cheered and upheld many daring pioneers of science, whose venerated names, now become household words, are linked together for ever in the history of human progress, known and honoured throughout the whole civilised world. Yet who in the age of Watt, even in the boldest flights of presaging imagin- ation, could have foretold such wondrous conquests over space and time as the spectroscope, the electric telegraph, and the telephone have revealed ? " The object of this work is to give some account of "such wondrous conquests." The guiding principle in its com- pilation has been the maxim of Goethe, that the main object of biography Is to exhibit man in relation to the features of his time ; and not as Dumas, on the other hand, sarcastically put it, " to trace each man's innermost life, ascertain whether he was born on a calcareous or a granite soil, learn whether his ancestors and himself have drunk wine, cider, or beer, or eaten meat, fish, or vegetables — nay, to penetrate the meanest details of his existence, to descend from the heights of criticism and from a scientific system to the gratification of a paltry curiosity." This volume opens with an account of the labours of the physicist who made a special study of the phenomena of magnetism, electricity, and co-relative forces ; and in the course of it occasion is taken to explain certain elementary- principles of these forces. It then proceeds to give, in the life of Professor Wheatstone, an account of some of the methods by which such scientific principles were made serviceable to man ; and it concludes with an account of xvi Introduction. the man who made it the labour of his life to produce a telegraphic apparatus and alphabet which have found universal favour. Technical language has been avoided as far as possible, and yet it is hoped that the descriptions given of electrical laws and mechanism will convey substantially correct impressions, without entering into elaborate details or straining after scientific exactness. While it may thus become a means of imparting to un- scientific readers some knowledge of the history of elec- trical science and engineering, it is hoped that the narrative will be found suf^ciently instructive to point a moral to that wider class of readers who take a sympathetic interest in the struggles and achievements of those unobtrusive but beneficent men, '' who, departing, leave behind them foot-prints on the sands of time." LIVES OF THE ELECTRICIANS. PROFESSOR TYNDALL. CHAPTER I. *' Precious is the new light of knowledge which our Teacher conquers for us ; yet small to the new light of Love which also we derive from him : the most important element of any man's performance is the Life he has accomplished." — Carlyle. The position of Professor Tyndall in the world of science is somewhat unique. He is one of our most popular teachers of physical science ; he is one of our most suc- cessful experimentalists ; and he is one of our most attractive writers. By his discoveries he has largely ex- tended our knowledge of the laws of Nature ; by his teaching and writings he has probably done more than any other man in England to kindle a love of science among the masses; and by his life he has set an example to students of science which cannot be too widely known or appreciated. There are men who have made greater and more useful discoveries in science, but few have made more interesting discoveries. There are men whose achievements have been more highly esteemed by the devotees of pure science, but rarely has a scientific man been more popular outside the scientific world. There are men whose culture has been broader and deeper, but who have nevertheless lacked his facility of exposition and gracefulness of diction. B 2 Lives of the Electricians. The goddess of Science, which ofttimes was presented to the public with the repulsive severity of a skeleton, he has clothed with flesh and blood, making her countenance appear radiant with the glow of poesy, and susceptible even to a touch of human sympathy; while amongst scientific contemporaries, though he does not rank as one of those creative minds that mark an epoch in the history of physical philosophy, he may yet be said to have " built many a stone into the great fabric of science, which gives it an ever-broader support and an ever-growing height without its appearing to a fresh observer as a special and distinctive work due to the sole exertion of any one scientific man." He commenced his scientific career at the time when Sir William Grove began to elaborate that theory of the co-relation of the physical sciences which Newton suspected and Faraday elucidated ; namely, " that the various affections of matter, heat, light, electricity, magnetism, chemical affinity, and motion are all correlative or have a reciprocal dependence : that neither, taken ab- stractedly, can be said to be the essential or proximate cause of the others, but that either may, as a force, produce the others ; thus heat may mediately produce electricity, electricity may produce heat ; and so of the rest." Professor Tyndall has extended or simplified our knowledge of these forces. Indeed he may be said to have revealed some hidden links in the chain of causation. He has extended and consolidated our knowledge of mag- netism ; as an explorer and discoverer in the domain of radiant heat he stands almost alone ; and as a lecturer and experimentalist he has probably done more than any other man to popularise the science of electricity. There is a growing tendency in the present day to appreciate personal achievement more highly than ancient lineage ; and it is becoming more a matter of boast in the intellectual world to say that an eminent man was self-made Professor Tvndall. 3 than to say he was of noble birth. The subject of this memoir can boast both of high descent and of lowly birth. ** I am distantly connected/' he says, "with one William Tyndale, who was rash enough to boast, and to make good his boast, that he would place an open Bible within reach of every ploughboy in England. His first reward was exile, and then a subterranean cell In the Castle of Vilvorden. It was a cold cell, and he humbly, but vainly, prayed for his coat to cover him and for his books to occupy him. In due time he was taken from the cell and set upright against a post. Round neck and post was placed a chain, which being cunningly twisted, the life was squeezed out of him. A bonfire was made of his body afterwards." It is said that the martyr Tyndale was descended from the ancient barons of Tyndale in Northumberland, whose title eventually passed into the family of the Percles, and that the said ancestors, leaving the north during the war of the Roses, afterwards sought and found refuge in Gloucester- shire. Of one of these refugees the martyr of Vilvorden was the great-grandson, and was, it is believed, born in 1484. Both family tradition and documents show that some members of the Tyndale family, who were cloth manufacturers, migrated from Gloucestershire to the county of Wexford in Ireland about two centuries ago. One William Tyndale landed on the coast of Ireland in 1670, and his descendants In later years became scattered over Wexford, Waterford, and Carlow. Their fortunes varied ; but for our purpose it Is sufficient to know that the grand- father of the Professor had a small estate in Wexford ; and that on removing thence to the village of Leighlln Bridge on the banks of the Barrow, county Carlow, he continued to prosper until he got into easy circumstances. But throughout the whole race of Tyndale, from the Martyr down to the Professor, intellectual Independence appears to have been preferred to worldly independence, and it was B 2 4 Lives of the Electricians. the exercise of this trait that cost the Professor the small patrimony which his grandfather had acquired. A high sense of rectitude and a benevolent disposition are not incompatible with excessive susceptibility to opposition ; and hence persons of high principles sometimes stand like adamant on points that to worldly minds appear too trifling even for controversy, much less for self-sacrifice. Though the opinions of the Tyndales may have differed, the leading principles that governed their conduct appear to have been maintained with remarkable consistency and self-denial. John Tyndale, the father of the Professor, differed in opinion with his own father, William Tyndale of Leighlin Bridge, on some point that has long since been forgotten, but in consequence of that difference William revoked his will in favour of his first-born son, John, and left his property to two sons of a second marriage. Leighlin Bridge, where John Tyndall was born in humble circumstances in 1820, was a thriving town of 2,000 in- habitants, forty-six miles south-west of Dublin. It was then the entrepot where the great southern road from Dublin to Waterford and Cork crossed the Barrow, and it has consequently been declining ever since the development of the railway system diverted the traffic. It was not destitute of historical associations, which to the Irish mind were of an exciting character. Nor was the country destitute of natural attractions. When Tyndall was a youth its general aspect was described as soft and agreeable, with little of forcible or imposing scenery, yet free from those harsh features which so frequently mar the effect of Irish land- scape. In some parts it so closely resembled the " champaign, ornate, and agreeable districts of central England," that it was said constantly to remind an English traveller passing through the country of the " equable, grateful scenery, the calm and soft-faced prettiness of territorial view to which his mind had been accustomed." Professor Tyndall. 5- Yet tJUhe ordinary English reader its loneliness would appeff=%o. have little that was likely to fire the opening mind of the Apostle of Physical Science. It need not, how- ever, appear an inauspicious birthplace to those who believe that it is no mere accident that has made great enthusiasts generally proceed from lonely or sterile countries. Let us therefore look a little more into this home from which so much light was to be reflected in after years by its then youngest inhabitant. The Professor's father, being left dependent on his own resources, early joined the Irish Constabulary force and remained in it for several years. He was regarded as a man of exceptional ability and unswerving integrity, and was respected by all who knew him. A sturdy politician and a zealous Orangeman, he preserved as a precious relic a bit of flag which was said to have fluttered at the Battle of the Boyne. In such a man Protestantism was no mere hereditary faith. It was evolved from his own inner consciousness, and was part of his intellectual being. His earnest and capacious mind had mastered the works of Tillotson, Jeremy Taylor, Chilling- worth, and other writers who were not only the pillars of the Protestant faith, but still remain unsurpassed as masters of English prose. In our own day men of respectable theological attainments are content to reflect, in lunar-like scintillations, the intellectual splendour, the massive diction, the rich and glowing periods that adorn their pages; and no better evidence could be given of the fine intelligence of John Tyndall, of Leighlin Bridge, than to say that his delight was in the works of these great men. It is the fashion nowadays for critics of the "newspaper" school to sneer at their " pompous grandeur," but it is those living writers who in elevation of thought and graces of style show the greatest affinity to them that are the most popular. It was with such works that John Tyndall, pere, sought to imbue the mind of his only surviving son ; 6 Lives of the Electricians. and the subtle thoughts and inspiring sentiments which he gathered from such classic ground must have had an in- vigorating effect on his son's susceptible mind. Besides his early familiarity with the works of these powerful thinkers, it is said that he soon knew the Bible almost by heart. This species of intellectual discipline has some- times been pointed to as presenting a strange contrast with his excursions in later life into those regions of natural philosophy which have sometimes been regarded as' antagonistic to theology. But it is more than probable that this early training did much to model and chasten the rich, transparent, simple language in which he has so beautifully expounded the laws of Nature. There is high authority for saying that he could have had no better model. Alexander von Humboldt, after reviewing the whole course of ancient literature for " images reflected by the external world on the imagination," says that " as descrip- tions of nature the writings of the Old Testament are a faithful reflection of the character of the country in which they were composed, of the alternations of barrenness and fruitfulness, and of the Alpine forests by which the land of Palestine was characterised. The epic or historical narra- tives are marked by a graceful simplicity, almost more un- adorned than those of Herodotus, and most true to nature. Their lyrical poetry is more adorned, and develops a rich and animated conception of the life of nature. It might almost be said that one single psalm (the 104th) represents the image of the whole cosmos. . . . The meteorological processes which take place in the atmosphere, the formation and solution of vapour, according to the changing direction of the wind, the play of its colours, the generation of hail, and the rolling thunder are described with individualising accuracy, and many questions are propounded which we in our present state of physical knowledge may indeed be able to express under more scientific definitions, but Professor Tyndall. 7 scarcely to answer satisfactorily." Most of our great writers have acknowledged that the literature that first made a lasting impression on their mind materially in- fluenced their style of writing, and in the writings of Professor Tyndall will be found a good deal of the beautiful simplicity and poetic feeling which abound in Hebrew literature. The origin of his love of nature is a problem that has exercised his own mind. " I have sometimes tried," he says, "to trace the genesis of the interest which I take in fine scenery. It cannot be wholly due to my early associa- tions ; for as a boy I loved nature, and hence to account yJ for that love of nature I must fall back upon something '^ earlier than my own birth. The forgotten associations of >i a foregone ancestry are probably the most potent elements in the feeling." He then accepts as exceedingly likely Mr. Herbert Spencer's idea that the mental habits and pleasur- able activities of preceding generations had descended with considerable force to him. He has, indeed, repeatedly sup- ported the view that intellectual character is largely formed from ancestral peculiarities; and if that be so, he may surely be said to have reproduced some of the higher mental characteristics of the Irish race with marvellous exactness. " In the Celtic genius," says Michelet, " there is a feeling repugnant to mysticism, and which hardens itself against the mild and winning word, refusing to lose itself in the bosom of the moral God. The genius of the Celts is powerfully urged towards the material and natural ; and this proneness to the material has hindered them from easily acceding to laws founded on an abstract notion. ... In the seventh century St. Columbanus said : ' The Irish are better astro- nomers than the Romans.' It was a disciple of his, also an Irishman, Virgil, Bishop of Saltzburg, who first affirmed the rotundity of the earth and the existence of the Antipodes. All the sciences were at this period cultivated with much 8 Lives of the Electricians. renown in the Scotch and Irish monasteries." These charac- teristics appear to predominate in the Irish intellect at the present day. Physical science, which is the glory of our age, owes much to Ireland. Sir William Thomson, one of the most versatile and brilliant of natural philosophers, was born in Ireland ; so was George Gabriel Stokes, one of Newton's worthiest successors in the Lucasian chair of mathematics at Cambridge as well as President of the Royal Society ; Henry Smith, the greatest mathematician of his time at Oxford, who died in 1883, was an Irishman ; Sir William Rowan Hamilton, the Astronomer-Royal for Ireland, was also one of Ireland's most precocious sons ; and in such a constellation of Irish genius Professor Tyndall excels as a popular expositor of the laws of nature. At the age of seven he began to show his natural taste for the works of nature, and his father gave him glowing accounts of the achievements of Newton as *' That sun of science, whose meridian ray Kindled the gloom of nature into day." A good education was the only patrimony which his father could bestow upon him. He was therefore sent to the best school within reach, and remained at it till his nineteenth year. In his earlier schooldays he preferred physical to mental exercises, and thus became expert in running, swim- ming, climbing, and other sports. The branch of study in which he excelled was mathematics. Under the tuition of a good teacher in an Irish national school, he acquired a knowledge of elementary algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and conic sections. His favourite ''arithmetic" was the treatise of Professor Thomson, the father of Sir W^illiam Thomson, who in later years became one of his most brilliant contemporaries. At the age of seventeen he showed exceptional facility in solving geometrical problems. Professor Tyndall. 9 and on his way home from school, in company with his teacher, he would work out demonstrations on the snow in winter. But even that accessory he became able to dis- pense with ; for he could so clearly present the relations of space to his mind without the aid of diagrams, that he was able to draw mentally the h'nes illustrating the solution of complex problems and to preserve this mental image so distinctly that he could reason upon it as correctly as on the diagrams drawn upon paper required by ordinary students. When he came to solid geometry he was able by means of this power of mental representation to dispense with models, which to other students were indispensable. His powers of reasoning were not confined to mathe- matics. In his youth he was accustomed to debate with his father the points of doctrine that divide the Protestant from the Roman CathoHc Church, reasoning high "of Providence, fore-knowledge, will, and fate." Sometimes the son took the Protestant side and at other times the Romish side ; and in either case he showed much dialectical skill and theological knowledge. He also took more than ordinary interest in the study of English grammar^ which he has described as being to his youthful mind a discipline of the highest value and a source of unfailing delight. Leaving school in April, 1839, he joined a division of the Ordnance Survey then stationed in that district, under the command of Lieut. Geo. Wynne, of the Royal Engi- neers, who afterwards became an intimate friend of his, and to whom he has frequently expressed his obligation for acts of kindness that promoted his welfare in after life. About that time a good deal of astonishment was publicly expressed at the mathematical powers of one of the many boys employed in calculations on the Ordnance Survey ; his name was Alexander Gwin, a native of Derry, and it was reported that at the age of eight years he had got by rote the fractional logarithms from i to 1,000, which he could / 10 Lives of the Electricians. repeat in regular rotation, or otherwise. His rapidity and correctness in calculating trigonometrical distances, tri- angles, &c., were extraordinary: he could make a return, in acres, roods, and perches, in less than one minute of any quantity of land, on receiving the surveyor's chained dis- tances; a calculation which the greatest arithmetician would take nearly an hour to do, and would not be so sure of accuracy at the end of that time. The intention of young Tyndall was to become a civil engineer, which then appeared a most attractive profession to him. As a preliminary qualification he determined to master all the operations of the surveyors. Draftsmen being the best paid, he worked as a draftsman, but applied himself so well to learning the whole business that he soon became able to do the work of the computor, the surveyor, and the trigonometrical observer. He then asked to be allowed to go on field-work, and his desire was granted. In 1841, while he was stationed at Cork, a cir- cumstance occurred which may be described as the turning point in his career. He worked at mapping in company with a gentleman, who, assuming a paternal interest in him, one I day asked the young and promising surveyor how he employed his leisure hours. Dissatisfied with the account given, the gentleman said to him : *' You have five hours a day at your disposal, and this time ought to be devoted to study. Had I, when I was your age, had a friend to advise me as I now advise you, instead of being in my present subordinate position, I should be the equal of the director of the Survey." Pregnant words ! Next morning young Tyndall was at his books by five o'clock, and the studious habits then commenced he continued for twelve years. Next year he was in Preston, and there becoming a member of the Preston Mechanics' Institute he attended its lectures and made use of its library. One experiment Professor Tyndall. ii which he saw there he never forgot. In a lecture on respiration, Surgeon Cortess showed the changes produced by the passage of air through the lungs, and in order to illustrate the fact that what went in as free oxygen came out in carbonic acid, he forced his breath through lime water in a flask by means of a glass tube dipped into it ; the carbonic acid from the lungs converted the dissolved lime into carbonate of lime, which being practically insoluble was precipitated. All this, he says, was predicted before- hand by the lecturer, " but the delight with which I saw this prediction fulfilled by the conversion of the limpid lime-water into a turbid mixture of chalk and water remains with me as a memory to the present hour" (1884.) His diligence in study he was soon able to turn to good account. On one occasion there was a dearth of men capable of making trigonometrical observations when such observations were required. Tyndall offered his services in that department; but the offer was not readily accepted. His superiors hesitated to intrust him with a theodolite on account of his inexperience in work of that descrip- tion : and indeed there were bets made against his chances of success. However, being allowed to try his hand at it, he at once took his theodolite into an open field, where he examined all its parts, and studied their uses. He then made the trigonometrical observations prescribed to him, and when they were compared with the measurement pre- viously made on a larger scale, his work was pronounced to have been successfully done. When he quitted the Ordnance Survey in 1843 he had practically mastered all its operations. The pay upon the Ordnance Survey, however, was very small, but having ulterior objects in view, he considered the instruction received as some set-off to the smallness of the pay. In order to ''prevent some young men from considering their fate specially hard, or from being daunted, 12 Lives of the Electricians. because from a very low level they had to climb a very steep hill," he has stated that on quitting the Ordnance Survey in 1843, his salary was a little under twenty shillings a week, adding, " I have often wondered since at the amount of genuine happiness which a young fellow, of regular habits, not caring for either pipe or mug, may extract even from pay like that." In 1844 affairs in this country did not look very tempting to him, and he therefore resolved to go to America, whither some relatives had emigrated early in the century. He had actually made preparations for going there before some of his friends succeeded in dissuading him from it. A sudden outburst of activity in railway construction at the same time opened up a brighter prospect at home. After a pause, he says, there came the mad time of the railway mania, when he was able to turn to account the knowledge he had gained upon the Ordnance Survey ; in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Durham, and Yorkshire especially, he was in the thick of the fray. As a workman at that period he has been highly spoken of by his contemporaries. One of them has stated that " Extreme caution and accuracy, together with dauntless perseverance under difficulties, characterised the perform- ance of every piece of work he took in hand. Habitually, indeed, he pushed verification beyond the limits of all ordinary prudence, and, on returning from a hard day's work, he has been known to retrace his steps for miles in order to assure himself of the security of some ' bench mark,' upon whose permanence the accuracy of his levels depen- ded. Previous to one of those unpostponable thirtieths of November, when all railway plans and sections had to be deposited at the Board of Works, a series of levels had to be completed near Keithly in Yorkshire, and Man- chester reached before midnight. The weather was stormy beyond description ; levelling staves snapped in twain Professor Tyndall. 13 before the violent gusts of wind; and level and leveller were in constant peril of being overturned by the force of the hurricane. Assistants grumbled ' Impossible,' and were only shamed into submissive persistence by that stern resolution which, before nightfall, triumphed over all obstacles." Of these stirring scenes the Professor has given a graphic account. He says : — " It was a time of terrible toil. The ' day's work in the field usually began and ended with the \ day's light, while frequently in the office, and more espe- cially as the awful 30th of November — the latest date at which plans and sections of projected lines could be deposited at the Board of Trade — drew near, there was little difference between day and night, every hour of the twenty- four being absorbed in the work of preparation. Strong men were broken down by the strain and labour of that arduous time. Many pushed through, and are still among us in robust vigour ; but some collapsed, while others retired with large fortunes, but with intellects so shattered that, instead of taking their places in the front rank of English statesmen, as their abilities entitled them to do, they sought rest for their brains in the quiet lives of country gentlemen. In my own modest sphere I well remember the refreshment I occasionally derived from five minutes' sleep on a deal table, with Babbage and Callefs Logarithms under my head for a pillow. On a certain day, under grave penalties, certain levels had to be finished, and this particular day was one of agony to me. The atmosphere seemed filled with mocking demons, laughing at the vanity of my efforts to get the work done. My levelling staves were snapped, and my theodolite was overthrown by the storm. When things are at their worst a kind of anger often takes the place of fear. It was so in the present instance ; I pushed doggedly on, and just at nightfall, when barely able to read the figures on my levelling staff, I planted my last ' bench- 14 Lives of the Electricians. mark ' on a tombstone in Haworth Churchyard. Close at hand was the vicarage of Mr. Bronte, where the genius was nursed which soon afterwards burst forth and astonished the world. It was a time of mad unrest — of downright money mania. In private residences and public halls, in London reception rooms, in hotels and the stables of hotels, among gipsies and costermongers, nothing was spoken of but the state of the share market, the prospects of pro- jected lines, the good fortune of the ostler or potboy who by a lucky stroke of business had cleared ;^io,ooo. High and low, rich and poor, joined in the reckless game. During my professional connection with railways I endured three weeks' misery. It was not defeated ambition ; it was not a rejected suit ; it was not the hardship endured in either office or field ; but it was the possession of certain shares purchased in one of the lines then afloat. The share list of the day proved the winding-sheet of my peace of mind. I was haunted by the Stock Exchange. I became at last so savage with myself that I went to my brokers and put 1 away, without gain or loss, the shares as an accursed thing." ^^ When in Halifax in 1845113 attended a lecture which was delivered by Mr. George Dawson, and which appeared to make a lasting impression en his mind. That popular lecturer then defined duty as a debt owed ; and with refer- ence to the Chartist doctrine of " levelling " then in vogue, he said : Supposing two men to be equal at night, and that one rises at six while the other sleeps till nine, what be- comes of the gospel of levelling then } The Professor regarded these as the words of Nature, and there was, according to his impression, " a kindling vigour in the lecturer's words that must have strengthened the sense of duty in the minds of those who heard him." It was while working in Yorkshire about that time that he first met Mr. T. A. Hirst, then an articled pupil, who became one of his most intimate friends, and who after- Professor Tyndall. 15 wards became Professor of Mathematics in University College, London. At that time, too, Sir John Hawkshaw, f who afterwards was Prof. Tyndall's successor as President of the British Association, was chief engineer on the Manchester and Leeds Railway, and it was in his Manchester office that Tyndall spent the last days of his railway life. A calm followed the storm of competition just described ; work became scarce, and the prospects of engineers were once more overcast. In these circumstances he accepted, in 1847, ^-^ appoint- ment as a teacher in Queenswood College, Hampshire. The well-known Socialist reformer, Robert Owen, and his J disciples built that college — a fine edifice occupying a ^ healthy posi ion — and called it Harmony Hall, as it was meant to inaugurate the millennium ; the letters " C. of M " (commencement of millennium) being inserted in flint in the brickwork of the house. Around this college were large farms, where lessons were given by Prof. Tyndall to the more advanced students on the subjects which he had mastered in his previous labours. With teaching he combined self-improvement. The chemical laboratory was under the charge of Dr. Frankland, with whom he soon became friendly. In order to spend part of his time in study in the chemical laboratory, Tyndall rehnquished part of his salary, and there he laid the foundations of that knowledge of physical science which was destined after- ward to be his own passport to fame and to afford delight to many thousands of his fellowmen. He was also very successful as a teacher in Oueenswood Collegre. He is said to have exercised a kind of magnetic influence over his students, and such was their faith in him that when any disturbances arose among them he was invariably called upon to settle them, and he did so merely by the power of moral influence and force of character. As to his impres- sions of life at Queenswood, the Professor says : — i6 Lives of the Electricians. " Schemes like Harmony Hall look admirable upon paper ; but, inasmuch as they are formed with reference to an ideal humanity, they go to pieces when brought into collision with the real one. At Queenswood, I learned, by practical experience, that two factors went to the formation of a teacher. In regard to knowledge he must, of course, be master of his work. But knowledge is not all. There might be knowledge without power — the ability to inform without the ability to stimulate. Both go together in the true teacher. A power of character must underlie and enforce the work of the intellect. There were men who could so rouse and energise their pupils — so call forth their strength and the pleasure of its exercise — as to make the hardest work agreeable. Without this power it is question- able whether the teacher could ever really enjoy his vocation — with it, I do not know a higher, nobler, and more blessed calling than that of the man who, scorning the cramming so prevalent in our day, converts the knowledge he imparts into a lever, to lift, exercise, and strengthen the growing minds committed to his care." After pursuing their scientific studies together for some time, both Tyndall and Frankland began to think of extending the range of their scientific culture. But that could not then be done in England. In 1845 ^ ^^^ could not easily get first-class instruction in practical chemistry and the other physical sciences that were then making great strides forward. Between 1840 and 1850 Germany assumed the lead in these sciences. In that country science then organised itself on a vast scale, and from that time to this it has been growing there at a most extraordinary rate ; indeed, Prof. Huxley declared in 1884 that in the whole history of the world there has never been such a tremendous amount of organised energy bestowed in the development of physical science as in Germany. " At the time here referred to," says Professor Tyndall, Professor Tyndall. 17 '*I had emerged from some years of hard labour the fortunate possessor of two or three hundred pounds. By selling my services in the dearest market during the railway madness the sum might, without dishonour, have been made a large one ; but I respected ties which existed prior to the time when offers became lavish and temptation strong. I did not put my money in a napkin, but cherished the design of spending it in study at a German university. I had heard of Germ.an science, while Carlyle's references to German philosophy and literature caused me to regard them as a kind of revelation from the gods. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1848, Frankland and I started for the land of universities, as Germany is often called. They are sown broadcast over the country, and can justly claim to be the source of an important portion of Germany's present greatness. " Our place of study was the town of Marburg, in Hesse- Cassel, and a very picturesque town Marburg is. It clambers pleasantly up the hillsides, and falls as pleasantly towards the Lahn. On a May day, when the orchards are in blossom, and the chestnuts clothed with their heavy foliage, Marburg is truly lovely. It is the same town in which my great namesake, when even poorer than myself, published his translation of the Bible. I lodged in the plainest manner in a street which perhaps bore an appropriate name while I dwelt there. It was called the Ketzerbach — the heretics' brook — from a little historical rivulet running through it. I wished to keep myself clean and hardy, so I purchased a cask and had it cut in two by a carpenter. That cask, filled with spring-water over night, was placed in my small bedroom, and never during the years that I spent there, in winter or in summer, did the clock of the beautiful Elizabethekirche, which was close at hand, finish striking the hour of six in the morning before I was in my tub. For a good portion of the time I rose an hour and a-half earlier than this, working by lamp-light at the Differential C 1 8 Lives of the Electricians. Calculus when the world was slumbering around me. I risked this breach of my pursuits and this expenditure of my time and money, not because I had any definite prospect of material profit in view, but because I thought the cultivation of the intellect important ; because, more- over, I loved my work, and entertained a sure and certain hope that armed with knovv'ledge one can successfully fight one's way through the world. I ought not to omit one additional motive by which I was upheld at the trme here referred to — that was the sense of duty. Every young man of high aims must, I think, have a spice of this principle within him. There are sure to be hours in his life when his outlook will be dark, his work difficult, and his intellectual future uncertain. Over such periods, when the stimulus of success is absent, he must be carried by his sense of duty. It may not be so quick an incentive as glory, but it is a nobler one, and gives a tone to character which glory cannot impart. That unflinching devotion to work, without which no real eminence in science is now attainable, implies the writing at certain times of stern resolve upon the student's character : * I work not because I like work, but because I ought to work.' At Marburg my study was warmed by a large stove. At first I missed the gleam and sparkle from flame and ember, but I soon became accustomed to the obscure heat. At six in the morning a small milch-brod and a cup of tea were taken to me. The dinner hour was one, and for the first year or so I dined at an hotel. In those days living was cheap in Marburg. Dinner consisted of several courses, roast and boiled, and finished up with sweets and dessert. The cost was a pound a month, or about eightpence per dinner. I usually limited myself to one course, using even that in moderation, being convinced that eating too much was quite as sinful, and almost as ruinous, as drinking too much. By attending to such things I was able to work without Professor Tyndall. 19 weariness for sixteen hours a day. My going to Germany had been opposed by some of my friends as quixotic, and my hfe there might, perhaps, be not unfairly thus described. I did not work for money; I was not even spurred by 'the last infirmity of noble minds/ I had been reading Fichte, and Emerson, and Carlyle, and had been infected by the spirit of these great men, the Alpha and Omega of whose teaching w^as loyalty to duty. Higher knowledge and greater strength were within reach of the man who unflinchingly enacted his best insight." Even a statue was capable of impressing this truth upon him. But it was the statue of the man who said of his own features : " This is the face of a man who has struggled energetically " — the man of whose portrait Carlyle says : " Reader, to thee thyself, even now, he has one counsel to give, the secret of his whole poetic alchemy. Think of living ! Thy life, were thou the pitifullest of all the sons of earth, is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. It is thy own ; it is all thou hast to front eternity with. Work, then, even as he has done and does — Like a star, UN- HASTING YET UNRESTING." Equally impressive was the effect produced on Professor Tyndall by even the sight of the form of such a man. Finding himself one fine summer evening standing beside a statue of Goethe in a German city, the contemplation of this work of art, which he considered the most suitable memorial for a great man, excited a motive force within his mind, which he thought no purely material influence could generate. " There was then," he says, " labour before me of the most arduous kind. There were formidable practical difficulties to be overcome, and very small means wherewith to overcome them ; and yet I felt that no material means could, as regards the task I had undertaken, plant wdthin me a resolve comparable with that which the contemplation of this statue of Goethe was able to arouse." C 2 20 Lives of the Electricians. From his youth Tyndall appeared to have a remarkable power, not only of attracting friends, but of retaining them. The circumstances under which he early became acquainted with his life-long friends, General Wynne and Professor Hirst, have already been mentioned. Hirst was scarcely sixteen years of age when he became acquainted with Tyndall, who was ten years older. Though they stood in the relation of pupil and teacher, their intimacy ripened into an enduring friendship which separation heightened rather than dissolved. An incident that occurred while Tyndall was studying at Marburg affords honourable evidence of this fact. The death of a relative in 1849 niade Hirst the possessor of a small patrimony, which he determined to divide between himself and his former teacher. He accordingly pressed Professor Tyndall to accept one half of his small fortune, but much to his disappointment Tyndall would have none of it. Entreaties to accept it for friendship's sake were unavailing, but friendship, like necessity, can invent strange means for attaining its end. Hirst took counsel with a German banker as to a way of conveying the money to his friend, and soon a device was carried out, by means of which the devotee of science had to sacrifice his self-denial on the altar of friendship. While at work one morning in his lodgings in Marburg the post- man brought him a heavy roll closely packed and sealed, which, to his astonishment, contained all sorts of German coins amounting to 20/. sterling, a considerable gratuity for a student to receive In those days. He had no alternative but to accept it. On a subsequent occasion when Tyndall left Marburg to visit England another friend of his youth, General Wynne, offered to replenish his exchequer, which he feared must be nearly empty, but the offer was declined with assurances that such generous assistance was unnecessary. CHAPTER 11. ** No man ever yet made great discoveries in Science who was not impelled by an abstracted love." — SiR Humphry Davy, At the time when Professor Tyndall was studying at Marburg University, the principal figure there was Bunsen, who had been appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1838. He was a profound chemist, and his fame as a lecturer was so eminent as to attract many foreign students. A prolific discoverer, and peculiarly happy in his manner of demon- strating his scientific teaching, he soon fascinated the ardent . minds of the two students from Oueenswood. For two years Tyndall attended his chemical lectures. Indeed he learned German chiefly by listening to Bunsen. He has himiself stated that Bunsen treated him like a brother, giving his time, space, and appliances, for the benefit of his studies. The subject which most attracted Tyndall's attention was electro-chemistry, upon which Bunsen de- livered an admirable course of lectures in 1848. The whole principle of the voltaic pile was thus explained to him in a masterful manner. He also made himself acquainted with chemical analyses, both quantitative and qualitative. He displayed no less zeal in the study of mathematics. For a considerable period he got private lessons from Professor Stegmann, under whose tuition he worked through analytical geometry of two and three dimensions, the 22 Lives of the electricians. Dififerential and Integral Calc.ulus, and part of the Calculus of Variations. His first scientific paper was a mathematical essay on screw surfaces, respecting which he says : — '' Professor Stegmann gave me the subject of my dissertation when I took my degree : its title in English was, * On a Screw- Surface with Inclined Generatrix, and on the Conditions of Equilibrium on such Surfaces.' I resolved that if I could not, without the slightest aid accomplish the work from beginning to end it should not be accomplished at all. Wandering among the pine wood and pondering the subject, I became more and more master of it ; and when my dissertation was handed in to the Philosophical Faculty it did not contain a thought that was not my own." But the man whose acquaintance at Marburg appeared to exercise most influence over his career was Dr. Knob- lauch, who had just come thither from Berlin as extra- ordinary Professor of Physics, and who had already distinguished himself by his researches in radiant heat. He illustrated his lectures with a choice collection of apparatus brought from Berlin ; and he not only suggested to Tyndall an exhaustive series of experiments bearing on a newly-discovered principle of physics, but supplied him with the necessary apparatus, and placed his own cabinet at his disposal for that purpose. The subject of investigation was diamagnetism. Faraday's discoveries and experiments in magnetism were then attracting the attention of the scientific world. He had shown in 1830 that by moving a magnet within the hollow of a coil of copper wire an electrical current was produced in the wire. This was a startling and pregnant discovery. Taking six hundred feet of insulated copper wire and winding it into a large vertical coil, he arranged the two ends of the wire into a small coil a little distance away from the large coil, and immediately above PROFESSOII TYNDALL. 23 this small coll he suspended a balanced compass needle by a silk thread. Then, on dropping a bar magnet, or piece of iron magnetised, into the large coil, the needle, which was pointing towards the North Pole, instantly swung round, evidently impelled by magnetic force ; when, again, the bar magnet was raised out of the hollow of the large coil, the needle moved round in the opposite direction ; while it remained motionless so long as the bar magnet w^as at rest either inside or outside the coil. It thus appeared that an electrical current could be produced by the movement of the bar magnet — by dropping it into the coil or taking it out ; and the current so produced he called an induced current. This operation is called magneto- electric induction. In 1845 Faraday greatly extended his magnetic discoveries. He not only established the mag- netic condition of all matter by showing that every known body or thing could be influenced by magnetism, but he discovered a new property of magnetism, which he called diamagnetism. This was considered his greatest discovery. By suspending bodies of an elongated form between the ends or poles of powerful magnets, he found that every substance was attracted or repelled from the magnetic poles ; and he divided all bodies into two great classes, called magnetic and diamagnetic. The way in which a piece of iron is attracted by the poles or ends of a horse- shoe magnet is a familiar illustration of the action of magnetic bodies, and the position that such bodies assume, pointing in a line from one pole to the other, he termed axial. On the other hand, diamagnetic bodies were those which, when freely suspended within the influence of the magnet, assumed a position at right angles to the line joining the poles of a magnet, or to the magnetic meri- dian ; in other words, magnetic bodies pointed axially from pole to pole, or north and south ; while diamagnetic bodies pointed east and west, or in an equatorial direction. 24 Lives of the Electricians. Bismuth is a conspicuous example of diamagnetic sub- stances. Scientific curiosity soon became excited as to the exact nature of the diamagnetic force in relation to crystals, some of which behaved in a mysterious manner between the poles of a magnet. Professor Pliicker, of Bonn, discovered that some crystals formed of diamagnetic substances were not subject to the diamagnetic force ; and to account for this he attributed to crystals an optical axis, upon which the poles of a magnet exercised a peculiar force. Pliicker brought this theory before the British Association in 1848, and called it a new magnetic action. At the close of the same year, Faraday told the Royal Society that he had often been embarrassed by the anomalous magnetic results given by small cylinders of bismuth, and after investigation he referred these effects to the crystalline condition of the bismuth. In concluding his lecture on this subject, Faraday said : — " How rapidly the knowledge of molecular forces grows upon us, and how strikingly every investigation tends to develop more and more their importance, and their extreme attraction as an object of study. A few years ago, magnetism was to us an occult power affecting only a few bodies : now it is found to influence all bodies, and to possess the most intimate relations with electricity, heat, chemical action, light, crystallisation, and, through it, with the forces concerned in cohesion." He thought there was in crystals a directive impelHng force distinct from the magnetic and diamac^netic force. Frequent conversations on this subject took place between Knoblauch and Tyndall in Germany during 1849. Knoblauch suggested that Tyndall should repeat the experiments of Pliicker and Faraday ; and as this oper- ation was proceeding they agreed to make a joint inquiry into the deportment of crystals under the diamagnetic force. They laboured long at the problem before attaining Professor Tyndall. 25 any encouraging success. They examined the optical properties of crystals as well as made magnetic experi- ments with them, a great many experiments being made without discovering any new fact. Eventually, however, they found that various crystals did not act in accordance with the principles enunciated by Pliicker, and the more they worked at the subject the more clearly it appeared that the deportment of certain bodies under the influence of magnetism was due, not to the presence of some force previously unknown, but to the crystalline structure of the substance under investigation, or as Tyndall put it, to peculiarities of material aggregation. P'^or example, he showed that while a bar of iron attracted by a magnet sets itself in a line from pole to pole, an iron bar made of an aggregate of small bars sets itself in the .opposite direction. Tyndall showed that the cause of the latter bar assuming an equatorial position was simply its me- chanical structure, the small plates composing the "aggre- gated " bar setting from pole to pole. He found that the same law regulated the magnetic deportment of crystals, whose mechanism or structure, however, was generally less evident. In 1849 eminent natural philosophers were studying this subject in England, France, and Germany, and it was expected that the investigation of diamagnetic phenom'ena would rapidly throw some new light upon the molecular forces which determine the conditions of the material creation. In allusion to this expectation, Tyndall said in 1850, that as nature acts by general laws, to which the terms great and small are unknown, it cannot be doubted that the modifications of magnetic force, exhibited by bits of copperas and sugar in the magnetic field, display themselves on a large scale in the crust of the earth itself, and as a lump of stratified grit, though a magnetic material, could be made, on account of its planes of 26 Lives of the Electricians. stratification, to act as if it were diamagnetic, he suggested that this element might have some influence in determining the varying position of the magnetic poles of the earth — a subject which still perplexes the scientific world. Not only has the north magnetic pole gradually been changing its position, as shown by the records of three centuries, but, according to Barlow, every place has a magnetic pole and equator of its own ; and according to Faraday the earth is a great magnet, whose power, as estimated by Gauss, is equal to that which would be conferred if every cubic yard of it contained six one-pound magnets; the sum of the force being thus equal to 8,464,000,000,000,000,000,000 such magnets. " The disposition of this magnetic force is not regular," said Faraday, " nor are there any points on the surface which can be properly called poles : still the regions of polarity are in high north and south latitudes ; and these are connected by lines of magnetic force (being the lines of direction), which, generally speaking, rise out of the earth in one (magnetic) hemisphere, and passing in various directions over the equatorial regions into the other hemisphere, there enter into the earth to complete the known circuit of power." It was in connection with his investigations on this sub- ject that Prof. Tyndall first saw Prof Faraday. Returning from Marburg in 1850, he called at the Royal Institution and sent in his card, together with a copy of a paper he had prepared, giving the results of h'is experiments on magne-crystalllc action. Prof Faraday conversed with him for half-an-hour, and being then on the point of publishing one of his papers on magne-crystallic action, he appended to it a flattering reference to the notes which Tyndall had placed in his hands. Tyndall went back to Germany, where he worked for another year. In the beginning of 185 1 he went to Berlin, where, he says. Prof. Magnus had made his name famous Trofessor Tvndall. 27 by physical researches of all kinds. '' On April 28th, 185 1, I first saw this Professor on his own doorstep in Berlin. His aspect won my immediate regard, which was strength- ened to affection by our subsequent intercourse. He gave me a working place in his laboratory, and it was there I carried out my investigations on diamagnetism and magne- crystallic action published in the PJiilosopJiical Magazine for September, 185 1. Among the other eminent scientific men whom I met at Berlin was Ehrenberg, with whom I had various conversations on microscopic organisms. I also made the acquaintance of Riess, the foremost exponent of frictional electricity, who more than once opposed to Faraday's radicalism his own conservatism as regarded electric theory. Du Bois-Reymond was there at the time, full of power, both physical and mental. His fame had been everywhere noised abroad in connection with his researches on animal electricity. Du Bois-Reymond be- came perpetual secretary to the Academy of Sciences, Berlin. From Professor Magnus, and from Clausius, Wiedemann, and Poggendorff, I received every mark of kindness, and formed with some of them enduring friend- ships. Helmholtz was at this time in Konigsberg. He had written his renowned essay on the ''Conservation of Energy," which I afterward translated. Helmholtz had, too, just finished his experiments on the velocity of nervous trans- mission, proving this velocity, which had previously been regarded as instantaneous, or, at all events, as equal to that of electricity, to be, in the nerves of the frog, only 93ft. a second, or about one-twelfth of the velocity of sound in air of the ordinary temperature. In his own house I had the honour of an interview with Humboldt. He rallied me on having contracted the habit of smoking in Germany, his knowledge on this head being derived from my little paper on a water-jet, where the noise produced by the rupture of a film between the wet lips of a smoker is referred to. He 28 Lives of the Electricians. gave me various messages to Faraday, declaring his belief that he (Faraday) had referred the annual and diurnal vari- ation of the declination of the magnetic needle to their true cause — the variation of the magnetic condition of the oxygen of the atmosphere. I was interested to learn from Humboldt himself that, though so large a portion of his life had been spent in France, he never published a French essay without having It first revised by a Frenchman. In those days I not unfrequently found it necessary to subject myself to a process which I called depolarlsation. My brain, intent on its subjects, used to acquire a set, resembling the rigid polarity of a steel magnet. It lost the pliancy needful for free conversation, and to recover this I used to walk occasionally to Charlottenburg or elsewhere. From my experiences at that time I derived the notion that hard thinking and fleet talking do not run together." Prof. Tyndall was exceptionally fortunate in getting so easily and so early into the friendship of such eminent men of science. In those days to form such eminent acquaint- ances was no small achievement for a young Irishman ; but on the other hand, he had fully earned this distinction by the vigour and originality with which he attacked the latest and most perplexing problem of that time. During the five years that had elapsed since Faraday discovered dia- magnetism, the subject had been investigated by the greatest scientists in England, France, and Germany, and no one had done so much to elucidate it as Prof. Tyndall. In order to master that subject he began in November, 1850, an Investigation of the laws of magnetic attractions. The laws of magnetic action at distances in comparison with which the thickness of the magnet vanishes, had long been known, but the laws of magnetic action at short distances, where the thickness of the magnet comes fully into play, had not previously been subjected to reliable experiments, and were therefore at that time a perplexing Professor Tyndall. 29 matter of speculation. That desideratum he now supplied. He found, among other things, that the mutual attraction of a magnet and a sphere of soft iron, when both are separated by a small fixed distance, is directly proportional to the square of the strength of the magnet, and that the mutual attraction of a magnet of constant strength and a sphere of soft iron is inversely proportional to the distance between them. Next year (185 1) he published the results of further in- vestigations into the relations between magnetism and dia- magnetism. He found that the laws which govern magnetism and diamagnetism are identical, that the superior attrac- tion or repulsion of a mass in any particular direction is due to the direction in which the material particles are arranged most closely together, that the forces exerted are attractive or repulsive according as the particles are magnetic or diamagnetic, and that this law is applicable to matter in general. A paper on " The Polarity of Bismuth," which might be regarded as a temporary instalment of his diamagnetic researches, ended with the remark that during this inquiry he had changed his mind too often to be over-confident now in the conclusion at which he had arrived. Part of the time he was a hearty subscriber to the opinion of Faraday that there existed no proof of diamagnetic polarity ; and if, he said, " I now differ from that great man, it is with an honest wish to be set right, if through any unconscious bias of my own I have been led either into errors of reasoning or mis-statements of fact." The theory of diamagnetism was still an apple of discord in the scientific world ; and although Prof Tyndall used' the language of deference rather than of doubt, he did not allow the subject to remain in a state of uncertainty. He continued his researches in Berlin, in the private laboratory of Prof Magnus, who afforded him every possible facility 30 Lives of the Electricians. for carrying on experiments, and took a lively interest in the investigation. The result was the confirmation of his previous impression that the action of crystals within the range of a magnet's influence (technically called the "magnetic field") was due to peculiarities of molecular arrangement. He found, for example, that a crystal of carbonate of iron, which, when suspended in the magnetic field, showed a certain deportment, could be pounded into the finest dust, and the particles could be so put together again that the mass would exhibit the same deportment as before. Dr. Bence Jones, the Secretary of the Royal Institution, who had heard of Tyndall in Berlin in 185 1, afterwards invited him to give a Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution. *' I went," he says, "not without fear and trembling, for the Royal Institution was to me a kind of dragon's den, where tact and strength would be necessary to save me from destruction." The lecture, which was delivered on February nth, 1853, ^^^^ " On the Influence of Material Aggregation upon the Manifestations of Force," and it gave a beautiful and simple exposition of the prin- ciples of magnetic and diamagnetic action discovered by himself, the chief being that the line of greatest density is that of strongest magnetic power. In the course of his lecture he pointed out that anything which increases density increases magnetic power; and upon that principle he contended that the local action of the sun upon the earth's crust must influence in some degree the diurnal range of the magnetic needle, which Faraday, on the other hand, attributed to the modification of our atmosphere by the sun's rays. While thus endeavouring to upset Faraday's theory, he concluded by saying : '* This evening's discourse is, in some measure, connected with this locality, and thinking thus, I am led to inquire wherein the true value of a scientific discovery consists ? Not in its immediate Professor Tyndall. 31 results alone, but in the prospect which it opens to intel- lectual activity, in the hopes which it excites, in the vigour which it awakens. The discovery which led to the results brought before you to-night was of this character. That magnet was the physical birthplace of these results ; and if they possess any value they are to be regarded as the returning crumbs of that bread which in 1846 was cast so liberally upon the waters. I rejoice in the opportunity here afforded me of offering my tribute to the greatest worker of the age, and of laying some of the blossoms of that prolific tree which he planted at the feet of the great discoverer of diamagnetism." At the con- clusion of the lecture Faraday quitted his usual seat, and crossing the theatre to the corner where the lecturer stood, cordially shook him by the hand and congratulated him on his success. A second lecture was delivered by him on June 3rd, 1853, "On some of the Eruptive Phenomena of Iceland," and a month later he was unanimously elected Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Royal Institution. Some years previously he had read in a serial publica- tion an account of Davy's experiments on radiant heat at the Royal Institution, and he remembered ever after the longing then excited in him to be able to do something of the same kind. Now he was to occupy a position in which he should use, in his own lectures, the same apparatus of which illustrations were given in the magazine article that had fired his youthful ambition. To that position he was promoted on the recommendation of Faraday, and respecting his appointment he himself said : '* I was tempted at the time to go elsewhere, but a strong attraction drew me here. It was his (Faraday's) friendship that caused me to value my position here more highly than any other." While the controversy respecting magnetic and dia- 32 Lives of the Electricians. magnetic hypotheses was still raging-, Faraday delivered a lecture at the Royal Institution early in 1855 with the express object of cautioning the investigators of scientific truths against placing too much confidence on any hypo- thesis. He stated that every year of increased experience had taught him more and more to distrust the theories he had once adhered to ; and his present impression with regard to existing Magnetic and Electrical hypotheses was, that they were very unsatisfactory, and that the pro- pounders of them had been following in a wrong track. As an instance of the obstacles which erroneous hypotheses throw in the way of scientific discovery, he mentioned the unsuccessful attempts that had been made in this country to educe magnetism from electricity, until Oersted showed the simple way. He said that the identity of magnetism and electricity had been strongly impressed upon the minds of all : when he came to the Royal Institution, as an assistant in the laboratory, he saw Davy, WoUaston, and Young trying by every way that suggested itself to them to produce magnetic effects from an electric current ; but, having their minds diverted from the true course by their existing hypotheses, it did not occur to them to solve the point by holding a wire, through which an electric current was passing, over a suspended magnetic needle — the experiment by which Oersted afterwards proved, by the deflection of the needle, the magnetic property of an electric current. Such cautions, however, did not deter Professor Tyndall from defending the position he had taken up with regard to magnetism and diamagnetism. He still maintained that the influence of structure was supremely important, — that under the influence of magnetism or electricity a normal diamagnetic bar always exhibits a deportment precisely antithetical to that of a normal magnetic bar ; but that, by taking advantage of structure, it is possible to Professor Tyndall. ^t, get diamagnetic bars which exhibit precisely the same de- portment as normal magnetic ones, and magnetic bars which exhibit a deportment precisely similar to normal diamagnetic ones. He showed numerous experiments before the British Association in support of his contention that the diamagnetic force is a polar one, with a direction opposite to that of the force in ordinary magnetic bodies. Professor William Thomson, who witnessed the experi- ments, certified the success of every one of them ; and stated that Professor Tyndall's discoveries in this domain of science had cleared away a mass of rubbish and set things in their true h'ght, adding that in many cases he had repeated and varied Tyndall's experiments, and had found them to be true. In 1855 he delivered the Bakerian lecture, in which he gave an elaborate account of his latest researches respect- ing the phenomena of diamagnetism. He was now firmly convinced, he said, that the force that repelled a body was similar in character to that which attracted a body; in other words, that diamagnetic bodies possess the same kind of polarity, but in the opposite direction to that of magnetic bodies. But the opponents of diamagnetic polarity, who were not yet satisfied by the evidence he adduced, said that his experiments v/ere made with electrical conductors in which induced currents could be formed that might account for the attractions and re- pulsions. Professor Tyndall thought it would tend to settle the question if he were to use a new kind of apparatus that would obviate that objection. He therefore wrote to Professor Weber, of Gottingen, whom Professor William Thomson described at the time as the most profound and accurate of all experimenters, asking him to devise more delicate and powerful means than had hitherto been used in experiinental tests. Weber not only devised a greatly improved apparatus, but had it constructed under D 34 Lives of the Electricians his own superintendence at Leipsig.^ With this apparatus Professor Tyndall was able to satisfy the severest con- ditions proposed by those who discredited the results of previous experiments. He then silenced doubt by de- monstrating that magnetism and diamagnetism stand, in respect of polarity, on the same footing, with this difference, that the one polarity is the inversion of the other. This diamagnetic polarity, previously established in the case of bismuth, he showed to exist in slate, marble, calcspar, sulphur, &c. He also established the polarity of liquids, magnetic and diamagnetic. At the Royal Institution in February, 1856, he shov/ed that prisms of the same heaXy glass as that with which Faraday discovered the dia- magnetic force, behaved under the magnet in the same way as bismuth; and this evidence was admitted to be con- clusive by the opponents of diamagnetic polarity. The controversy thereafter subsided. His chief papers recording his most important investiga- tions in connection with diamagnetism were afterwards collected into a volume entitled ResearcJies on Diamagnetism and Magnecry stall ic Action. In 1855 Professor Tyndall was appointed Examiner under the Council for ]\Iilitary Education, and an incident which occurred shortly afterwards illustrated the con- fidential relations into which his intimacy with Faraday had ripened, as well as the independence of character which distinguished both. Being strongly impressed with the advantage of increasing the knowledge of physical science given to artillery officers and engineers, Professor Tyndall advocated a more liberal recognition of scientific attainments in their examinations. At that time a com- mittee of the British Association was endeavourinc: to ^ The force of diamagnetism is vastly feebler than that of ordinary magnetism. According to Weher, the magnetism of a thin bar of iron exceeds the diamagnetism of an equal mass of bismuth about two and a-half million times. Professor Tyndall. 35 get the British Government to recognise the chiims of science; and in reply to inquiries made by that committee as to the expediency of offering inducements for the ac- quisition of science and of offering orders and decorations as rewards for proficiency, Professor Faraday said : " I cannot say that I have not valued such distinctions ; on the contrary, I esteem them very highly ; but I don't think I have ever worked for, or sought after, them." Lord Harrowby, in his address as President of the British Association, said that the State had till recently done absolutely nothing for the promotion of science ; and it was remarked as a strange circumstance that though there were then in the Cabinet the President and President-elect of the British Association, it was considered too hazardous to apply to the Government for money for scientific purposes. While this neglect of science was being freely discussed a number of w^eil-instructed young men were sent from Trinity College, Dublin, to compete at the Woolwich examinations in 1856 for appointments in the artillery and engineers, and their scientific knowledge appeared so creditable that Professor Tyndall thought it unnecessary to say anything about it. His colleagues, on the other hand, sent in as usual brief reports with their returns calling attention to the chief features of the examination, and a leader in the Times pointed out that the concurrent testimony of the examiners was that, both in mathematics and classics, the candidates showed a marked improvement, but that on other points they broke down. This appeared to Professor Tyndall an unjust reflection upon their scientific attainments, w^hich were thus ignored. He accordingly wrote to the Times simply stating that "in justice to the candidates for com- missions in the artillery and engineers examined by me in natural philosophy and chemistry, you will perhaps permit me to state that the general level of the answers in D 2 36 Lives of the Electricians. the last examination was much higher than that attained in the first ; many of the papers returned to me gave evidence of rare abihty, and if during their future career the authors of these papers continue to cultivate the powers which they have shown themselves to possess, they will, I doubt not, justify by their deeds the high opinion entertained of them." This modest statement, intended to put the students right, put himself wrong. The Secretary of State for War promptly inform.ed him that an ex- aminer appointed by the Commander-in-Chief had no right to appear in the public papers as Professor Tyndall had done without the sanction of the War Office. To this reproof he at once wrote a firm but respectful reply, which, however, he submitted to Faraday before despatching it. Faraday pointed out that the consequence of sending such a reply would be dismissal. Professor Tyndall said he knew that, but he would not silently accept the reproof of the War Ofiice. " Then send the reply," said Faraday ; and it was sent. Henceforth Professor Tyndall was in daily expectation of receiving his discharge. After a delay, the length of which surprised him, he received a reply, the contents of which still more surprised him. His explanation was " deemed perfectly satisfactory " by the Secretary for War, and he therefore continued for many years afterwards in the service of the Council for Military Education. One of the next subjects that occupied his attention was the cleavage of slate rocks. It is a question of great importance in connection with geological problems, and hitherto only speculative solutions had been offered of what appeared to be one of the most mysterious but grandest operations of nature. For twenty years previously geologists were mostly content to accept on trust the suggestion of Professor Sedgwick, that crystalline forces had rearranged Vv'holc mountain masses so as to produce Professor Tyndall. 37 a beautiful crystalline cleavage. In 1854 Professor Tyndall visited the quarries of Cumberland and North Wales, where the question of cleavage came prominently before him. When at Pcnrhyn Quarry he was told that the planes of cleavage were the planes of stratification lifted up by some convulsion into an almost vertical position. But a little observation satisfied him that this view was essentially incorrect ; for in certain masses of slate in which the strata were distinctly marked, the planes of cleavage were at a high angle to the planes of stratification. A little experiment, he said, demonstrated that the cleavage of slate was no more a crystalline cleavage than that of a hayrick. An elaborate examination of all the conditions of tlie phenomena led him to the conclusion that cleavage was the result of pressure, and that this effect of pressure was not confined to slates. In a lecture delivered in 1856 he stated that for the previous twelve months the subject had presented itself to him almost daily under one aspect or another. *' I have never," he said, " eaten a biscuit during this period in which an intellectual joy has not been superadded to the more sensual pleasure, for I have remarked in all such cases cleavage developed in the mass by the rolling-pin of the pastrycook or confectioner. I have only to break these cakes and to look at the fracture to see the laminated structure of the mass." Pie exhibited some puff-paste baked under his own superintendence, and explained that while the cleavage of our hills was accidental, in the pastry it was intentional. Among those who heard the lecture upon slaty cleavage was his friend Professor Huxley, who suggested that pro- bably the principles then enunciated might account for the structure of glaciers, another subject that had long perplexed scientific observers. The greatest authority on glaciers at that time was Professor J. D. Forbes, of Edin- burgh University, who in 1842 declared that a ''glacier is 8 LIVES' OF THE Electricians. an imperfect fluid or viscous body, which is urged down slopes of a certain inchnation by the mutual pressure of its parts," and who detected in glaciers a veined structure which he explained as fissures produced by particles of ice in motion sliding past each other, leaving the fissures to be filled with water and to be frozen in winter. On examining the published observations of Forbes, Professor Tyndallwas struck with the probable accuracy of Professor Huxley's suggestion, and in order to examine the matter more thoroughly, the two advocates of the cleavage theory arranged to visit together the glaciers of Grindelwald, the Aar, and the Rhone. This personal investigation and sub- sequent reflection confirmed Professor Tyndall in his views. He found that glaciers were formed by the pro- perty of ice which Faraday called regelation ; that is, the freezing together of two pieces of ice by simple contact and slight pressure. It is the same property that enables boys to make snowballs and snow men when the snow is beginning to melt, or when the w^armth of the hand raises its temperature to the point at which regelation takes place. Professor Tyndall found that when two confluent glaciers united to form a single trunk, their mutual pressure developed the veined structure in a striking degree along their line of junction. In his lectures on the subject at the Royal Institution he ingeniously illustrated the pro- cesses of Nature which make and unmake the glacier. To show that ice only becomes compressed into a solid mass at a temperature near that of freezing water, he cooled a mass of ice by exposing it to the action of the coldest freezing mixture then known. He then crushed this cooled mass of ice into fragments, and applied pressure to the frag- ments for the purpose of making them cohere, but they did not show the slightest cohesiveness. Very different was their action when their temperature was raised to the freezing point. When placed in a wooden cup and pressed by a hollow Professor Tvndall. 39 wooden die a size smaller than the cup, the pieces of ice became united into a compact cup of nearly transparent ice. Glaciers, he contended, were formed by a similar operation. As particles of snow or ice descend the mountain side, the pressure becomes sufficiently great to compress the particles into a mass of solid ice, which eventually assumes the magni- tude of a beautiful glacier. He observed that in the labora- tory of Nature it was exactly at the places where squeezing took place that the cleavage of the ice was most highly de- veloped. In fact, he said, the association of pressure and lamination was far more distinct in the case of the glacier than in the case of the slate rock, and as it was now known that pressure caused the lamination of slate rock, he con- tended that it was the same cause that produced like effects in glaciers. In a lecture delivered early in 1 858, he gave an account of some beautiful phenomena of the glacier. In the pre- ceding September and October he examined the effect of sendincr a beam of radiant heat throuo;h a mass of ice. When sunbeams condensed by a lens were sent through slabs of ice, the path of the beam was instantly studded with lustrous spots like brilliant stars, and ''around each the ice was so liquefied as to form a beautiful flower-shaped figure, possessing six petals. From this number there was no deviation. At first the edges of the liquid leaves were clearly defined : but a continuance of the action usually caused the edges to become serrated like those of ferns. When the ice was caused to move across the beam, or the reverse, the sudden generation and crowding together of these liquid flowers, with their central spots shining with more than metallic brilliancy, was exceedingly beautiful."" By means of the electric light and a piece of ice prepared for the purpose he was able to exhibit these lovely ice- flowers to a delighted audience at the Royal Institution. During the years 1857 ^^^ 1858 Professor Tyndall 40 Lives of the Electricians. continued his observations of glacier phenomena amid the sohtude of the Alps. In the summer of the latter year he betook himself to the mountains \vith the view of settling once for all " the rival claims of the only tu'o theories, which then deserved serious attention, namely, those of pressure and of stratification." Again his former views were completely confirmed. It is difficult, he said, to convey in words the force of the evidence which the glacier of Grindelvvald presents to the mind of the observer who sees it ; it looked like a grand laboratory experiment made by Nature herself with special reference to the point in question. The squeezing of the mass, its yielding to the force brought to bear upon it, its wrinkling and scaling off, and the appearance of the veins at the exact poinv. where the pressure began to manifest itself, left no doubt on his mind that pressure and structure stood to each other in the relation of cause and effect. The conclusions at which he arrived as to the structure and movement of glaciers brought him into collision with Professor Forbes, whose views, enunciated fifteen years previously, were then widely accepted as the most scientific exposition of the subject. Forbes seemed rather sensitive about his own theory, and complained that he had to some extent been misrepresented. But in the conflict of opinions Professor Tyndall invariably referred to Professor Forbes's labours in connection with the subject in the most apprecia- tive and complimentary language. For instance, in 1858 he said he would not content himself with saying that the book of Professor Forbes was the best that had been written upon the subject ; " the qualities of mind, and the physical cul- ture invested in that excellent work, were such as to make it, in the estimation of the physical investigator at least, outv/eigh all other books upon the subject taken together." That is more generous language than Professor Forbes ever used respecting Professor Tyndall. In 1S65, after the Professor Tyndall. 41 heat of controversy had been dissipated, Forbes wrote that " Dr. Tyndall's so-called proofs that it is through ' fracture and rcgelation ' that a glacier moulds itself to its bed are to my mind no proofs at all;" and that he regarded Mr. Hopkins's mathematical demonstrations about glaciers as " irrelevant mathematical exercitations." Nevertheless, Pro- fessor Tait, the friend and scientific biographer of P"orbes, said in 1873: "To say that Forbes thoroughly explained the behaviour of glaciers would be an exaggeration ; but he m.ust be allowed the great credit of being" the Coper- nicus or Kepler of this science." As the subject still con- tinues to exercise the intellect of the scientific explorers of the Alps, suffice it for the present to say that if time ratifies the position which Professor Tait has assigned to Professor Forbes, his greatest and boldest successor in the same field m.ay be described as the Newton of glacier ohenomena. CHAPTER III. "Every secret which is disclosed, ever}' discovery which is made, every new effort which is brought to view, serves to convince us of numberless more which remain concealed, and which we had before no suspicion of. ... . Knowledge is not our proper happiness. Whoever will in the least attend to the thing will see that it is the gaining, not the having of it, which is the entertainment of the mind." — Bishop Butler. Next, probably, to magnetism and electricity, the scien- tific investigation of the laws of heat has yielded the most fruitful and the most curious results. The science of heat made the greatest progress about the middle of the present century, and Professor Tyndall was one of its most success- ful investigators. Being a force co-related to electricity, it is scarcely remarkable that the same natural philosopher should reveal to us not a few of these silent operations of magnetism and heat that previously were unobserved or were regarded as mysteries. When, in 1859, he turned his attention to the absorption of radiant heat by gases and vapours, there was consider- able diversity of opinion as to the effect of the atmosphere on radiant heat ; and great skill and patience were required in devising experiments, and in detecting and eliminating the various sources of error. Till then it was thought that the subject was outside the realm of experiment, but Professor Tyndall soon demonstrated that heat in gases and vapours was subject to various laws which had most important effects in every part of the world. In his first Professor Tvndat.l. 43 memoir he established not only the existence of absorption and radiation in gases, but that the differences of absorption and radiation were as great among gases as among hquids and sohds. He showed that the elementary gases, hydro- gen, oxygen, nitrogen, as well as air freed from moisture and carbonic acid, examined in a length of four feet, absorb about 3^ per cent, of heat radiated from lamp-black at 212°, the slightest impurity in the gas, however, altering the rate of absorption. With compound gases and vapours very different results were obtained. About twenty gases and vapours were examined, and it was found that while the elementary gases already named gave the feeblest action, olephiant gas showed the most energetic action, absorbing 81 per cent. He also made the important discovery that by arranging the various gases in order according to their power, first of radiating heat and then of absorbing radiant heat, the order was the same in both cases ; in short, the order of radiation was exactly that of absorption. In his second memoir he introduced a new and remarkable method of determining absorption and radiation. This method he called *' dynamic radiation." Dispensing with the use of any extraneous source of heat, he obtained his results by the heat or cold produced by the condensation or rarefication of the gases. Just as a ball striking a target is heated by collision, so he heated gas contained in one part of a tube by the collision of its particles against the surface of another part into which they rushed to fill a vacuum. He found, he said, by strict experiments that the dynamic radiation of an amount of boracic ether vapour, possessing a tension of only one 1,012,500,000th of an atmosphere, was easily measurable. His researches on the relation of radiant heat to aqueous vapour, published in 1863, were the most interesting and useful. Such were the difficulties connected with the investigation of this part of the subject that Professor 44 Lives of the Electricians. Tyndall and his old friend Professor Magnus, of Berlin, arrived at and long maintained opposite conclusions as to the absorption of radiant heat by the air and the influence of aqueous vapour. Early in his researches Professor Tyndall regarded the action of the atmosphere as a particular part of his inquiry, and, accordingly, his third memoir was specially devoted to the radiation of aqueous vapour. The conclusion he came to was that the aqueous vapour in our atmosphere intercepted or absorbed eighty times more heat than the air, and as there was only one atom of aqueous vapour for every 200 of oxygen and nitrogen composing the air, it appeared that one atom of the former absorbed 16,000 times more than one atom of oxygen or nitrogen. This startling conclusion he verified by a system of checks and counter-checks which were considered as decisive. The applications of this discovery were manifold and important. The aqueous vapour which absorbed so much heat he likened to a blanket which is more necessary to the vegetable life of England than clothing is to man. '' Remove for a single summicr night," he said, " the aqueous vapour from the air which over- spreads this country, and you would assuredly destroy every plant capable of being destroyed by a freezing temperature. The warmth of our fields and gardens would pour itself unrequited into space, and the sun would rise upon an island held fast in the iron grip of frost." The aqueous vapour constitutes a local dam, which deepens the temperature at the earth's surface, but which finally over- flows and gives to space all that we receive from the sun. This discovery presented an explanation of some pheno- mena, which hitherto had been imperfectly understood. It was evidently the absence of this aqueous screen which made the winters in Central Asia almost unendurable ; and it showed how the burninsf heat of the Sahara during; the day was followed by intense cold at night. Professor Tyndall. 45 Before Professor Tyndall had published all his observa- tions on the relations between radiant heat and aqueous vapour, his friend, Professor P'rankland, regarded them as sufficient to account for the glacial era, and the action of glaciers over the entire globe. During a visit to Norway in 1863 Franklan-d considered the subject afresh, and came to the conclusion that the chief cause of the phenomena of the glacial epoch was a higher temperature of the ocean than prevails at present. The critics of the day pointed out that such a view depended upon the accuracy of the assumption that our earth had gradually cooled down from an originally incandescent state ; and it is now generally admitted by natural philosophers that the earth has cooled down from a state of liquid heat. In that case the waters of the ocean, when cooling dowai from the boiling point, would be at a higher temperature than the present ; and Professor Frankland maintained that it was in the later stages of the cooling process that the glacial epoch oc- curred. The great natural glacial apparatus he divided into three parts — the evaporator, the condenser, and the receiver. The cooling ocean was the evaporator ; the mountains were the icebearers or receivers ; while the dry air w^hich permitted the heat from the vapour to radiate into space, acted as the condenser. He made numerous experiments to show that under these conditions the land would cool more rapidly than the sea ; and he maintained that in the glacial epoch the '' rays of heat streamed into space from the ice-bearing surfaces with comparatively little interruption, whilst the radiation from the sea was as effectually retarded as if the latter had been protected with a thick envelope of non-conducting material. Thus, whilst the ocean retained a temperature considerably higher than at present, the icebearers had undergone a considerably greater refrigeration." He calculated that an increase of 20° in the temperature of the coast of 46 Lives of the Electricians. Norway would double the evaporation from a given surface, and such an increased evaporation, accompanied of course by a corresponding precipitation, " would suffice to supply the higher portions of the land with that gigantic ice-burden which ground down the mountain slopes during the glacial epoch." Such a view did not require the assumption of any natural convulsion or catastrophe ; on the contrary it accounted for the glacial epoch by the evolution of thermal conditions, the existence of which is now generally admitted.^ In his fourth memoir, published in 1864, ''On the Radiation and Absorption of Heat by Gaseous and Liquid Matter," Professor Tyndall showed that generally the absorption of non-luminous radiant heat by vapours was the same as that of the liquids from which the vapours were produced. His fifth memoir, entitled " Contributions to Molecular Physics," was made the Bakerian lecture for that year. In it he deduced from numerous experiments the remarkable law that the opacity of a substance with respect to radiant heat from a source of comparatively low temperature increases wnth the chemical complexity of its molecule. He examined the eftects of temperature on the trans- mission of radiant heat, the radiation from flames of various kinds, and the influence of vibrating periods on the absorption of radiant heat. In November, 1864, the Royal Society presented him with the Rumford medal for his researches on the absorp- tion and radiation of heat by gases and vapours ; and General Sabine, in making the presentation, said such had been the fate of Professor Tyndall that each last achieve- ment might almost be said to have dimmed the lustre of ^ This glacier theoiy is all the more deserving of prominence since the publication in 1886 of Lieutenant Greely's discovery of lakes, rivers, and valleys rich in vegetation and animal life in the interior of GrinncU Land at points the farthest north ever reached by explorers. Professor Tyndall. 47 those wh'ch preceded it. Curiously enough his very next achievements thereafter did dim the lustre of those published prior to the presentation of the Rumford Medal. It was the discovery of a means of separating light from heat. Melloni had previously discovered a combination of screens by which radiant heat could be arrested or separated from light, an operation which is effected on a vast scale by the moon when it reflects the light of the sun. Professor Tyndall effected the converse operation. He discovered that a solution of iodine in bisulphide of carbon entirelv interceoted the light of the most brilliant flames. A hollow prism filled with that opaque liquid and placed in the path of the beam from an electric lamp, completely intercepted the light, but transmitted the heat unimpaired. In this way he succeeded in separating with marvellous sharpness the invisible from the visible radi- ations of the lime light, the electric light, and the sun. He not only produced combustion, fusion, and incande- scence by invisible radiation, but he proved that in the case of the electric light the invisible rays are no less than eight times as powerful as the visible radiations. He obtained all the colours of the solar spectrum from a platinum foil raised to incandescence at the invisible focus ; and this rendering of a refractory body incande- scent by invisible rays he called calorescence. In connection with these investigations he performed a daring experiment. Knowing that a layer of iodine placed before the eye intercepted the light, he determined to place his own eye in the focus of strong invisible rays. He knew that if in doing so the dark rays were absorbed in a high degree by the humours of the eye, the albumen of the humours might coagulate ; and on the other hand, if there was no high absorption, the rays might strike upon the retina with a force sufficient to destroy it. When he first brought his eye, undefended, near the dark focus, the heat on the 48 Lives of the Electricians. parts surrounding the pupil was too intense to be endured. He therefore made an aperture in a plate of metal, and placing his eye behind this aperture, he gradually ap- proached the point of convergence of the invisible rays. First the pupil and next the retina were placed in the focus without any sensible damage. Immediately after- wards a sheet of platinum foil placed in the position which the retina had occupied became red-hot. In a subsequent memoir he dealt with the influence of colour and mechanical condition upon radiant heat, de- monstrating that white bodies are far more potent absorbers of radiant heat than black ones. During the first thirteen years of his researches in the laboratory of the Royal Institution he produced thirteen papers, which were published in the PhilosopJiical Transac- tions. Conspicuous among these were his papers on the radiation and absorption of heat, and his researches on that subject have generally been admitted to be of the most thorough and original character. A lucid epitome of the chief results he obtained was given in the Rede lecture which he delivered before the University of Cambridge in 1865, when the University conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. In 1863 he published the first edition of one of his most popular books, Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion — a book which an eminent electrician has recommended students of electricity to master; in 1867 he published a volume of lectures on ** Sound " ; and in 1869-74 he pub- lished his lectures on " Light." These works have gone through several editions. As an illustration of the interest' with which he can invest such impalpable subjects, it is worth remarking that a Chinese ofiicial, named Hsli-chung- hu, was so pleased with the book on Sound that he had it translated into the Chinese language and printed at Shanghai, in order that his countrymen might participate Professor Tvndall. 49 in the pleasure and instruction which he had derived from it. It was pubHshed at the expense of the Chinese Government, and sold at is. 6d. a copy. During the ten years from 1859 to 1869, says Professor Tyndall, '^ researches on radiant heat in its relations to the gaseous form of matter occupied my continual attention." But towards the close of that period his main inquiry, as it extended into space, began to spread out into various branches. In 1866 he entered upon an examination of the chemical action of light upon vapours, and the action of heat of high refrangibility as an explorer of the molecular condition of matter. " In this investigation one obstacle to be overcome was the presence of the floating matter in the air. The processes for the removal of these particles became the occasion of an independent research, branching out into various channels : on the one -hand, it dealt with the practical problem of the preservation of life among firemen exposed to heated smoke ; and, on the other, it approached the recondite question of spontaneous genera- tion. He subjected the compound vapours of various substances to the action of a concentrated beam of light- The vapours were decomposed, and non-volatile products were formed. The decompositions always began with a blue cloud, which discharged perfectly polarised light at right angles to the beam. This suggested to him the origin of the blue colour of the sky ; and as it showed the extra- ordinary amount of light that may be scattered by cloudy matter of extreme tenuity, he considered that it might be regarded as a suggestion towards explaining the nature of a comet's tail." Regions of cloud and smoke are proverbial as symbols of the negation of human interest; but Professor Tyndall imparted new beauties to the one and deprived the other of its terrors. He said to the chaotic vapours " Light," and that which was without form and void instantly E 50 Lives of the Electricians. assumed the loveliest forms that Nature knows. Incredible as this language may appear to some, it is no mere Oriental hyperbole. He made the light from an electric lamp to pass through a great glass tube containing trans- parent, invisible vapours, and the action of the light at once commencing chemical decomposition, various cloud forms resembling organic structures were seen in the tube. The following is the beautiful description he gave to the Royal Society of the phenomena presented by hydriodic acid : — " The cloud extended for about eighteen inches along the tube, and gradually shifted its position from the end nearest the lamp to the most distant end. The portion quitted by the cloud proper was filled by an amorphous haze, the decomposition, which w^as progressing lower down, being here apparently complete. A spectral cone turned its apex towards the distant end of the tube, and from its circular base filmy drapery seem.ed to fall. Placed on the base of the cone was an exquisite vase, from the interior of which sprang another vase, of similar shape; over the edges of these vases fell the faintest clouds, resembling spectral sheets of liquid. From the centre of the upper vase a straight cord of cloud passed for some distance along the axis of the experimental tube, and at each end of this cord two involved and highly iridescent vortices were generated. The frontal portion of the cloud which the cord penetrated assumed in succession the form of roses, tulips, and sunflowers. It also passed through the appearance of a series of beautifully-shaped bottles placed one within the other. Once it presented the shape of a fish, with eyes, gills, and feelers." In 1869 it was stated before the British Association that M. Morren, while living in the South of France, had succeeded in producing similar results by the use of sun- light instead of the electric light. Professor Tyndall. 51 For a long time during his researches on the decomposi- tion of vapours he was troubled by the presence of floating matter revealed by a powerful condensed beam of light, and he tried numerous expedients for the purpose of inter- cepting this matter. At last he succeeded. By causing the air intended for experimental purposes to pass over the tip of a spirit-lamp flame, the floating matter disappeared. He therefore concluded that it was organic matter, which had been burned out by the flame. This discovery took place on October 5th, 1868. Till then he regarded the dust of our air as for the most part inorganic and non- combustible. This led him on to the investigation of the germ theory. On the one hand he added proof to proof, and experiment to experiment, to show that when a con- suming heat was applied to airits organic miatter disappeared; and on the other hand he maintained that as surely as a fig comes from a fig, a grape from a grape, and a thorn from a thorn, so surely does the typhoid virus or seed, when planted or scattered about among people, increase and multiply into typhoid fever, scarlatina virus into scarlatina, and small-pox virus into small-pox. These conclusions formed the subject of a famous lecture on " Dust and Disease," delivered at the Royal Institution on January 2 1st, 1870. Among his audience Avere some of the fore- most men of the day, such as Mr. W. E. Gladstone, then Prime Minister, Earl Granville, Dean Stanley, Si¥ Edwin Landseer, Sir Henry Holland, and Professor Huxley. The views which Professor Tyndall then put forth were received with marked disfavour among the medical pro- fession. Even scientific men did not hesitate to pour ridicule upon the germ theory. For example, Professor Bloxam, Lecturer on Chemistry to the Department of Artillery Studies, suggested in one of his lectures that the Committee on Explosives should abandon gun cotton, and collecting the germs of small-pox and similar malignant 52 Lives of the Electricians. diseases in cotton or other dust-collecting substances, should load shells with them, and we should then hear of the enemy being dislodged from his position by a volley of typhus or a few rounds of Asiatic cholera. Like most truths, the germ theory survived the ridicule of its opponents. The labours of Pasteur in relation to the germ theory always appeared to command Professor Tyndall's ad- miration. A large part of his lecture on ''Dust and Disease " consisted of an account of the successful way in which Pasteur dealt with the epidemic among silkworms in France. Writing in April, 1870, the Professor said: " There is more solid science in one paper of Pasteur than in all the volumes and essays that have been written against him. Schroeder and Pasteur have demonstrated that air filtered through cotton-wool is deprived wholly, or in part, of its power to produce animalcular life. Why .? An experiment with a beam of light answers the question ; for while it proves our ordinary air to be charged with floating matter, the beam pronounces air, which has been carefully filtered through cotton-wool, to be visibly pure ; there are no germs afloat in it ; hence it is impossible as a generator of life. Again, Pasteur prepared twenty-one flasks, each containing a decoction of yeast, which he boiled in order to destroy whatever germs it might contain. While the space above the liquid was filled with pure steam he sealed the necks of his flasks with a blow-pipe. He opened ten of them in the damp, still caves of the Paris Observatory, and eleven of them in the courtyard of the same establishment. Of the former only one showed signs of life subsequently. In nine out of the ten flasks no organisms of any kind were developed. In all the others organisms speedily appeared. Pasteur ascribed this un- expected result to the subsidence of the germs in the motionless air of the caves. Is this surmise correct ? The Professor Tyndall. 53 beam of light enables us to answer this question. I have had a chamber constructed, the lower half of which is of wood, and the upper half of glass. On the 6th February this chamber was closed, and every crevice that could admit dust or cause a disturbance of the air was carefully stopped. The electric beam when sent through the glass showed the air at the outside to be loaded with floating matter. The chamber was examined almost daily, and a gradual diminution of the floating matter was observed. At the end of the week the chamber was optically empty. The floating matters, germs included, had wholly subsided, and the air held nothing in suspension. Here again the ocular demonstration furnished by the luminous beam goes hand in hand with the experimental result of Pasteur." Professor Tyndall did not, however, adopt the germ theory on the authority of Pasteur. He not only dis- covered it for himself, but demonstrated its accuracy by innumerable experiments, in the course of which he made use of 10,000 vessels. To him, too, science owes the use of the electric beam as an explorer of germ particles which could not otherwise be made visible by the best optical aids. The most exquisitely minute particles, which could not be detected by the most powerful glasses, have been revealed in the air by the electric beam. For some time he carried on a controversy with some doughty champions of the old theory of spontaneous generation ; but as the evidences in favour of the germ theory increased, the antagonism to it diminished. One practical evidence, not only of the reality, but of the utility of the germ theory, was Pasteur's discovery of the nature of the organisms in yeast that produced " beer disease ; " and when Pasteur visited England, after that discovery, and explained the cause of beer turning sour. Professor Tyndall afterwards visited some of the most 54 Lives of the Electricians. prominent breweries in London to niake inquiries on the subject. He was extremely surprised at the paucity of knowledge possessed by the brewers, although they had over and over again incurred disastrous losses in conse- quence of their lack of knowledge. He said that when the brewers found their beer becoming bad they used to exchange their yeast among themselves, and thus get on with their losses, when five minutes' examination with the microscope would have prevented this waste and loss ; for it would have shown them the minute organisms which spoiled the beer. In connection with his researches on the germ theory, he produced a useful invention which had a philanthropic rather than a commercial object. To the title of in- ventor he never made any claim ; on the contrary, he repeatedly expressed his view of the difference between a scientific discoverer and a mechanical inventor ; con- tending that while the practical man is not usually the man to make the necessary antecedent discoveries, the cases are rare in which the discoverer in science knows how to turn his labours to practical account. Nevertheless scientific reflection enabled him to devise a form of respirator which protects firemen from the stifling effects of dense smoke. His attention had re- peatedly been directed to the risks that firemen encountered when in conflict with smoke and flame, and he had been told that smoke was a greater enemy to them than flame. He therefore endeavoured to find a means of protecting them from suffocation. First he tried a respirator made of cotton-wool, but that was insufficient ; so to the cotton- wool he added glycerine ; and though this was an improve- ment, still it only enabled them to remain in dense smoke for three or four minutes. He next added charcoal and this greatly increased the utility of the respirator, which when complete was composed of a layer of cotton-wool Professor Tyndall. 55 moistened with glycerine, next a thin layer of dry wool, then a layer of charcoal fragments, succeeded by another thin layer of dry cotton-wool and a layer of fragments of caustic lime. These were inclosed in a wire gauze cover. The first experiments with this respirator were made in a small cellar-like chamber with stone flooring and stone walls in the basement of the Royal Institution. A fire of resinous pine-wood was lighted, and was so covered over as to generate dense smoke instead of flames. Professor Tyndall and his assistant, having each put on one of the new respirators, and suitable glasses to protect their eyes, were able to remain for half an hour or longer in that apartment full of smoke so dense and pungent that he believed a single inhalation through the undefended mouth would have been perfectly unendurable. Captain Shaw, the chief ofiicer of the Metropolitan P'ire Brigade, on being asked whether such a respirator would be of use to him, replied that it would be most valuable ; but he had made himself acquainted with every contrivance of the kind in this and other countries, and had found none of them of any practical use. However, at the request of Professor Tyndall, the Captain and some of his men went to the Royal Institution to test the new invention. The small room was again filled with dense smoke, three men went successively into it, and remained there as long as their Captain desired. On coming out they declared that with the respirators they had not felt the least discomfort, and that they could have remained all day in the smoke. Captain Shaw himself then tested it with the same result, and he afterwards stated that Professor Tyndall, in the kindest possible manner, at once placed his invention at the service of the Fire Brigade. In 1870 he accompanied the eclipse expedition to Gran, and having been disappoini':d in the special object of his journey, he determined in returning to investigate the causes 56 Lives of the Electricians. of the varying tints presented by sea-water. On board H.M.S. Urgent^ between Gibraltar and Spithead, he filled nineteen bottles with sea-water, and afterwards examined them by the electric light. This examination showed that the yellowish water of the coast and harbours contained a large quantity of particles, that in the green water the particles were finer and less abundant, and that the blue water of the deep was comparatively clear of them. The explanation he gave of the colours of the ocean, in a lecture at the Royal Institution, was that when a beam of light entered the sea the heat-rays were absorbed at the surface, the red rays by a very superficial layer of water, the green rays next, and ultimately the blue rays ; but when the light encountered particles in the water the green rays would be reflected by them. If there were no particles, the green rays would continue their course till they were wholly quenched, and thus water of more than ordinary depth and purity would appear as black as ink. In later years he made some practical additions to our knowledge of sound. His advice had repeatedly been asked as to the laws which affected the distribution of sound variously in different buildings — a subject upon which volumes had been written, but which was still imper- fectly understood. As an illustration of the unexpected circumstances that affected the transmission of sound, he sometimes related what occurred to himself in the Senate House of Cambridge University when he delivered the Rede lecture in 1865. On going to the Senate House to test its acoustic qualities, he was astonished to find that from the usual place of speaking his words could not be heard at all by a friend whom he had placed at the extreme end of the hall as his auditory. He found that the reverberation from the floor and walls followed the direct sound of his voice in such a way as to destroy the clearness Professor Tyndall. 57 of the words as they were uttered. Dismayed at this effect, he made up his mind that in respect of audiblcness his lecture was doomed to be a failure. But the reverse was the case. The lecture was in every respect a great success. An overflowing audience filled the hall, and listened to him with rapt attention. During the hour and a half that he spoke every syllable was heard by the most distant hearer ; and he attributed this unexpected result to the presence of the audience, which, he said, quenched the prejudicial effect of the reverberation of his voice produced by the sides and bottom of the room. After that ex- perience, he advocated the making of different experiments with the view of extending the practical knowledge of acoustics. To that knowledge he himself became a valuable con- tributor. In 1873 he conducted a series of experiments with a view to determine the properties of the atmosphere as a vehicle of sound. Navigators had often been at a loss to understand how it was that the most powerful fog-signals — such as gongs, whistles, and guns — were sometimes easily heard at a great distance on rainy days, and were inaudible at comparatively short distances on fine days. Even within a few minutes the acoustic properties of the atmosphere sometimes underwent remarkable variations. Professor Tyndall's experiments led him to the conclusion that the aqueous vapour raised by the sun, though often invisible, produced a cloud which formed as impervious a barrier to the waves of sound as a dense black cloud does to the waves of light. The presence of water in a vaporous form being the real enemy to the transmission of sound through the atmosphere, it was easy to understand its frequent occurrence on days apparently clear and bright. This was previously unknown. He also furnished an interesting illustration of the co- rclation of heat and sound. 58 Lives of the Electricians. Notwithstanding the elaborate data upon which he had founded his conclusions as to the interaction of radiant heat on vapours, some Continental physicists questioned their accuracy, and accordingly Professor Tyndall in later years resumed the inquiry and obtained some remarkable results. He had previously shown that heat will pass without any loss through a long glass tube filled with nitrogen or air, and closed up at the ends by lenses of crystal ; but if the same tube is filled with carbonic acid or the vapour of ether the heat, instead of being transmitted through it, is almost entirely intercepted. In 1880 Mr. Graham Bell showed him that musical sounds were pro- duced by a beam of light striking upon thin discs of matter; and Professor Tyndall at once discovered the secret of this surprising effect. He said that before making an experiment he pictured in his mind a highly- absorbent vapour exposed to the shocks of an intermittent beam suddenly expanding at the moment of exposure, and as suddenly contracting when the beam was intercepted ; and thus pulses of an amplitude probably far greater than those obtainable with solids would be produced, and would be sufficient to give forth musical sounds. He soon proved this surmise to be correct. He filled a glass tube or bulb with absorbent gas or vapour, and between it and the lime- light he placed a round piece of cardboard with equi-distant holes in it ; then by placing the bulb in such a position that when the light passed through the holes it impinged upon the glass bulb, and by causing the cardboard to revolve, the action of the beam became intermittent, as it only reached the vapour when one of the holes in the revolving cardboard came in front of the bulb. By this contrivance a series of calorific shocks were produced that gave sound vibrations of surprising intensity. When, how- ever, the bulbs were filled with gases or vapours, such as nitrogen or air. that transmitted the heat, no sounds were Professor Tyndall. 59 produced. He tried the sounding power of ten gases and eighty vapours, and found that the sounds produced by chloride of methyl were the loudest ; and that, conveyed to the ear by a tube of indiarubber, they seemed as loud as the peal of an organ. He also found that in respect of intensity the order of the sound in gases was the same as the order of their absorption of radiant heat. These marvellous results he described in his Bakerian lecture for 1881, '' On the Action of Free Molecules on Radiant Heat and its Conversion thereby into Sound." CHAPTER IV. *' Undaunted he hies him O'er ice-covered wild, Where leaf never budded, Nor spring ever smiled ; And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye No longer the dwellings of man can espy. " —Schiller. As a traveller in search of Nature's grandest works, Pro- fessor Tyndall occupies a foremost place for his adventures in Alpine regions previously regarded as unapproachable, as well as for his descriptions of the views presented and the sentiments inspired by those peaks of everlasting snow. The narrative of his achievements as an Alpine traveller fills a larger volume than this one. Two or three speci- mens must therefore suffice here. The following is the account he gave in a letter to Faraday in August, 1858, of his ascent of IMonte Rosa, which was then considered much more difficult to climb than ]\Iont Blanc : — '* I reached this mountain wild the day before yesterday. Soon after my arrival it commenced snowing, and yesterday morning the mountains were all covered by a deep layer. It heaped itself up against the windows of this room, obscuring half the light. To-day the sun shines, and I hope he will soon banish the snow, for the snow is a great traitor on the glacier, and often covers smooth chasms which it would not be at all comfortable to get into. I am here in a lonely house, the only traveller. If you cast your Trofessor Tyndall. 6 1 eye on a map of Switzerland you will find the valley of Saas not far from Visp. High up this valley, and three hours above Saas itself, is the Distil Alp, and on this Alp I now reside. Close beside the house a many-armed mountain torrent rushes, and a little way down a huge glacier, coming down one of the side valleys, throws Itself across the torrent, dams it up, and forms the so-called * Matmark See.' Looking out of another window I have before me an immense stone, the unshipped cargo of a glacier, and weighing at least i,ooo tons. It is the largest boulder I have ever seen ; it is composed of serpentine, and measures 216,000 cubic feet. Previous to coming here I spent ten days at the Riffel Hotel, above Zermatt, and explored almost the whole of that glacier region. One morning the candle of my guide gleamed Into my room at three o'clock, and he announced to me that the weather was good. I rose, and at four o'clock was on my way to the summit of Monte Rosa. My guide had never been there, but he had some general directions from a brother guide, and we hoped to be able to find our way to the top. We first reached the ridge above the Riffel, then dropped down upon the Corner glacier, crossed it, reached the base of the mountain, then up a boss of rock, over which the glacier of former days had flowed and left its mark behind. Then up a slope of ice to the base of a precipice of brown crags : round this we wormed till we found a place where we could assail It and get to the top. Then up the slopes and round the huge bosses of the mountain, avoiding the rifted por- tions, and going zigzag up the steeper Inclinations. For some hours this was mere child's play to a mountaineer — no more than an agreeable walk on a sunny morning round Kensington Gardens. But at length the mountain con- tracted her snowy shoulders to what Cermans call a kamus — a comb, suggested, I should say, by the toothed edges which some mountain ridges exhibit, but now applied to 62 Lives of the Electricians. any mountain edge, whether of rock or snow. Well, the mountain formed such an edge. On that side of the edge which turns tow^ard the Lyskamm there was a very terrible precipice, leading straight down to the torn and fissured 7ieW of the Monte Rosa glaciers. On the other side the slope was less steep, but exceedingly perilous-looking, and intersected here and there by precipices. Our way lay along the ledge, and we faced it with steady caution and deliberation. The wind had so acted upon the snow as to fold it over, forming a kind of cornice, which overhung the first precipice to w^hich I have alluded. Our attack for some time was upon this cornice. The incessant admoni- tion of my guide was to fix my staff securely into the snow at each step, the necessity of which I had already learned. Once, however, while doing this, my staff went right through the cornice, and I could see through the hole that I had made into the terrible gulf below. The morning was clear wdien we started, and we saw the first sunbeams as they lit the pinnacles of Monte Rosa, and caused the surrounding snow summits to flush up. The mountain remained clear for some hours, but I now looked upwards and saw a dense mass of cloud stuck against the summit. She dashed it gallantly away, like a mountain queen ; but her triumph was short. Dusky masses again assailed her, and she could not shake them off. They stretched down tow^ards us, and now the ice valley beneath us commenced to seethe like a boiling cauldron, and to send up vapour masses to meet those descending from the summit. We wTre soon in the midst of them, and the darkness thickened ; sometimes, as if by magic, the clouds partially cleared away, and through the thin pale residue the sunbeams penetrated, lighting up the glacier with a supernatural glare. But these partial illuminations became rarer as w^e ascended. We finally reached the weathered rocks which form the crest of the mountain, and through these we now clambered up cliffs Professor Tyndall. 6^ and down cliffs, walking erect along edges of granite with terrible depths at each side, squeezing ourselves through fissures, and thus jumping, swinging, squeezing, and climbing, we reached the highest peak of Monte Rosa. " Snow had commenced to fall before we reached the top, and it now thickened darkly. I boiled water, and found the temperature i84'92° Fahr. But the snow was wonderful snow. It was all flower — the most lovely that ever eye gazed upon. There, high up in the atmosphere, this symmetry of form manifested itself and built up these exquisite blossoms of the frost. There was no deviation from the six-leaved type, but any number of variations. I should hardly have exchanged this dark snowfall for the best viev/ the mountain could afford me. Still, our position was an anxious one. We could only see a few yards in advance of us, and we feared the loss of our track. We retreated, and found the comb more awkward to descend than to ascend. However, the fact of my being here to tell all about it proves that we did our work successfully. And now I have a secret to tell regarding Monte Rosa. I had no view during the above ascent, but precisely a week afterwards the weather was glorious beyond description. I had lent my guide to a party of gentlemen, so I strapped half a bottle of tea and a ham sandwich on my back, left my coat and neckcloth behind me, and in my shirt sleeves climbed up Monte Rosa alone." The latter act has been described as a feat of daring never heard of before. Between 1856 and 1862 he ascended Mont Blanc three times. One ascent, made in 1859, ^^'^-^ ^o^ the purpose of carrying into effect a proposal he had made to the Royal Society some months previously to place suitable thermo- meters at different stations between the top and the foot of the mountain. On that occasion he was accompanied by his friend Dr. Franklin, the notable guide Balmat, Mr. 64 ' Lives of the Electricians. Alfred Wills, and several porters. Professor Tyndall afterwards gave a graphic account of the ascent to the British Association at Leeds, when he spoke in the highest terms of the services rendered by Balmat. Mr. Wills says he made the Leeds Town Hall ring with well-deserved applause as he recounted to the first savants in Europe the dangers Balmat had undergone, and the courage and disinterestedness he displayed. The ascent was made late in September in fearful weather, and in order to cut a hole four feet deep in the solid glacier, Balmat used his hands for shovelling out the ice and snow, till both hands were soon found to be badly frost-bitten and quite black. When the circulation began to return, after half-an-hour's rubbing and beating, he suffered great agony ; and though he was for some time in danger of losing his hands, he said he could have endured even that calamity in the cause of science. In August, i86t, Professor Tyndall succeeded in reaching the top of the Weisshorn, a mountain 14,800 feet high, which he regarded as the noblest peak in the Alps. People at the base described him and his two guides as appearing like flies upon the summit. " I never," he said afterwards, " witnessed a scene that affected me like this one. I opened my note-book to make a few observations, but soon relinquished the attempt. There was something incongruous, if not profane, in allowing the scientific faculty to interfere where silent worship seemed the * reasonable service.' " In like manner Principal Forbes, who preceded but did not equal Professor Tyndall as an Alpine traveller, said that '' the seeds of a poetic temperament usually germinate amidst mountain scenery, and we envy not the man, young or old, to whom the dead silence of sequestered nature does not bring an irresistible sense of awe — an experience which a picturesque writer has thus Professor Tyndall. 65 expressed : It seems impious to laugh so near Heaven," Hence probably the words of Byron : — " There stirs the feeling infinite, so felt In solitude, when we are least alone ; A truth, which through our being then doth melt, And purifies from self : it is a tone. The soul and source of music, which makes known Eternal harmony, and sheds a charm. Like to the fabled Cytherea's zone, Binding all things with l^eauty ; — 'twould disarm The spectre Death, had he substantial power to harm." Professor Tyndall translated such sentiments into actions. At the time when he began to ascend the highest of those Alpine peaks, accidents of the most painful description were frequently reported as occurring to travellers, owing to the absence of that more intimate knowledge of the routes and methods of travelling which has since been acquired by experience or revealed by science — knowledge which he himself rendered generous and valuable aid in acquiring and diffusing. For instance, while he was at Breuil on August i8th, i860, intelligence reached him that three Englishmen and a guide had perished on the Col-du-Geant. The more he heard of the sad occurrence, he said, the stronger became his desire to visit the scene of it. He accordingly went to Cormayeur on the 22nd, and called on the resident French pastor, M. Curie, who had visited the place and made a sketch of it. Accepting this gentleman's offer to accompany him. Professor Tyndall reached the Pavilion early on the morning of Thursday, the 24th. "Wishing," says the Professor, "to make myself acquainted with every inch of the ground over which, from the commencement of their glissade, the unfortunate men had passed, I walked straight up from the Pavilion to the base of the rocky couloir along which they had been precipitated. This couloir was described as being so dangerous that a chamois hunter had declined ascending it some days before ; but I secured at Cormayeur the F 66 Lives of the Electricians. service of an intrepid man who had once made the ascent, and whom it was now my intention to follow. We com- menced our climb at the very bottom of the roCks, while the pastor made a detour and joined us on the spot where the body of the guide had been found. From this point upward, M. Curie shared the dangers of the ascent — strongly, I confess, against my will — until we reached the place where the rocks ended and the fatal snow slope commenced. Here we parted company, he deeming it more prudent to resort to a stony arete to the right than to trust himself upon the snow. I was urged by M. Curie to content myself with an inspection of the place, but no inspection, however close, could have given the information I desired. I asked my guide whether he feared the slope, and his reply being negative, we entered upon the snow, and ascended it along the course of the fatal glissade, the traces of which had not been entirely obliterated. Among the rocks below we had frequent and often melancholy occasion to assure ourselves that we were on the proper track. . . . From the beginning to the end of this fatal track, I made myself acquainted with its true character, and as I stood upon the summit of the incline and scanned the ground over which I had passed a feeling of augmented sadness took possession of me. There was no sufficient reason for this terrible catastrophe. With ordinary pre- caution the glissade might in the first instance have been avoided, and with average capacity to cope with such an accident the motion might, I am persuaded, have been arrested after it commenced." He concluded a long letter to the Times, from which the foregoing extract is taken, by saying that the guides of Chamouni ought to regard this terrible disaster as a stain upon their order which it would require years of services faithfully and wisely rendered to wipe away. It is much easier to censure thin to set a good example, and from Professor Tyndatj.. 67 that point of view Professor Tyndall was blamed at the time for being so severe in his strictures. Ere long, however, an opportunity occurred which put his own resources to the severest test. While staying at Pontresina in 1864, he, along with Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Lee- Warner, of Rugby, ascended the Piz Morteratch, a very noble mountain, which was thought safe and easy to ascend. The top was reached without any exceptional diffi- culty ; but in descending they came to a broad couloir filled with snow, which, having been melted and refrozen, appeared like a sloping wall of ice. The party were tied together, with one guide named Jenni in front, and another named Walter in the rear. Jenni cut steps in the ice, and then reached snow, which he expected would give them a footing. As he led the party he said, " Keep carefully in the steps, gentlemen ; a false step here might detach an avalanche." The word was scarcely uttered, says the Professor, whose account has been corroborated by his companions, " when I heard the sound of a fall behind me, then a rush, and in a moment my two friends and their guide, all apparently entangled together, whirled past me. I suddenly planted myself to resist their shock, but in an instant I was in their wake, for their impetus was irresistible. A moment afterwards Jenni was whirled away, and thus, in the twinkling of an eye, all five of us found ourselves riding downwards with uncontrollable speed on the back of an avalanche which a single slip had originated. " Previous to stepping on the slope, I had, according to habit, made clear to my mind what was to be done in case of mishap ; and accordingly, when overthrown, I turned promptly on my face, and drove my baton through the moving snow, and into the ice underneath. No time, however, was allowed for the break's action ; for I had held it firmly thus for a few seconds only when I came F 2 6S Lives of the Electricians. into collision with some obstacle and was rudely tossed through the air, Jenni at the same time being shot down upon me. Both of us here lost our batons. We had been carried over a crevasse, had hit its lower edge, and, instead of dropping into it, were pitched by our great velocity far beyond it. I was quite bewildered for a moment, but immediately righted myself, and could see the men in front of me half buried in the snow, and jolted from side to side by the ruts among which we were passing. Suddenly I saw them tumbled over by a lurch of the avalanche, and immediately afterwards found myself imitating their motion. This was caused by a second crevasse. Jenni knew of its existence and plunged, he told me, right into it — a brave act, but for the time unavailing. By jumping into the chasm he thought a strain might be put upon the rope sufficient to check the motion. But though over thirteen stone in weight, he was violently jerked out of the fissure, and almost squeezed to death by the pressure of the rope. "A long slope was before us which led directly down- wards to a brow where the glacier fell precipitously. At the base of the declivity ice was cut by a series of profound chasms, towards which we were rapidly borne. The three foremost men rode upon the forehead of the avalanche, and were at times almost wholly immersed in the snow ; but the moving layer was thinner behind, and Jenni rose incessantly and with desperate energy drove his feet into the firmer substance beneath. His voice, shoutinsr * Halt ! Herr Jesus, halt!' was the only one heard during the descent. A kind of condensed memory, such as that described by people who have narrowly escaped drowning, took possession of me, and my power of reasoning re- mained intact. I thought of Bcnnen on the Haut de Cry, and muttered, ' It is now my turn.' Then I coolly scanned the men in front of me, and reflected that, if their Professor Tyndall. 69 vis viva was the only thing to be neutrahsed, Jenni and myself could stop them ; but to arrest both them and the mass of snow in which they were caught was hopeless. I experienced no intolerable dread. In fact the start was too sudden and the excitement of the rush too great to permit of the development of terror. " Looking in advance, I noticed that the slope for a short distance became less steep and then fell as before. 'Now or never we must be brought to rest' The speed visibly slackened, and I thought we were saved. But the momentum had been too great ; the avalanche crossed the brow and in part regained its motion. Here Hutchinson threw his arm round his friend, all hope being extinguished, while I grasped my belt and struggled to free myself. Finding this difficult, from the tossing, I sullenly resumed the strain upon the rope. Destiny had so related the downward impetus to Jenni's pull as to give the latter a slight advantage, and the whole question was whether the opposing force would have sufficient time to act. This was also arranged in our favour, for we came to rest so near the brow that two or three seconds of our average motion of descent must have carried us over. Had this occurred, we should have fallen into the chasm, and been covered up by the tail of the avalanche. Hutchinson emerged from the snow with his forehead bleeding, but the wound was superficial ; Jenni had a bit of flesh removed from his hand by collision against a stone ; the pressure of the rope had left black welts on my arms ; and we all experienced a tingling sensation over the hands, like that produced by incipient frost-bite, which continued for several days. This was all." Another incident which illustrates the nature and variety of his experience as a traveller he has himself described as prompted more by the instincts of the mountaineer than by the curiosity of the man of science. In 1868 he 70 Lives of the Electricians. visited Vesuvius : and if he did not collect information of much scientific value, he saw a good deal that was very interesting. He said he was most struck with the condi- tion of the country all round Naples ; it was so seething, and smoking, and hot, showing the presence of vast sub- terranean fires. It was the same at Vesuvius, where in one place at the entrance to a gallery in the side of the mountain, he found a little boy quite naked, who volun- teered to enter the gallery and cook an egg which he held in his hand. Both the Professor and his companion (Sir John Lubbock) determined to explore the gallery. On doing so they found at the end of it a hot salt spring, where they cooked the egg. The guide told them of a hotter gallery adjoining, which they also explored ; and a hotter one still being pointed out, they likewise tried it and found it very hot indeed. They also visited the grotto Del Cano, where the floor was covered with carbonic acid gas, a broad stream of which flowed out of the mouth of the cavern. There he performed what he called some of the commoner Royal Institution experiments for the benefit of the natives. He collected some of the heavy gas in his hat, carried it to a distance, and then put out lighted matches by pouring the heavy gas over them. A little dog being kept near the cave for the purpose of showing visitors how easily the gas could half choke it, he protested against the cruelty of that experiment. At Pompeii, he came to the conclusion that the ashes which burned it could not have been of very high temperature when they fell, having been much chilled by their previous passage through the air. Among the evidences of this was the fact that a fountain of pure lead, which was uncovered during the excavations, was uninjured. The analysis of a piece which he took away with him showed that the temperature of the ashes in which it was engulfed, was lower than the melting point of lead. In ascending Trofessor Tyndall. 71 Vesuvius they crossed a ridge which formed the ancient crater of the mountain ; others had been thrown up since, the latest being- 300 feet higher than the ancient one. Vesuvius, he said, was nineteen feet higher in 1868 than it had ever been before in human history. In the midst of the smoking centres of eruption, they listened to the noises in the mountain beneath, and saw three discharges of red- hot stones from the crater. The wind was so strong that one gust blew down Sir John Lubbock on his face. On another occasion when they ascended the mountain, they were favoured with a strong wind, and going further than the guide would lead them, they went to the edge of the principal crater, and looked down into the great central hole of the volcano itself, where they saw little but smoke and a lurid glare. Sometimes they were enveloped in smoke and sulphurous acid gas, but they avoided any risk from it by keeping well to windward. As to the dispute among geologists on the question whether the cones on the top of Vesuvius were made by eruption or upheaval, he came to the same conclusion as Lyell, that they were craters of eruption. It was afterwards estimated that during the eruption which was in progress at the time of Professor Tyndall's visit, Mount Vesuvius emitted about 20 000,000 cubic feet of lava. His travels and explorations in another part of the world where Nature displays her operations on a grand scale, and where personal achievement is the only recognised title to fame, were still more memorable When in June, 185 1, Professor Tyndall came back from Germany to England, he met on his way to the meeting of the British Associa- tion at Ipswich ''a man who has since made his mark upon the intellect of his time," and to whom he was ever after- wards attached by the strong law of mental affinity. This was Professor Huxley, and both the young scientists being then on the look out for work, they determined to apply for the 72 Lives of the Electricians. vacant chairs of natural history and physics in the Univer- sity of Toronto, but their applications were declined. Faraday, who was Tyndall's philosopher and friend in the matter, wrote a letter urging him to apply for the Toronto appointment ; but happily for both of them and for the glory of British science, Toronto would not have them, and England could not spare them. Twenty years after that Professor Tyndall visited the United States, whence his reputation as a scientific lecturer had preceded him. No people are so quick in their observations of men and manners as the Americans, and it may therefore be oppor- tune here to give an American's impressions of the man to whom that people gave an enthusiastic reception in 1872. Mr. George Ripley gave the following description of him : — " Professor Tyndall has all the ardour of a reformer, without any tendency to vague and rash speculations. Recognising whatever is valuable in the researches of a former age, he extends a gracious hospitality to new sug- gestions. With a noble pride in his favourite branches of inquiry, he is not restricted to an exclusive range of re- search, but extends his intellectual vision over a wide field of observation. The English, as a rule, are inclined to be suspicious of a man who ventures beyond a special walk in the pursuit of knowledge, They have but little sym- pathy with the catholic taste which embraces a variety of objects, and is equally at home in the researches of science, the speculations of philosophy, the delights of poetry, and the graces of elegant literature. But a single exception to this trait is presented by Professor Tyndall. His mind is singularly comprehensive in its tendencies, and betrays a versatility of aptitude and a reach of cultivation, which are rarely found in unison with conspicuous eminence in purely scientific pursuits. In his own special domain his reputation is fixed. His expositions of the theory of heat Professor Tyndall. "ji and light and sound, and of some of the more interesting Alpine phenomena, are acknowledged to be masterpieces of popular statement, to which few parallels can be found in the records of modern science. But, in addition to this, he possesses a rare power of eloquence and manifold attain- ments in different departments of learning. I do not know that he has ever written poetry, but he is certainly a poet in the fire of his imagination and in his love for all the forms of natural beauty. Nor has he disdained to make himself familiar with the leading metaphysical theories of the past age, in spite of the disrepute and comparative obscurity into which science has been thrown by the brilliant achievements of physical research. I noticed with pleasure in his conversation his allusions to Fichte, Goethe, R. W. Emerson, Henry Heine, and other superior lights of the literary world, showing an appreciation of their writings which could only have been the fruit of familiar personal studies. Besides the impression produced on a stranger by his genius and learning, I may be permitted to say that I have met with few men of more attractive manners. His mental activity gives an air of intensity to his expression, though without a trace of vehemence, or an eager passion for utterance. In his movements he is singularly alert, gliding through the streets with the rapidity and noiselessness of an arrow, paying little atten- tion to external objects ; and, if you are his companion, requiring on your part a nimble step and a watchful eye not to lose sight of him. Though overflowing with thought, which streams from his brain as from a capacious reservoir while his words ' trip around as airy servitors,' he is one of the best of listeners, never assuming an undue share of the talk, and lending an attentive and patient ear to the com- mon currency of conversation, without demanding of men the language of the gods. The singular kindness of his bearing, I am sure, must proceed from a kind and generous 74 Lives of the Electricians. heart. With no pretence of sympathy, and no uncalled for demonstrations of interest, his name will certainly be set down by the recording angel as one who loves his fellow men." Such was the man who had now come amongst the Ameri- cans to enjoy their hospitality and to enlighten them on the subject of light. He delivered a course of lectures at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washing- ton. At Boston, he said he would long gratefully remem- ber his reception on the occasion of his first lecture there, and that if he was treated in the same manner elsewhere he would return to the old country full of gratitude. Other places tried to outdo Boston in the cordiality of their re- ception. The halls in which he lectured were crowded by audiences described as distinguished for their appreciation of learning and their enthusiasm in the presence of "the great teacher." His lectures were reported verbatim with illustrations in the daily newspapers ; and the New York Tribune published a cheap reprint of them of which over 300,000 were sold. While in America he did not miss an opportunity not only of inspecting but of exploring its grandest cataract. With him the roar of the waterfall was early a subject of scientific investigation. At a meeting of the British Asso- ciation in 1 85 1 he showed by some simple experiments that w^ater falling for a certain distance into another vessel of water would produce neither air-bubbles nor sound ; but that, as soon as the distance is so increased that the end of the colunm becomes broken into drops, both air-bubbles and sounds, varying from the hum of the ripple to the roar of the cataract and of the breaker, were produced. About the same time he published a paper in the Philosophical Magazine for the purpose of showing that in waterfalls .sound was produced by the bursting of the bubbles, and he therein stated that " were Niagara continuous and without Professor Tyndall. 75 lateral vibration, it would be as silent as a cataract of ice. It is possible, I believe, to get behind the descending water at one place ; and if the attention of travellers were directed to the subject, the mass might perhaps be seen tJirotigh. For in all probability it also has its ' contracted sections;' after passing which it is broken into detached masses, which, plunging successively upon the air-bladders formed by their precursors, suddenly liberate their contents, and thus create the thunder of the waterfall." On the 1st of November, 1872, he visited Niagara, and not only got behind the descending water, but "saw through" it, and afterwards graphically described it. He states that " the season " being then over, the scene was one of weird loneliness and beauty. On reaching the village he at once proceeded to the northern end of the American Fall. After dinner he, accompanied by a friend, crossed to Goat Island and went to the southern end of the American Fall. " The river is here studded with small islands. Crossing a wooden bridge to Luna Island, and clasping a tree which grows near its edge, I looked long at the cataract which here shoots down the precipice like an avalanche of foam. It grew in power and beauty as I gazed upon it. The channel, spanned by the w^ooden bridge, was deep, and the river there doubled over the edge of the precipice, like the swell of a muscle, unbroken. The ledge here overhangs, the water being poured out far beyond the base of the precipice. A space, called the Cave of the Winds, is thus inclosed between the wall of rock and the cataract. " At the southern extremity of the Horseshoe is a promontory, formed by the doubling back of the gorge,' excavated by the cataract, and into which it plunges. On the promontory stands a stone building called the Terrapin Tower, the door of which had been nailed up because of the decay of the staircase within it. Through the kindness of Mr. Townsend, the superintendent of Goat Island, the 'jG Lives of the Electricians. door was opened to me. From this tower, at all hours of the day, and at some hours of the night, I watched and listened to the Horseshoe Fall. The river here is evidently much deeper than the American branch ; and instead of bursting into foam where it quits the ledge, it bends solidly over and falls in a continuous layer of the most vivid green. The tint is not uniform but varied ; long stripes of deeper hue alternating with bands of brighter colour. Close tb the ledge over which the water falls, foam is generated, the light falling upon which and flashing back from it is shifted in its passage to and fro, and changed from white to emerald green. Heaps of superficial foam are also formed at intervals along the ledge, and im- m.ediately drawn down in long white striae. Lower down, the surface, shaken by the reaction from below, incessantly rustles into whiteness. The descent finally resolves itself into a rhythm, the water reaching the bottom of the fall in periodic gushes. Nor is the spray uniformly diffused through the air, but is wafted through it in successive veils of gauze-like texture. From all this it is evident that beauty is not absent from the Horseshoe Fall, but majesty is its chief attribute. The plunge of the water is not wild, but deliberate, vast, and fascinating." On the first evening of his visit the guide to the Cave of the Winds, a strong-looking and pleasant man, told him that he once succeeded in getting almost under the green water of the Horseshoe Fall. Professor Tyndall asked whether the guide could lead him to that spot to-morrow. Such a cool question coming from a slender and refined- looking man seemed to non-plus the guide ; but on being assured that where he would lead the Professor would endeavour to follow, the guide, with a smile, said " Very well, I shall be ready for you to-morrow." They met according to agreement on the morrow. First the Professor had to change his clothes drawing on two pairs of woollen Professor Tyndall. 77 pantaloons, three woollen jackets , two pairs of socks,and a pair of felt shoes, which supply of woollens the guide said would preserve him from cold. Over all was put a suit of oil-cloth, and the Professor was advised to carry a pitchfork as his staff. It was decided to take the Horse- shoe first as being the most difficult of access. Descending the stairs they commenced to cross the huge boulders which cover the base of the first portion of the cataract, and among which the water pours in torrents. They got along without difficulty till they came to a formidable current, and the guide on reaching the quietest part of it, told the Professor that this was their greatest difficulty ; '^ if we can cross here," he said, *' we shall get far towards the Horse- shoe." The guide entered the torrent first, and was soon up to the waist in water. He had to wade his way among unseen boulders which increased the violence of the current. On reaching the shallower water on the other side, he stretched his arm across to the Professor and asked him to follow. " I looked," says the undaunted traveller, " down the torrent as it rushed to the river below, which was seething with the tumult of the cataract. I entered the water. As it rose around me, I sought to split the torrent by presenting a side to it; but the insecurity of the footing enabled it to grasp the loins, twist me fairly round, and bring its impetus to bear upon the back. Further struggle was impossible, and feeling my balance hopelessly gone, I turned, flung myself towards the bank I had just quitted, and was instantly swept into the shallower water." The oil-cloth covering, which was too large for him, was now filled with water, and notwithstanding this in- cumbrance, the guide urged him to try again. After some hesitation he determined to do so. Again he entered the water, again the torrent rose, again he wavered ; but instructed by the experience of his first misadventure, he so yS Lives of the Electricians adjusted himself against the stream that he was able to remain upright. At length they were able to clasp hands, and on thus reaching the other side he was told that no traveller had ever been there before. Soon afterwards he was again taken off his feet through trusting to a piece of treacherous drift, but a protruding rock enabled him to regain his balance. As they clambered over the boulders the weight of the thick spray now and then caused them to stagger. Among such volumes of spray nothing could be seen. " We were," he says, " in the midst of bewildering tumult, lashed by the water which sounded at times like the cracking of innumerable whips. Underneath this was the deep resonant roar of the cataract. I tried to shield my eyes with my hands and look upwards ; but the defence was useless. My guide continued to move on, but at a certain place he halted, and desired me to take shelter in his lee and observe the cataract. On looking upwards over the guide's shoulder I could see the water bending over the ledge, while the Terrapin Tower loomed fitfully through the intermittent spray gusts. We were right under the tower. A little farther on the cataract, after its first plunge, hit a protuberance some way down, and flew from it in a prodigious burst of spray; through this we staggered. We rounded the promontory on which the Terrapin Tower stands, and pushed, amidst the wildest commotion, along the arm of the Horseshoe until the boulders failed us and the cataract fell into the profound gorge of the Niagara River. Here my guide sheltered me again, and desired me to look up. I did so, and could see as before the green gleam of the mighty curve sweeping over the upper ledge, and the fitful plunge of the water as the spray between us and it alternately gathered and disappeared. My companion knew no more of me than that I enjoyed the wildness ; but as I bent in the shelter of his large frame, he said : * I should like to see you attempting to describe all this.' He Professor Tyndall. 79 rightly thought it indescribable." Their egress was nearly as adventurous as their entrance. They had another struggle with the torrent which proved such a formidable barrier in entering, but they succeeded in crossing it without serious mishap. He next endeavoured to see the fall from the river below it ; but on reaching the base of the Horseshoe he found the water so violent, and the rock and boulders so formidable, that after a fierce struggle the attempt to go further had to be relinquished. He therefore returned along the base of the American Fall. " Seen from below," says the Professor, "the American Fall is certainly ex- quisitely beautiful, but it is a mere fringe of adornment to its nobler neighbour, the Horseshoe. At times we took to the river, from the centre of which the Horseshoe Fall appeared especially magnificent. A streak of cloud across the neck of Mont Blanc can double its apparent height, so here the green summit of the cataract, shining above the smoke of spray, appeared lifted to an extraordinary elevation."^ In his American lectures he never appeared to miss an opportunity of telling his audience that the pursuit of scientific truth should be conducted regardless of monetary considerations, and that the men who had made the great discoveries in science that had so enriched the world were not actuated by the love of money. At New York he said the presence there for six inclement nights of an audience, embodying to a great extent the mental force and refine- ment of the city, showed their sympathy with scientific pursuits. " That scientific discovery may put not only dollars into the pockets of individuals but millions into the exchequers of nations the history of science amply proves, ^ For the descriptions of the Falls of Niagara and cf the adventure on the Piz Morteratch we are indebted to the kindness of Professor Tyndall, who readily granted permiision to quote them from his copyright worl s. 8o Lives of the Electricians. but the hope of its doing so is not the motive power of the investigator. It never could be the motive power. . . . You have asked me to give these lectures, and I cannot turn them to better account than by asking you to remember that the lecturer is usually the distributor of intellectual wealth amassed by better men. It is not as lecturers but as discoverers that you ought to employ your highest men. Keep your sympathetic eye upon the originator of know- ledge. Give him the freedom necessary for his researches ; above all things avoiding that question which ignorance so often addresses to genius — What is the use of your work ? Let him make truth his object, however impracticable for the time being that truth may appear. If you cast your bread thus upon the waters, then be assured it will return to you though it may be after many days." In 1873 his advice appeared to be like seed sown in good ground, for immediately after his visit several muni- ficent gifts were made by private individuals for the promotion of science. His example was also as worthy as his teaching. The profits of his lectures, amounting to nearly 3,000/., he gave as a contribution towards the establishment of a fund for the advancement of theoretic science and the promotion of original research, especially in the department of physics. In the first instance the interest of the fund was to be applied to assisting and supporting two American students with a decided talent for physics ; so that they might thus be able to spend at a German university at least four years, of which three should be devoted to the acquisition of knowledge and the fourth to original investigation. Some difficulty being experienced by the trustees in selecting suitable persons, they represented to Professor Tyndall, after some years of experience, that the object aimed at by him would probably be better accomplished by placing the adminis- tration of the fund in the hands of some one or more Professor Tyndall. 8i educational institutions, where numbers of young men were always on trial, and where suitable subjects for his benefaction would probably be more easily found. In 1885 Professor Tyndall, acting on this advice, divided the money, which had increased from 13,0008 to 32,000$, into three equal parts, and gave one part to Columbia College, one to Harvard University, and one to the University of Pennsylvania. On February 4th, 1873, he was entertained at a farewell banquet at New York " in the great hall of the finest restaurant in the world." On that occasion he stated with regard to the work done and the reception of that work during his visit to America, that nothing could be added to his cup of satisfaction ; his only drawback related to the work undone ; for he carried home with him the consciousness of having been unable to respond to the invitations of the great cities of the west ; but the character of his lectures, the weight of instrumental appliances which they involved, and the fact that every lecture required two days' possession of the hall — a day of preparation and a day of delivery — en- tailed heavy loss of time and even severe labour. He then returned to England, where he found many friends ready to welcome him. Next year (1874) he was President of the British As- sociation, and the address which he delivered at the annual meeting, held that year in Belfast, caused some sensation among " the orthodox." For this he was not un[)re- pared. He admitted that he had touched on debatcable questions, and gone over dangerous ground — and this partly with the view of telling the world that as regards religious theories, schemes, and systems which embrace notions of cosmogeny, science claims unrestricted right of search. The address w^as condemned by the unscientific as veiled materialism, and a flood of sermons and pamphlets G 82 - Lives of the Electricians. • were published to expose its " heresies." One writer went so far as to pubhsh " an inquiry of the Home Secretary as to whether Professor Tyndall had not subjected himself to the penalty of persons expressing blasphemous opinions." It seemed to be generally forgotten that Professor Tyndall had stated before the British Association in 1868 that the utmost the materialist ''can affirm is the associa- tion of two classes of phenoniena, of whose real bond of union he is in absolute ignorance. The problem of the con- nection of body and soul is as insoluble in its modern form as it was in the pre-scientific ages. If you ask him whence is this ' matter,' who or what divided it into molecules, he has no answer. Science also is mute in reply to these questions. But if the materialist is con- founded and science rendered dumb, who else is entitled to answer ? To whom has the secret been revealed } Let us lower our heads and acknowledge our ignorance one and all." In 1874 he desired to set forth equally "the inexorable advance of man's understanding in the path of knowledge, and the unquenchable claims of his emotional nature, which the understanding can never satisfy. And if, still unsatisfied, the human mind, with the yearning of a pilgrim for his distant home, will turn to the mystery from which it has emerged, seeking so to fashion it as to give unity to thought and faith — so long as this is done, not only without intolerance or bigotry of any kind, but with the enlightened recognition that ultimate fixity of conception is here unattainable, and that each succeeding age must be held free to fashion the mystery in accordance with its own needs — then, in opposition to all the restrictions of Materialism, I would affirm this to be a field for the noblest exercise of what, in contrast with the kiiGzving faculties, may be called the creative faculties of man." Next year, in introducing Sir John Hawkshaw as Professor Tyndall. 83 President of the British Association, Professor Tyndall said his successor would steer the Association through calm water, which would be refreshing after the tempestuous weather which "rasher navigators had thought it their duty to encounter rather than to avoid." Carlyle says we pardon genial weather for its changes, but the steadiest climate of all is that of Greenland. G 2 CHAPTER V. " There is something in the contemplation of general laws which powerfully persuades us to merge individual feeling, and to commit ourselves unreservedly to their disposal ; while the observation of the calm, energetic regularity of nature, the immense scale of her opei-ations, and the certainty with which her ends are attained, tends irresistibly to tranquillise and reassure the mind, and render it less accessible to repining, selfish, and turbulent emotions." — J. F. W, Herschel. The Royal Institution, the scene of Professor Tyndall's labours, is situated in Albemarle Street, London, and was founded in 1800 by Count Rumford. George III., appre- ciating the importance of '' forming a public institution for diffusing knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements, and for teaching by courses of philosophical lectures and experi- ments the application of science to the common purposes of life," granted it a charter of incorporation in the fortieth year of his reign ; and in 1810'the objects of the Institution were extended to the prosecution of chemical science and the discovery of new facts in physical science, as well as the diffusion of useful knowledge. Curiously enough, while the Royal Institution of Great Britain was founded by an American, the great Smithsonian Institute in Washington was founded by an Englishman. As in most institutions founded by private enterprise, the first arrange- ments made in the Royal Institution were on a humble scale. The building selected for a chemical laboratory Professor Tyndall. 85 was originally a blacksmith's shop with a forge and bellows ; and the physical laboratory remained in its original state for nearly seventy years, during which period it was the scene of the great discoveries of Davy, Faraday, and Tyndall, including the laws of electro-chemical decomposition, the decomposition of the fixed alkalies, the investigation of the nature of chlorine, the philosophy of flame, the condensability of many gases, the science of magneto-electricity, the twofold magnetism of matter, comprehending all known substances, the magnetism of gases, the relation of magnetism and light, the physical effects of pressure on diamagnetic action, the absorption and radiation of heat by gases and vapours, the trans- parency of our atmosphere, and the opacity of its aqueous vapour to radiant heat. A place hallowed by so many scientific achievements Professor Tyndall desired to preserve, notwithstanding that, owing to the progress made in other scientific institutions, its reputation had changed from that of the best to that of the worst in London ; but when he saw that a transformation of the scene was inevitable he did what he could to promote it. Accordingly new laboratories were built In 1872. In reference to this event, Mr. Spottiswoode said in 1873, when he was treasurer to the Institution, that "the one act of wisdom, among the many aberrations of an eccentric member of Parliament, saved Faraday to us, and thereby, as seems probable, our Institution to the country. The liberality of a Hebrew toy-dealer^ in the east of London, has made the rebuilding of our laboratories possible. It is said that Mr. Fuller, the feebleness of whose constitution denied him at all times and places the rest necessary for ' Mr. Alfred Davis, after paying his composition of sixty guineas as a member of the Institution and three annual donations of twenty guineas for the promotion of research, at his death in 1870 bequeathed ;i^2,ooo for the same purpose. His deafness prevented him deriving any benefit from the lectures. 86 Lives of the Electricians. liealth, could always find repose and even quiet slumber amid the murmuring lectures of the Royal Institution ; and that in gratitude for the peaceful hours thus snatched from an otherwise restless life, he bequeathed to us his magnificent legacy of ;^io,ooo." On his return from America in 1873, Professor Tyndall presented to the Royal Institution the new philosophical apparatus that he had used in his lectures in the United States, and it was thereupon resolved to present the warmest congratulations of the members of the Royal Institution " to their Professor of Natural Philosophy upon his safe arrival in England from the United States, in which, upon the invitation of the most eminent scientific men of America, he has been recently delivering a series of lectures unexampled for the interest they have created in that country, and the large and distinguished audiences who have been attracted to them. The members rejoice and welcome him on his return to what they are proud to be able to designate as his own scientific home, with satisfaction and delight, and wish him all continued health and prosperity. They also thank him for his liberal gift to the Institution of the splendid and extensive apparatus employed by him in his lectures in America, and con- gratulate him on the generous spirit and the love of science which has led him to appropriate the profits of his lectures in the United States to the establish- ment of a fund to assist the scientific studies of young Americans." Another evidence of the respect entertained for him was given on the occasion of his marriage, in 1876, to Lady Louisa Charlotte, eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Claude Hamilton. The ceremony was performed by Dean Stanley in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster Abbey ; and in commemoration of the event a silver salver with 300 guineas was presented to Professor Tyndall by Professor Tyndall. ^y the members of the Royal Institution, the subscriptions being Hmited to one guinea each. Professor A. de la Rue stated in 1843, before Professor Tyndall had begun his scientific studies, that the study of electricity was always a favourite and popular study in England, and as evidence of that observation he added that Professor Faraday had delivered in London lectures on electricity at the Royal Institution, to which resorted in crowds not only men of the world and elegant ladies, who came in great numbers to admire the graces and enjoy the charm which the amiable professor so well knew how to diffuse over his teaching, but also savants who always found something new to acquire from the interesting views of the learned philosopher. These words might Yv'ith equal propriety be applied to the lectures of Professor Tyndall. During his reign the Royal Institution made marked progress in popularity and usefulness. According to his own statement, the main object of its existence is that of a school of research and discovery ; and during the whole time he has been there no manager or member of the Institution ever interfered with his researches, though a bye-law gave them power to do so. The salient features of his researches have already been described ; but only those who have had the privilege of hearing the Professor's own descriptions, and seen his simple and beautiful experiments illustrating the subtle laws of m.atter, can adequately appreciate the charm with which he invests scientific subjects. It is not an unusual occurrence for the theatre to be full of people nearly an hour before the lecture begins, and whether addressing an audience of young or old people, he rivets attention by his easy, lucid, and fascinating exposition and illustrations of the science of electricity, heat, light, and sound. As a specimen of the descriptive power with which he can impart interest to a subject generally regarded as S8 Lives of the Electricians. unattractive, take the following exposition of the develop- ment of electricity : — " Volta fpund that by placing different metals in contact with each other, and separating every tvvo pairs of metals by what he called a ' moist conductor,' he obtained the development of electricity. He imagined that the source of power was simply the contact of the two metals that he employed ; he regarded the moist conductor as a neutral body ; and his theory was called, in conse- quence of this view, the * contact theory.' He was perfectly correct in affirming that the contact of different metals produces electricity ; one of the metals in contact being positive, and the other being negative. The voltaic current was capable of producing light and heat ; but light and heat require the expenditure of power to produce them ', and it was shown by Roget that if Volta's con- ception were correct, it would be tantamount to the production of a perpetual motion; if the simple contact of metals produced an unfailing source of electricity, it would be the creation of power out of nothing. Here Volta failed. Afterward he devised an instrument which showed the conversion of mechanical power into electricity, and thus into heat and light. That instrument he called the electropJwrits, and it furnishes perhaps the simplest means of showing the conversion of mechanical power into electricity, and thence into heat and light. Volta himself was not aware of the doctrines which we now apply to his discoveries. I will go through the form ot Volta's experiment. I have here a piece of vulcanised indiarubber, and I would first remark that wiien I place a sheet of tin with an insulating handle upon the table and lift it, I simply overcome the gravity of the tin ; but if, after having wdiisked a sheet of vulcanised indiarubber with a fox's brush, I place the plate upon it, I find that on lifting it something more than the weight of the plate is to be overcome. That plate now is in a different condition Professor Tyndall. 89 from its former one. It is now electrified, and if I bring my knuckle near it I receive an electric spark. What I want to make clear is this : that there is, first of all, the expenditure of an extra amount of mechanical force in order to lift the sheet of tin ; that, by the lifting of the tin, you liberate electricity upon its surface ; and that then, if you bring your knuckle near it, you receive an electric spark. There is, therefore, first of all, an expenditure of mechanical power in lifting the sheet of tin ; then an intermediate stage when the tin is electrified ; and finally, the passage through that electric stage into heat. So that you have mechanical power, electricity, and heat ; mechanical power and heat being the two extremes of the circuit. "When you have electricity developed, the connection of heat and light is necessarily accompanied by resistance to the passage of the electricity. The action of lightning conductors, for example, is entirely dependent upon that fact. The chimneys that the conductors protect ofter resistance to the passage of the discharge, and therefore would be destroyed by that discharge ; but the conductor offering small resistance, the current passes through it without any disruptive action. " I will explain the principles of an ordinary Grove's battery, in order to give a better idea of what internal and external resistances there are in the current. In a Grove's battery there are two metals, zinc and platinum. They are in contact with each other. There are also two liquids, nitric acid and dilute sulphuric acid. If I connect by a wire one end or pole of the battery with the other, I, being close at hand,. can see a small spark. There is now flowing through that connecting wire what we call an electric current, which passes from one end of the battery through the wire to the other end. Wlicn there is very little resistance offered to the passage of the current, there is no 90 Lives of the ELECTRiciy\NS. sensible heat developed ; but If I sever the wh'e in the middle and unite the ends by a thin platinum wire, the thin platinum wire introduced into the circuit is first raised to incandescence and then fused. It is because of the resistance that it offers that we see the incandescence of the wire. " The source of power in this battery is the combustion, for it is to all intents and purposes combustion of the metal zinc. When we connect the two poles of that battery by a thick wire we have no sensible external heat produced. The heat due to the combustion of the zinc is liberated wholly in the cells of the battery itself. That quantity of heat, as is very well known, is the amount developed by the solution or oxidation of zinc in dilute sulphuric acid. Supposing that we allowed the current to pass through the thick wire until a certain definite weight of zinc was dissolved in the battery, that would produce in the cells of the battery a perfectly definite amount of heat. Let us compare that amount of heat with the amount pro- duced in the battery when we introduce the thin platinum wire. In the one case we have no external heat, and in the other we have. The great law which regulates these transactions is this : that the sum of the internal and the external heats is a constant quantity ; so that when the platinum wire was ignited we had less heat developed in the battery than before. The zinc in the battery is burned as fuel upon a hearth ; the heat, however, being developed either upon the hearth itself or at any distance from it. " As a primary source of electricity here is the combustion of a metal, the voltaic batterv is not an economical source of power for producing electric light. Had it been so we should have employed the electric light long before the present time. Davy, seventy years ago, made most im- portant experiments upon the light and heat of the voltaic Professor Tyndall. 91 circuit, but the reason why it was not applied previously is simply that zinc is an exceedingly expensive fuel. That stopped the economical application of the electric light to the purposes of public lighting. " If we burnt the zinc in the open air instead of in the battery there would be a considerable amount of heat and light produced. To burn it in the acid fluid of the battery, afterwards converting it into heat and light, is only another mode of burning it : both are due to the same combustion. " In the year 1820 Arago discovered that when he carried an electric current parallel to a magnetic needle, he deflected the needle to the right or to the left, as the case may be. Soon afterwards one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived, Ampere, within eight or ten days of the description of CErsted's discovery before the Academy of Sciences of Paris, enriched this field by a sudden burst of new dis- coveries and experiments. To Ampere we are indebtecl for our knowledge of the action of electric currents one upon another. For instance, if I suspend tw^o flat coils in the presence of each other, it is easy to send an electric current in the same direction through both. The conse- quence of that would be an immediate attraction of the tw^o coils for each other. It would be also easy to send currents in opposite directions, and the immediate conse- quence of that w^ould be repulsion. If, having sent an electric current through one of these coils, a magnet is brought to bear upon it, the coil and the magnet interact almost like two magnets. The great law established by Ampere was that currents flowing in the same direction attract each other, whilst currents flowing in opposite direc- tions repel each other. To show the interaction of magnets and currents, and to illustrate the simulation, if I may use the term, of magnetism by electricity, Ampere, by an extremely ingenious device, suspended spiral wires, and 92 Lives of the Electricians. proved that when an electric current is sent through such a wire, it behaves, to all intents and purposes, like a magnet ; it will set like a magnetic needle in the magnetic meridian. It was Ampere who first of all established the interaction of electric currents amongst themselves, and also between electric currents and magnets. " Arago was engaged at the same time in joint work with Ampere. Perhaps one or tw^o further illustrations might be given. Here we have a piece of copper ware. At the present moment there is no action whatever of that wire upon iron filings ; the copper wire has no magnetic power w^hatever. But I send wdiat for want of a better name, we call an electric current, through the wire, and then the iron filings crowd round the wire. If I break the circuit, the magic entirely disappears. This is one of the effects that enables us to see that a current is passing through the wire. Arago, who noticed this, went further and show^ed that, when you coil a wire round a piece of iron, the piece of iron is rendered strongly magnetic by the passage of the current through the wire." ■It is, however, as an experimentalist that Professor Tyn- dall excels, especially in illustrating by experiments the effects of electricity and magnetism. He was the first to show publicly the elongation of a solid bar of iron by magnetising it. He had a small mirror so connected with the end of a bar of iron two feet long that it reflected a long beam of light on a screen, and the beam moved on the screen as the bar of iron was lengthened or shortened. When the iron was magnetised by electricity from a battery the mirror show^ed a lengthening movement on the screen ; and he explained that the bar being composed of irregular crystal- line granules, the magnetism tended to set the longest dimensions of the granules lengthwise, or parallel to the flow of the current. Mr. Joule who discovered this lengthen- ing effect of magnetism, found that a bar of soft iron was Professor Tyndall. 93 by this means extended one 720,000th of Its length; and in later years Professor Hughes demonstrated the mechanical theory of magnetism, which, like the mechanical theory of heat, attributes such phenomena to a simple mechanical motion of the molecules of matter. Numerous researches and experiments led him to the conclusion that each mole- cule of a piece of iron, as well as the atoms of all matter, solid, liquid, and gaseous, is a separate and independent magnet, that each molecule can be rotated upon its axis by magne- tism and electricity, and that thelhherent polarity or magne- tism of each molecule is a constant quantity like gravity. Professor Tyndall also exhibited, both at the Royal Institution and at the Royal Society, Faraday's marvellous experiment showing the magnetisation of light, which he described as Faraday's third great discovery, and com- pared "to the Weisshorn among mountains — high, beauti- tul, and alone." In a dark room a ray of light from a lamp passed between the poles of a large horse-shoe, and appeared as a spot of light on a screen. When by con- necting a battery with the horse-shoe, the latter became powerfully magnetic, the spot of light was instantly moved on the screen, being visibly deflected by the magnetism of the horse-shoe. To illustrate the velocity of the electric current he showed that a spark sent through a copper wire which passed through some gunpowder, did not ignite the gunpowder, because it had not time ; but when a wet string — a slower conductor — was substituted for the copper w^ire, the pas- sage of the current was retarded and the powder ignited. Another illustration of an accidental character he frequently narrated. While lecturing to an audience of young and old people at the Royal Institution, he caused fifteen Leyden jars to be charged with electricity, and by some awkwardness his shoulder touched the conductor leading from the jars. " I am extremely sensitive to electricity," he 94 Lives of the Electricians. said, "yet a charge from such a powerful battery as fifteen jars seemed to have no disastrous effect upon me. I stood perfectly still, wondering that I did not feel it ; but I knew something had occurred ; and after standing for a moment or two I seemed to open my eyes, which probably were open all the time. I saw a confused mass of apparatus about me. I felt it necessary to reassure the people before me, so I said : ' Over and over again I have wanted that battery to be dis- charged into me, and now I have had it.' Although I appeared unaffected, really the optic nerve in me was so affected that I saw my arm severed from my body. I soon, however, recovered proper sight, and saw that I was all right." The explanation given for his intellect being thus clear while his vision was distorted, is that the electric cur- rent moved with much greater rapidity than the nervous agency by which the consciousness of pain is excited. According to Professor Bois-Reymond, the latter moves at the rate of ninety-eight feet per second, while, according to Professor Wheatstone, electricity moves in a copper wire at the rate of 288,000 miles per second. Hence it is probable that death by electricity or lightning is painless. In a course of lectures delivered to a juvenile audience in December, 1884, he gave a fresh illustration of the ease with which electricity can be generated in a rather unusual way. It is stated in text-books on electricity that if a man could be suspended between the poles of a common magnet, he would point equatorially, because all the substances of which he is made are diamagnetic. Professor Tyndall, however, showed how easily his body could be made to act the part of a magnet. In the presence of his audience, a man repeatedly struck the back of the Professor's coat with a piece of catskin, and in a minute or two sufficient elec- tricity was generated to make his hand, held out in front of him, magnetic and capable of attracting to it different objects, just as a small magnet attracts bits of iron near it. Professor Tyndall. 95 He stated that this experiment had never, so far as he knew, been performed before. In other lectures he illustrated the resistance of a tele- graph cable to the transmission of the electric current over a length of 14,000 miles, by introducing into the path of the current gaps containing feebly conducting liquids, so distributed as to represent intervals equal to those in tele- graphing between Gibraltar, Malta, Suez, Aden, Bombay, Calcutta, Rangoon, Singapore, Java, and Australia. Con- nected with these gaps were mirrors which cast ten dots of light on a large screen, being one for each gap or station ; Vv'hen the electric current was sent through the miniature cable, it so deflected a needle attached to each mirror as to cause dot after dot to start aside upon the screen. The interval between the movement of each dot of light exactly represented the time which the electric current would require to reach the several stations named in the working of a real cable. He thus strikingly illustrated the fact that the resistance of a cable depends in some degree upon its length, and visibly showed the time consumed in over- coming that resistance. To show the different resistances of different metals and how resistance produces heat, he took pieces of platinum and silver, and arranging them alternately in a long line, sent an electric current through them. Thereupon each piece of platinum, being a metal of great resisting power, glowed with a brilliant red heat, while the intervening pieces of silver, being good conductors, were invisible. In 1878 he was exhibiting and explaining to a Parliamen- tary Committee the electrical effects produced in working by hand a dynamo machine, when Lord Lindsay asked, as *•' an elementary question," what was the source of the mechanical powder by w^hich he was able to turn the wheel of the dynamo. The Professor explained that it was simply the combustion of the fat and tissues of his muscle. "Then 96 Lives of the Electricians. will you explain," said Lord Lindsay, " how it is that as the temperature of your muscle and your blood is only loo'^, you get it up to fuse a wire which would require a temperature of 3,500°." To that the Professor replied : " I would give all that I possess to be able fully to answer that question ; but this much is absolutely certain, that all the heat developed in that dynamo, amounting to between 3,000° and 4,000^ Fahn, is certainly derived from the com- bustion of my muscle. It is nothing more mysterious than the combustion of zinc in the voltaic battery." The facility with which he extemporises illustrations to make science entertaining appears from the following incident. " On one occasion," he says, " I paid a visit to a large school in the country, and was asked by the principal to give a lesson to one of the classes. I agreed to do so provided he would let me have the youngest boys in his school. To this he willingly assented ; and after casting about in my mind as to what could be said to the little fellows, I went to a village hard by and bought a quantity of sugar-candy. This was my only teaching apparatus. When the time for assembling the class had arrived I began by describing the way in which sugar- candy and other artificial crystals were formed, and tried to place vividly before their young minds the architectural process by which the crystals were built up. They listened to me with the most eager interest. I examined the crystal before them, and when they found that in a certain direction it could be split into thin laminae with shining surfaces of cleavage, their joy was at its height. They had no notion that the thing they had been crunching and sucking all their lives embraced so many hidden points of beauty." That incident occurred many years ago; and as illustrating his own perennial admiration of the phenomena of crystallisation another incident may be added that occurred in a lecture delivered in the Royal Professor Tyndall. 97 Institution in 1855. He was exhibiting the effect of applying an electric current by means of two wires to acetate of lead — vinegar and lead. The mixture becoming decom- posed, the atoms of water appeared, when magnified and reflected on a large screen, as beautiful rings moving up and down the one wire, while the atoms of lead on the other wire formed themselves by crystalline action into pretty fern-like leaves and plants of all shapes and sizes. " Is not that beautiful ? " said the Professor ; '' I have seen it done a hundred times, but I can never see it without wonder." Professor Tyndall has seen the triumph of several scientific principles of which he was one of the earliest and foremost advocates. Thus in 1884 he said : *' With regard to the theory of evolution, I cannot help noting the wide toleration which has been infused into the public mind since the appearance of Mr. Darwin's Origin of Species in 1858. Well do I remember the cry of anguish and detestation with which the views of Mr. Darwin were assailed when they were first enunciated. To one example of this I will here refer. There was a meeting of the British Association at Oxford in 1S60, when the subject of the origin of species was discussed by the late Bishop Wilberforce. I was at a distance from the platform, my neighbours being for the most part clergymen. The vehemence with which the Bishop's powerful sarcasm was cheered was extraordinary ; and knowing full well that he would be effectually answered by a friend of mine, I was not able to forecast the consequences. But whatever these might be I was determined to share them ; so I gradually- edged my way through the crowd, overturning in my passage a seat on which many people were standing, till I got close to my friends, who, I feared, incurred some risk of a physical mauling. But the discussion passed away without violence, and in virtue of that plasticity with which the H 98 Lives of the Electricians. human mind in the long run takes the stamp of truth, those who were then so perturbed in spirit are now ready to admit, not only that the origin of species did them no particular harm, but that they are quite prepared to accept its doctrine." On the occasion in question the Bishop of Oxford stated that the greatest names in science were then opposed to the Darwinian theory, which was chiefly defended by Professor Huxley and Dr. Hooker. In like manner Professor Tyndall was able to say in 1885 that the germ theory of infectious diseases had grown like a mustard tree in his time. " I remember," he said, ''the time when it was referred to as an extravagant absurdity, but far-seeing men saw its final triumph. 'Now I suppose there is hardly a scientific physician in Europe that does not hold the germ theory of disease. In 1873 cases came before me of men suffering from intermittent or relapsing fever, and I longed to examine their blood ; for it is a small spiral-looking organism in the blood that is the cause of relapsing fever. In 1876 Professor Cohn, of Breslau, was in this country, and he handed me a memoir that marks an epoch in the history of the subject with which it dealt. It was called in England the wool sorter's disease, or splenic fever. It was sometimes also called Siberian plague. The paper had been drawn up from his own experiments and observations by a perfectly unknown physician, who held a small appointment in the neighbourhood of Breslau. The investigation impressed me as masterly in execution and as pregnant in result. The writer followed with the most unwearying patience and the most consummate skill, the life history o^ baciliiis anthracis, which is the contagium of splenic fever. I said at the time this young man will soon find himself in a higher position, and next time I heard of him he was at the head of the Imperial Sanitary Institution of Berlin. That young man was Dr. Koch, who succeeded in detecting the living Professor Tyndall. 99 organism and in proving it to bo beyond all doubt the veritable cause of the disease. Some years ago I paid a visit to a laboratory in Paris where I was shown by Pasteur himself, who verified Dr. Koch's results as to the parasitic origin of splenic fever, this formidable bacillus anthracis, and it was curious to reflect how a thing so truly mean and contemptible should have such power over the lives of brutes and men." A report published in 18S6 of examinations made by Dr. Miquel of the bacterial condition of the air at Paris and Mountsouris disclosed some remarkable facts. He stated that in the Rue de Rivoli the average number of bacteria in a cubic metre of air during the year 1881 was 6,295, whilst in 1884 the average number was only 1,830 — a diminution which he attributed to the better draining and scavenging of- the city. In the same period the deaths from zymotic disease in Paris showed a decrease of 27 per cent. The air over the Atlantic Ocean and on the top of high mountains showed only one to six bacteria per cubic metre. Such investigations are now recognised as a special department of science. Some reminiscences which Professor Tyndall gave in 18S0 of Thomas Carlyle showed his sympathetic ap- preciation of literary as well as scientific excellence. He exhibited the "■ sage of Chelsea " in a more favourable light than some of his literary friends have done. " It has been said that in respect to science ]\Ir. Carlyle was not only incurious but hostile. This does not tally with my experience," says Professor Tyndall. " During the lifetime of his wife and afterwards I frequently saw him, and as long as his powers continued unimpaired I do not remember a single visit in which he failed to make in- quiries both regarding my own work and the general work of science. In physical subjects I never encountered a man of stronger grasp and deeper penetration than his. During 11 2 100 Lives of the Electricians. my expositions, when these were clear, he was ahvays in advance of me, anticipating and enunciating what I was about to say. He not unfrequently called to see me in Albemarle Street, and on such occasions I usually de- scribed to him what I was doing there. When I was en- gaged on the 'chimera' of spontaneous generation, I took him into my warm room, and explained to him the part played by the floating matter in the air in the phenomena of putrefaction and infection. He was profoundly interested, and as docile as a child. " This, however, was not always his attitude. He some- times laid down the law in matters where special study rendered my knowledge more accurate than his, and had in consequence to bear my dissent. Allow me to cite an illustration. In 1866 I accompanied him to Mentone, and by desire of his generous hostess stayed with him two or three days. One evening while returning from a drive the glow of sunset on sea and mountain suggested a question regarding the light. He stated his view with decision, while I unflinchingly demurred. He became dogmatic (' arrogant ' is a word which can only be applied to Carlyle by those who never felt his influence) and invoked his old teachers, Playfair and Leslie, in support of his view. I was stubborn, and replied that though these were names meriting all honour, they were not authorities regarding the matter in hand. In short, I flatly and firmly opposed him; and it was not for the first time. He lapsed into silence, and we drove home. I went with him to his room. As he drew off his coat he looked at me mildly and earnestly, and pointing to an arm-chair, said in his rich Scotch accent, ' I did not want to contradict you ; sit down there and tell me all about it.' I sat down, and beginning with the alphabet of the question, carried it as far as my knowledge reached. For more than an hour he listened to me, not only with unruffled patience, but with Professor TYxNdall. loi genuine interest. His questions were always pertinent, and his remarks often profound. I don't know what Carlyle's aptitude in the natural history of science might have been, but in regard to physics the contrast between him and Goethe was striking in the highest degree. His opinions had for the most part taken their final set before the theory of man's descent was enunciated, or rather brought within the domain of true causes, by Mr, Darwin. For a time he abhorred the theory as tending to weaken that ethical element in man which, in Carlyle's estimation as in that of others, transcends all science in importance. But a softening, if not a material, change of his views was to be noticed later on. To my own knowledge he ap- proved cordially of certain writings in which Mr. Darwin's views were vigorously advocated, while a personal in- terview with the great naturalist caused him to say afterwards that Charles Darwin was a most charming:: man." Of Carlyle's own disposition. Professor Tyndall gives a more generous estimate than the public have been led to form since his death. '* Knowing," he says, *' the depth of Carlyle's tenderness, I should almost feel it to be bathos to cite the cases known to me which illustrated it. I call to mind his behaviour towards some blind singers in the streets of Marseilles, and the interest he took in the history of a little boy, whom, during my momentary separation from him, he had found lying in the shade of a tree, and over whose limbs paralysis was slowly creeping. There was a kind of radiance in the sorrow depicted in the old man's face, as he listened to the tale and probably looked to woes beyond. The self-same radiance I saw for the last time as he lay upon his sofa, and for some minutes raised his head upon my shoulder a few weeks before his death." Professor Tyndall succeeded Faraday not only as Professor of the Royal Institution, but also as Scientific 102 Lives of the Electricians. Adviser to the Trinity House, a position which he also reearded as one of honour on account of its associations with his distinguished predecessor. He has stated that, " When, in 1836, Professor Faraday accepted the post of Scientific Adviser to the Trinity House, he was careful to tell the Deputy Master that he did not do so for hire. ' In consequence,' he says, 'of the goodwill and confidence of all around me, I can at any moment convert my time into money.' In my little book on Faraday, published in 1868, I have stated that he had but to will it to raise his income in 1832 to 5,000/. a year. In 1836 the sum might have been doubled. Yet this son of a blacksmith, this journey- man bookbinder, with his proud and sensitive soul, rejecting the splendid opportunities open to him — refusing even to think them splendid in presence of his higher aims — cheer- fully accepted from the Trinity House a pittance of 200/. a year. And when, in 1866, his mind, worn down in the service of his country and of mankind, was no longer able to deal with lighthouse work, I accepted his position, on terms not less independent than his own. I had no need to play the part of a candidate. The late able and energetic Deputy Master of the Trinity House, Sir Frederick Arrow, came to the Royal Institution, where, in courteous and indeed apologetic terms, he asked me to accept the post. I say apologetic, because, inasmuch as it was desired to continue Faraday's salary to the end of his life, 100/. a year was all that could for the moment be offered to me. I set the mind of the Deputy Master at rest by expressing my willingness, for the sake of my illustrious friend, to do the work for no salary at all. In due time the larger income became mine, and later on, the scope of my duties being extended by the Board of Trade, my salary was raised from 200/. to 400/. a year. With this I was entirely content. Still, the chances open to a man of my reputa- tion in physical science have not diminished since Faraday's Professor Tyndall. 103 time; on the contrary, they have indefinitely increased. No person of understanding in such matters will doubt me when I say that had I gone in for consultations and experi- ments on commercial and technical matters, I could with ease have converted every hundred rendered to me by the Trinity House and Board of Trade into a thousand. And if I chose the lesser sum instead of its tenfold multiple, it was because I deemed its source to be one of peculiar honour, and the work it involved a work of peculiar beneficence." The Elder Brethren of the Trinity House have control of the lighthouses, lightships, beacons, and buoys around the United Kingdom ; and some difference that arose as to a new invention for lighthouse illumination led to the retire- ment of Professor Tyndall from the position of Scientific Adviser to that body in May, 1883. The incident gave rise to an animated, not to say acrimonious, corre- spondence in the press, in the course of which the Professor stated that, " the head and front of my offending was my effort to protect from official extinction an able and meritorious man, who had the misfortune to raise a rival at the Trinity House, and to ruffle the dignity of the gentlemen of the Board of Trade. Struggling single- handed, relying solely on his own industry and talents, and with no public funds to fall back upon at pleasure, Mr. John Wigham, to whom I refer, during the brief period of his permitted activity, had made advances in the art of lighthouse illumination which placed him far ahead of all competitors. This man I did my best to protect from the effects of professional jealousy and bureaucratic irritation. It was my earnest desire to utilise Mr. Wigham's genius for the public good. It was the object of officials whom he had offended to extinguish him. They did what they could to weary him and worry him and take the heart of enter- prise out of him, and they certainly succeeded in checking 104 Lives of the Electricians. the development of his system of lighthouse illumination. Had it not been for an opposition which, considering the interests at stake, seemed to me at times criminal, that system would assuredly be far more advanced than it now is. His rival was encouraged to push forward, while he was held back. The boldest attempt made against Mr, Wigham was the appropriation of his invention of superposed lenses for the new Eddystone lighthouse. This high-handed proceeding w^ould have provoked litiga- tion, had not the Elder Brethren, reverting to their more generous instincts, lately taken a more reasonable course than that which they were at one time advised to pursue. A compensation of 2,500/. was offered to Mr. Wigham, and eventually accepted by him." It thus appears that the independence of mind and chivalrous defence of scientific merit which characterised his early career were displayed with undiminished vigour and self-denial in later years, when the mellowing influences of age and the sunshine of popularity would have induced minds of a more flexible fibre to yield complacently to self-interest and power. PROFESSOR WHEATSTONE. CHAPTER I. " Talent may follow and improve ; emulation and industry may polish and refine ; but genius alone can break those barriers that restrain the throng of mankind in the common track of life." — Roscoe. The saying is as old as Lucretius that time by degrees suggests every discovery, and skill evolves it into the regions of light and celebrity ; thus in the various arts we see different inventions proceed from different minds, until they reach the highest point of excellence. The electric telegraph is sometimes mentioned as one of the latest illustrations of this theory of evolution. One of its first inventors, Steinheil, defined telegraphic communication^ in its most general sense, as the method employed by one individual to render himself intelligible to others ; and regarding it in that light as synonymous with intercourse, declared that it was no human discovery, but one of the most wonderful gifts of nature. In man, he said, this gift of nature has attained an astonishing development in the form of speech and writing ; and as writing redeems the passing sounds from fleeting time, so in like manner are the remotest distances to be annihilated and thouHits to be interchanged with those far away ; " the means of accomplish- ing this do not He directly within our reach, but by patient io6 Lives of the Electricians. observance of the powers and the phenomena of nature, we render these subservient to us and make them the bearers of our thoughts ; and it is this task which in the ordinary acceptation of the word is termed telegraphic communication." Such was the philosophic view of the nature of the electric telegraph propounded by Steinheil in 1838 when it was in nonage, and later writers have not hesitated to say that the idea of using the transmission of electricity to communicate signals is so obvious as hardly to deserve the name of an invention. But the fact is that this " idea " was in existence for two centuries before it could be turned to good account, because the one thing wanting in order to utilise it was an invention. In 161 7, Strada, in one of his prolusions published at Rome, mentioned the possibility of one friend communi- cating with another at a great distance by means of a loadstone so influencing a needle on a dial containing the letters of the alphabet as to make it point to the letters intended to form the communication. The same idea was recorded in 1669 by Sir Thomas Browne, who stated that this conceit was widespread throughout the world, and that credulous and vulgar auditors readily believed it, while the more judicious and distinctive heads did not altogether reject it. *'The conceit," he said, "is excellent, and if the effect would follow, somewhat divine : it is pretended that from the sympathy of two needles touched with the same loadstone and placed in the centre of two rings with letters described round about them, one friend keeping one and another the other, and agreeing upon the hour wherein they will communicate, at what distance of place soever, when one needle shall be removed unto another letter, the other, by wonderful sympathy, will move unto the same.'' Dr. Johnson, in his Life of Sir TJionias Browne, says that *'he appears indeed to have been willing to pay labour for truth. Having heard a flying rumour of sympathetic Professor Wiieatstone. 107 needles, by which, suspended over a circular alphabet, dis- tant friends or lovers might correspond, he procured two such alphabets to be made, touched his needles with the same magnet, and placed them upon proper spindles ; the result was that when he moved one of his needles, the other, instead of taking by sympathy the same direction, ' stood like the pillars of Hercules.' That it continued motionless will be easily believed ; and most men would have been content to believe it without the labour of so hopeless an experiment." The prevalence of this " idea " on the Continent is shown by the following passage which appeared in a book of Mathejnaticai Recreationshy Schwenter, published in 1660 : " If Claudius were at Paris and Johannes at Rome, and one wished to convey some information to the other, each must be provided with a magnetic needle so strongly touched with the magnet that it may be able to move the other from Rome to Paris. Now suppose that Johannes and Claudius had each a compass divided into an alphabet according to the number of letters, and always communi- cating with each other at six o'clock in the evening ; then (after the needle had turned round three and a half times from the sign which Claudius had given to Johannes), if Claudius wished to say to Johannes — ' Come to me,' he might make his needle stand still, or move it till it came to c, then to 0, then to m, and so forth. If now the needle of Johannes' compass moved at the same time to the same letters, he could easily write down the words of Claudius and understand his meaning. This is a pretty invention ; but I do not believe a magnet of such power could be found in the world." Addison, in the Spectator of 171 1, called attention to the " idea " of Strada, and like Dr. Johnson spoke of it as a chimera. It thus appears that the two greatest intellects in England in the eighteenth century, the former adorning io8 Lives of the Electricians. its opening and the latter its closing years, treated with supreme contempt the " idea " that intelligence could be communicated to a distance by magnetised needles point- ing to the letters of the alphabet on a dial. Yet in the next century this "idea" became an accomplished fact, and Charles Wheatstone did more than any other man to make it an every day occurrence. Hence his name in England has been most prominently associated with the invention of the electric telegraph. Many able men had tried to solve the problem before him, but had not suc- ceeded. Yet that which our wisest forefathers regarded as chimerical, and scientists of different nations laboured for in vain, we are now told was so obvious and simple as scarcely to deserve the name of an invention. The electric telegraph claims a long pedigree. One of the first attempts to transmit signals through a wire by means of electricity was made in 1727 by Stephen Gray, a pensioner of the Charterhouse. He connected a glass tube with the end of a wire 700 feet long, and by rubbing the tube the wire became so electrified as to attract light bodies at the other end. He also discovered that a wire loop should not be used to fasten up his conductor, because such a loop not being an insulator the electricity escapes through it. His observations were written down by the Secretary to the Royal Society the day before his death. He stated that "there may be found a way to collect a greater quantity of electrical fire, and consequently to increase the force of that power, which by several of these experiments seems to be of the same nature with that of thunder and lightning." Similar experiments were made a few years afterwards by Winkler of Leipsic, Lemonnier of Paris, and Watson in London, Franklin at Philadelphia, and De Luc at the Lake of Geneva. In 1753 a definite scheme of telegraphic communication was published. In the Scots ]\Iagaziue for P'ebruary Professor Wiieatstone. 109 appeared a letter from a Renfrew correspondent, who signed himself C. M., on "An Expeditious Method of Conveying Intellifrence." This writer said : " Let a set of wires equal in number to the letters of the alphabet be extended horizontally between two given places ; at the end of these wires let balls be suspended against a glass sheet, and the wires striking the glass, these balls would drop upon an alphabet arranged upon the table, and thus by a spelling method, communication could be made of words." In a book published in 1792, Mr. Arthur Young, who travelled in France in 1787, stated that "a very ingenious and inventive mechanic," M. Lomond, had made a re- markable discovery in electricity: ''You write two or three words on a paper; he takes it with him into a room and turns a machine inclosed in a cylindrical case, at the top of which is an electrometer, a small fine pith ball ; a wire connects with a similar cylinder and electrometer in a dis- tant apartment; and his wife by remarking the correspond- ing 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. Whatever the use may be, the invention is beautiful." Twenty years after the publication of the letter of CM. in the Scots Magazine, Le Sage of Geneva endeavoured to work a telegraph by means of twenty-four wires with a pair of pith balls attached to each, thus representing the letters of the alphabet. By the use of frictional electricity any of the balls at one end of the wire could be moved by the operator at the other end, but it was found difficult to get the balls after being electrified to resume their respective places. To overcome this difficulty, and also to produce the requisite number of signals with fewer wires, experiments were afterwards made by different men on the Continent, *iio Lives of the Electricians. and notably by Ronalds in England. This experimenter erected a wire eight miles long in his garden at Hammer- smith, and laboured for seven years to solve the problem of telegraphy with frictional electricity. He used a dial con- taining letters and figures, and the collapsing or diverging of a pith ball was to correspond with the desired letter. He offered this telegraph to the Government, who informed him in reply, that '' telegraphs of any kind are now wholly useless, and no other than the one now in use will be adopted." In a book which he wrote in 1823 he described a complete system of telegraph, and expressed the hope that he would see the day when the King at Brighton would be able to communicate by telegraph with his ministers in London. Both his plan and his book were neglected, but his wishes for the success of the telegraph were abundantly fulfilled. In 1874 Mr. Gladstone conferred on him the honour of knighthood in recognition of his early efforts in connection with the telegraph. He died shortly afterwards at the patriarchal age of ninety-one. The discovery of the Voltaic pile, described in a previous chapter, gave a fresh impulse to electricians, and eventually supplied the requisite kind of electricity for working a practical telegraph. So great was the sensation excited among the learned by the discovery of the Voltaic pile, that in 1 80 1 Napoleon called Volta from Pavia to Paris, and attended a meeting of the Institute to hear the theory of the pile explained by its discoverer. There and then Napoleon caused a gold medal to be voted to Volta, and afterwards gave him a v^aluable present of money. Indeed it is said that the pile excited the enthusiasm of Napoleon more than any other scientific discovery. Volta was made a member of the French Institute in 1802, and in the same year was born the man whose name was destined to be for ever associated with one of the most useful applications of Voltaic electricity — the elcgtric telegraph. Professor Wheatstone. i i i Charles Wheatstone was born at Gloucester in February 1802. His father was a music-seller in that town ; and on removing afterwards to London he became a teacher of the flute, and was accustomed to boast that he had been engaged in connection with the musical education of the Princess Charlotte. His son, Charles, was educated at a private school in his native city. It is said that he early showed an aptitude for mathematics and physics ; but not much is known of his youthful career. On his removal to London he became a manufacturer of musical instruments, the scientific principles of which formed with him the sub- ject of profound studies. His practical ingenuity was dis- played in the application of the scientific principles he discovered to new purposes, to the construction of philoso- phical toys and the improvement of musical instruments. " In 1823," says a friend of his who wrote a notice of him in the Proceedings cf the Royal Society ^ " at the age of twenty- one, we find him in conjunction with his brother, long since deceased, engaged in the manufacture and sale of musical instruments in London." But there is unquestionable evidence of his having obtained distinction in London by his ingenuity at the age of nineteen. Of his first notable achievement in London the fol- lowing curious account was given in September, 1821, in the leading literary journal of that time: '* We have been much gratified," said the writer, ''with an exhibi- tion in Pall Mall of an instrument under the denomi- nation of the enchanted lyre, the invention of a Mr. Wheatstone. The exhibition room presents a work of handsome construction in the form of an ancient lyre suspended from the ceiling. Its horns terminate in mouths resembling bugles. Its centre is covered on both sides with plates of a bright metallic lustre, and there is an ornamented keyhole, like that of a timepiece, which admits of its being wound up, but which is evidently a 112 Lives of the Electricians. mere ruse^ as the instrument certainly does not utter melodious sounds in consequence of that operation. Round it there is a slight hoop-rail, perhaps five feet in diameter, which is supported by equally slight fixtures in the floor. The inventor disclaims mechanism altogether (though he winds up the machine) and asserts that the performance of the enchanted lyre is entirely the result of a new com- bination of powers. Be that as it may, its execution is both brilliant and beautiful. The music seems to proceed from it ; the tones are very sweet ; the expression soft or powerful, and the whole really charming. We listened to Steibelt's battle-piece with unfeigned pleasure, and were equally delighted with several other compositions of simple melody and of more difficult harmony. Mr. Wheatstone professes to be able to give a concert, producing by the same means an imitation of various wind and stringed instruments ; the lovers of music will have a treat in hearing the enchanted lyre go through a half hour's entertainment." Another contemporary account is more prescient, if not amusing. On the ist of September, 1821, it was reported in the Repository of Arts that " Under the appellation of the enchanted lyre Mr. Wheatstone has opened an exhibition at his music shop in Pall Mall, which has excited considerable sensation among the votaries of the art. The form of a lyre of large dimensions is suspended from the ceiling apparently by a cord of the thickness of a goose- quill. The lyre has no strings or wires, but these are repre- sented by a set of metal or steel rods, and it is surrounded by a small fence. The company being assembled, Mr. Wheatstone applies a key to a small aperture, and gives a few turns representative of the act of winding up, and music is instantly heard, and apparently from the belly of the lyre. The sceptical he invites to stoop under the fence, and hold their ears close to the belly of the lyre ; and they. Professor Wiieatstone. 113 including ourselves, are compelled to admit that the sound appears to be within the instrument ; but while making this admission, the attentive auditor is instantly convinced that the music is not the effect of mechanism (a fact indeed which Mr. Wheatstone not only concedes, but openly avows, even in his notice). It is quite obvious that the music is produced by a skilful player, or perhaps two, upon one or more instruments. The music seems to proceed from a combination of harp, pianoforte, and dulcimer ; it certainly at times partakes of the character of these three instru- ments ; and in point of tone, the difference sometimes is considerably in favour of the lyre ; the piano and forte appear more marked, the crescendo is extremely effective, and the forte in the lower notes is inconceivably powerful in vibration. The performance lasts an hour : various pieces of difficult execution are played with precision, rapidity, and proper expression." '* It is evident that some acoustical illusion, effected through a secret channel of some sort or other, is the cause of our hearing the sound in the belly of the lyre. . . . How then is sound thus conducted so as to deceive completely our sense of hearing .'* This seems to be the only question that can suggest itself on witnessing this singular experi- ment ; it is a secret upon which Mr. Wheatstone rests the interest and merit of this invention ; and to this question, no one, as far as we can learn, has yet been able to return an answer that could solve every difficulty. It is really a very ingenious invention, which the proprietor as yet wishes to keep a secret. It may be proper to add that Mr. Wheatstone represents the present exhibition to be an application of a general principle for conducting sound, which principle he professes himself to be capable of carry- ing to a much greater extent. According to his statement, it is equally applicable to wind instruments; and the same means by which the sound is conducted into the lyre will, I 114 Lives of the Electricians. when employed on a larger scale, enable him to convey- in a similar manner the combined strains of a whole orchestra. This promised extension of the principle of conducting musical sounds from one place to another gives rise to some curious reflections on the progress which our age is constantly making in discoveries and contrivances of every description. Who knows but by this means the music of an opera performed at the King's Theatre may ere long be simultaneously enjoyed at Hanover Square Rooms, the City of London Tavern, and even at the Horns Tavern at Kennington, the sound travelling, like gas, through snug conductors, from the main laboratory of harmony in the Haymarket to distant parts of the metro- polis ; with this advantage, that in its progress it is not subject to any diminution .-* What a prospect for the art, to have music ' laid on ' at probably one-tenth the ex- pense of what we can get it ourselves ! And if music be capable of being thus conducted, perhaps words of speech may be susceptible of the same means of pro- pagation. The eloquence of counsel, the debates in Parlia- ment, instead of being read the next day only — But we really shall lose ourselves in the pursuit of this curious subject." It has been said that the death of mystery is the grave of interest. Nevertheless, Charles Wheatstone did not keep secret the means by which this mysterious music was produced. In 1823 he contributed a paper to Thomsons An?ials of Philosophy in which he described the remark- ably simple and original experiments that led him to the invention of this apparatus, and explained how molecular vibrations produced sound. With reference to phonic vibra- tions in linear conductors he said : "In my first experiments on this subject I placed a tuning-fork at the extremity of a glass or metallic rod five feet in length communicating with a sounding-board. The sound was heard as instantly Professor VVheatstone. 115 as when the fork was in immediate contact, and it immedi- ately ceased when the rod was removed from the sound- ing-board or the fork from the rod. From this it is evident that vibrations inaudible in their transmission, being multiplied by meeting with a sonorous body, become very sensibly heard. Pursuing my investigations on this sub- ject, I discovered means of transmitting, through rods of much greater length, and of very inconsiderable thickness, the sounds of all musical instruments dependent on the vibrations of solid bodies and of many descriptions of wind instruments. One of the practical applications of this discovery has been exhibited in London for about two years under the appellation of the ' Enchanted Lyre.' So perfect was the illusion in this instance from the intense vibratory state of the reciprocating instrument and from the interception of the sounds of the distant exciting one, that it was universally imagined to be one of the highest efforts of ingenuity in musical mechanism." It is a note- worthy evidence of the interest evoked by this article that it was reproduced in the leading French and German publications of that year. This "Enchanted Lyre" has since been described by Mr. W. H. Preece as the first telephone. It was exhibited, he says, '* to delighted crow^ds at the Adelaide Gallery; it was often used by Prof. Faraday, and has frequently since been produced by Prof. Tyndall at the Royal Institution. A large special box was placed in one of the cellars of the Institution, and a light rod of deal rested upon it. No sound was heard in the theatre until a light tray or other sounding-box was placed on the rod, whereupon its music pealed forth over the whole place. The vibrations of the musical box, with all their complexity and beauty, are imparted to the rod of wood and are thence given up to the sounding-box. The sounding-box impresses them upon the air, and the air conveys them to the ear, whence I 2 ii6 Lives of the Electricians. they are transmitted to the brain, imparting those agreeable sensations called music." Wheatstone's invention of the Enchanted Lyre or the "first telephone " was no accidental discovery or lucky idea : it was the result of a profound and original investigation of the scientific principles of sound. He discovered and demonstrated by numerous experiments that sound was produced by the vibrations of the atmosphere; and in 1823 when he announced for the first time that "the loudness of sound is dependent on the excursions of the vibrations, volume or fulness of sound on the number of the coexciting particles put in motion," he stated that he had just seen Fresnel's paper, in which the same conclusions were arrived at with respect to light as he (Wheatstone) had proved with respect to sound. He added that "the important dis- coveries of Dr. Thos. Young have recently re-established the vibratory theory of light, and new facts are every day augmenting its probability. The new views in acoustical science which I have opened will, I presume, give additional confirmation to the opinions of these eminent philosophers." Prophetic words ! The analogy between sound and light as results of wave- motions in air or ether is now part of the alphabet of science. Charles Wheatstone made an independent dis- covery of the principles of sound ; but in this he was partly anticipated by Young. Nor was he alone in the original and practical experiments by which he demonstrated their accuracy. At the time he made these experiments (he was then only twenty years old), he thought he was the first who had indicated the phenomena of sound in that way ; but Professor Oerstead, of Copenhagen, on seeing him perform these experiments, informed him of some similar ones he had previously made. In the middle of the year 1827 he invented a small instrument consisting of a steel rod on the top of which a Professor Wheatstcne. 117 glass silvered bead was placed. By concentrating on it an intense light and making the rod to vibrate, beautiful forms were created. In this respect this philosophical toy re- sembled the Kaleidoscope which Brewster invented ; and it was therefore called the kaleidophone. There is, however, no similarity between the construction or mode of action of the two instruments. In 1828 he devised the terpsiphone which made music by the reciprocal vibrations of columns of air. In 1833 he contributed to the Royal Society a paper on acoustic or Chladni figures, so called because Chladni in 1787 showed that by strewing sand on vibrating surfaces, and then throwing the particles into vibration by means of a violin bow, beautiful and varied symmetrical figures could be produced. Wheatstone showed that all the figures of vibrating surfaces result from very simple modes of vibration, oscillating isochronously, and superposed upon each other, the figures varying with the component modes of vibration, the number of the superpositions, and the angles at which they are superposed. As indicating the variety of subjects that engaged his attention about the same time, a fact recorded by a friend may be quoted here. At one period Wheatstone's attention was for a time directed to problems of mental philosophy, and especially to the quasi-mechanical solution of them which was hoped for by the followers of Gall and Spurzheim ; he was an active member of the London Phrenological Society, then presided over by Dr. Elliotson, and in January 1832 he read a paper at one of the meetings on dreaming and somnambulism, which was published in extcnso in the Lancet of that date. This paper is remarkable like all his writings for the extreme clearness with which known facts are stated and the deductions based upon them. Another subject which occupied his attention for some years was the construction of speaking-machines, upon which he made certain improvements, and of which he ii8 Lives of the Electricians. wrote a short and interesting history. He declared in 1837 that the advantages which would result from the com- pletion of a speaking-machine rendered the subject worthy of the attention of philosophers and mechanicians ; and he endorsed a remark of Sir D. Brewster that before another century was complete a talking and singing machine would doubtless be numbered among the conquests of science. In a paper which he communicated to the Journal of the Ro3^al Institution in 1831 *' On the Transmission of Musical Sounds through solid Linear conductors and on their subsequent Reciprocation," he gave an account of some experiments that evolved a principle now found to be next in importance to that of the telegraph. He said : " I believe that previous to the experiments which I com- menced in 1820, none had been made on the transmission of the modulated sounds of musical instruments, nor had it been shown that sonorous undulations, propagated through solid linear conductors of considerable length, were capable of exciting in surfaces with which they were in connection a quantity of vibratory motion sufficient to be powerfully audible when communicated through the air. The first experiments of this kind which I made were publicly exhibited in 1821 ; and on June 30th, 1823, a paper of mine was read by M. Arago at the Academy of Sciences, in which I mentioned these experiments, and a variety of others relating to the passage of sound through rectilinear and bent conductors. I propose in the present instance to give a more complete detail of these experi- ments." He then proceeds to give an account of the experiments he had made during the intervening ten years, and concludes by saying : " As the velocity of sound is much greater in solid substances than in air, it is not improbable that the transmission of sound through solid conductors, and its subsequent reciprocation, may hereafter be applied to many useful purposes. Sound Professor Wheatstone. 119 travels through the air at the rate of 1,142 feet In a second of time, but it is communicated through iron, wire, glass, or wood with a velocity of about 18,000 feet per second, so that it would travel a distance of 200 miles in less than a minute. . . . Should any conducting substance be rendered perfectly equal in density so as to allow the undulations to proceed with uniform velocity without any interference, it would be easy to transmit sounds through such conductors from Aberdeen to London, as it is now to communicate from one chiamber to another. The trans- mission to distant places of a multiplication of musical performances are objects of far less importance than the conveyance of the articulations of speech. I have found by experiment that all these articulations, as well as the musical inflections of the voice, may be perfectly, though feebly, transmitted to any of the previously described reciprocating instruments, by connecting the conductor either immediately with some part of the neck or head contiguous to the larynx, or with a sounding-board, to which the mouth of the singer or speaker is closely ap- plied." Nearly half a century elapsed before these observations found their full application in the telephone and microphone. It may be here noted that in a paper on experiments in audition published in 1827 Wheatstone said: "The great intensity with which sound is transmitted by solid rods at the same time that its diffusion is prevented, affords a ready means of augmenting the loudness of external sounds and of constructing an instrument which, from its rendering audible the weakest sounds, may with propriety be named the microphone." It is said that that was the first time the word microphone was ever used; and it was the name given in 1878 to an in- strument which has since come into general use as the complement of the telephone, the microphone being the 120 Lives of the Electricians. best adapted for sending spoken messages by electric wire, and the telephone the best for receiving them. Concurrently with these scientific studies, his practical powers as an inventor were being advantageously exercised in the improvement of musical instruments, old and new. In a communication to the Royal Institution in February, 1828, he gave an account of a Javanese musical instrument called the Gender, which was brought to England by the late Sir S. Raffles, and in which "the resonances of uni- sonant columns of air^' were used to augment the sounds of the vibrations of metallic plates. A hollow bamboo of a certain length was placed perpendicularly under each metallic plate which, being struck and made to vibrate, produced a deep, rich tone by the resonance of the column of air within the bamboo. He then stated that, though other rude Asiatic and African instruments made use of the same principle, he did not know of its being used in any European instrument ; and he therefore promised to publish soon an account of several methods which he had devised for utilising the resonance of columns of air. About two months afterwards his attention was called to a newly- invented German instrument which made use of that principle. It was called the Mund Harmonica ; and, as the name implies, music was produced in it by placing the mouth over some small metallic tongues or springs and blowing upon them so as to cause them to vibrate ; "these vibrations produced so many impulses upon the current of air and thus caused sound." This instrument is now best known as a child's toy. It was soon improved in Germany into a primitive kind of accordion, in which keys were placed over the metallic tongues, and the requisite current of air to vibrate them when the keys were opened was produced by compressing a kind of bellows, which formed the body of the instrument. This was the most simple form of wind instrument ; and Charles Professor Wheatstone. 121 Wheatstone soon increased its range and facilitated its nnanipulation. His improvements consisted in the employ- ment of two parallel rows of finger studs or keys on each end, and in so placing them with respect to their distances and positions as that they might, singly, be progressively and alternately touched or pressed down by the first or second fingers of each hand without the fingers interfering with the adjacent studs, and yet be placed so near together as that any two adjacent studs might be simultaneously pressed down when required by the same finger ; the peculiarity and novelty of this arrangement consisted in this, that whereas in the ordinary keyed wind musical instrument then in use the fingering was effected by a motion sideways of the hands and fingers, in the new arrangement that mode of fingering was rendered entirely inapplicable : and he made available a motion not pre- viously employed, namely, the ascending and descending motions of the fingers. By this method of arranging the studs he was able to bring the keys much nearer together than had been done previously, and the instrument was made more portable. He also introduced two additional rows of finger studs on each end of the instrument for the purpose of introducing semitones when required. In other words, he invented the concertina, the first patent for which was dated June 19th, 1829, under the title of improvements in the construction of wind-musical instruments. The accordion, (said to have been invented at Vienna by Damian in 1829,) is described by the best musical authorities as little more than a toy in comparison with the concertina. Indeed, the concertina is one of the few musical instruments distinguished for sweetness and com- pass, that is known to be the exclusive invention of one man. Music intended for the oboe, flute, and violin, can be played on it ; while the only other instruments upon which music written for the concertina can be played, are 122 Lives of the Electricians. the organ and harmonium. Nothing, says Dr. Grove, but the last-named instruments can produce at once the ex- tended harmonies, the sostenuto and the staccato combined, of which the concertina is capable. The origin of the organ is lost in the myths of antiquity, and it has been the subject of improvements during the last 500 years. The harmonium is an evolution of the present century, and has been brought to its present state by the combined improvements of several musical men, including Charles Wheatstone. But of the concertina he was the sole inventor ; and if it be true that the unknown man (or rather men) who invented the fiddle was a greater genius than the inventor of the steam-engine, surely the invention of the concertina was no mean achievement. Certainly it was not an instant achievement. Its perfection appeared to be a work of time; for in 1844 he took out another patent for improvements, consisting of (i) the arrangement of the touches or finger-stops which regulate the opening of the various valves covering the apertures in which the springs or tongues vibrate; (2) a mode of obtaining a different degree of loudness for each side of the concertina independently b}^ applying a partition to divide the bellows into two parts ; (3) a mode of arranging and constructing the cavities in which the tongues or spirals are placed, by which a bass concertina may be made of more portable dimensions than by the mode of arrangement usually adopted in the treble concertina ; (4) a mode of construct- ing concertinas whereby the same tone or spring is made to sound whether the wind be driven into or out of the bellows, namely, by means of a double passage valve applied to each tongue separately ; (5) a mode of varying at pleasure the pitch of the concertina by apparatus capable of altering the effective length of its tongues or springs ; (6) an arrangement of the lever or support of the key or apparatus for admitting the wind to act upon the Professor Wheatstone. 123 tongue of the concertina ; (7) a mode of applying appar- atus to sting a tongue or spring into vibration in addition to the wind on that tongue; and (8) of modifying or ameliorating the tone of a freely vibrating tongue or spring by means of the resonance of a column of air in a tube tuned in unison with it, the tube being so placed that the free air shall intervene between its open end and the tongue or spring. In connection with this subject, it should be added that he made important improvements in the harmonium when it might be said to be in its infancy. Without going into details, suffice it to say that at the Great Exhibition of 185 1 he exhibited the portable harmonium, which the jury on musical instruments described as quite original in all its mechanical parts. It had a compass of five octaves, and although the keyboard was of the same extent as in the larger harmoniums, the instrument could be instantly folded up so as to occupy less than half its height and length. The jury, in awarding the inventor a prize medal, said the portable harmonium was peculiarly constructed for producing expression, and might either be used by itself for the performance of music written for the organ or harmonium, or for taking violin, flute, or violoncello solos or parts — its capabilities of expression giving it great advantages in imitating these instruments. In 1834 he was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics in King's College, London ; and as such he delivered in the following year a course of eight lectures on Sound ; but while retaining the professorship, he soon discontinued lecturing because of his invincible distrust of his own powers as a speaker. About the same time he gave to the world what, in order of time, might be described as the first fruits of his studies in electricity, and what, in point of originality, many electricians have described as his most brilliant discovery. In 1831 124 Lives of the Electricians. Professor Faraday told the Royal Institution of the method by which the silent philosopher proposed to ascertain the velocity of the electric spark ; and in 1834 he himself con- tributed to the Philosophical Transactions " An account of some experiments to measure the velocity of electricity and the duration of the electric light." It has been re- peatedly said that this one experiment was enough to render his name immortal in the annals of science. The velocity of electricity is so great that it was believed there was no means on earth capable of measuring it. This desideratum Professor Wheatstone supplied. He devised means by which a small mirror was made to revolve at the immensely rapid rate of 800 times in a second, and in front of it placed half a mile of insulated copper wire, on the ends and in the middle of which were fixed brass balls intended to interrupt a current of electricity sent through the wire. On connecting the ends of the wire with a Leyden jar, he saw three sparks — one was at each end as the electricity left the jar, the other was at the brass balls in the middle of the wire. The one end of the wire was connected with the inner coating of the jar charged with positive electricity, \\'hile the other end of the wire was attached to the outer coating, which had negative electricity, so that at the moment of contact the electricity passed from each end of the wire in order to find an equilibrium. The middle of the wire, however, was cut, and had a small brass ball at each end, distant one-tenth of an inch ; and when the two currents of elcctricit}^ reached that interruption the middle spark was produced. These sparks were rcfiected by the rapidly revolving mirror ; and he had the wire so arranged that if the three sparks were simultaneous, the mirror would show them in parallel straight lines. But they evidently were not simultaneous, for the middle one appeared a little later than the other two ; the revolving mirror had in the interval moved round a minute distance, thus showing the Professor Wheatstone. 125 reflection of the middle spark behind the others. The interval between the sparks was found to be the one miUionth part of a second, and their appearance on the mirror, as it revolved, supplied data as to the rate at which the current moved, from which it was easily calculated that the velocity of electricity is 288,000 miles a second. Thus, it was said, he forced the lightning to tell how fast It was going. This experiment, which was originally made In his lecture-room at King's College, and with the result of which he was much delighted, Instantly spread his name throughout the civilised world as the discoverer of one of Nature's greatest secrets.^ The original apparatus used for that purpose was also used at the Royal Institution in 1856, to Illustrate the Instantaneous duration of a spark. It was ascertained that the duration of a spark does not exceed the twenty-fifth thousandth part of a second ; It was ex- plained that a cannon ball, if Illuminated in its flight by a flash of lightning, would, in consequence of the momentary duration of the light, appear to be stationary ; and that even the wings of an insect moving 10,000 times In a second would seem at rest. With regard to the scientific value of the revolving mirror, M. Dumas said In 1875 : "This admirable method enabled Arago to trace with a certain hand the plan of a fundamental experiment which should decide whether light is a body emanating from the sun and stars, or the undulat- ing movement excited by them. Executed by the accom- plished experimentalist, It proved that the theory of emission was wrong. This method has then furnished to ^ The accuracy of Wheatstone's experiment has been generally accepted ; but, as Faraday said in 1838, "the velocity of discharge through the same wire may be greatly varied by circumstances If the two ends of the wire in Professor Wheatstone's experiment were immediately connected with two large insulated metallic surfaces exposed to the air. . . . then the middle spark would be more retarded ; and if these two plates were the inner and outer coating of a large jax, or a Leyden battery, then the retardation of that spark v.'ould be still greater." 126 Lives of the Electricians. the philosophy of the sciences the certain basfs on which rest our ideas of the nature of force, and especially that of h'ght. By means of this or some other analogous artifice, we can even measure the speed of light by experiments purely terrestrial, which, pursued by an able physicist, have guided the measure of distance between the earth and the sun." Professor Wheatstone himself suggested that the velocity of light might be measured in the same way as electricity. In July, 1835, he told the Royal Society that he proposed to extend his experiments on the velocity of electricity to measure the velocity of light in its passage through a limited portion of the terrestrial atmosphere. It may be added that the complete solution of the velocity of light by the revolving mirror, although the subject of elaborate experi- ments by Arago, was facilitated by some improvements made in the apparatus by later experimenters. The mirror has been used in different ways for the measurement of light. In 1850, Arago gave a description of his attempts to determine its velocity, but failing eye- sight prevented him carrying out his full design. The subject was, however, taken up by M. Fizeau and M. Foucault, who employed steam power instead of clockwork to give motion to the mirror. By Foucault's method a beam of light was reflected from a revolving mirror to a fixed concave mirror, and before it was reflected back again the revolving mirror had moved a sufficient space to enable him to compute therefrom the velocity of light. Fizeau's method was simpler. He made a toothed wheel revolve with great rapidity, while a beam of light passed through one of the open spaces between the teeth, and fell upon a reflecting mirror at a considerable distance away. If the wheel were at rest, the beam would be reflected back through the same space by which it had entered ; but the wheel being in rapid motion, the reflected beam would either fall on the next tooth which would Professor Wiieatstone. 127 prevent it passing through, or if the motion were in- creased, it would get through the next opening. A variety of tests Hke these has given the velocity of h"ght as about 187,000 miles per second. Professor Wheatstone also rendered memorable service in connection with the development of spectrum analysis. In a paper which he communicated to the Dublin meeting of the British Association in 1835, on "The Prismatic Analysis of Electric Light," he expounded a discovery which has since led to useful results. Most metals, such as iron, copper, and platinum, when exposed to the gas flame^ impart no colour ; for that purpose they must be subjected to a higher temperature ; and Professor Wheatstone found that the best way of attaining the requisite temperature was by the use of the electric spark. He found that a single electric discharge passed through a gold wire at once dis- sipated the metal into vapour. He also showed that by looking through a prism at the spark proceeding from two metallic poles, the spectra seen contained bright lines which differed according to the kind of metal employed. " These differences," he said, " are so obvious that any one metal may instantly be distinguished from others by the appear- ance of its spark, and we have here a mode of discriminat- ing metallic bodies more ready than chemical examination, and which may hereafter be employed for useful purposes." Hofmann has well said that "within this fact a new mode of distinguishing bodies from each other lay folded, like the tree within the seed, awaiting evolution. The new line of research thus opened by Wheatstone with reference to bright lines produced by electric discharges, was pursued in a variety of directions by several observers. Foucault (1849), Masson (1851-55), Angstrom (1853), Alter (1854-55), Secchi (1855), Pliickar (1858-59), Bunsen and Kirchhoff (i860), were successively engaged in this inquiry. It would exceed the limits of this sketch to minutely describe the 128 Lives of the Electricians. phenomena presented by the spectra of the known metals, or to dwell on the infinitely minute quantities of substances found to be capable of producing the effect. The extreme delicacy of the new process is now a familiar fact ; and it is equally well known that in using this method, the presence of one metal scarcely interferes with that of another. It would be out of place here to do more than simply mention the astronomical applications of spectrum analysis ; such as, for example, the determination by its means of the composition of the solar atmosphere,, in which M. Kirchhoff has proved, with a degree of probability approaching to certainty, the presence of several metals well known on this earth ; amongst others potassium, sodium, calcium, iron, nickel, chromium, &c." This delicate test has made it possible to detect the presence of the two hundred millionth part of a grain (in weight) of sodium, while by revealing bright lines not referable to any known body it has been the means of discovering five new metals — caesium and rubidium by Professor Bunsen in i860, thallium by Mr. Crookes in r86i, indium by Professors Richter and Reich in 1864, and gallium by M. Lecoq in 1875. The year 1S36 was distinguished in the history of elec- tricity by the discovery of the constant battery of Pro- fessor Daniell. Early in that year Professor Daniell, of King's College, announced in a letter to Faraday, that he had been led to the construction of a voltaic arrangement which furnished a constant current of electricity for any length of time, and had thus been able to remove one of the greatest difficulties which had hitherto obstructed those who had endeavoured to measure and compare different voltaic phenomena. This constant battery, which he im- proved in the spring of the same year, is still in general use. In it the zinc is placed in a semi-saturated solution of sulphate of zinc, and the copper in a saturated solution of sulphate of copper, the two solutions being separated Professor Wiieatstone. 129 by a porons earthenware partition. This battery furnishes a constant supply of electricity for weeks together. Early in 1837 Professor Wheatstone publicly called attention to the capability of the thermo-electric pile as a source of electricity. Seebeck of Berlin discovered in 1822 that v/hen different metals are soldered together and their junction heated, a current of electricity is generated ; and Nobili and Melloni contrived on that principle the thermo- multiplier, an apparatus which Indicates the effects of heat by the deflections of a needle on a scale, like a thermometer, the needle being moved by the electricity produced by the heat. But this means of producing elec- tricity was better known for its delicacy than for its strength till Professor Wheatstone made some experiments — pro- bably the first made in England — for the purpose of show- ing how the thermo-electric pile could be utilised as a source of electricity. In his account of these experiments he stated that ''the Cav. Antinori, director of the Museum at Florence, having heard that Professor Linari, of the University of Siena, had succeeded in obtaining the electric spark from the torpedo by means of an electro-dynamic helix and a temporary magnet, conceived that a spark might be obtained by applying the same means to a therm^o- clectric pile. Appealing to experiments, his anticipations were fully realised. No account of the original investiga- tions of Antinori had reached England in April, 1837 ; but Professor Linari, to whom he early communicated the results, published certain experiments and observations of his own on the subject in L Indicator e Sanese for December 13, 1836." The interesting nature of these experiments induced Professor Wheatstone to attempt to verify the principal results. For that purpose he used a thermo- electric pile consisting of 33 elements of bismuth and antimony formed into a cylindrical bundle f of an inch in diameter, and i-|- in length. The poles of this pile K I ;o Lives of the Electricians. J were connected by means of two thick wires with a spiral of copper ribbon 50 feet in length and i^ inch broad, the coils being well insulated by brown paper and silk. One face of the pile was heated by means of a red-hot iron brought within a short distance of it, and the other face was kept cool by contact with ice. Two short wires formed the communication between the poles of the pile and the spiral, and the contact was broken, when required, in a cup of mercury (a non-conductor) between one extremity of the spiral and one of these wires. Whenever contact was thus broken a small but distinct spark was seen. He added that Professors Daniell, Henry, and Bache assisted in the experiments, and were all equally satisfied of the reality of the appearance. At another trial the spark was obtained from the same spiral connected with a small pile of fifty elements, on which occasion Dr. Faraday and Professor Johnson were present, and verified the fact. By connect- ing two such piles together, so that similar poles of each were connected with the same wire, the spark was seen still brighter. He concluded by stating that such experiments supplied a link that was wanting in the chain of experi- mental evidence tending to prove that electricity, from sources however varied, is similar in its nature and in its effects ; and that the effect thus obtained from the electric current originating in the thermo-electric pile might no doubt be easily exalted by those who had the requisite apparatus at their disposal, till it equalled the effect of an ordinary voltaic p'le. As Professor Wheatstone was not accustomed to write articles or to deliver lectures, it is not an easy matter to measure the extent of his knowledge at any particular time ; but one more incident may be mentioned as indi- cating the range of his studies oi electricity about this time. Between 1830 and 1835 WilHam Snow Harris wrote several articles in the Nautical Magazine on the utility of Professor Wiieatstone. 131 fixing lightning conductors in ships. It was a popular impression then that pointed metal rods attracted light- ning. Snow Harris contended, on the contrary, that damage to ships occurred not where good conductors were, but where they were not, and that such conductors could no more attract lis:htnin<^ than a watercourse could be said to attract water, which necessarily flowed through it at the time of heavy rains. He afterwards prepared a list of 220 ships of the British Navy which were struck and damaged by lightning between 1792 and 1846. In June, 1839, 3. committee of the Admiralty consulted Professor Wheat- stone and Professor Faraday as to the safety of the continuous conductors advocated by Snow Harris. To that committee Professor Wheatstone stated that '' it has been proved beyond all doubt that electricity follows the best conducting path which is open to it ; and that when it finds a metallic road sufficient to conduct it completely, it never flies to surrounding bodies greatly inferior in con- ducting power. The experiments of M. de Romas, made in France, with the electrical kite, immediately after P'ranklin's first attempt, might satisfy the most timid in this respect. Imagine, writes he to the Abbe Nollet, * that you see sheets of fire nine or ten feet long r nd an inch broad, which made as much or more noise than reports of a pistol. In less than an hour I had certainly thirty sheets of these dimensions, without counting a thousand others of seven feet and under. But what gives me the greatest satisfaction in this new spectacle is that the largest sheets were spontaneous, and notwithstanding the abund- ance of fire which formed them, they constantly followed the nearest conducting body. This constancy gave me so much security that I did not fear to excite this fire with my discharger, even when the storm was violent ; and when the glass branches of the instrument were only two feet long I conducted wherever I pleased, without feeling the K 2 132 Lives of the Electricians. smallest shock in my hand, sheets of fire six cr seven feet long, with the same facility as those of only six or seven inches/ The wire of the kite was insulated, and the sparks were drawn by a metallic conductor held in the hand by means of an insulating handle, and communicating with the ground by a chain. The human body is known not to be one of the worst conductors ; yet, because it was two feet further than a far more perfect one, it received none of the discharge, even though the conducting path were an interrupted one. The phenomenon to which the name of lateral explosion has been generally given was first observed by Henly, more than half a century ago, and has been sub- sequently experimented upon by Priestly, Cavallo, and more recently by Biot." The committee attached the greatest weight to the opinion of Professor Wheatstone, which Faraday supported, and which was eventually adopted. Experiment and experience confirmed its accuracy. At the time Vv'hen he had attained such a recognised position as an electrician he was making progress in another field of electrical study in which he was destined to gain still greater eminence and to obtain more extensive and permanent results. CHAPTER II. '* 'I here is a certain meddlesome spirit which, in the garb of learned research, goes prying about the traces of history, casting down its monuments, and maiming and mutilating its fairest trophies. Care should be taken to vindicate great names from such pernicious erudition. It defeats one of the most salutary purposes of history, that of furnishing examples of what human genius and laudable enterprise may accomplish. For this reason some pains have been taken to trace the rise and progress of this grand idea (in the mind of Columbus) ; to show that it was the conception of his genius, quickened by the impulse of his age, and aided by those scattered gleams of knowledge, which fell ineffectually upon ordinary minds." — Washington Irving. In all the inventions and discoveries previously described as made by Professor Wheatstone, his originality has never been seriously challenged, but when we turn to his greatest w^ork we enter upon contested ground. The contests that ever arise as to the origin of great inventions afford evidence of their greatness ; for, as Aeschylus says, he who is not envied is not worthy of admiration. " In 1435," says Sir James Mackintosh, "a law suit was carried on at Strasburg between one John Guttenberg, a gentleman of Mentz, celebrated for mechanical ingenuity, and Drizehn, a burgher of the city, who was his partner in a copying press. No litigation could seem more base and mechanical to the barbarous Barons of Suabia and Alsace ; but the copying miachine was the printing press which has changed the condition of mankind." In like manner it fell to the lot of Professor Wheatstone when he had completed his most useful invention to have his originality disputed 134 Lives of the Electricians. by his own partner in business, Mr. William Fothergill Cooke. There are five mechanical inventions that have conferred incalculable benefit on the industrial world in modern times — the printing press, the steam engine, the electric telegraph, the dynamo, and the Bessemer process of steel making. The originality of every one of these has been either divided or disputed, with the single exception of the Bessemer process, which is therefore the only one that is universally known by the inventor's name. In the case of the electric telegraph th^ originality or priority of Professor Wheatstone was disputed not only at home but abroad. Hence writers on the subject are accustomed to say that the telegraph was invented independently and almost simultaneously by Professor Wheatstone, of London, Professor Morse, of New York, and Professor Steinheil, of Munich. This was in the year 1837. After the discovery of the voltaic pile, Oersted discovered in 18 19 that if a needle were placed parallel to a conducting wire, an electric current from a voltaic battery applied to the wire would cause the deflection of the needle to a position at right angles to the wire or across the direction of the current. Ampere proposed to make an electric telegraph by utilising this property of a compass needle, and he designed an apparatus to which twenty-five wires were attached ; and by touching keys which corresponded to the letters of the alphabet, needles attached to the other ends of the wires were set in motion by the action of an electric current. It was this incipient and very imperfect design that Professor Wheatstone brought to perfection by a series of inventions and discoveries extending over a number of years. His own account of the origin of his telegraph is candid and interesting. "When, in 1823," he says, " I made my important discovery that sounds of all kinds might be transmitted perfectly and powerfully through solid wires and reproduced in distant places, I thought I Professor Wiieatstone. 135 had the most efficient and economical means of estabHshing telegraphic (or rather telephonic) communication between two remote pohits that could be thought of. My ideas respecting establishing a communication of this kind between London and Edinburgh you will find in the Journal of the Royal Institution for 182S. Experiments on a larger scale, however, showed me that the velocity of sound was not sufficient to overcome the resistance and enable it to be transmitted efficiently through long lengths of wire. I then turned my attention to the employment of electricity as the communicating agent ; the experiments of Ronalds and others failed to produce any impression on the scientific world ; this want of confidence resulted from the imperfect knowledge then possessed of the velocity and other properties of electricity ; some philosophers made out a few miles per second ; others considered it to be in- finite ; if the former were true, there would not be much room for hope ; but if the velocity could be proved to be very great there would be encouragement to proceed. I undertook the inquiry, and with the result the whole scien- tific world is acquainted. At the same time I ascertained that magnetic needles might be deflected, water decom- posed, induction sparks produced, &c., through greater lengths of wire than had yet been experimented upon. In the following year, at the request of the Royal Society, I repeated these experiments with several miles of insulated wire, and the results were witnessed by the most eminent philosophers of Europe and America. I ascertained ex- perimentally (which had never been done before) many of the conditions necessary for the production of the various magnetic, mechanical, and chemical effects in very long circuits ; and I devised a variety of instruments by which telegraphic communication should be realised on these principles. "Some time before Mr. Cooke introduced himself to me 136 Lives of the Electricians. I considercJ my experiments to be sufficiently matured to enable me to undertake some important practical results. I informed Mr. Fox, the engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway, of my expectations, and told him of my willingness to superintend the establishment of an electric telegraph on that railway. I had also made arrangements for trying an experiment across the Thames. Mr. Enderby kindly undertook to prepare the insulating rope containing the wires and to obtain permission from Mr. Walker to carry the other termination to his shot tower. After many experiments had been made with the rope, and the permission granted, I relinquished the ex- periment, because after my connection with Mr. Cooke it was necessary to divert the funds I had destined for this purpose to other uses. What I have stated above is sufficient to show that I had paid great attention to the subject of telegraphic communication by means of electricity, and had made important practical advances long before I had any acquaintance with or ever heard of Ivlr. Cooke." On reading this account two questions arise : first, ^vhether the Wheatstone telegraph was the first of its kind ; and, secondly, whether there is any corroborative evidence of the early labours of its inventor. These two questions at the time became interlinked in a singular way. . In iS;^;^ the celebrated scientists, Gauss and Weber, placed a line of wire from the Observatory of Gottingen University to a building a mile distant, and by sending magneto-electric currents through that wire they communicated intelligible signals ; but as the needle they used weighed nearly a hundredweight they saw that their apparatus needed much improvement before it would be of practical utility. Being otherwise engaged themselves, they invited Professor Steinheil, of Munich, to construct an improved electric telegraph ; and Steinheil, after much labour, succeeded in producing an apparatus capable of transmitting signals, Professor Wiieatstone. 137 but It was too refined for practical working with the means then avaihible. His instrument for receivincf and recording the signals consisted of two needles, one of which was to be moved by a positive and the other by a negative current, both currents being sent through one wire. Connected with each needle was a small reservoir of ink and a pen, which, on being depressed by the motion of the needle, marked a line upon a strip of paper that was drawn along by means of clockwork. At first he used a second wire for the return circuit, but in the course of his experiments he discovered that the earth was the best receiver of the return current, and accordingly dispensed with the second wire. Now, strange to say, the experiments connected with this telegraph of Steinheil's became indirectly a circumstantial witness of Professor Wheatstone's labours before ever he saw Mr. Cooke. The number of the Magazine of Popular Science published on March 1st, 1S37, contained "an account of some nevv^ experiments in electro-m-agnetism." It was a description of the experiments of Gauss at Gottingen, communicated to the Munich Academy of Sciences by Prof. Steinheil, who, in concluding, stated that he himself "had fitted up a telegraph similar in principle to that which connected the Observatory and the Cabinet of Natural Philosophy at Gottingen. Signals made in the room appropriated to the magnetic observations were transmitted to another depart- ment at a considerable distance, whence the answers were returned to the first room. He had arranged this apparatus for the purpose of demonstrating the peculiarities and the practicability of Professor Gauss's contrivance, hoping by these means to draw attention to it, and to induce persons to employ it for connecting stations far more distant than any to which it has yet been applied." To that was added the foUowincr : " NOTE BY EDITOR : Durinsr the month of June last year (1S36), in a course of lectures delivered at 138 Lives of the Electricians. King's College, London, Professor Wheatstone repeated his experiments on the velocity of electricity, which were published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1834, but with an insulated circuit of copper wire, the length of which was now increased to nearly four miles ; the thickness of the wire was ^^th of an inch. When machine electricity was employed, an electrometer placed on any point of the circuit diverged, and wherever the continuity of the circuit was broken, very bright sparks were visible. With a voltaic, or with a magneto-electric machine, w^ater was decomposed, the needle of a galvanometer deflected, &c., in the middle of the circuit. But, which has a more direct reference to the subject of our esteemed correspondent's com.munication from Munich, Professor Wheatstone gave a sketch of the means by which he proposes to convert his apparatus into an electric telegraph, which, by the aid of a few finger-stops, will instantaneously and distinctly convey communications between the most distant points. These experiments are, we understand, still in progress, and the apparatus, as it is at present constructed, is capable of conveying thirty simple signals, which, combined in various manners, will be fully sufficient for the purposes of tele- graphic communication." These words must have been in type, and most probably were printed before the day on which Mr. Cooke said he first saw Professor Wheatstone ; and they were certainly printed before the date fixed by Professor Wheatstone as the time of Mr. Cooke's introduction to him. Professor Wheatstone sa}'s : "I believe it was on the first day of IMarch, 1837, that Mr. Cooke introduced himself to me. He told me that he had applied to Dr. Faraday and Dr. Rogct for some information relative to the subject on which he was engaged, and that they had referred him to me. He gave me no clue as to the purpose he had in hand, I replied Professor Wheat stone. 139 tliat he was welcome to all the information I could give him, and that the experiments I had been making for some time relative to employing electric currents for the purpose of telegraphic communication would enable me to give him much of the information he required. At our next interview shortly after, he told me he was working at an electric telegraph, and that the questions he had previously put to me related to this subject. After that I showed him some of my apparatus, and explained my proposals. Mr, Cooke showed me some of his drawings and models. I at once told him it could not act as a telegraph, and to convince him of the truth of this assertion I invited him to King's College to see the repetition of my experiments. He came, and after seeing a variety of voltaic magnets, which even with powerful batteries exhibited only slight adhesive attraction, he expressed his disappointment in these words which I well remember : * Here is two years' labour wasted.' " With regard to IMr. Cooke's invention, so far from its being practically useful, he has never, during my whole acquaintance with him, shown it to me in action, even in a short circuit. Mr. Cooke's intention was, as he told me in the early stage of our acquaintance, to take out a patent for his invention. Mine was, when I had finished mv experiments, to publish the results, and then to allow any person to carry them into effect. When Mr. Cooke found that his instrument was inapplicable to the purpose pro- posed, and that my researches were more likely to be practically useful, he proposed a partnership, and that we should take out a joint patent. The proposal did not proceed from me, and the sole reason of my acquiescing in the arrangement was that Mr. Cooke appeared to me to possess the zeal, ability, and perseverance necessary to make the thing successful as a commercial enterprise. I felt confident of overcoming myself all the scientific and mechanical difficulties of the subject, but neither my 140 Lives of the Electricians.. occupations nor my inclination qualified me for the part j\Ir. Cooke promised to perform. He said he was not wanting a scientific reputation, his sole object being to make mioney by it. " The magnetic needle telegraph, as it appears in its most perfect state in the lecture room of the college, is to all intents and purposes entirely and exclusively my own invention. The original suggestion of Amj:ere (that a telegraph should be constructed by utilising the tendency of the magnetic needle always to place itself at right angles to an adjoining wire through which an electric current passed) was all that I borrowed in it. The most impor- tant point was my application of the theory of Ohin to telegraphic circuits, which enabled me to ascertain the best proportions between the length, thickness, g.nd cir- cumference of the multiplying coils and the other resis- tances in the circuit, and to determine the number and size of the elements of a battery to produce the maximum effect. With this law and its applications none of the persons who had before occupied themselves with experi- ments relating to electric telegraphs, had been acquainted." It may here be explained that Ohm was another eminent electrician, whose immortal discovery was at first consigned to neglect. His work, expounding the principle now known as Ohm's law, was published at Berlin in 1827 ; but was not translated into English till 1841. It is said that for the first ten years after the publication of his work, only one continental author admitted or confirmed his views, but between 1836 and 1841, scientific men began to appreciate the value of his researches. Wheatstone was one of them. In 1S41 Ohm was presented with the Copley gold medal of the Royal Society, when the President said : " Ohm has shown that the usual vague distinctions ol intensity and quantity have no foundation, and that all the explanations derived from these considerations were per- Professor Wiieatstone. 141 di- rectly erroneous. He has demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that the action of a circuit is equal to the sum of the electromotive force (E. M. F.) divided by the sum of the resistances, and that whatever the nature of the current, whether voltaic or thermo-electric, if this quotient be equal, the effect is the same." Mr. George Cruikshank afterwards published a statement confirming the claims of Professor Wheatstone. He said that having been a friend of Professor Wheatstone, he wished to state that "the discovery of the telegraph arose from the circumstance that when first appointed lecturer at King's College, he had seven miles of wire in the lower part of the building which abuts upon the river Thames, for the purpose of measuring the speed of lightning or the electric current. Upon one occasion when explaining his experiments to me, he said : ' I intend one day to lay some of this wire across the bed of the Thames and to carry it up to the Shot Tower on the other side, and so to make signals.' This was, I believe, the first idea or suggestion of a submarine telegraph. We are also indebted to him for the electric bell, for long before the telegraph came before the public, in explaining the machine to me, he said that as it was possible that one party might be asleep at one end of the wire, he had so arranged the working that the first touch should ring the bell at the other end, even if thousands of miles apart. This, it will be admitted, is an important part of the discovery." Next to the mechanism by which electric signals are made intelligible, one of the most important inventions is that by which an electric current is enabled to renew its strength as it goes along a great length of wire. The ap- paratus used for this purpose is called a relay, and the first man to publish an account of it was Prof. Wheatstone. Its mechanism is delicate and sometimes complex, but its principle can be easily understood. Most people under- 142 Lives of the Electricians, stand that when a railway train has run a great distance, the engine requires to take in water or coal, and for that purpose it sometimes moves on to a siding in connection with which there is a constant supply of water or coal. In like manner, on long telegraphic lines electric batteries are kept in readiness at certain distances ; but if they were connected with the main line it is obvious that their con- tents would be uselessly dissipated. They are therefore kept in a kind of siding, and are only temporarily con- nected with the main line for the purpose of replenishing a passing current. In the case of a railway the service of a pointsman is often needed to connect and disconnect a siding; but in the case of the telegraph the connecting link between the replenishing battery and the main line is made self acting. This is effected by the use of that property of electricity which causes an electrified wire to attract to it an adjacent piece of wire or iron. In the relay a needle or lever is so adjusted that when a feeble current comes along the main line, it attracts the needle of the relay line, and by means of this connection a fresh current from the local battery flows on to the line, and does the work which the original current had become too feeble to accomplish. This invention was embodied in the first patent of Professor Wheatstone ; and Professor Henry, of New York, has sworn to the fact that when he was in London, in 1837, Professor Wheatstone showed him in King's College, early in April, his method of bringing into action a second galvanic current by means of the deflection of a needle. Professor Bache was also present. The first patent was taken out in June, 1 837, in the joint names of Cooke and Wheatstone. Their telegraph had five wires and five needles. The guiding principle of their signalling apparatus was that a current of electricity on passing along a wire deflected the magnet or needle. Professor Wheatstone candidly acknowledged that he was Trofessor Wiieatstone. 143 not the discoverer of that principle ; but it was he who discovered the practical basis upon which the wires and magnets should be adjusted so as to produce the desired effects. He arranged in a row five needles like those in a mariner's compass ; and when a current of electricity was sent along one of the wires the needle attached to it could be deflected to the right or left at the will of the sender. In the original form of the receiving instrument \ , A , A, A J i FACE OF WIIEATSTONE's FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT. the needle was worked or deflected upon the face of a dial, upon which the letters of the alphabet were so arranged that any letter could be indicated at will by the sender making two of the deflected needles converge towards the desired letter. Any person could manipulate this instru- ment, as there was no secrecy or code involved in its signals. A glance at the illustration will show the simplicity of 144 • Lives of the Electricians. this apparatus. The objection to it was that it required five wires to transmit the signals and a sixth wire to bring back the electricity after it had done its work. But the only other electric telegraph then announced in England required twenty-six wires ; and it is in comparison with previous efforts that the first Wheatstone instrument should be judged. It is a curious fact that just fifty years after the invention of this instrument with six wires, a new system of telegraphing was tried by which six messages could be sent almost simultaneously on one wire, either all in one direction, or part of them in one direction and the remainder in the opposite direction. The first electric telegraph designed by Wheatstone was laid dowQ on the North Western Railway betv/een Euston Square and Camden Town Stations, a distance of a mile and a half. It was first worked on the evening of July 25th, 1837, which may be considered as the birthday of the electric telegraph in England. Let us see how and where it came to pass. Late in the evening, in a dingy little room near the booking office at Euston Square, by the light of a flaring dip candle, which only illuminated the sur- rounding darkness, sat the inventor with a beating pulse and a heart full of hope. In an equally small room at Camden Town Station, where the wires terminated, sat Mr. Cooke, his co-partner, and among others two witnesses well known to fame, Mr. Charles Fox and Mr. Stephenson. These gentlemen listene'd to tlie first word spelled by that trembling tongue of steel, which will only cease to speak with the extinction of man himself. Mr. Cooke, in his turn touched the keys and returned the answer. '' Never," said Professor Wheatstone, " did I feel such a tumultuous sensation before, as when all alone in the still room I heard the needles click, and as I spelled the words I felt all the magnitude of the invention now proved to be practicable beyond cavil or dispute." Professor Wiieatstone. . 145 Nevertheless the public treated it with indifference ; the directors of the railway soon gave it notice to quit, and one of them even denounced it as '' a new-fan<7led tiling." The next line of telegraph was made on the Great Western Railway. In July, 1839, a line of wires was laid from Paddington to West Drayton, a distance of thirteen miles. An arrangement had been made between the Railway Company and Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone to the effect that within a certain number of months after the telegraph had been laid and efficiently worked between these two places, the Railway Company might call on the patentees to give them a license for the whole of the line, and the Railway Company had the power to construct a telegraph all the way from Bristol to London for a certain number of years ; but the work not being done within the prescribed time, the agreement became void, and for some time the telegraph did not extend beyond Slough — a distance of seventeen miles. From the first the line to West Drayton worked satisfactorily. For the purpose of testing whether it could be relied on, it was used for nearly two months to communicate to Paddington the moment of the passing of the trains at West Drayton and Hanwell, and it was found to answer admirably. The cost of making that line was from ;^2 50 to i^3CO a mile, including the charge for station instruments. At first the wires placed in a tube were put underground, but it was soon found better to have them above ground, where they were less liable to injury from wet. Early in 1840 Professor Wheatstone claimed as the result of experience that thirty signals could be con- veniently made in a minute by this telegraph, and at the same time he stated that " having lately occupied myself in carrying into effect numerous improvements which had suggested themselves to me, I have, in conjunction with J\Ir. Cooke, who has turned his attention greatly to the L 146 Lives of the Electricians. same subject, obtained a new patent for a telegraph which I think will present very great advantages over the present one. It can be applied without entailing any additional expense by simply substituting new instruments for the old ones. This new instrument requires only a single pair of wires to effect all that the present one does with five ; so that three independent telegraphs may be immediately placed on the line of the Great Western. It presents in the same place all the letters of the alphabet according to the order of succession, and the apparatus is so extremely simple that any person, without any previous acquaintance with it, can send a communication and read the answer." When Professor Wheatstone made the above statement, he also explained that Mr. Cooke had devised an apparatus whereby a bell worked by one wire could be rung at the other end of the wire by the sender, in order to draw the attention of the receiver to the message about to be sent. He added that Mr. Cooke had particularly directed his at- tention to an arrangement by means of which communica- tions could be made from intermediate parts of the line where there were no fixed stations. For that purpose posts were placed at every quarter of a mile along the line from which the guard of a train might, if necessary, send a message to a station in either direction by means of a portable instrument which he was to carry with him. It was in the same year, after these statements were made, that Mr. Cooke began his series of complaints against Professor Wheatstone, whom he accused of claiming the invention of the telegraph as his exclusive work, and of omitting all mention of his (Mr. Cooke's) name in connection with it. Mr. Cooke now (1840) maintained that he him- self had invented the first telegraph, and thereupon a war of words arose as to the respective parts played by the patentees in the joint undertaking. The controversy thus raised between the two partners, Professor Wheatstone. 147 instead of being allowed to produce an instant rupture, which might have injured the progress of the telegraph, was submitted to the decision of Sir M. Isambard Brunei, engineer of the Thames Tunnel, and Professor Daniell, of King's College, the one a friend of I\lr. Cooke and the other a friend of Professor Wheatstone, and on April 27th, 1841, these two gentlemen drew up the following statement : '' In March, 1836, ]\Ir. Cooke, while engaged at Heidelberg in scientific pursuits, witnessed, for the first time, one of those well-known experiments with electricity considered as a possible means of communicating intelligence which have been tried and exhibited from time to time during many- years by various philosophers. Struck with the vast im- portance of an instantaneous mode of communication to the railways then extending themselves over Great Britain as well as to Government and general purposes, and im- pressed with the strong conviction that so great an object might be practically attained by means of electricity, Mr. Cooke immediately directed his attention to the adaptation of electricity to a practical system of tele- graphing, and giving up the profession in which he was engaged, he from that hour devoted himself exclusively to the realisation of that object. He came to England in April, 1836, to perfect his plans and instruments. In February, 1837, while engaged in completing a set of instruments for the intended experimental application of his telegraph to the tunnel of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, he became acquainted, through the introduction of Dr. Roget, with Professor Wheatstone, who had for several years given much attention to the subject of transmitting intelligence by electricity, and had made several discoveries of the highest importance connected with this subject. Among these were his well-known determination of the velocity of electricity when passing through a metal wire ; his experiments in which the deflection of magnetic needles, L 2 148 Lives of the Electricians. the decomposition of water, and other voltaic and magneto- electric effects were produced through greater lengths of wire than had ever before been experimented upon ; and his original method of converting a few wires into a con- siderable number of circuits, so that they might transmit the greatest number of signals that can be transmitted by a given number of wires by the deflection of magnetic needles. ''In May, 1837. Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone took out a joint English patent on a footing of equality for their existing inventions. The terms of their partnership, which were more exactly defined and confirmed in November, 1837, by a partnership deed, vested in Mr. Cooke as the originator of the undertaking the exclusive management of the invention in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies, with the exclusive engineering department, as between themselves, and all the benefits arising from the laying down of the lines and the manufacture of the instruments. As partners standing on a perfect equality, Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone were to divide equally all proceeds arising from the granting of licenses or from the sale of patent rights, a percentage being first payable to Mr. Cooke as manager. Professor Wheatstone retained an equal voice with ]\Ir. Cooke in selecting and modifying the forms of the telegraphic instruments, and both parties pledged them- selves to impart to each other for their equal and mutual benefit all improvements of whatever kind which they might become possessed of connected with the giving of signals or the sending of alarms by means of electricity. Since the formation of the partnership the undertaking has rapidly progressed under the constant and equally success- ful exertions of the parties in their distinct departments, till it has attained the character of a simple and practical system worked out scientifically on the sure basis of actual experience. "While Mr. Cooke is entitled to stand alone as the gentle- Professor Wheatstone. 149 man to whom this country is indebted for having practically introduced and carried out the electric telegraph as a useful undertaking, promising to be a work of national importance ; and Professor Wheatstone is acknowledged as the scientific man whose profound and successful researches had already prepared the public to receive it as a project capable of practical application ; it is to the united labours of two gentlemen so well qualified for mutual assistance that we must attribute the rapid progress which this important invention has made during the five years that they have been associated." For a time the rivalry or jealousy seemed at rest. Both Mr. Cooke and Professor Wheatstone concurred in the above statement, and Mr. Cooke gave prominence to the portions of it most favourable to him, claiming that such passages formed the award of an arbitration that resulted in his favour. But Professor Daniell in 1843 explained" that this document was not an " award " of the arbitrators, for the arbitration was not proceeded with. The arbitrators, considering the pecuniary interests at stake and the relative position of the parties, were of opinion, he said, that with- out entering into the evidence of the originality of the invention on either side, a statement of facts might be drawn up, of the principal of which there appeared to be no essential discrepancy in the statement of either party^ and that they might thus amicably settle the unfortunate misunderstanding that had occurred. He added that with a view to promote such an amicable settlement the arbitrators insisted', as a preliminary step, upon the withdrawal and destruction of 1000 copies of an ex parte statement of evidence proposed to be brought forward, and of a most intemperate address prepared by Mr. Cooke's solicitor. The lull produced by that document was only temporary. When anything was published making favourable mention of Professor Wheatstone's originality as the inventor oi the 150 Lives of tpie Electricians. telegraph, Mr. Cooke or his partisans openly accused the Professor of tampering with the press, and Mr. Cooke himself was not above publishing protestations for the purpose of showing his " own surprising forbearance," as well as the "egotism," 'Miumiliation," and " perseveringly repeated misrepresentations " of Professor Wheatstone ! In later years Mr. Cooke or his friends paraded before the public an article in his favour that appeared in a quarterly review since deceased. That article was repre- sented as having been v\Titten by Sir David Brewster, and as giving a correct account of the origin of the telegraph. It stated that Mr. Cooke had previously held a commission in the Indian Army, " and having returned from India on leave of absence and on account of ill health, he afterwards resigned his commission and went to Heidelberg to study anatomy. In the month of March, 1836, Professor Moncke of Heidelberg exhibited an electro-telegraphic experiment in which electric currents, passing along a conducting wire, conveyed signals to a distant station by the deflection of the magnetic needle inclosed in Schweigger's galvanometer or multiplier. The currents were produced by a voltaic battery placed at each end of the wire, and the apparatus was worked by moving the ends of the wires backward and forward between the battery and the galvanometer. I\Ir. Cooke was so struck with this experiment that he im- mediately resolved to apply it to purposes of higher utility than the illustration of a lecture, and he abandoned his anatomical pursuits and applied his whole energies to the invention of an electric telegraph. Within three weeks, in April, 1836, he made his first electric telegraph, partly at Heidelberg, and partly at Frankfort. It was of the gal- vanometer form consisting of six wires, forming three metallic circuits, and influencing three needles. By the combination of these, he obtained an alphabet of twenty- six signals. Mr. Cooke soon afterwards made anotlier Professor Wiieatstone. - 151 electric telegraph of a different construction. He had invented the detector, for discovering the locality of injuries done to the wires, the reciprocal communicator, and the alarm. All this was done in the months of March and April, 1836 ; and in June and July of the same year he recorded the details of his system in a manuscript pamphlet from which it v/as obvious that in July, 1836, he had wrought out his practical system from the minutest official details up to the records and extended ramifications of an important political and commercial engine." The article goes on to say that Vv^hen his telegraphic apparatus was completed, he showed it in November, 1836, to Mr. Faraday, and afterwards submitted it and his pamphlet in January, 1837, to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, with whom he made a conditional arrangement, with the view of using it on the long tunnel at Liverpool. In February, 1837, when he was about to apply for a patent he consulted Mr. Faraday and Dr. Roget on the construction of the electro-magnet employed in a part of his apparatus, and the last of these gentlemen advised him to consult Professor Wheatstone, to whom he went, according to Mr. Cooke's account, on the 27th of February, 1837. Now the article containing these statements was doubtless attributed to Sir David Brewster in the hope that his name would be accepted as a guarantee of its accuracy. Fortu- nately for all concerned, however, Sir David Brewster had previously placed on record his opinion on this question of the telegraph in a manner that put it beyond doubt. Asked by a Committee of the House of Lords in 185 1 whether Professor Wheatstone was the undoubted inventor of the electric telegraph. Sir David Brewster replied : " Undoubtedly he is." Further asked whether there was not a Swede who had paid great attention to the subject. Sir David said Oersted was the discoverer of electro- magnetism, but had that not been discovered at all, ordinary 152 Lives of the Electricians. magnetism was quite capable of being the moving power in the electric telegraph. He added that if electro- magnetism had been the only m.eans of working a telegraph, then the merit, not of the telegraph, but of what was necessary to the existence of the telegraph, would have belonged to Professor Oersted. When, on the other hand, the same Committee pressed Sir I. K. Brunei to say whom he considered the inventor of the telegraph, he replied : "Messrs Cooke and Wheatstone derive a large sum of money from the electric telegraph ; but I believe you will find fifty people who will say that they invented it also : I suppose it would be difficult to trace the original inventor of anything." It has never been denied, though often overlooked, that Mr. Cooke obtained his first idea of a telegraph from Professor Moncke of Heidelberg — a circumstance which detracts from its originality. But the matter did not rest there. When Mr. (then Sir) W. F. Cooke died in 1879, Mr. Latimer Clark published the portion of his private cor- respondence which related to his first connection with Professor Wheatstone, and although Mr. Latim.er Clark endeavoured to put everything in the light most favourable to Mr. Cooke, the letters of the latter in essential points confirm the case of Professor Wheatstone. For example, after writing numerous letters to his mother explaining that he was busy trying to make a telegraph, Mr. Cooke wrote on February 27th, 1837 • " Dissatisfied with the results ob- tained, I this morning obtained Dr. Roget's opinion, which was favourable but uncertain ; next Dr. P'araday's, who, though speaking positively as to the general results formerly, hesitated to give an opinion as to the galvanic fluid action on a voltaic magnet at a great distance when the question was put to him in that shape. I next tried Clark, a practical mechanician, who spoke positively in favour of my Professor Wiieatstone. 153 views, yet I felt less satisfied than ever, and called upon a Mr. Whcatstone, Professor of Chemistry at the London University, and repeated my inquiries. Imagine my satis- faction at hearing: from him that he had four miles of wire in readiness, and imagine my dismay on hearing afterwards that he had been employed for months in the construction of a telegraph, and had actually invented two or three with the view of bringing them into practical use. We had a long conference, and I am to see his arrangement of wire to-morrow morning, &c. . . . The scientific men know little or nothing absolute on the subject. Wheatstone is the only man near the mark." Mr. Latimer Clark accounts for the notice of Professor Wheatstone's experiments in the Magazine of Popular Science for March, 1837, by saying that it was " evidently inserted after the remainder of the articles had been completed, and set in type," and that Wheatstone supplied the information after Mr. Cooke's visit to him — a gratuitous assertion which is not supported by any positive evidence. Then, again, Mr. Latimer Clark, an eminent authority upon the laws of electricity, says, concerning Mr. Cooke's proposed telegraph, that " upon the whole the instrument, the result of such long cogitation and experiment, is disappointing, and one is not surprised at Wheatstone, with his exquisite mechanical appreciation, criticising it as severely as he did." Moreover, he admits that the first telegraph instrument used between Camden Town and Euston was Wheatstone's. Not less emphatic or explicit was the statement of the case given by Professor Wheatstone himself, and moreover it contained some passages of biographical interest. Addressing Mr. Cooke, he said : " You state that you alone had succeeded in reducing to practical usefulness the electric telegraph at the time you sought my assistance. This I wholly deny. Your instrument had never been practically applied, and was incapable of being so. Mine were all 154 Lives of the Electricians. founded on principles which I had previously proved by decisive experiments would produce the required effects at great distances. Your statement that I employed myself at your request in perfecting your invention in detail is equally erroneous. My time, so far as it was devoted to telegraphic researches, was exclusively occupied in perfect- ing my own instrument, which had nothing in common with yours, and in which I was not only known to be engaged by all my scientific friends, but which was even announced in public print before I knew of your existence. I confined myself to carrying out one of my own inventions for two reasons : First, because my experiments led me to believe that the motions of a needle could be produced at distances at which no effects of electro-magnetic attraction could be obtained ; and, secondly, I did not wish to inter- fere with you. With regard to the subsequent develop- ment of my first telegraph, the essential principles of which are the formation of numerous circuits from a few wires and the indication of characters by the convergence of needles, I am Indebted to no person whatever ; it is in all its parts entirely and exclusiv^ely my own. The modifi- cations you introduced without consulting me in the instruments for the Great Western Railway altered the simplicity and elegance of the arrangement without the slightest advantage, and I certainly should not recognise them in any published description." *' The circumstances under which your name was allowed to take the lead in the titles of the British patents have escaped your memory. I will endeavour to recall them to you. When you first proposed paitnership, you know how strongly I opposed it, and on what grounds. I said I was perfectly confident of being able to carry out my views to the end I anticipated, that I fully intended doing so, and publishing the results, then allowing any person to carry them into practical effect. I told you that, while I admired Professor WiiEATSTONE. 155 the Ingenuity of your contrivance I deemed it inapplicable to the purpose proposed, and I urged that in that case the association of my name with that of others would diminish the credit I should obtain by separately publishing the result of my researches. You replied that you were not seeking scientific reputation, and therefore no difference could arise between us on that account, and that your sole object was to carry the project into profitable execution. A patent was arranged to be taken out in our joint names which should include our two separate instruments. When we met to settle the preliminaries for the English patent I was much surprised to find your name inserted first, considering that, as Vv'e put ourselves on an equality by each contributing an Inv^ention, to put my well-known name after yours, then totally unknown, might be construed into an admission of the superiority of your share. You urged that your pecuniary obligations were the greater, and that as I intended to leave negotiations with you, your authority might be less respected if your name appeared second, and that your invention was the more valuable — an assumption I did not admit, and the event proved I was right. But we agreed that in subsequent patents the order should alternate. Some time after we met to settle the Scotch patent draft, for v.^hich you had prepared the declaration. I was again surprised to find the same order of precedence repeated, and I objected to it as contrary to our previous understanding. You said it had been done without your knov/ledge, but objected to the alteration on the ground of delay. After discussion we made a new arrangement, that on my allowing your name to stand on the British patents, mine should take the lead in all foreign ones. It was resolved afterwards that an American patent should be obtained, and when I attended to sign the preliminary papers, I found that again, without any notice to me, my name was made to follow yours, I refused to sign the 156 Lives of ti-ie Electricians. papers, and you then consented to keep your word. The only reason you alleged was that your authority as manager would be diminished if you appeared as second partner. '* When I had attained some complete results, I invited you to the College to see them, and before describing or showing the new experiments and instruments, I proposed conditions : That having, at my own expense, undertaken a series of investigations which led to important consequences greatly increasing the pecuniary value of the patents, and having invented new instruments which, besides being applicable to all the purposes for which the existing arrangements could be applied, might also be profitably applied to otherpurposes to which the previous instruments were not at all adapted, I required as a compensation that I should retain the exclusive right of manufacturing them and all instruments I should construct involving the same principles, and also the privilege of employing them exclu- sively for domestic and official purposes. To these condi- tions you assented, and afterwards I showed you the completed instruments, and read to you a list of the further experiments. You confirmed your assent. On this occasion you breathed not a word respecting the claim since put forward to be considered the joint inventor of my new instruments. " You ask me to acknowledge that ^ I, having certain improvements on our joint invention in progress depending fundamentally upon principles first discovered and applied by you, had asked as a favour,' &c. It is unjust to urge such an acknowledgment upon me, and I state plainly that nothing shall compel me to make it. My instruments are original combinations involving a great number of points entirely new. With equal justice Mr. Ronalds might call upon me to declare that he is the joint inventor, because, like him, I use a revolving dial with letters — or Professor Steinheil complain of my suppressing his name because, in Professor Wiieatstone. 157 one of my most recent important modifications I employ, as he has done, the magneto-electric machine — as you to put forth that claim, because in some of my new instru- ments I have employed magneto-electric attraction, which you had done before me in your instrument ; or with the same reason might Mr. Morse call upon me to proclaim him to be joint inventor because he, independentl)^ of you, has employed an electro-magnet to move machinery intended for a telegraph. One of your complaints is, that in the notices of my experiments in Belgium the employ- ment of two wires for an electric telegraph was not specifi- cally mentioned as a discovery of yours. Such a claim on your part has no foundation, for, without going further back, Ronalds' two telegraphs — two telegraphs on different principles, which I myself proposed before I knew you, — and Steinheil's telegraph, with which I was acquainted before yours, had two wires. You forget that it is my electric telegraph, and not yours, that is in daily use. And, lastly, you forget that, had it not been for my exclu- sive attention to it since I first conceived the idea, a practical telegraph might still have remained an un- accomplished purpose. " Do not, however, misunderstand me. Far be it from me to underrate your exertions ; they have been very great, and absolutely indispensable to the success of our joint undertaking. Without your zeal and perseverance and practical skill, what has been done would not have been so readily effected ; but on the other hand, I may say, that had you entered the field without me, your zeal, perseve- rance, and money would have been thrown away." His subsequent as well as his previous inventions afford the strongest evidence of his originality. His inventions were not more distinguished for ingenuity than for perma- nent usefulness, and they had this unusual characteristic, that nearly every one of them became the parent of a 158 Lives of the Electricians. considerable offspring. These form his most enduring monument, and a simple record of them forms his best vindication. In 1840 he produced three inventions at one birth — his dial telegraph, his printing telegraph, and his electric clock. Each of these instruments was worked by utilising one of the great discoveries previously made in electro-magnetism. It was known that when an electric current is sent through a wire coiled round a piece of soft iron, the iron becomes a magnet. If the current is stopped for a moment, the iron instantly ceases to act as a magnet. When the piece of iron is magnetic, it will attract another piece of iron, and as the attraction ceases as soon as the current ceases, the iron can then by means of a spring be made to resume its original position. Thus by frequently interrupting an electric current, a piece of iron held in its place by a small spring can be made to move to and fro as often as it is attracted. Professor Wheatstone invented a method of regulating the application of the current to such a magnet, and of converting the to-and-fro motion of the iron into symbols. The piece of mechanism that regulated the current was a wheel called a commutator or com- municator; around its circumference were twenty-four teeth ; and each tooth was made to act as a conductor of electricity in this way : Under the teeth of the communicator there was a metallic circle which was con- nected with the telegraph wire ; and in this metallic circle twenty-four pieces of wood were inserted at equal dis- tances apart; so that the teeth of the communicator, which was connected by wire with the battery, at one moment touched the conducting metal of the circle underneath it, and thus imparted a current to the telegraph wire, while at the next turn a pace round they rested on the non-conducting wood, by which the current was prevented from passing from the communicator wheel to the telegraph wire. In a complete Professor Wheatstone. 159 revolution of such a wheel the current would be twenty- four times established and as often interrupted ; and each of these twenty-four alternations w^as made to indicate a letter of the alphabet at the other end of the wire by means of a piece of mechanism like a clock. When the current passed along the wire, it electrified a magnet, which then drew towards it an armature (apiece of iron). The movement of this armature (forward by electricity and backward again by a spring) acted like a pendulum in moving awheel, which in turn moved a hand on a dial containing the letters of the alphabet. Just as at each movement of the pendulum of a clock, a wheel moves one tooth forward ; so at each move- ment of the armature by an electric current, a twenty-four toothed wheel was moved one tooth forward, and at each such movement the hand on the dial moved from one letter of the alphabet to the next one. If, for instance, the indicator hand stood at A and it was desired to transmit E, this would be done by moving the . communicator wheel four teeth onward ; in doing that four successive currents would be transmitted to the indicator, the hand of which would consequently move overB, C, D, and then reach E, where a pause would indicate that this was the letter intended to be read. This was called Wheatstone's electro- magnetic telegraph, because it was worked by an electric current from a battery electrifying a magnet. In 1 841 he invented a machine in which, magnets pro- duced electricity sufficient to work the telegraph. Hence it was called a magneto-electric machine, and the telegraph worked by it was called a magneto-electric telegraph. In 1840 he explained that magneto-electricity was of momen- tary duration as contrasted with the continuous action of electro-maG^netism. The mag^neto-electrlc machine then in use consisted of a coil or coils of insulated wire being made to revolve in the vicinity of a magnet, or the magnet re- volving in the vicinity of the insulated coils of wire, and i6o Lives of the Electricians. this apparatus only produced a series of shocks, or instanta- neous as compared with continuous currents. His new invention combined several of these machines into one by so uniting their coils as to form one continuous circuit, thereby producing the same effect as a perfectly continuous current. He said this magneto-electric machine could be used for many purposes for which a voltaic battery had been employed. The patent for it was taken out in his own name. Meanwhile another competitor had begun to challenge his originality. On November 26, 1840^ Professor Wheat- stone read a paper before the Royal Society describing his electro-magnetic telegraph clock as his own invention. He also showed the clock in action in the library. In January following he received notice from a Mr. Barwise, of St. Martin's Lane, that he claimed to be the inventor of the clock, and shortly afterward it was stated in placards that Messrs. Barwise and Bain were the joint inventors. At first Professor Wheatstone took little notice of the attacks thus made upon his originality, but in June, 1842, he Vv'^as directly charged by Mr. Bain in the public press with ap- propriating his inventions. In reply to that accusation, Professor Wheatstone stated that Alexander Bain was a working mechanic who had been employed by him between the months of August and December, 1840 ; and to the allegation that Bain communicated the invention of the clock to him in August, 1840, he answered that there was no essential difference between his telegraph clock and one of the forms of his electro-magnetic telegraph, which he had patented in January, 1840; that the former was one of the numerous and obvious applications which he had made of the principle of the telegraph, and that it only required the idea of telegraphing time to present itself and any workman of ordinary skill could put it in practice — in telegraphing messages the wheel for making and breaking the circuit .Professor Wiieatstone. i6i was turned round by the finc^er of the operator, while in telegraphing time it was carried round by the arbor of a clock. He also stated that, long before the date specified, ,he mentioned to many of his friends how the principle of his telegraph could be applied "to enable the time of a single clock to be shown simultaneously in all the rooms of a house, or in all the houses of a town connected to- gether by wires." The accuracy of these statements was verified by Dr. \V. A. Miller, of King's College, and by Mr. John Martin, the emiinent artist. The latter stated that Professor Wheatstone explained to him in May, 1840, his proposed application of his electric telegraph for the pur- pose of showing the time of a distant clock simultaneously in as many places as might be required. Mr. ]\Iartin, on hearing the explanation, said to him, ''You propose to lay on time through the streets of London as we now lay on water." Mr. F. O. Ward, a former student of King's College, stated that Professor Wheatstone explained the matter to him on June 20, 1840. While watching the motions of the dial telegraph as he turned the wheel that made and broke the circuit, Mr. Ward remarked that if it were turned round at a uniform rate, the signals of the telegraph would indicate time, to which Professor Wheatstone replied : " Of course they would, and I have arranged a modification of the telegraphic apparatus by which one clock may be made to show time in a great many places simultaneously;" and the Professor showed him drawings of an apparatus for that purpose, in which the making and breaking of the circuit by the alternate motion of the pendulum of a clock, would produce isochronous signals on any number of dials, provided they were connected by wire. The electric clock in question has been repeatedly tried, but has not answered expectations. Mr. Alexander Bain also accused Professor Wheatstone of appropriating his printing telegraph. He said he com- 1 62 Lives of the Electricians. municated the invention of the electric clock, together with that of the electro-magnetic printing telegraph, to Professor Wheatstone in August, 1840, before ever Professor Wheat- stone did anything in the matter. To that the Professor replied that the printing apparatus was merely an addition to the electro-magnetic telegraph, of which he was un- doubtedly the inventor. As to the way in which this telegraph printed the letters, he explained that for the paper disc (or dial) of the telegraph, on the circumference of which the letters were printed, he substituted a thin disc of brass, cut from the circumference to the centre so as to form twenty-four radiating arms on the extremities of which types were fixed. This type-wheel could be brought to any desired position by turning the commutator wheel. The additional parts consisted of a mechanism which, when moved by an electro-magnet caused a hammer to strike the desired type — brought opposite to it — against a cylinder, round which were rolled several sheets of thin white paper along with the alternate blackened paper used in manifold writing. By this means he obtained at once several distinct printed copies of the message transmitted. He maintained that the plan was begun and carried out solely by himself ; and Mr. Edward Cowper stated, as corro- borative evidence, that on June 10, 1840, he sent a note to Professor Wheatstone (who had previously told him of the contrivance by which his telegraph could be made to print), giving him information, which he had asked for, respecting the mode of preparing manifold writing paper, and the best form of type for printing on it. It was also at the beginning of 1840 that he invented the ** chfonoscope," an instrument for measuring the dura- tion of small intervals of time. It was used for measurinor the velocity of projectiles, and consisted of a clock move- ment set free at the moment a ball was discharged from a gun, and stopped when the ball reached the target. P'or Professor Wiieatstone. 163 this purpose a wire in an electric circuit at the gun's mouth was broken at the instant the ball passed out of the gun ; and the circuit was completed when the ball reached the target, the circuit acting on the clock movement by means of an electro-magnet. It was publicly stated in 1 84 1 by independent witnesses that the chronoscope was capable of indicating the one 7300th part of a second ; and the inventor himself stated in 1845 that with it the law of accelerated velocities had been obtained with mathe- matical rigour, that with it he could measure the fall of a ball from the height of an inch, and that by different arrangements which he had adopted to render the instru- ment applicable to different series of experiments, he in- tended to employ it for measuring the velocity of sound through air, water, and masses of rock, with an approxi- mation that had never been obtained before. In 1843 he brought before the Royal Society several methods of measuring the force of an electric current, and the paper he then read, and the methods he described, were for many years unrivalled both for simplicity and in- genuity. Speaking of electricity as an energetic source of light, of heat, of chemical action, and of mechanical power — prescient words in those days — he said it was only necessary to know the conditions under which its various effects may be most economically and energetically manifested to enable us to determine whether the high expectations formed in many quarters of some of its daily increasing practical applications are founded on reasonable hope or on fallacious conjecture. He considered that they had ample theory, but not enough of experiment to supply, except in a few cases, the numerical value of the constants which enter into various voltaic circuits ; and without that know- ledcre accurate conclusions could not be arrived at. He explained that electro-motive force (E.M.F.) meant the cause which in a closed circuit originated an electric M 2 164 Lives of the Electricians. current ; that by resistance was signified the obstacle op- posed to the passage of the electric current by the bodies through which it passed ; and that resistance was the inverse of what is usually called their conducting power. The principle of his methods was the use of variable instead of constant resistances, bringing thereby the currents com- pared to equality, and inferring from the amount oi the resistances measured out between two deviations of the needle the electro-motive force and the resistances of a circuit, according to the particular conditions of the ex- periment. If a needle be connected with two coils of wire, and if a current be sent through one coil, the needle will be deflected to one side. If at the same time a current of the sam.e strength be sent through the other coil, the currents will neutralize each other and the needle will remain at rest. This is what is called a differential galvanometer, and when two currents of different strength are sent through it simultaneously the needle is only affected by^ their difference. One form in which Pro- fessor Wheatstone used this principle has ever since been known as " the Wheatstone bridge." It is a method by Vv'hich pieces of wire of known resistance are interposed in a circuit until the current in the wire to be tested counter- balances that of the wire used as a standard of resistance ; when that happens the needle indicator stands still, the wire to be tested being novv^ of the same resistance as that of the known standard. Professor Wheatstone perceived that it was of the highest importance to have a correct standard of resistance, and one that could be easily reproduced for the purpose of comparison. He therefore adopted as a unit of resistance a copper wire one foot in length, 100 grains in weight, and '07 1 of an inch in diameter. He was the first man who made a unit of resistance, and who introduced into electrical science the name of a unit and multiples of a unit; and when, nearly Professor Wiieatstone. 165 a quarter of a century afterward, the British Association ap- pointed a committee on electrical standards, their reports describing about a dozen standards, paid a tribute to the originality of Professor Wheatstone as the introducer of the first unit. He was not, however, the first to use the method of measuring electrical currents or the resistance of wires, since known as the Wheatstone Bridge. In a note appended to his paper read before the Royal 'Society in 1843 he stated that Mr. Christie had described the same principle in the PJiilosopJiical Transactions for 1833, and added that '* to Mr. Christie must therefore be attributed the first idea of this useful and accurate method of measur- •ing resistances." Mr. Christie, who was connected with the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, said in his paper that the arrangement he proposed possessed many advantages ; it afforded a very accurate measure of the difference of intensities of two electric currents, whether they were from the same source and' were merely modified by circumstances, or had different sources; and it afi*orded* likewise a very accurate measure of the conducting powers of different substances. Mr. Christie did not, however, succeed in drawing attention to this method, and it lay unheeded till Professor Wheatstone revived it and ex- pounded it with matchless clearness. He at the same time devised an instrument called the Rheostat, in which a highly resisting w^ire was so wound round the surface of a cylinder that any length of it could be connected with a circuit by merely turning round the handle of the cylinder till the needle or galvanometer connected w^ith it shovv^ed that the resistance of the v/ire on the cylinder was equal to that of the wire to be tested. As the resistance of the wire on the cylinder was accurately known beforehand, the length of it required to counterbalance the resistance of the wire in course of beinp- tested became the measure of the latter. The wire on the cylinder may be compared to a wind- 1 66 Lives of the Electricians. ing measuring line ; only being of high resisting power, a short length of it suffices to measure a long wire of low resistance. Professor Wheatstone told the Royal Society in 1843 that he had employed the Rheostat and differential re- sistance measurer (the Wheatstone Bridge) for several years previously for the purpose of investigating the nature of electrical currents — a statement which had received a singularly generous corroboration; for in 1S40 Professor Jacobi told the British Association meeting in Glasgow that Professor Wheatstone had shown him in London an instrument for regulating a galvanic current, similar in principle to one that he had laid before the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences at the beginning of that year. Pro- fessor Jacobi, in stating that it was quite impossible that Professor Wheatstone could have had any knowledge of his similar instrument, said he must add that while he had only used his instrument for regulating the force of currents, Professor Wheatstone had founded upon it a new method of measuring those currents and of determining the different elements of them. The Royal Society, which in 1840 had presented him with a royal medal "for the ingenious method by vvhich he had solved the difficult question of binocular vision," presented him with another medal in 1843, when the President, the Marquis of Northampton, said: "I now present you with this medal, one of those intrusted to the President and Council of the Royal Society by Her INlost Gracious Majesty, for your paper entitled, 'An account of several new Instruments and Processes for determining the Constants of the Voltaic Circuit.' This is not the first time that I have had the pleasing task of acknowledging on the part of the Royal Society the great ingenuity as well as knowledge that you bring to the increase of science. You not only add to our store of knowledge, but you give to Professor Wiieatstone. 167 others the means of doing so too. You not only set the example of scientific pursuit, but you also facilitate it in those who may become at once your followers and your rivals. In the particular case before us you have intro- duced accuracy where even rough numerical data were almost wholly wanting. The improvement of such facilities in any branch of science can hardly be overstated." In 1845 3. patent was taken out for a new form of needle telegraph, respecting the origin of which Mr. Latimer Clark relates the following incident as told to him by IMr. Greener some fifteen years after it occurred. A very high tide wiiich occurred in 1841 caused an inundation of the Blackwall Railway, and injured the piping in which were inclosed the seven or eight wires then in use — they were then using a wire to each station ; so that only one wire or two could be worked. IMr. Cooke, who was the practical engineer of the telegraph, was much concerned lest some accident might happen through the failure of the telegraph, whereby they would, he feared, be unable to communicate with the in- termediate stations from the Blackwall end of the line.' In view of this contingency Mr. Greener and another clerk arranged a code of signals which could be worked on one wire by simply deflecting the needle alternately, once, twice, or thrice, to the right or left ; and in this way they managed to carry on communications respecting their dinners and other private matters. " Mr. Cooke, on being informed that it was still possible to telegraph, gladly availed him- self of the new means of communication by one wire, and from that moment our well-known single and double-needle instrument was practically invented. If these statements be accurate the first idea of the double-needle telegraph did not originate either with Wheatstone or Cooke, but was sug- gested by Mr. Greener and his partner, who was at this time engaged with him on the Blackwall telegraph." In the popular accounts of great -discoveries or inven- 1 68 Lives of the Electricians. tions it is generally the falling of an apple that is said to suggest to a Newton the law of gravitation, or it is the boiling of a tea-kettle that suggests to a Watt the mechanism of the steam-engine. This has become the orthodox way of accounting for the trium.phs of minri" over matter in order to make them acceptable to intellectual mediocrity. Indeed, the Abbe Raynal says that^the only difference between a genius and one of common capacity is that the former anticipates and explores what the latter accidentally hits upon. But, he adds, " even the man of genius himaself more frequently employs the advantages that chance presents to him ; it is the lapidary that gives value to the diamond which the peasant has dug up without knowing its worth." Now it is a curious fact that v.diile the needle telegraph was one of the -few telegraphic inventions of Professor Wheatstone that was undisputed during his lifetime, the preceding^ account of its origin was never publicly micntioncd till after his death. Facts, however, are against its accuracy. The high tide referred to in the story occurred on November i8th^ 1 841, after the five-needle telegraph had been in operation on the Great Western Railway more than two years ; and a few weeks' experience of its working enabled a clerk of ordinary intelligence to tell the letters transmitted by the movemxcnt of the needles, even if the printed letters on the dial to wliich the needles pointed w-ere covered over or obliterated. A minute's examination of the five-needle instrument shows that a difterent combination of move- ments is required to represent each letter, and if these combinations be learned by a few weeks' practice, or bo written down on paper, they constitute a complete alphabet of signs. And that alphabet of signs which the five-needle instrument first taught could obviously be produced by a single needle. Thus on tlie five-needle instrument A is represented by the movement of the first needle to the Professor Wiieatstone. 169 right, and the fourth from it to the left ; but it would also be represented by the movement of one needle first to the rio-ht and thefi four times to the left. In like manner B is represented on the five-needle instrument by the first needle moving to the right and the third from it to the lc(t. By means of a single needle it could be represented by one movement to the right and three to the left ; and so on with the other letters. Experience has suggested that the alphabet could be represented by fewer movements than those practically exhibited by the five-needle instru- ment ; but it is obvious that a few weeks' working of the /five-needle instrument— and not a flood in the Thames — • was sufficient to show that the movements of needles, without a dial or a printed alphabet, could be made to convey intelligence. This is Ho mere speculation. More than this was in actual operation on theBlackwall Railway ; for in a contemporaneous account it is stated that the wires run all along the line inclosed in a metal tube, and the arrangement is such that whenever a particular index deviates to the ricfht or left at the Minories Station, an index deviates to the rioht or left at all' the other stations at the same instant. " If then," says the contemporary writer, "a preconcerted alphabet, or key, or dictionary, or table of signals be agreed on, the relative positions of tv/o or more index- hands will serve to convey a message. By the side of the telegraphic case a large chart is hung u.p, containing about a hundred sentences, -instructions or questions, each of which is symbolled by a particular position of two or three index hands. Thus one position, capable of being effected by tv\'o movements of the handles, implies, ' Will the next train wait for the next steam -boat .'' ' Another implies, 'Will the steam-boat wait for the next train.?' And others : * How many passengers ? ' ' Hov/ many ' carriages ?' and various inquiries and directions relating to the engines, the ropes, the telegraphs, and the steam-boats 170 Lives of the Electricians, which start from and arrive at Blackwall." The writer added that by employing the combined simultaneous motion of three or four needles, the five-wire telegraph would afford nearly 200 signals, besides those appropriated to the alphabetic characters. It thus appears that the idea of making the deviations of a needle represent messages or letters was not only obvious but in daily use. Yet the erroneous traditions that already envelop the infancy of this telegraph do not end here. The contemporaneous account just quoted concludes with the remark that a telegraph like that used on the Blackwall Railway and the Great Western Raih»vay, if consisting merely of three needles and giving only twelve signs, has a power of combination fully equal to the semaphore then in use ; and in recent years it has been represented by persons of authority in the telegraph world .that the double-needle instrument formed the transition stage from five needles to one. Hence the single-needle instrument has generally been regarded as a gradual im- provement of the parent instrument of five needles. But the fact is that, both the single and double-needle instru- ment were minutely described in one and the same patent taken out in 1845. In that description, which would fill a chapter of this book, Professor Wheatstone was more careful to explain the advantages of the single than of the double-needle instrument. He expressly disclaimed any intention to lay down a particular signification to the signals by which the alphabet could be represented ; he merely gave illustrations to show how^ easily a sufficient variety of signals could be obtained. At the same time he gave an alphabet of signs suitable for a single-needle instrument, and although experience has suggested a more convenient combination of signals, it is on record that within a year or two after the patent for the single and double-needle telegraphs was taken out, the single-needle Professor Wheatstone. 171 instrument was tried on some of the railway lines, and the alphabet of signals used was that which the five needle instrument suggested, with slight modifications. The single needle, however, was considered deficient in rapidity; and consequently to obtain greater speed the double-needle in- strument was preferred. One of the first lines to adopt it was the South Western ; it soon came to be regarded as the most rapid means of telegraphing ; and hence it came into general use. It maintained its supremacy in England till more expeditious instruments were invented, and then it was gradually superseded by the single-needle instrument, which was found to be more accurate and economical. Now the single-needle instrument may be seen at most railway stations and rural post offices in the United Kingdom. In this instrument the needle when moved by a current to the right hand or the left, strikes against a projecting pin placed on each side to arrest its motion ; the sender by moving a handle can defiect the needle at will either to the right or the left ; one deflection to the left and one to the right represents A ; one to the right and three to the left E ; one to the right, one to the left, another one to the right and another to the left C ; one to the right and two to the left D ; and so on. None of the twenty-four letters of the alphabet has more than four deflections. While E has one to the left, I has two, S three, and H four. T has one to the right, M two, O three, and Ch. four. It was calculated that about 15,000 of these instruments were in use in Great Britain in 18S5. Meanwhile another improvement of a permanent nature had taken place. The use of the earth instead of a special wire as the return circuit was first adopted in England on the Blackwall Railway telegraph in 1841, and on the Manchester and Leeds line in 1843. The history of this improvement is curious. In .1838 Professor Steinheil used the X 172 Lives of the Electricians. earth to complete the circuit of an electric telegraph which he established at iMunich, and he has generally been regarded as the first electrician who purposely did so. But William Watson discovered the same thing in 1747. He erected a wire fully two miles long over Shooter's Hill, supporting it upon -rods of wood. When electricity was communicated to the wire at one end, the shock at the other end appeared to be instantaneous, and the electricity was 'then com- municated to the earth by means of a rod of iron. It is also on record that in I7|6 Kennersley, of Boston, suggested t5 the celebrated Franklin that '' as water is a conductor as well as metals, it is to be considered whether a river or a lake, or sea may not be made part of the circuit through which the electric fire passes instead of a circuit all of wire." This expedient, though now considered essential to the successful v/orking of a telegraph, v/as not practically adopted till nearly a century afterwards, when it was found that as soon as the electricity had done its work the best thing to do with it was to convey it into the earth, for just as the flow of rivers is accelerated by their waters falling into the sea, so electric conduction is greatly improved by establishing a good connection betw^een the end of a telegraph wire and the earth. Thus it Vv^as found in 1841 that by leading the electricity to the earth, after it had done its work at the telegraphic apparatus, the wire which had been previously used to bring it back, or to complete the circuit, could be dispensed with, that by the earth thus absorbing the electricity its transmission along the wire was greatly facilitated, and that it could be transmitted to a greater distance and through a smaller wire. CHAPTER III. *' In conducting the petty affairs of life, cornuion sense is certainly a more useful quality than genius itself. Genius, indeed, or that fine enthusiasm which carries the mind into its highest sphere, is clogged and impeded in its ascent by the ordinary occupations of the woidd, and seldom regains its natural liberty and pristine vigour except in solitude. Minds anxious to reach the regions of philosophy and science have indeed no other means of rescuing themselves from the burden and thraldom of worldly affairs." — ZIMMERMAN. The invention of electrical apparatus had reached a stage of progress in 1841 sufficiently advanced to make the telegraph a practical success. What was next wanted v\^as the general adoption of the telegraph by the public, and this WRS the task which exercised the business energy of Mr. Cooke. It was fortunate that the dispute between Professor Wheatstone and l^.Ir. Cooke as to the origin of the telegraph did not interfere with their efforts to promote its extension. Like most new inventions, it had to fight its way at first. In 1841 Mr. Cooke wrote a small book on TelegrapJiic Railways ; or tJie Single IVay, in which he con- tended that the whole system of double way, time tables, and signals of railways was a vain attempt to attain indirectly and very iinperfectly, at any cost, that safety from collision which would be perfectly and cheaply conferred by the electric telegraph. It was well known, he said, that on the Blackwall Railway '' the carriages on each line are moved by what is called 'a tail rope,' to which they are attached and which is almost incessantly being drawn along the line to be wound up on a drum at 174 Lives of the Electricians. one terminus or the other, by the alternate action of the stationary engines. It is consequently necessary that before the engineman appHes the power of his engine to the rope for the purpose of giving motion to a train, he should receive a specific intimation from every other station that its carriage is attached to the rope ready to start ; otherwise an independent and uncontrolled motive power acting from the terminus would frequently cause dreadful collisions among carriages placed at stations so nearly adjacent as those of Shadwell, Stepney, Limehouse, the West India Docks, and Poplar." But such a matter of fact illustration was not enough for ]\Ir. Cooke to give ; so after dilating on the good the telegraph \Vas likely to do as the handmaid of the railway, he concluded by saying that " as the basis of an essentially -new system of railway communication, at once safe, economical, and efficient, the electric telegraph may diffuse its blessings of rapid inter- course to districts which could never otherwise enjoy them. It may increase the revenues of the greatest lines by adding to them fresh sources of lateral traffic ; it may permanently raise the price of shares by opening important lines now destitute of the means of completion ; and reduce indefinitely the expense of travelling on lines yet to be made. Above all it may accomplish the otherwise scarcely attainable union by railway between England and Scotland, and perhaps realise the patriotic aspirations of those who see in an extended system of railways employing her popula.tion and developing her resources, a restoration of tranquillity to Ireland." No wonder that Professor Wheatstone appreciated Mr. Cooke's " zeal and persever- ance," not to speak of his imagination. But all these were insufhcient. Throughout the year 1842 a prominent advertisement in the Raihvay Times invited the attention of railway companies, engineers, and other parties requiring a certain and instantaneous mode of communicating Intel- Professor Wheatstone. 175 ligencc between distant points, to Messrs. Cooke and Wheatstone's electric telegraph, an invention which, " besides its superiority for general telegraphic purposes, in point of expedition, secrecy, night action, and preliminary warning, is peculiarly adapted to the use of railways," and "is also well adapted for mines, coal pits, docks, &c." At the same time the general public were being invited to witness its performances as the latest and greatest sensation in London. One announcement issued in 1842 stated that '' under the special patronage of Her Majesty and H. R. H. Prince Albert, the public are respectfully informed that this interesting and extraordinary apparatus, by which upwards of fifty signals can be transmitted 280,000 miles in one minute, may be seen in operation daily (Sundays excepted) from 9 A.M. till 8 P.!\I. at the telegraph office, Paddington, and telegraph cottage, Slough. Admission i^." Those who were among the first to respond to thi? tempting invitation must have marvelled at the littleness of the apparatus capable of doing such wonderful work. It was inclosed in a mahogany case a little larger than a hat-box, which stood upon a table ; it was worked by pressing small brass keys, similar to those on a keyed bugle, and spectators were informed that these keys act- ing, by means of electric power, upon various hands placed upon a dial plate at the other end of the line made them point not only to each letter of the alphabet as each key was struck or pressed, but when desired to numerals and to points of punctuation, such as a comma, colon, &c. When any mistake was made in transmitting a message, and a certain key was struck in consequence, it made the hand point to an X, which indicated that an "erasure " was intended. Ere long its utility was shown to be greater than Its novelty. As it continued in good working order, events occurred which demonstrated its value. For instance, it 176 Lives of the Electricians. transmitted the following messages which effected results that excited public interest at the time : — Eton Montem, August 28th, 1844. — The Commissioners of Police have issued orders that several officers of the detective force shall be stationed at Paddington to watch the movements of suspicious persons going by the down- train, and give notice by the electric telegraph to the Slough station of the number of such suspected persons and dress, their names if known, also the carriages in v/hich they are. Paddington, 10.20 A.M. — Mail train just started. It contains three thieves, named Sparrow, Burrell, and Spurgeon, in the first compartment of the fourth hrst-class carriage. Slough, 10.48 A.M. — Mail train arrived. The officers have cautioned the three thieves. Paddington, 10,50 A.^L — Special train just left. It con- tained two thieves : one named Oliver Martin, who is dressed in black, crape on his hat. The other, named Fiddler Dick, in black trousers and light blouse. Both in the third compartment of the first second-class carriage. Slough, 11.16 A.M. — Special train arrived. Officers have taken the two thieves into custody, a lady having lost her bag containing a purse with two sovereigns and some silver in it ; one of the sovereigns was sworn to by the lady as having been her property. It was found in Fiddler Dick's watch-fob. Slough, II. 5 1 A.InI. — Several of the suspected persons who came by the various dov/n trains are lurking about Slough, uttering bitter invectives against the telegraph. Not one of those cautioned has ventured to proceed to the Montem. It was afterwards reported that when the train arrived at Slough a policeman, opening the door of the carriage Professor Wiieatstone. 177 described in the telegram, asked if any passenger had missed anything. On search being made by the astonished passengers, one of them, the lady, exclaimed that her purse was gone. " Then you are wanted, Fiddler Dick," said the constable to the thief, who appeared thunderstruck at the supernatural discovery. Fiddler Dick surrendered himself, and delivered up the stolen money. It was said that after that the light-fingered gentry avoided " the wire." Another placard which was distributed all over London informed the public that "the telegraph, Great Western Railway, may be seen in constant operation daily, Sundays excepted ; by this powerful agency murderers have been apprehended, thieves detected, and, lastly (which is of no little importance), the timely assistance of medical men has been procured in cases which would otherwise have proved fatal." Yet something more than sensational placards was necessary to impress upon the public mind the utility of the telegraph. " The genius of the English people," says Smollett, " is perhaps incompatible with a state of perfect tranquillity : if it is not ruffled by foreign provocations or agitated by unpopular measures of domestic administration, it will undergo fermentations from the turbulent ingredients inherent in its own constitution : tumults are excited and faction kindled into rage by incidents of the most frivolous nature." He goes on to say that in 1753 the metropolis of England was divided and discomposed in a surprising manner by a dispute in itself of so little consequence to the community that it did not deserve a place in a general history if it did not serve to convey a characteristic idea of the English nation. In like manner an incident occurred in 1845 which would not deserve a place here, if it had not been the means of directing public attention to the value of the telegraph. When the first telegraph was started in 1837, England was absorbed in the turmoil of a general N 1 78 Lives of the Electricians. election ; and all the efforts made for the next eight years to excite public interest in its favour were of little avail, till on the evening of January 2nd, 1845, it played a notable part in effecting the apprehension of a notorious murderer. Between six and seven o'clock in the evening of that day, a woman named Sarah Hart was murdered at Salt Hill, and a man was seen hurrying from her house in a way that aroused suspicion. The police ascertained that the murdered woman was kept by a Quaker named John Tawell, living at Berkhampstead, who was in comfortable circumstances and respected in the neighbourhood. He answered the de- scription of the man seen near the scene of the murder, and was believed to have hurried to Slough Station and taken the train thence to Paddington. The police accordingly telegraphed to Paddington as follows : " A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill, and the suspected murderer was seen to take a first-class ticket for London by the train which left Slough at yh. 42m. P.M. He is in the garb of a Quaker with a brown coat on, which reaches nearly down to his feet ; he is in the last compart- ment of the second first-class carriage." The distance from Slough to Paddington being only seventeen miles, there was not much time for telegraphing, and a circumstance occurred which is said to have im- perilled the transmission of the message. It was trans- mitted on one of Wheatstone's five-needle instruments, which was afterwards preserved by the Post Office authorities on account of the important part it played on this occasion. Among the letters of the alphabet stamped on its diamond-shaped face, there was no " Q ; " and when the telegraph clerk at Paddington saw, in the middle of the message, the needles pointing to the letters K-w-a he thought there must be some mistake or fault, as no English word began with these letters. He therefore Trofessor Wiieatstone. 179 asked the clerk at Slough to repeat the word, and again came the letters K-w-a. Another repetition threw no fresh light on the difficulty; and it is said that after several repetitions a sharp boy suggested that the sender should be allowed to finish the word. This being done the word came K-w-a-k-e-r, which the clerk recognised as meaning Quaker. Notwithstanding the delay thus caused by the absence of O, the messac^e was delivered in time, and after a short interval the following reply to it was received : ''The up train has arrived, and the person answering in every respect the description given by telegraph came out of the compartment mentioned. I pointed the man out to Sergeant Williams. The man got into a New Road omni- bus, and Sergeant Williams into the same." On arriving at Paddington, Tawell endeavoured to elude observation, but unawares he was watched by the police as he went to a coffee tavern in the City, where he was arrested next day by order of the authorities. He was afterwards tried and convicted of the murder, which was effected by administering prussic acid. In a written confession left after his execution, Tawell said he had made a previous unsuccessful attempt at murder, as lie lived in perpetual dread of his connection with Mrs. Hart becoming known to his wife. The account given of his previous life also tended to increase the public excitement. After a career of concealed profligacy, he was sentenced to transportation in 1820 for forgery, but in Australia his intelligence and good conduct induced the authorities to grant him first a ticket of leave, and then emancipation. Eventually he became successful in business as a chemist in Sydney, and at the end of fifteen years left Sydney a rich man. Returning to England, he married as his second wife a Quaker lady, who was thereupon expelled from the Society of Friends, and who lived to see him executed for a crime which startled the whole country, and for which the telegraph was accredited with effecting his arrest. N 2 I So Lives of the Electricians. Another instance of telegraphic speed created both astonishment and amusement in 1S45. In a contemporary publication it was reported that " by the use of the telegraph has been accomplished the apparent paradox of sending a message in the year 1845 ^-^^ receiving it in 1844. Thus, directly after the clock had struck twelve on the night of December 31, the superintendent at Paddington signalled to his brother at Slough that he wished him a happy new year. An answer was immediately returned suggesting that the wish was premature, as the new year had not yet arrived at Slous^h ! " In April following a passenger, while proceeding from Paddington by the Great Western Railway, discovered that he had lost his purse containing notes and cash to the amount of nearly 1000/. Alighting at Slough in a state of great agitation, he telegraphed inquiries to Paddington, and was quickly relieved of his load of distress by learning that he had left his purse on the counter there, and that it was safe in the hands of the clerk. In 1845, too, it was thought a telegraphic achievement worth proclaiming, that the entire report of a railway meeting was transmitted in less than half an hour from Portsmouth to London ; and that in the spring of 1845 the Queen's Speech, containing 3600 letters, was transmitted from London to Southampton. This line of ninety miles was then the longest in England. Prior to that the old semaphore system was woinced between London and Portsmouth. It consisted in the movement in a preconcerted manner of elevated boards, fans, or shutters, in a way that was visible from one station to another, it being agreed that each particular movement should represent a letter, a word, or a sentence. These semaphore stations had to be on elevated spots so as to be visible to each other ; but as the weather often obscured the view, this means of communi- cation was only available during one-fifth of the year. Professor Wheatstone. i8i Moreover, it cost 3,000/. a year to work it, and it was worked fortlie last time on December 31, 1S47. For the use of the new electric telegraph to Portsmouth the Government paid 1 ,500/. a year ; and to preserve secrecy they had an alphabet of signals of their own, which could only be read and worked by their own trusted servants. As the line was also used for the transmission of public messages, it may be noted that the charge for sending a message then was from 3^-. to 9^-. to Southampton, according to the number of words. By this South Western telegraph a game of chess was played in April, 1845, between Mr. Staunton and Captain Kennedy at the Portsmouth terminus, and Mr. Walker and another gentleman at the Vauxhall terminus. Details of the game were published in the press, and it was said that " the electric messenger " had travelled io,ooo miles in course of the game. Such were the infantine achievements of an agency which in less than forty years was to transmit about 200 million messages per annum, and was to connect the most distant parts of the civilised world. Although the telegraph made little progress in England during the five years that followed the construction of the line between Paddington and Slough, the capture of Tawell, the Quaker murderer, followed by reports of such incidents as those related above, gave such an impetus to its extension that eighteen months after that event nearly 1000 miles were constructed ; and it was thought in those primitive times worth recording that no less than 300 tons of wire, and 5000 loads of timber had been used in telegraph works. The year of 1847 was a time of great activity in tele- graphic construction. It was not till then that the London and North Western Railway Company, on whose line the first working telegraph ever made was tried, decisively adopted it — ^just ten years after the first experiment. In 1 82 Lives of the Electricians. 1847 the Company considered the commercial advantages of the telegraph to be established beyond doubt, and they arranged for its construction along their entire line. The Midland Company followed their example. The South Eastern Railway Company, which adopted the telegraph in 1845, ^^^^ ^ li^e 132 miles long in 1846, and that line was then the longest in existence. On September i, 1846, that railway company announced that messages of twenty words would be sent for the public on payment of i}jd. per mile. The minimum charge was 5^". ; and the cost of sending a message from London to Rams- gate was I2S. 6d. Mr. C. V. Walker, who had charge of the line, afterwards stated that the cost of telegraphing was fixed at a Parliamicntary fare and a half, because it was suggested by " an authority " that it would not do to make the telegraph rates too low, lest they might reduce the traffic receipts of the Company by inducing passengers to use the wire instead of the trains. That this was no mere fancy appears from a letter published in a respectable weekly journal in September, 1846. The writer of that letter complained that the directors had set such high prices upon telegraphic communications as would entirely prevent their use, and that they would thus by their covetousness defeat their own purpose and interests. Five shillings for a message of less than twenty words to Tonbridge ; ys. 6d. to IMaidstone; los. 6d. to Canterbury and Folkestone; \\s. to Dover, and 12^-. 6d. to Ramsgate — who, he asked, would pay ''such a price for a few words' conveyance when he can send a sheet of foolscap fully written by the post for one penny ; or when for the amount they charge he can run there and back in the Company's own trains, and see his friends or correspond vis a vis, with a ride into the bargain. How different is this from the charges on the Continent ! The telegraph on the Brussels and Antwerp line is open, and the charge is 50 cents (about 5^-)-" Trofessor Wiieatstone. 183 Ev^cnts were already in progress which were destined to provide a remedy for such primeval arrangements. On October i, 1845, Mr, Cooke was introduced to Mr. John Ricardo, M.P., who was so impressed with the value of the telegraph that within three weeks he accepted the terms upon which Mr. Cooke offered to sell it. Mr. Ricardo then became chairman of the newly formed Electric Telegraph Company, which obtained an Act of Parliament in June, 1846. The Company having been thus empowered to acquire and work the telegraphs, gave ii" 140,000 for the patents of Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke. Professor VVheatstone told some of his friends that when the first patent was taken out for his telegraph he had not the means to pay the cost of it, and hence he had to get the support of others. Nine years afterwards when the patents were sold for i^ 140,000, only ;^30,ooo of that sum went into his pocket, though the original agreement was that he should be " on a footing of equality " with Mr. Cooke as %o participation in profits. It was Mr. Cooke who negotiated the sale of the patents. From a financial point of view the Company at the outset was not prosperous, but under their management the telegraph was rapidly extended ; indeed its extension for a time appeared to exceed the public requirements; and Mr. Ricardo had to advance rnoney to pull them through their difficulties. It was stated in 1847 that there were then twenty lines of telegraph in England, while in Scotland, where in 1841 Sir Charles Fox ordered a line to be made on the Glasgow and Cowlairs Railway, there were now three lines. The total length of the lines laid in 1847 was 1,250 miles; but as most of the lines had three or four wires the total length of wire in operation was 6,017 miles. There were 253 stations, and nearly 400 instruments in use. In 1849 the Company completed arrangements with the Post-master General and the different lines of railway for further extensions of telegraphic lines iS4 Lives of the Electricians. from their office at the General Post Ofiice, St. Martin's- le-Grand, to most of the large towns in England and Scotland, to which messages of twenty words could be sent for \d. per mile for the first 50 miles, \d. for the second 50 miles, and \d. for any distance beyond 100 miles. In course of their first five years' operations, the receipts of the Company increased nearly fivefold. In January, 1849, a m^essage was transmitted direct from London to IManchester for the first time. The Electric Telegraph Company endeavoured to make telegraphic communication a monopoly by buying up every new invention that seemed likely to enable any other Company to compete with them. With reference to the inventions made for improving the telegraph, Mr. Ricardo, the chairman of the Company, stated some curious facts in 185 1. He said, " It has happened, not once, but I think twenty times, that a m.an has brought to us an instrument of great ingenuity for sale; we have taken him to a cup- board, and brought out some dusty old models, and said, * That is your invention, and there is wheel for wheel generally.' Nevertheless he has, in fact, invented it. The ideas of several men are set in motion by exactly the sam.e circumstances. One invention was brought for purchase to the Electric Telegraph Company; no model was brought with it; there was simply a description of the apparatus. It was on a principle which was received by electricians as impossible, and the men of science connected with the Company declared it to be impossible. Nevertheless the model was brought ; and it was found that the thing was practicable against all rules by which hitherto they had been guided in the matter. We have bought a good many patented improvements ; in most cases they were valueless in themselves ; but in combination with others which we have, they may be made useful. We have found, after every possible experiment, that the original system Professor Wiieatstone. 185 of the needles is by far the best for all practical purposes. There is not one invention which is not brought to the Company before it is started against the Company, and we have expended nearly ^^ 200,000 in buying patents and liti- ratiuGf them ; but we find, after all, that the original patent is by far the best and the most suitable for practical pur- poses. There is one patent of ]\Ir. Bain's for which w^e gave ;^8ooo or ;^9000 ; although it did not quite come up to our expectations, it has proved useful in combination with other patents." This testimony will appear all the more remarkable when it is added that between 1837 and 1857 about forty different inventors took out patents for telegraphic apparatus, and that some of these men took out several patents. It is remarkable, moreover, that from the time of the formation of the Company till 1858, Professor Wheatstone did not patent any improvement of telegraphic apparatus. It has been said that during these years he entirely ceased to be an inventor, and did not bring his great electrical knowledge and inventive faculties into use. But this is not strictly accurate, for circumstances had occurred which for a time diverted his attention to another field for the application of electricity in which he became a pioneer. About the year 1850 Sir Charles Pasley was experim.enting as to the explosion of submarine mines, and being acquainted with Professor Wheatstone and Professor Daniell, he informed them of his intention to use electricity for that purpose, and sought their advice on the subject. These eminent electricians took much interest in the proposal, and under their superintendence the first arrange- ments for exploding submarine charges were worked out in the laboratory of King's College. Acting on their advice Sir Charles Pasley used electricity to explode the charges of gunpowder that blew up the WTCck of the Royal George at Spithead, which he v/as then engaged in removing. In 1 86 Lives of the Electricians. 1853 Sir John Burgoyne, Inspector General of Fortifications, requested Captain Ward, R.E., to carry out some experi- ments for determining the best form of voltaic battery for military purposes. That officer then made himself fully acquainted with the labours of Professor Wheatstone and others ; and afterwards reported in favour of a small battery seven inches long by four wide ; but in 1855 Professor Wheatstone, who was then a member of the Select Com- mittee on Ordnance, advised Sir John Burgoyne to institute a further experimental inquiry into the relative advantages of different sources of electricity. This investigation was accordingly carried out by Professor Wheatstone and Professor Abel ; and in the course of it Wheatstone invented the first efficient magneto-electric machine for the explosion of mines. It was called the Wheatstone exploder, and it weighed 32 pounds. In a report on their experiments, presented to the Secretary for War in i860, it was stated that by means of " a magneto-electric apparatus similar to that used in the Chatham experiments, and termed by ]\Ir. Wheatstone the ' Magnetic Exploder,' the ignition at one time of phosphide of copper fuzes, varying in number from two to twenty-five, is certain, provided these fuzes are arraneed in the branches of a divided cir- cuit ; to attain this result it is only necessary to employ a single wire insulated by a coating of gutta-percha or india- rubber and simple metallic connections of the apparatus and the charge with the earth." They stated that from twelve to twenty-five charges could be exploded simul- taneously on land at a distance of 600 yards from the apparatus ; but the number of submarine charges which it could explode at one time was more limited. During the next seven years this apparatus was much used in gunnery experiments as well as in mining; and several modifications of it were devised on the Continent and in America, In 1867-8 Professor Wheatstone constructed Professor Wiieatstone. 187 a more powerful modification of his magnetic exploder, and Professor Abel ever afterwards spoke in the highest terms of the ingenuity and industry with which his former colleague had worked out the solution of this problem. He said that Professor Wheatstone brought under the notice of the Government the successful labours of Du ]\Ioncel, Savari, von Ebner, and others on the applica- tions of electricity to military purposes; and if he had only done that service, he would have done an important work. But he did more ; he constructed the first practical and thoroughly efficient magneto electric machine for the explosion of mines. Let us now pass from submarine mines to submarine cables. There have been several claimants to the honour of being the first to develop the idea of submarine tele- graphy ; and among them Professor Wheatstone is entitled to honourable mention. One of the first suggestions of a sub-aqueous telegraph was made by him. In 1840 he was giving evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, and after he had given an account of the short line of telegraph from Paddington to Drayton, then the only line in existence, he was questioned as to whether an electric telegraph could be worked over a distance of 100 miles. He replied in the affirmative. '' Have you tried to pass the line through water ? " said Sir John Guest " There would be no difficulty in doing so," replied Wheatstone; " but the experiment has not been made." " Could you. communicate from Dover to Calais in that way.-*" "I think it perfectly practicable," replied the enthusiastic inventor. The subject thus started for the first time in public was not new to Professor Wheatstone ; for it after- wards appeared from manuscripts in his possession that he had given much consideration to it in 1837. Mr. John Watkins Brett, who was also honourably connected with the initiation of submarine telegraphy, stated in 1857 that 1 83 Lives of the Electricians. he was ignorant until tliree or four years previously that a line across the Channel had been suggested years before by that talented philosopher, Professor Wheatstone ; and he exhibited at the Royal Institution the original plans of Wheatstone drawn in 1840 for an electric telegraph between Dover and Calais. The cable he then designed was to be insulated by tarred yarn and protected by iron wire ; and his plan of laying down and picking up was also shown in the drawincf. The man who made the drawincf for Wheat- stone went to Australia in 1841, and did not return. But there were other evidences of its genuineness. Professor Wheatstone showed his plans to a number of visitors at King's College, and a Brussels paper records that in the same year (1840) he repeated his experiments at the Brussels Observatory in the presence of several literary and scientific men, for the purpose of showing them the feasibility of making a cable between Dover and Calais. For carrying out his plans he designed three new machines, and minutely worked out the other details of the under- taking. In a manuscript written in 1840 on "a means of establishing an electric cable between England and France," he stated that the wire should form the core of a wrouglit line well saturated with boiled tar, and all the lines be made into a rope prepared in the same manner. His correspondence shows that his plan became the subject of communications -with persons of authority during the next few years; and in the month of September, 1844, he and Mr. J. D. Llewellyn made experiments with submerged insulated wires in Swansea Bay. They went out in a boat from which they laid a wire to IMumblehead Lighthouse, and they tested various kinds of insulation. These ex- periments were so successful that Wheatstone returned to his original Channel project. His idea, says Mr. R. Sabine, was to inclose the wire, insulated with worsted and marine glue, in a lead pipe ; and for some time he v/as engaged Professor Wheatstone. 189 m making inquiries as to the nature of the bed of the Channel and the action of the tides, as well as experiments with the metals he proposed to use. There is also evidence to show that in 1845 he proposed to use gutta percha in the manufacture of his proposed cable. It is said that gutta percha was first brought to England in the previous year, and there was such a demand for the small quantity then available that he could not get what he wanted of it. In June 1846, the Times announced, in reference to a statement made " some time ago that a submarine telegraph was to be laid down across the English Channel, by which an instantaneous communication could be made from coast to coast," that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with a view of testing the practicability of this undertaking had now approved of the projector's laying down a sub- marine telegraph across the harbour of Portsmouth, from the house of the admiral in the dockyard to the railway terminus at Gosport. *' By this means there will be a direct communication from London to the official residence of the Port-Admiral at Portsmouth, whereas at present the tele- graph does not extend beyond the terminus at Gosport, the crossing of the harbour having been hitherto deemed an insurmountable obstacle. ... In a few days after the experiment has been successfully tested at Portsmouth, the submarine telegraph will be laid down across the Straits of Dover under the sanction of both the English and French Governments." There, is evidence extant to show that Professor Wheatstone was in the previous year in communication with the Admiralty on the subject of a cable across the Channel. It was on the twenty-fifth of the same month in which the above remarks were published that the Corn Law Importation Bill was carried through the House of Lords ; and on the twenty-ninth the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords and Sir Robert Peel in the House of Commons announced the resic^nation of the Government. igo Lives of the Electricians. Changes of Government, the famine In Ireland, and the great commercial panic that followed were of more absorb- ing Interest than the laying of a submarine cable. At all events the small cable across Portsmouth Harbour was not laid till 1847. It was then stated that an offer made to the Admiralty to lay down a telegraph Inclosed In metallic pipes was found to be Impracticable. The successful cable had the appearance of an ordinary rope which was coiled Into one of the dockyard boats, and as the boat was pulled across the telegraph rope was paid out over the stern, an operation that occupied a quarter of an hour. It worked satisfactorily. Professor Wheatstone, In an agreement which he made with Mr. Cooke In April 1843, reserved to himself authority to establish '* electric telegraph communication between the coasts of England and France. . . . for his own exclusive profit." In a subsequent agreement dated October 1845, with reference to the sale of his patents, It was provided that " Mr. Wheatstone will take the chair of a committee of three, to take charge of the manufacture of the patent tele- graphic instruments, and the taking out and specifying future patents and matters of the like nature, at a salary of 700/. a year, and shall devote to such objects what time he shall think necessary. It Is also understood that a patent shall be applied for immediately to secure Mr. Wheatstone's Improvements In the mode of transmitting electricity across the water; that Mr. Wheatstone shall superintend the trial of his plans between Gosport and Portsmouth ; and if these experiments prove successful, then In the practical application of the improvements to the purpose of establishing a telegraph between England and Erance, the terms on which such telegraph is to be held being a matter of arrangement between the proprietors of the English and French patents." But something more than the ingenuity of Professor Professor Wiieatstoxe. 191 Whcatstone was needed to carry the projected cable across the Channel. It required all the energy and enthusiasm of Mr. J. W. Brett to make it an accomplished fact. He did for the submarine telegraph what Mr. Cooke did for Wheatstone's land telegraph in England, and he always bore generous testimony to the initiatory efforts of Pro- fessor Wheatstone. Mr, Brett, who was an inventor as well as an entrepi'sneiir, in 1845 offered to the Admiralty to con- nect Dublin Castle by telegraph with Downing Street for a sum of ;^20,ooo, and the offer being refused, he turned his attention to uniting together France and England by a sub- marine line. In 1847 Louis Philippe granted the requisite permission to land and work a cable on the French coast; but the British public considered the scheme too hazardous to give it financial support. Three years later he brought the subject before Louis Napoleon, who was favourable to it. Accordingly in 1850, when 2000/. were subscribed for the work, a cable was made and laid. On August 28th, 1850, the paddle steamer Goliath, carrying in her centre a gigantic drum, with thirty miles of telegraph wire in a covering of gutta percha wound round it, started from Dover about ten o'clock, with a crew of thirty men and provisions for the day. The track in a direct line to Cape Grisnez had been previously marked by buoys and flags on staves. As the steamer moved along that track at the rate of four miles an hour, the cable was continuously paid out ; leaden weights affixed to it at every one-sixteenth of a mile sank it to the bottom ; and about eight o'clock in the evening the work was done. Taking up an elevated position at the Dover Railway, Mr. Brett was able by the aid of a glass to distinguish the lighthouse and cliff at Cape Grisnez. The declining sun, he •says, *' enabled me to discern the moving shadow of the steamer's smoke on the white cliff, thus indicating her pro- gress. At length the shadow ceased to move. The vessel 192 Lives of the Electricians. had evidently come to an anchor. We gave them half an hour to convey the end of the wire to shore, and attach the printing instrument, and then I sent the first electric message across the Channel ; this was reserved for Louis Napoleon. I was afterwards informed that some French soldiers, who saw the slip of printed paper running from the little telegraph instrument, bearing a message from England, inquired how it could possibly have crossed the Channel, and when it was explained that it was the electricity which passed along the wire and performed the printing operation, they were still incredulous. After several other communications, the words ' All well ' and * Good night ' were printed, and closed the evening. In attempting to resume communication early next morning, no response could be obtained." The cable had broken. "Knowing the incredulity expressed as to the success of the enterprise, and that it was important to establish the fact that telegraphic communication had taken place, I that night sent a trustworthy person to Cape Grisnez, to procure the attestation of all who had witnessed the receipt of the messages there ; and the document was signed by some ten persons, including an engineer of the French Government who was present to watch the proceedings ; this was for- warded to the Emperor of the French, and a year of grace for another trial was granted." Near the rugged coast of Cape Grisnez the wire had been cut asunder about 200 yards out to sea ; but though of short duration the experiment was considered so encour- aging that it was determined to lay a much stronger cable next year, and to land it at a more favourable part of the French coast. When next year came the public were informed in the newspapers that the manufacture of the submarine telegraph cable afforded another instance in which rapidity of execution bordered on the marvellous, for " though the telegraph-rope was not less than twenty-four Professor Wiieatstone. 193 miles In length, it was completed in the short space of three weeks — an undertaking which manual labour could scarcely effect in as many years." This cable was successfully laid, and on Thursday, the 13th of November, 185 i, communica- tions passed between Dover and Calais. The connections, however, with the land lines, giving direct communication between London and Paris, were not completed till the following November. It was remarked at the time as a singular coincidence that the day chosen for the opening of the Submarine Telegraph was that on which the Duke of Wellington attended in person to close the Harbour sessions. It was accordingly resolved by the promoters that his Grace on leaving Dover by the two o'clock tra'n for London should be saluted by a gun fired by the trans- mission of a current from Calais. It was arranged that as the clock struck two at Calais the requisite signal was to be passed; and, punctual to the moment, a loud report reverberated on the water, and shook the ground with some force. It was then evident that the current had fired a 22-pounder loaded with 10 lbs. of powder, and the report had scarcely ceased ere it was taken up from the heights by the military who, as usual, saluted the departure of the Duke with a round of artillery. Guns were then fired successively on both coasts ; Calais firing the guns at Dover, and Dover returning the compliment to Calais. Professor Wheatstone also did some useful work in connection with the first Atlantic cables. In 1855 Professor Faraday was explaining the subject of induction at the Royal Institution, when it was mentioned to him that a current was obtained from a gutta percha covered wire, 300 miles long, half an hour after contact with the battery. "I remember,^' says Mr. J. W. Brett in 1857, ''speaking to him on the subject, and inquiring if he did not believe that this difficulty was to be overcome, and I received from him every encouragement to hope it might ; but it at once became O 194 Lives of the Electricians, necessary that this point should be cleared up, or it would be folly to pursue the subject of the union of America with this country by electricity. I at once earnestly urged on Mr. Whitehouse to take up this subject, and pursue it in- dependently of every other experiment, and a successful result was at last arrived at on looo miles and upwards of a continuous line in the submarine wires in the several cables, when lying in the docks. It did not rest upon one, but many thousand experiments." But these experiments did not solve the problem, which exercised the ingenuity of the greatest electricians of the age. Professor Wheat- stone conducted several series of experiments to aid in its solution. He showed that iron presented eight times more resistance to the electric current than copper did, and that differences in the size and quality of conductors and insulators affected the transmission of signals. In 1 859 the Board of Trade selected Professor Wheatstone as a member of the committee appointed to inquire into the subject of submarine cables with special reference to the Alantic cable. To that committee he supplied an elaborate report which would fill fifty pages of this volume, " On the circumstances which influence the inductive discharge of submarine telegraph cables." He was also a member of the scientific committee appointed in 1864 to advise the Atlantic Telegraph Company as to the manufacture, laying, and working of the cables of 1865 and 1866. In 1848 Lord Palmerston made a remark about the telegraph that was at the time regarded as a jest. He said the day would come when a minister, if asked in Parliament whether w^ar had broken out in India, would reply, "Wait a minute, I'll just telegraph to the Governor General, and let you know." At that time two or three months usually elapsed between the sending of a message and the receipt of an answer from Calcutta to London ; and hence the remark of Lord Palmerston was derided as a joke. But in Professor Wiieatstone. 195 1855 the electric tele^^raph performed a feat which as- tonished the nations of Europe. On the 2nd of March the Czar Nicholas died at St. Petersburg at one o'clock ; and the same afternoon the Earl of Clarendon announced his death in the House of Lords — the intelligence having been received by two different lines of telegraph. Two years afterwards two different schemes were promoted for connecting Europe with India by telegraph ; but this was not successfully accomplished till eight years afterwards. Three years before the Paimerstonian jest of 1848 became an accomplished fact, Professor \yheatstone communicated to Lord lalmerston the effects of a new telegraphic inven- tion which seemed nearly as incredible as the idea of telegraphing to Lidia appeared a few years previously. The noble lord was at Oxford University receiving his honorary degree, and was watched by Sir Henry Taylor at an evening party as the Professor gave hi mi a somewhat prolonged explanation of his new invention for facilitating telegraphy. " The man of science," says Sir Henry, " was slow, the man of the world seemed attentive ; the man of science was copious, the man of the world let nothing escape him ; the man of science unfolded the anticipated results — another and another, the man of the world listened with all his ears : and I was saying to myself, ' His patience is exemplary, but will it last for ever.?' when I heard the issue : — ' God bless my soul, you don't say so ! I must get you to tell that to the Lord Chancellor.' And the man of the world took the man of science to another part of the room, hooked him on to Lord Westbury, and bounded away like a horse let loose in a pasture." If it be true that men of the world regarded with impatience the ingenious devices of Professor Wheatstone, very different was the reception accorded to them by the prince of modern scientists. In the beginning of the following year (19th January, 1858) Professor Faraday O 2 ig6 Lives of the Electricians. wrote the following letter to him: "While thinking of your beautiful telegraphs it occured to me that perhaps you would not think ill of my proposing to give an account of the magneto-electric telegraph and the recording telegraph on a Friday evening after Easter — about the end of May or June. I suppose all will be safe by that time. I think that by the electric lamp and a proper lens, we might throw the image of the face on to the wall, and so we may illustrate the action to the whole audience." The proposed lecture was delivered by Professor Faraday in the Royal Institution on June i ith, 1858, and his subject was '' Wheat- stone's electric telegraph in relation to science (being an argument in favour of the full recognition of science as a branch of education)." That lecture was very interesting, not only as Indicating the progress made in the telegraph, but as showing his high appreciation of the inventive in- genuity which had accelerated that progress. So far from representing the telegraph as " no invention" he spoke of it as a series of inventions. "It teaches us to be neglectful of * nothing," he said ; '* not to despise the small beginnings, for they precede of necessity ail great things in the know- ledge of science, either pure or applied. It teaches a continual comparison of the sviall and great, and that under differences almost approaching the infinite : for the small as often comprehends the great in principle as the great does the small." As to the work done by Professor Wheatstone, he said : '* Without referring to what he had done previously, it may be observed that in 1840 he took out patents for electric telegraphs, which included, amongst other things, the use of the electricity from magnets at the communicators — the dial face — the step-by-step motion — and the electro-magnet at the indicator. At the present time, 1858, he has taken out patents for instruments con- taining all these points; but these instruments are so altered and varied in character above and beyond the former, that Professor Wheatstone. 197 an untaught person could not recognise them. In the first instruments powerful magnets were used, and keepers ^ with heavy coils associated with them. When magnetic electricity was first discovered, the signs were feeble, and the mind of the student was led to increase the results by increasing the force and size of the instruments. When the object was to obtain a current sufficient to give signals through long circuits, large apparatus were employed, but these involved the inconveniences of inertia and momen- tum ; the keeper was not set in motion at once, nor instantly stopped ; and if connected directly with the reading indexes, these circumstances caused an occasional uncertainty of action. Prepared by its previous education, the mind could perceive the disadvantages of these in- fluences, and could proceed to their removal. . . . The alternations or successions of currents produced by the movement of the keeper at the communicator, pass along the wire to the indicator at a distance ; there each one for itself confers a magnetic condition on a piece of soft iron, and renders it attractive or repulsive of small permanent magnets ; and these, acting in turn on a propelment, cause the index to pass at will from one letter to another on the dial face. The first electro-magnets, i.e., those made by the circulation of an electric current round a piece of soft iron, were weak ; they were quickly strengthened, and it was only when they were strong that their laws and actions could be successfully investigated. But now they are re- quired small, yet potential; and it was only by patient study that Wheatstone was able so to refine the little electro- magnets at the indicator as that they shall be small enough to consist with the fine work there employed, able to do their appointed work when excited in contrary directions by the brief currents flowing from the original common ^ The keeper or armature is the piece of iron which is placed across the ends or poles of a horseshoe magnet. 1 98 Lives of the Electricians. magnet, and unobjectionable in respect of any resistance they might offer to these tell-tale currents. These small transitory electro-magnets attract and repel certain perma- nent magnetic needles, and the to-and-fro motion of the latter is communicated by a propelment to the index, being there converted into a step-by-step motion. Here everything is of the finest workmanship ; the propelment itself requires to be watched by a lens, if its action is to be observed ; the parts never leave hold of each other; the holes of the axes are jewelled ; the moving parts are most carefully balanced, a consequence of which is that agitation of the whole does not disturb the parts, and the telegraph works just as well when it is twisted about in the hands, or placed on board a ship or in a railway carriage, as when fixed immovably. All this delicacy of arrangement and workmanship is introduced advisedly; for the inventor considers that refined and perfect workmanship is more exact in its action, more unchangeable by time and use, and more enduring in its existence, than that which, being heavier, must be coarser in its workmanship, less regular in its action, and less fitted for the application of force by fine electric currents. . . . Now," added Faraday, " there w^as no chance in these developments ; — if there were experiments, they were directed by the previously acquired knowledge ; — every part of the investigation was made and guided by the instructed mind. . . . The beauty of electricity, or of any other force, is not that the power is mysterious and unexpected, but that it is under laiv, and that the taught intellect can even now govern it largely." The. instrument which Faraday described in such appreciative terms has superseded the step-by-stcp in- strument which was invented in i8-|0. The new instrument, like the old one, has a dial with the letters of the alphabet round the edge, and when in operation the indicating hand Professor Wiieatstone. 199 or finger points successively to each letter forming the message, which can thus be read by anyone. The sending instrument also has a dial round which are the letters of the alphabet, and projecting from each letter is a brass key or stud. The new mechanism inside this instrument is so ingeniously designed that when the sender of a message turns round a small handle which puts in motion the magneto-electric apparatus so as to generate electric currents, the indicating finger on the receiving dial moves round till it is stopped at the desired letter. This stoppage is effected by the sender depressing the brass stud which represents the desired letter. By this depression of any particular stud, the currents of electricity are cut off just when the indicating finger reaches the letter on the receiving dial corresponding to that of the depressed stud at the sending instrument ; and the indicating finger remains at that letter till the stud of another letter is depressed, whereupon the indicating finger moves along the re- ceiving dial till it reaches again the letter corresponding to that of the depressed stud. No knowledge of elec- trical science or of mechanics is needed to work this instrument, the hidden mechanism of which cannot be easily described in popular language. Surely it is an illustration of the classic adage that the highest art is to conceal art. The working of this instrument excelled all others in simplicity ; and at the same time Professor Wheatstone invented one which exceeded all others in rapidity. The former became known as Wheatstone's A, B, C instrument, the latter as Wheatstone's autom.atic fast speed printing instrument. The latter is so constructed that the passage of the current is regulated by means of a perforated strip of paper. The apparatus consists of three parts — the perforator, the transmitter, and the receiver. The per- forator has keys which when pressed down by an operator 200 Lives of the Electricians. punch in a strip of paper combinations of holes, which represent letters of the alphabet, thus A B c O O O o o o O O O o One person working a perforator can simultaneously punch duplicate messages, but only one strip of perforated paper can be put into the transmitter, which draws it forward with a continuous motion. Two small pins, one on each side, are underneath the strip of paper, and whenever one of these pins comes to a perforated hole it momentarily rises through it, and imparts sufficient electricity from the battery to the telegraph wire to move a pen at the other end of the wire, so as to make a mark in ink on a clean strip of paper passing through the receiving instrument. The ink marks thus produced in combinations represent letters of the alphabet, namely, A B C The receiver is thus a recording instrument so exact and sensitive that it mechanically and rapidly imprints on a strip of paper dots, dashes, and spaces, which, in a sense, correspond with the holes perforated in the tape passing through the transmitter, at the other end of the wire. When this apparatus was invented it was represented as capable of forwarding messages at the rate of 500 letters per minute, being five times faster than any other system then in use. In 1 868 the inventor stated that although for rapidity of transmission his automatic instrument had never been sur- passed, he did not expect that the existing instruments would in all cases be given up for it. He believed it would be very useful on all "lines of great traffic," and particularly on those lines over which newspaper intelligence is sent. Professor Wiieatstcne. 201 In 1870 the telegraph Hnes of the United Kingdom were acquired by the Government — a step which Professor Wheatstone advocated as the best means of cheapening messages and extending the telegraph to places unap- proachcd by the Telegraph Companies. Let us see how his expectations have been realised. In 1872 Mr. Culley, the engineer-in-chief of the Telegraphic system of the United Kingdom, stated that in order to increase the number of messages which could be sent through the wires in a given time, a very large use had to be made of the Wheatstone automatic instrument, which was in use by the Electric Company before the transfer to the Government. There were only four circuits then ; but in the two years following the transfer fifteen circuits were supplied with that apparatus. In addition to these automatic circuits for ordinary business, the Telegraph Department had also fitted up with that system wdiat they called the Western News circuit running from London to Bristol, Gloucester, Cardiff, Newport, Exeter, and Plymouth, the news being then sent to all these places simultaneously, and at the rate of fifty to fifty-five w^ords a m.inute. A very great improvement had also been effected, at considerable expense, in the single-needle instrument. A very large number of inventions had been brought before the Depart- ment, and it might have been hoped that very considerable advantage to the public would have arisen from the break- ing up of the monopoly of the Companies and the private interests which almost all the officers had in perpetuating the form of some old instrument. But Mr. Culley had to report that not in any one instance had any apparatus or system of signalling of practical value been laid before him. One system only had been of such a nature as could possibly have any value, and he said that one would have required fully ten years to mature before it could be brought out. 202 Lives of the Electricians. Professor Wheatstone lived to see 140 of his automatic instruments in use. In 1872 he applied to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for a prolongation of his patent ; and it being then stated that he had received ;^ 1 2,000 in 1870, when the transfer of the telegraphs took place, the Government agreed to pay him an additional sum of ;^ 9,200 in six yearly instalments as compensation for his patent rights. In 1879 ^^^- -Preece, the electrician to the Post Office, said that the automatic transmitter " is an instrument of great delicacy and great power ; it h now used to an enormous extent in this country, and it is one that we are improving every day. For instance, while about this time last year we were able to transmit all our nev/s to Ireland at the rate of 60 words a minute, we are now doing it with ease at the rate of 150 words a minute; and with the improvements which w^e have now in hand, we shall be able next year to transmit nearly 200 words a minute." This expectation was realised. Although experience suggested improvements in nearly every part of the apparatus, the leading principles remained the same. In 1885 ^^^- Preece gave the following account of the successive stages of the progress made : it was capable of transmitting in 1 877, 80 w^ords per minute ; in 1878, lOO; in 1879, 130; in 1880, 170; in 1881, 190; in 1882, 200; in 18S3, 250; in 1884, 350; in 1885, 420. It thus appears that if three men were speakmg at the same time, one of Wheatstone's automatic instruments could transniit the three speeches in the same time that they were spoken, the instrument transmitting three times as fast as one man could speak. Tow'ards the close of the first half century of the existence of the telegraph, the Wheatstone automatic transmitter achieved the great feat of transmitting 1,500,000 words from London on the night when Mr. Gladstone explained his plan for giving self-government to Ireland, On that occa- Professor Wiieatstone. 20 J sion (April 8, 1886) one hundred Whcatstone's perforators were used in the Central Telegraph Office in London to prepare the messages. Thirty of these perforators punched six slips at once, thirteen punched three slips at once, thirty-one punched two slips at once, and twenty-six punched single slips. The largest number of words previously transmitted in one night was 860,000 ; and to give some idea of what 1,500,000 words represent, it may be added that if an average quick speaker like Mr. Gladstone were to speak without any stoppage for a week, night and day, that would just be about the number of words that he would utter, or that another person could read aloud. CHAPTER IV. "A name, even in the most commercial nation, is one of the few things which cannot be bought. It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, c in figures of light. If clouds gather o'er me, unheeded they fly, I note not the hours except they be bright. So when I review all the scenes that have passed Between me and thee, be they dark, be they light, I forget what was dark, the light I hold fast, I note not the hours except they be bright. CHAPTER III. *' For a man to do benefit from such means as he may have an:l may cause, is the most glorious of labdiirs." — Sophocles. The practical working of the telegraph being now demonstrated, Professor Morse may be said to have forsaken his first vocation. He afterwards assured his artist friends that his leaving their ranks cost him many a pang, and that he did not leave them till he saw them well established and entering upon a career of prosperity. He also pointed out that in the records of art there were conspicuous examples of men forsaking art to enter upon a career of invention. The American Fulton, whose scientific studies led to the introduction of steam navi- gation was a painter, and " it may not be generally known that the important invention of the percussion cap was due to the scientific recreations of the English painter Shaw." In like manner Daguerre, who in France dis- covered the art of photography, was an artist ; and just when Professor Morse was prosecuting his art studies with the greatest zeal and hope, it was stated that in early life painting was the favourite amusement of Sir Humphry Davy, who was diverted from art to chemistry by the results of some experiments instituted for the purpose of preparing colours. To such examples has now to be added the inventor of the recording telegraph. Professor Morse always claimed for himself the credit of being the 2So Lives of the Electricians. inventor of the first telegraph, by which, however, he meant a telegraph in the strict definition of the word — a means of recording intelligence at a distance. From that point of view he contended that the invention of Wheat- stone and Cooke was a semaphore, which merely indicated letters on a dial by the movement of needles ; and that while the invention of a telegraph was one thing, its practical introduction was quite another thing — the time of the invention was one thing and the time of its practical introduction another. "In 1832," he said, in reply to a challenge from W. F. Cooke, "I had the idea of producing an automatic record at a distance by means of electricity, the idea of a true telegraph ; and this original idea was immediately followed by the invention of the means for carrying it into effect. This was the new idea of 1832 now realised in the Morse telegraph system, and the Chief Justice of the United States, in delivering the judgment of the supreme court, said there was full and clear evidence that when Morse was returning from Europe in 1832 he was deeply engaged upon this subject during the voyage, and that the process and means were so far developed and arranged in his own mind that he was confident of its ultimate success." The inventor admitted that 1844 was the date of the practical introduction of the invention of 1832 ; and he did not claim exclusive credit for the inven- tion. He himself stated that it rarely, if ever, happened that any invention was so independent of all others that a single individual could justly appropriate to himself the entire credit of all its parts. " It is only," he said, " when the nature of an invention is properly understood that the justice of the ascription of honour to the individual inventor is perceived. Invention is emphatically combination, an assembling or putting together of things known, whether discoveries or other inventions, to produce a new effect, to create a new art." If that definition appears to be Trofessor Morse. 281 especially adapted to suit his own circumstances, It is worthy of remark that similar definitions were given by Aristotle and Bacon. Professor Morse always felt sure that If he had only an opportunity of demonstrating the operation of his telegraph, its utility would be self-evident. Sad experience had taught him that it was not an easy task to convince a money-making people of the value of a mere work of art, — "a thing of beauty; " but how different, he thought, would be the case with the electric telegraph, which he believed capable of uniting, by *' the pulse of speech," the New World with the Old, which seemed destined to annihilate space, and to extend to peoples far apart one of the greatest gifts bestowed by the Creator upon persons near each other — an Instantaneous Intercharge of thought. Had he not solved the problem which the ancient Hebrew propounded as a sublime impossibility : " Canst thou send lightnings that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are } " Yea, more, — he had made the element which Franklin had proved to be akin to lightning not only the messenger but the recorder of human speech. But even this was not enough to command success. Difficulty and disappointment were still before him. In the great tragedy of ^schylus illustrating the struggle of mind against cir- cumstances and the Ingratitude of mankind to inventors, Prometheus Is represented as conferring a great blessing upon mortals by causing blind hopes to dwell among them, and thus stopping them from ever looking forward to their fate. But higher aspirations Impelled Morse onward in his beneficent career. Have ye never observed, said Saurin, that people of the finest and most enlarged geniuses have often the least success of any people In the world ? *'ThIs may appear at first sight very unaccountable, but a little attention will explain the mystery. A narrow, contracted mind usually concentrates Itself in one single 282 Lives of the Electricians. object : it wholly employs itself in forming projects of happiness proportioned to its own capacity, and as its capacity is extremely shallow, it easily meets with the means of executing them. But this is not the case wrth a man of superior genius, whose fruitful fancy forms notions of happiness grand and sublime. He invents noble plans^ involuntarily gives himself up to his own chimeras, and derives a pleasure from these ingenious shadows, which for a few moments compensate for the want of substance ; but when his reverie is over, he finds real beings inferior to ideal ones, and thus his genius serves to make him miser- able. A man is much to be pitied when the penetration of his mind and the fruitfulness of his invention furnish him with ideas of a delighted community attached by a faithful and delicate appreciation. Recall to him this world, above which his imagination had just now raised him; consider him among men whose knowledge and friendship are merely superficial, and you will be con- vinced that the art of inventing is ofteti the art of self- tormenting." Need we wonder, then, that after the utility of Morse's telegraph was fully demonstrated, he ex- perienced unexpected difficulty as to its adoption. His first idea was to attach it to the Post Office Department. "My earliest desires," he said "were that the Government should possess the control of such a power as I could not but foresee was inherent in the telegraph. Vast as its pecuniary value loomed up in the minds of some, in the contemplation of its future I was neither dazzled with its visions of untold wealth, nor tempted to make an extortion- ate demand upon the Government for its possession. Not merely all my own property had been expended on the invention, but large sums had been advanced by my associates, and these were items that entered into the cal- culations of any offer of sale." In September, 1837, he sug- gested in a letter to the Secretary that it would be a useful Professor Morse. 283 auxiliary to the Post Office, and the Secretary supported the suggestion in a letter to the Speaker of the House on December 6, 1837. Two months later the importu- nate inventor repeated his proposal to the Chairman of the House Comm.ittee of Commerce. Again, in 1842, the Hon. C. G. Ferris, writing from the Committee of Com- merce, remarked that the prospects of profit to individual enterprise were so inviting that *' it is a matter of serious consideration whether the Government should not on this account alone seize the present opportunity of securing to itself the regulation of a system which, if monopolised by a private company, might be used to the serious injury of the Post Office Department." When negotiating with the Government in reference to the grant for the experimental line, Professor Morse undertook that, before entering into any arrangement for disposing of his patent rights to any individual or company he would offer it to the Government for such a just and reasonable compensation as might be mutually agreed upon. Accordingly, after the construction of the experi- mental line and the successful demonstration of its working, he offered the whole of his rights to the Government for 100,000 dollars. The only notice the Government took of this offer was to request from the Postmaster-General a report on the subject. The Postmaster-General in 1845 happened to be Mr. Cave Johnson, who in Congress ridi- culed and opposed the telegraph bill, and who now had under his control the experimental line from Washington to Baltimore. The reply he gave to Professor Morse's offer was that he was not yet satisfied that under any rate of postage the revenue of the telegraph could be made equal to the expenditure. One half of the time for which his patent granted protection had now expired, and it was therefore necessary to use every means to make it a commercial success. This Professor Morse did, but beins: 2S4 Lives of the Electricians. unwilling to "shut the door" against the Government, he inserted a proviso in every contract he made for the use of the telegraph, that if the Government concluded arrangements for the purchase of it by the 4th of March, 1847, the contract should cease. Nevertheless the Govern- ment allowed the opportunity to go unheeded, and the Professor complained not only of the disappointment thus occasioned, but of the prejudice it created against him. Companies had been formed for constructing lines from Baltimore to New York and from New*York to Buffalo, and the promoters at the outset were hopeful that the revenue would at least equal the expenditure ; but the conduct of the Government for a time seemed to cast a blight upon their prospects. In after years Professor Morse declared that but for the indomitable energy and faith of the friends who then supported him by their in- fluence and money, his telegraph might have been aban- doned as too expensive to be practicable. Conspicuous among his supporters was Mr. Amos Kendall, who had formerly been Postmaster-General, and who was the prime mover in forming joint-stock companies to construct and work the telegraph. On April ist, 1845, the line from Washington to Baltimore was opened for public business, the charge being a cent (or a halfpenny) for every four characters. The first line constructed after the experi- mental one was that of the Magnetic Telegraph Company from Philadelphia to Norristown, Pa., a length of 14 miles, which was opened in November, 1845 ; it was continued to Fort Lee in the January following, and completed from Philadelphia to Baltimore on June 5, 1846. Once fairly started, the telegraph in America made such rapid strides as soon eclipsed its progress in those coun- tries in which it had an earlier start. Within half a dozen years about thir'y Companies were formed to carry on the work of telegraphic extension, and to reap the profits of Professor Morse. 28 5 an Invention which the Government could not be Induced to accept. Sir Robert IngHs, In his address as President of the British Association meeting at Oxford In June, 1847, stated that he had just received a report presented to the Legislative Council and Assembly of New Brunswick relating to a project for constructing a railway and a line of telegraph from Halifax to Quebec, with reference to which he said : " Distance is time, and when by steam, whether on water or on land, personal communication is facilitated, and when orders are conveyed from one extremity of the Empire to another almost like a flash of lightning, the facility of governing a large State becomes almost equal to the facility of governing the smallest. I remember reading many years ago In the Scotsman an ingenious and able article showing how England could be governed as easily as Attica under Pericles ; and 1 believe the same conclusion was deduced by William Cobbett from the same Illustration. The system Is daily extending. It was, however, in the United States of America that It was first adopted on a great scale, by Professor Morse in 1844; and it is there that It is now already developed most extensively. Lines for above 1,300 miles are In action, and connect those States with Her Majesty's Canadian provinces ; and It is In a course of development so rapid that, in the words of the Report of Mr. Wilkinson to Sir W. E. Colebrooke, the Governor of New Brunswick, no schedule of telegraphic lines can now be relied upon for a month in succession, as hundreds of miles may be added In that space of time. So easy of attainment does such a result appear to be, and so lively Is the Interest felt In its accomplishment, that it Is scarcely doubtful that the whole of the populous parts of the United States will, within two or three years, be covered with a network like a spider's web, suspending its principal threads upon important points, along the sea board of the Atlantic on one side, and upon similar points 286 Lives of the Electricians. alons: the Lake Frontier on the other. I am indebted to the same Report for another fact, which I think of equal interest : The confidence in the efficiency of telegraphic communication has now become so estabhshed, that the most important commercial transactions daily transpire, by its means, between correspondents several hundred miles apart. Ocular evidence of this was afforded by a communication a few minutes old between a merchant in Toronto and his correspondent in New York, distant about 632 miles. When the Hibernia steamer arrived in Boston in January, 1847, with the news of the scarcity in Great Britain, L'eland, and other parts of Europe, and with heavy orders for agricultural produce, the farmers in the interior of the State of New York — informed of the state of things by the Magnetic Telegraph — were thronging the streets of ^ Albany with innumerable team-loads of grain almost as quickly after the arrival of the steamer at Boston as the news of that arrival could ordinarily have reached them. I may add that, irrespectively of all its advantages to the general community, the system appears to give already a fair return of interest to the individuals or companies vv'ho have invested their capital in its application. I cannot refer to the extent of the lines of the electric telegraph in America without an increased feeling of regret that in England this great discovery has been so inadequately adopted. So far at least as the capital is concerned, the two greatest of our railway companies have not, I believe, yet carried the electric telegraph further from London than to Watford and Slough." About the same time Professor Morse stated that, as the result of improvements in his telegraph, the President's entire message on the subject of the war with Mexico w^as transmitted with perfect accuracy at the rate of ninety-nine letters per minute. His skilful operators in Washington and Baltimore printed these characters Professor Morse. 2S7 at the rate of 98, loi, iii, and one of them aciually printed 117 letters per minute. It was pointed out that as an expert penman seldom writes legibly more than 100 letters per minute, the Morse telegraph then about equalled the most expeditious mode of recording thought. Between 1844 and 1855 the telegraph was used for another purpose which was regarded in the world of science as of great importance. In 1839 Professor Morse, while in Paris, suggested to Arago that the telegraph might be used for determining the difference of longitude between places with an accuracy previously unattainable. The first ex- periment for the determination of longitude was made in 1844 at Baltimore, and fully realised the expectation of Professor Morse. The Battle Monument Square, Balti- more, was found to be i m. 34 sec. '86S east of the capital at Washington, a difference of three quarters of a second from the former results recorded in the American Almanac. This may appear a trifling matter to unscientific readers, but a short explanation will show its importance. The latitude of any place — its distance from the equator north or south — can be accurately determined by astro- nomical observation ; but its longitude, or distance east or west of any particular place agreed upon as a meridional standard, such as Greenwich, was often determined with difficulty. It is well known that in the diurnal rotation of the earth every portion of its surface is turned towards the sun once in twenty-four hours, and that noon occurs at places east of Greenwich earlier than at Greenwich, and later at places west of Greenwich. The difference between the local time at any particular place and Greenwich time is the longitude of that place from Greenwich ; but much difficulty was formerly experienced in ascertaining the exact time at both places at the instant adopted for comparison. At sea it was formerly determined by elaborate observations of the position of the moon among 288 Lives of the Electricians. the stars ; and latterly both on land and sea it was generally- done by carrying a good chronometer from the one place to the other, the difference between the local time and the Greenwich time recorded by the chronometer giving the longitude. But the exactness of this method depended upon the accuracy of the chronometer, and the rapidity with which it could be carried from on^ place to the other. But now by means of the telegraph, when the wire is kept clear for the purpose, the time at one place can be instantaneously transmitted to another place ; and if the local time at each place is correct, the difference gives the longitude. It is worthy of remark that just about a century before the invention of the Morse telegraph the marine chrono- meter was invented by John Harrison, an ingenious cabinet maker, expressly for the purpose of determining longitude at sea; and he was induced to do so by the British Govern- ment offering a reward of 20,000/. 15,000/. or 10,000/. for a discovery which might prove successful in determining longitude at sea. Now Morse, without any^offer of reward, invented his telegraph, and not only suggested its use for determining longitude on land, but himself directed the first experiment between Washington and Baltimore to prove its practicability for that purpose. In 1847 it was announced that the relative longitudes of New York, Philadelphia, and Washington had been determined by means of the tele- graph, and it was added that two important facts, before known theoretically, were then practically demonstrated, that a clock in New York could be compared with another at a distance of 200 miles quite as accurately as two clocks in adjoining rooms, and that *' the time required for the electric fluid to travel from New York to Washington and back again, a distance of 450 miles, is so small a fraction of a second that it is inappreciable to the most practised observer." So well was this method appreciated that Professor Morse. 289 Lieutenant Maury, of the United States Navy, stated in 1849, that as the electric telegraph then extended through all the States of the Union, except perhaps Arkansas, Texas, and one other frontier, " a splendid field is presented for doing the world a service by connecting, for difference of longitude through means of magnetic telegraph and clock, all the principal points of this country with the Observatory at Washington. In anticipation of such extension of the wires, I ordered an instrument for the purpose, and it has recently arrived. It is intended to determine latitude also — so that by its means and this clock I hope, during the year, to know pretty accurately the geographical position of Montreal, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans, &c., and their difference of longitude from Washington, quite as correctly as the difference between Greenwich and Paris has been established by the usual method and after many years of observation." The telegraphic method was first tried in England in May, 1853, when the Astronomer Royal ascertained the difference of longitude between the observatories of Greenwich and Cambridge. On the Continent Professor Encke in the same year determined the difference of longitude between Berlin and Frankfort-on-the-Main ; and the difference between Greenwich and Paris was determined in 1854. In 1853, eight years after the opening of the first line of telegraph in America, there were 25,000 miles of wire erected at a cost of 1,000,000/., and it was reported that in working these lines there were consumed 720 tons of zinc, worth 12,000/., over 1,000,000 lbs. of nitric acid, worth 24,000/, and 6,000/. worth of mercury in a year. The most distant points then connected by telegraph were the cities of Halifax (Nova Scotia) and Quebec with New Orleans, a length of 2,000 miles. The distance by telegraph between New York and New Orleans was 3,000 miles, and messages from the one town to the other were delivered in 290 Lives of the Electricians. an hour. A report published in 1853, stated that by the aid of the telegraph the vast republic of America, 3,000 miles long by 3,000 broad, could be as easily managed and governed as a single city, and that '* a long experience in America," with some dozen different lines of telegraph, established the fact that the velocity of the electric current was about 15,400 miles per second. The time occupied in transmission between Boston and Bangor having been exactly measured, it was found to be the sixteen- thousandth part of a second, the velocity of the current being at the rate of 16,000 miles per second, or about 600 miles per second more than the average of other experiments in that country. In 1886 it was computed that on the telegraph lines of the United States 30,000 Morse sounders were in daily use, and that the total consumption of copper in the local bat- teries amounted to about 750^00 lbs. per annum, which cost 6,300/., together with 100,000 lbs, of zinc which cost 1,200/. A short description of the Morse apparatus in its improved form may be conveniently given here. The illustration shows the nc.i 2a transmitting key in its '^ simplest shape. It is '^ I evident that by merely Jnr^Juprfy^ns___^ depressing the handle ^'^'"-'"'y '■"- ^-^"y t il 1 the u pper 1 ever comes in contact with the lower bar of metal at the point A, a current of electricity will flow through the point of contact from the battery wire to the telegraph wire. In order to break the contact or circuit, the operator has simply to desist from depressing the handle of the upper Ifever, which is instantly raised from contact by the action of the spring at the other end. The operator can thus make and break the circuit at pleasure, and according to the frequency and duration of the act Professor Morse. 29T of depressing the handle will be the number and length of the signs produced at the far end of the telegraph wire. A long and strong depression of the handle would allow the passage of sufficient electricity to make a long sign ; and if the operator next made two short depressions, giving two short signs, the three together, thus , would mean D. If the receiving instrument called the Sounder were in use, instead of the Recorder, long and short sounds would be produced in proportion to the quantity of electricity transmitted, instead of long and short ink marks. The Sounder is a simpler instrument than the Recorder, and is in more general use. The chief part of its operation is effected by means of the relay or local battery. A simple illustration shows its essential parts. When a current of electricity from the transmitter comes along the telegraph wire, it enters the electro- magnet E M, which forms the central part of the apparatus, and which, being thus electrified, attracts to itself the armature C, just above it. In this way the moveable lever, B C D, is drawn down till its point, D, touches the point of the lower screw, L, which is saturated with electricity from the local battery. Immediately the end of the lever, D, touches the point of the lower screw, L, electricity flows from the latter into the former, the quantity of electricity being propor- tionate to the length of the contact, or, to use a more technical term, to the time that the local circuit is thus complete ; but the instant the current sent along the telegraph wire ceases, the electro-magnet, E M, becomes powerless, the end of the moveable lever, D, is drawn, by the spring S, U 2 J^/ectricity from Xccal Batteiy 292 Lives of the Electricians. away from the lower screw, L, and strikes against the higher screw, H, thus making a cHcking sound, the loud- ness and duration of which are proportionate to the current of electricity originally sent ; but at the same time the original current, especially on long lines, would be quite inadequate to affect the lever with the strength that it acquires from the local battery during its momentary contact with the lower screw, L. The loud and feeble sounds combined with long and short intervals between them represent letters of the alphabet, but it requires a practised ear to interpret them. In the Recorder, the arrival of a current in the electro-magnet and the consequent lowering of the lever brings an ink siphon in contact with a moving strip of paper and thus produces a dash ; and when the current ceases the lever is raised, thus withdrawing the ink siphon from the paper; so that the dash produced is long or short in proportion to the current sent along the telegraph wire. Such is the simple but ingenious apparatus which, by its universal use, has made the name of Morse known throughout the civilised world. Its invention, however, was not the only telegraphic achievement with w^hich he was connected. Mention has already been made of his first attempt at submarine telegraphy ; and in later years he actively promoted the carrying out of the greatest enterprise of that description. In 1853 it was stated, in certain American and English newspapers, that a recent discovery had been made in telegraphing which might work as great a revolution in the world of letters and commerce as had already been effected by the original application of electricity or mag- netism to the purposes of telegraphic communication. It was generally assumed till then that there was a limit to the force of electric currents, and that they could not be made strong enough to be sent across the Atlantic. Professor Morse. 293 Under that Impression it had been proposed to construct a submarine telegraph between Great Britain and the United States by a circuitous route across the various straits and channels lying between the intermediate islands of the North Atlantic Ocean, commencing at the north of Scotland, proceeding by the Shetland and Faroe Islands to Iceland, a distance of 300 miles, next landing on the shores of Greenland and going across land to Davis Strait, after crossing which it would reach the mainland of Labrador. In 1852 it was announced that "the vast enterprise" of connecting the Old and New Worlds by this route had been commenced by sinking the first line in Transatlantic waters between Cape Lormentine, New Brunswick, and Carlton Head on Prince Edward Island ; and next year it was pompously announced as a new dis- covery that the electric current might be sent to " any con- ceivable distance," and the newspapers, in publishing the announcement, said it could not any longer be doubted that the ocean telegraph would be realised, and that "a line of wires will encircle the whole earth, bringing all parts of it into instantaneous communication with each other. It is impossible for any human foresight to estimate or predict even the results of such a com- munication, and we trust that the Governments of the United States and Great Britain will take up the matter of an oceanic line on a scale commensurate with its import- ance, providing such a number of distinct wires enclosed in one cable as will supply the necessities of commerce and intercourse between Europe and America." Early in 1854 Mr. Cyrus Field took an active interest in the project for laying a cable in mid ocean between America and Europe; and one of the first things he did was to send for Professor Morse and to consult him as to the practicability of telegraphing such a long distance. The Professor called on Mr. Field and entered into a full 294 Lives of the Electricians. exposition of the subject, assuring him that the project was practicable. Next year the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company was formed, and they obtained from the Government of Newfoundland an act of incorporation, a guarantee of interest on 50,000/. of the company's bonds, and a grant of fifty square miles of land on the island of Newfoundland. The Governments of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, and the State of Maine, as well as those of Great Britain and the United States, also made substantial grants. In 1855 an attempt was made to connect St. John's with the mainland, but this was not successfully accomplished till 1856, and the line was then continued across the island to Trinity Bay, the American terminus of the Atlantic telegraph. In 1856 Mr. Field visited England for the purpose of enlist- ing English capitalists in the enterprise, and his mission was so successful that in 1857 the Atlantic Telegraph Com- pany was formed. It acquired all the rights and privileges of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Company; and within a month raised a capital of 350,000/. The British Government offered to the company the use of the war vessel Agamemnon for the purpose of laying a cable, while the United States Government in like manner offered their newest and finest vessel — the Niagara — which was 715 feet long and 56 feet wide. The main question at issue was whether electric signals could be transmitted through a cable 2,300 miles in length. At the close of 1856 Professor Morse, who was then regarded as the greatest authority on the subject, calculated that ten words could be transmitted in a minute. In a report which he furnished to the company he explained that gutta-percha covered submarine wires did not transmit in the same way as simple insulated conductors, that they had to be charged like a Leyden jar before they could transmit at all, and that the velocity of transmission was consequently much slower Professor Morse. 295 than in ordinary conductors. In the Leyden jar — a glass vessel covered with tinfoil both inside and outside — the electricity, entering at the neck, charges the interior metallic coating, and at the same time induces or generates electricity in the outside coating, the electricity on the one side being positive, and on the other side negative. In a submarine cable the electricity charged into the wire behaves in a manner similar to that in a Leyden jar; in the one case the gutta-percha is the insulator ; in the other case it is the glass jar. Professor Morse pointed out that as the opposite electricities attracted each other in the wire of a cable, the current was thus retarded in its rate of motion. This inductive retardation was dreaded in a long cable ; but Professor Morse suggested that the velocity of the transmission of signals along insulated submerged wires could be enormously increased, from the rate of one signal in two seconds to eight in one second, by making each alternate signal with a current of different quality, positive following negative, and negative following positive. In April, 1857, the Niagara came to England, where the first Atlantic cable was beinsf manufactured. Professor Morse came too ;* and the day after he disembarked at Gravesend he entered fully into the prospects and cap- abilities of the cable. He was fond of assuring English inquirers as to the desire in America for a cable, that it was the ambition of the people of the United States to know what was done in England before it took place ; as an event happening in London at noon would, if the cable were laid, be published in New York on the morning of the same day. But he had more solid reasons than that to give in support of the undertaking. He stated that he was anxious to see the cable in active operation under the ocean because he had a firm conviction that then the chances of conflict and of misunderstanding between Englishmen and Americans must be diminished in an incalculable degree. 2g6 Lives of the Electricians. He felt sure that it would be used for no hostile purpose, and that when New York would become a suburb of London, and Washington the western half of Westminster, an American war would be about as likely a thing as Cambervvell organising an attack upon Camden Town, or Peckham making a raid upon Pimlico. All wars, he said, arise in ignorance and misunderstanding of the real objects and interests of the race by which they are waged : to increase the facilities for an interchange of ideas, for the opening out of commercial relations, and for the develop- ment of intelligence, must be to diminish the need of appeals from reason to force ; and a small cable laid quietly at the bottom of the Atlantic at a cost of 350,000/. would do more for the maintenance of international peace and for the furtherance of national prosperity than an expenditure of 10,000,000/. a year on each side of the Atlantic in the construction and commissioning of such armed Leviathans as would carry and pioneer the electrical rope to its resting-place. In reporting these words of Professor Morse the directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company said the shareholders would not be unwilling to receive his " opinion and assurance upon that point as the first instalment of their interest." Equally com- plimentary was the appreciation they expressed of his opinion as to the feasibihty of the undertaking. In 1856 when it was determined to make experiments on long lengths of telegraph wires for the purpose of proving that intelligence could be transmitted for long distances, it was proposed to provide the requisite length of cable by joining together the underground lines of the English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company, extending from London to Dublin via Dumfries. These lines were 600 miles long, and were capable of forming a continuous length of 5,000 miles. The directors stated that every possible precaution was taken in this trial to guard against acci- Professor Morse. 297 dental causes of error by the introduction of test instru- ments at each available point of junction, and ''to crown the whole, the veteran electrician, Professor Morse, of the United States, was present at the operations and witnessed the result." On the night of October 2nd, "the conclave of experimenters" met at the office of the Magnetic Telegraph Company in Old Broad Street, London, and made their experim.cnts on a circuit of subterranean or sub- marine wires which was considered to present the nearest approach to the working of a real and continuous submarine cable. The arrangements were considered perfectly satis- factory, and the result was described as an unquestionable triumph. By means of one of Morse's ordinary receiving instruments signals were distinctly telegraphed through 2,000 miles ofwire at the rate of 210, 241, and on one occasion 270 per minute. Elated at the realisation of his anticipa- tions. Professor Morse wrote to Mr. Cyrus Field, stating that " there could be no question that, with a cable contain- ing a single conducting wire, of a size not exceeding that through which we worked, and with equal insulation, it would be easy to telegraph from Ireland to Newfoundland at a speed of at least from eight to ten words per minute. Take it at ten. words in a minute, and allowing ten words for name and address, we can safely calculate upon the transmission of a twenty-word message in three minutes — twenty such messages in an hour, 480 in the twenty-four hours, or 14,400 words per day. Such are the capabilities of a single wire cable fairly and moderately computed. It is, however, evident to me that by improve- ments in the arrangement of the signals themselves, aided by the adoption of a code or system constructed upon the principles of the best nautical code, we may at least double the speed in the transmission of our messages. In one word, the doubts are solved ; the difficulties are overcome ; success is within our reach ; and the great feat of the 298 Lives of the Electricians. century must shortly be accomplished." The rate of transmission through the Atlantic cable was eventually from ten to twenty words a minute, but great improvements had to be made before the higher speed was attained. In July, 1857, the Niagara went to Birkenhead to take on board one half of the cable which had been manu' factured there, and having shipped her peculiar freight she proceeded to Queenstown, where she was joined by the AgajnemnoUy which had shipped the other half of the cable in the Thames. Off Oueenstown the two halves of the cable in the ships were united so as to form a circuit of 2,500 miles. When charged with electricity it was found that a current flowed through the cable. Indeed, a distinct message was telegraphed through it, but the rate of transmitting signals was slow. One current occupied a second and three-quarters in passing through ; but when it was found that three successive signals could be trans- mitted in two seconds, the prospect was considered satisfactory. The tests being so far successful, it was at first intended that the two vessels should proceed to mid ocean, whence, having joined together the two halves of the cable, each vessel could proceed towards the opposite shores. At the last hour, however, it was deemed more prudent to start paying out from the Irish coast. Accord- ingly, on August 4th, 1857, the two cable ships, each attended by three smaller vessels, left Queenstown, and arrived in Valencia Bay on the following day. After some inaugural ceremonies, the telegraph squadron started to pay out the cable on August 7th. Professor Morse was on board the Niagara, which began the work of paying out. On the morning of the fourth day (August nth) the cable parted, and the 335 miles paid out appeared to be lost at the bottom of the ocean. In a letter describing the accident, Professor Morse said that at the time it occurred " there was a moderately heavy sea, which caused the ship's Professor Morse. 299 stern to rise several feet and to fall to the same degree ; when the stern fell, the cable under its immense strain went down into the water easily and quickly, but when the stern was lifted by the irresistible power of the succeeding wave the force exerted upon the cable under such circumstances w^ould have parted a cable of four times the strength. Hence it is no wonder that our cable, subjected to such a tremendous and unnatural strain, should snap like a pack- thread. It did snap, and in an instant the whole course and plan of our future proceedings were necessarily changed. How many visions of wealth, of fame, and of pleasure were dependent for their realisation on the integrity of that little nerve thread, spinning out like a spider's web from the stern of our noble ship and (in view of the mighty force of steam and waves and winds and mechanism brought to bear upon it) quite as frail. Yet with all its frailties, nothing could exceed the beauty of its quiet passage to its ocean bed from the moment we had joined it to the shore end till the fatal mistake of not easing the breaks which caused the breaking of it asunder. The effect on shipboard was very striking. It parted just before day- light. All hands rushed to the deck, but there was no confusion ; the telegraph machinery had stopped ; the men gathered in mournful groups, and their tones were sad and voices as low as if a death had occurred on board. I believe there was not a man in the ship who did not feel really as melancholy as if a comrade had been lost overboard." On the vessels returning to Plymouth the chief electricians connected with the enterprise, Mr. W. Whitehouse, Professor Morse, and Professor William Thomson, issued a report certifying that " every experiment which we have made upon the cable, every test to w^hich we have subjected it, both for its insulating and conducting power, has uniformly resulted in demonstrating the perfect fitness of the cable for its office. The treble 300 Lives of the Electricians. covering of gutta-percha so entirely provides for the remote possibility of an accidental flaw occurring in the first or second coat, that all risk of defective insulation is avoided." The directors determined to renew the attempt during a more favourable period of 1858 with certain im- provements in the paying out machinery and with a greater length of cable. Durinsf the winter the whole of the cable was stored at Keyham Docks (Plymouth) ; and the British and American Governments having again granted the use of the same vessels, it was reshipped in the spring. The vessels first proceeded, in the last days of May, to the Bay of Biscay, where experiments were made for three days in splicing and paying out the cable, and both the mechanical and electrical tests were reported as very promising. The squadron returned to Plymouth, whence they sailed again on June loth, 1858. While proceeding to mid ocean, where they were to join the two halves and then commence paying out, they encountered a fearful gale, and when they reached the trysting place three attempts to lay the cable proved unsuccessful. In the first attempt the cable parted after two miles and forty fathoms were paid out, in the second attempt forty-two miles and 300 fathoms, and in the third attempt 145 miles and 930 fathoms were paid out. The vessels then returned to Oueenstown to replenish their coal supplies. They started again on July 12th, and having joined the cable ends together on the 29th, in mid ocean, the Niagara landed at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, on August 5th. The Agamemnon had likewise reached Valencia, all well. It was found that through the cable thus laid from shore to shore electric signals passed at the same rate as in the tests made in England ; messages were transmitted for nearly a month, after which defects in insulation gradu- ally increased. After transmitting 366 messages it ceased "to speak" on October 20th, 1858. In the latter and suc- cessful expedition Professor Morse took no active. part. By Professor Morse. 301 ihat time the work which he had taken a foremost part in initiating had fallen into younger and more energetic hands, while his attention was diverted to the honours and rewards which ought to crown a well-spent h"fe, and which are more congenial to a man in his sixty-seventh year than the carrying out of an enterprise that he had pronounced feasible sixteen years previously. He lived to see it made a permanent success a quarter of a century after he had first suggested it. CHAPTER IV. "He that has improved the virtue or advanced the happiness of one fellow- creature, he that has ascertained a single moral proposition, or added one useful experiment to natural knowledge, may be contented with his own performance, and, with respect to mortals like himself, may demand, like Augustus, to be dismissed at his departure with applause." — Dr, Johnson. The fate of inventors has been one of the enigmas of history. Lord Bacon has praised the justness of antiquity in awarding divine honours to inventors whose benefits might extend to the whole human race, while only heroic honours were awarded to statesmen who benefited only particular places. But even in antiquity the honours paid to inventors were generally posthumous. Horace v/rote that "Though living virtue we despise; When dead, we praise it to the skies." And a later Roman writer endeavoured to explain this anomalous treatment by stating that "we envy the living by whose merit we think ourselves overwhelmed, but we venerate departed merit because we are edified by it.' Human nature has not changed much since the Augustan age ; but in nothing perhaps has public feeling in our own time undergone such a revolution as in respect to inventors. Some may think that this change can be accounted for by the greatness of the benefits which inventors have wrought in our day. But there have been great inventors before now, " If one looks back," says Mr. J. L. Ricardo, Trofessor Morse. 303 *' to the times when the most important inventions were produced, it appears they were all made without even a patent, so far as we can discover. For instance, arithmetic, writing-, and all the first great inventions, to which we arc so habituated that we scarce think they have been invented any more than the flowers or trees, yet were mighty inventions in their time. Paper was invented in the year 1200, oil painting in the year 1297, glass in 13 10, printing in 1430, and gunpowder in 1450. All these inventions, or very many of them, were made by men without artificial stimulus, often at the peril of their lives, when their reward was not a monopoly, but perhaps the stake or the gibbet." It may be observed, however, that most of these " great inventions " might more accurately be described as the result of the discovery of natural laws, and hence they were generally ascribed to alchemy or sorcery ; whereas in our day the inventions that have been most beneficial have been of a mechanical description. There is scarcely a machine now in use that is not an invention of modern times ; and while many of the discoveries, called inventions, of former ages vv^ere made accidentcdly, who would ever think of saying that the complicated machinery in use nowadays was invented by accident .-* Obviously it has been the result of labour, skill, and knowledge ; and its effect is to save labour and super- sede skill. It is probably the greater effort required in the production of modern machinery, and its obvious utility when in operation, that have secured for inventors an honourable place in public estimation, as well as more adequate remuneration for their services. At all events such was the case with the Morse telegraph. Not that its success was unalloyed with detraction. After its utility was fully established, one company after another contested its originality or the validity of his patent rights, which had consequently to be protected by 304 Lives of the Electricians. costly law suits. The first of these took place at Louisville, Kentucky, in August, 1848. The owners of the Morse system arranged to construct a line from that town to Nashville, Tennessee; and Henry O'Reilly, supported by a company, constructed a rival line, and called it the People's Line, which they at first tried to work by a piece of electrical apparatus that was only a modification of the Morse system, the principle of which they contended they were justified in using on the ground that it did not origin- ate with Morse. After a patient trial of the case, the court granted an injunction against the O'Reilly Company, and sustained the validity of the Morse patent. The Supreme Court of the United States, on appeal, confirmed this de- cision in January, 1854. The court held it as established by evidence that "early in the spring of 1837 ^lorse in- vented his plan for combining two or more electric or galvanic circuits, with independent batteries, for the purpose of overcoming the diminished force of electro-magnetism in long circuits, that there is reasonable ground for believ- ing that he had so far completed his invention that the whole process, combination, powers, and machinery were arranged in his mind, and that the delay in bringing it out arose from want of means.'' The court also held that *' neither the inquiries Morse made nor the information or advice he received from men of science, in the course of his researches, impair his right to the character of an in- ventor. No invention can possibly be made, consisting of a combination of different elements of power, without a thorough knowledge of the properties of each of them, and the mode in which they operate upon each other. A very high degree of scientific knowledge and the nicest skill in the mechanic arts are combined in the electro- magnetic telegraph and were necessary to bring it into successful operation. It is the high praise of Professor Morse that he has been able by a new combination of Professor Morse. 305 known powers, of which electro-magnetism is one, to dis- cover a method by which intellij^ible marks or signs may be printed at a distance." Such were the sort of compH- ments that the Supreme Court bestowed upon Professor Morse, while they amply vindicated the validity of his patents. Another case was heard at Philadelphia in September, 185 1. It was an action brought by the Magnetic Telegraph Company, who used the Morse patent, against Henry J. Rogers and others who worked a line of telegraph from Washington to New York on the system of Alexander Bain. This ingenious but unlucky invention, which Mr. Bain made in 1846, was represented as capable of transmitting from 1,000 to 2,000 letters a minute. By means of a machine, holes were stamped in a long strip of paper, and each hole or group of holes represented a particular letter. The paper was coiled on a wooden roller, from which it passed to a metal roller ; the mechanism was so arranged that two metallic points underneath the paper passed through the holes as they moved along, and thus touching the metal of the roller, imparted sufficient electricity to make a signal at the distant end of the wire ; but when the points only touched the paper no electricity passed. This rapid alternation was made to indicate signals. In the recipient apparatus, which marked the signals at the distant end of the connecting wire, the strip of paper used was first soaked in dilute sulphuric acid, and then in a solution of prussiate of potash ; two metallic points pressed on that paper, and when electricity passed through these points, it discoloured the chemically prepared paper and left a number of dark spots on it ; but when no electricity passed no spots were produced. In America it was alleged that those who used this apparatus violated Morse's patent by forming their alphabet and figures (though using chemicals instead of ink) in the same way that Morse did — by dots and lines, X 3o6 Lives of the Electricians. although the same dots and lines did not in both systems represent the same letter or figure. The claim of Professor Morse as the inventor of the principle of the dot and dash alphabet was consequently disputed by the defendants. But the judges held that there was no one person whose invention had been spoken of by witnesses or referred to in any book as involving the principle of Morse's discovery but must yield precedence to him, and that neither Stein- heil, nor Cooke and Wheatstone, nor Davy, nor Dyer, nor Henry had, when the Morse invention was consummated early in the spring of 1837, made a recording telegraph of any sort. In this case the evidence filled over a thousand printed pages ; and in other trials the evidence filled many hundreds of pages. Only in one case did a rival inventor establish valid claims to originality. This was Mr. Royal E. House, the inventor of the printing telegraph, which was described in 185 1, when it came into use, as one of the wonders of the age. He invented a machine which, when a message was transmitted by electric currents over a single wire, printed the words in Roman letters that any person could read. For that invention House applied for a patent in 1846, but was refused it on the ground that his specification in some points clashed with that of Morse. It was not till towards the end oi 1848 that he got a patent which dated from April, 1846. He was a self-taught man, who was confined to his dwelling-house with an affection of the eyes during most of the six years that he had been engaged in con- structing his instrument. The sending apparatus for de- spatching messages resembled a pianette, in which each key represented a letter of the alphabet, and the sender had simply to press down the key representing any desired letter, and the receiving apparatus at the other end of the telegraph wire printed that letter on a strip of paper. The electric current moved a wheel around the edge of which Professor Morse. 307 were the letters of the alphabet in type properly Inked ; and when the particular letter desired came round to the point nearest the paper tape, the letter was by self-acting mechanism pressed against it, causing the letter to be printed on the tape. It was stated that 160 letters could be transmitted and printed in that way in a minute. The first line of telegraph worked by the House apparatus was completed In August, 1850, by the Boston and New York Telegraph Company. Proceedings were at once taken against that company by the owner of the Morse patent, of which the House apparatus was alleged to be an infringement. Judge Woodbury, after hearing much evidence and argument, came to the conclusion that the two methods of telegraphing differed as much as writing differed from printing. He said the Morse apparatus was less complicated and more easily comprehended ; it could be readily understood by most mechanics and men of science ; while the House machine was so much more diffi- cult to comprehend in Its operations that It required days, if not weeks, to master It. At the same time he declared that House had given " letters to lightning," as well as '* lightning to letters." While he admitted that the princi- ple of the House telegraph was not new, although now Inge- niously applied and worked by a new power, he gave Morse every credit for originality in his Invention, and decided In the end that the one was not an infri^ngement of the other. The Morse alphabet, the originality of which was prac- tically undisputed, has not only been found universally useful for telegraphic purposes, but has been successfully used for signalling Intelligence where no electric telegraph was available. Its characters have been exhibited from lighthouses In long and short flashes of electric light to tell the lonely mariner In the darkness of night the name of the coast he was passing ; while in lands where the electric telegraph is unknown it has enabled a revival X 2 3o8 Lives of the Electricians. of the old semaphore system to be worked with great advantages. When the British squadron entered Burmah in the end of 1885, communication was kept up between the different portions of the forces by means of the hehostat and hehograph, sun-signalhng instruments, which displayed to distant stations dots or dashes of light form- ing the Morse alphabet. In the heliograph the signalling was effected by altering the angle of the mirror which reflected the light ; while in the heliostat the requisite flash was transmitted by opening temporarily a shutter, which when shut obscured the light. The Morse alphabet thus enables distant stations to speak by means of light as well as electricity. At the time when the laying of the Atlantic cable was absorbing public attention, Professor Morse was enjoying the fruits of his previous labours. Rewards and honours were freely bestowed on him. During his long and often disheartening struggle with adversity, he was not without honour in his own and in other countries. In 1835 he was elected a corresponding member of the Historical Institute of France ; in 1837 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Belgium ; in 1839 ^^ received the great silver medal of the Paris Academy of Industry for his invention of the telegraph ; in 184 1 he was made a corresponding member of the Washington Institute for the Promotion of Science ; in 1842 he was awarded the gold medal of the American Institute for his experi- ments demonstrating submarine telegraphy ; in 1845 ^^ was made a corresponding member of the Archaeological Society of Belgium ; in 1847 he was made an honorary Doctor of Laws of Yale College; in 1849 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, and so on. What he wanted during these years was emolument, and now that had come to him after long years of patient Professor Morse. 309 expectation. Though his patent was not put in profitable operation till 1846, he received before the date of its expiration, 1854, a sum of 90,874 dollars, and during the seven following years, for which it was renewed, over 70,000 dollars. His fame had now become world-wide, and foreign honours were bestowed upon him by the chief European sovereigns. In June, 1856, he visited England, and was delighted to meet once more with several of his old artist friends : men who had befriended him when in humble cir- cumstances he showed a special pleasure in meeting now, when he had attained pre-eminent success in another voca- tion. From London he proceeded to Copenhagen, where the King of Denmark, Frederick VII., presented him with the Cross of a Knight of the Danneborg. He was thence invited to Russia by the Emperor Alexander 11.^ who sent his carriage to convey him from the quay on landing to the Imperial Palace, where he was treated as an honoured guest. Then he went to Berlin, where he again met the author of the Cosmos, Alexander von Humboldt, who entertained him hospitably, and presented him with a portrait of himself on the margin of which he had written as an inscription the homage of his high and affectionate esteem for Mr. S. F. B. Morse, " whose philosophical and useful labours have rendered his name illustrious in two worlds." Returning to London in September, he was next month entertained at a public banquet in the Albion Tavern on the same dav that he received the announce- ment that the Emperor Napoleon had made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. At that banquet Mr. W. F. Cooke stated that Professor Morse stood alone in America as the originator and carrier out oi a grand con- ception ; but that not content with giving the benefit of his conception to his own country and Canada, he threat- ened to go still further, and, if Englishmen would not do it; to carry telegraphic communication across the Atlantic. 310 Lives of the Electricians. Dr. O'Shaughnessy stated at the banquet that he had made a journey from India to England in order to introduce into India the system of telegraphing which had been perfected by Professor Morse. It was this gentleman who, according to his own statement, erected in April and May, 1839, "the first long line of telegraph ever constructed in any country" in the vicinity of Calcutta. His line was twenty-one miles long, and included 7,000 feet of river circuit. In after years he was accustomed to state that it was the experi- ments performed on that line which removed all reasonable doubts regarding the practicability of working electric telegraphs through enormous distances, — "a. question then and for three years later disputed by high authorities, and regarded generally with contemptuous scepticism." After the experiments were completed and published, the line was taken down. It may therefore be said of Dr, O'Shaughnessy that he was in a double sense the father of Indian telegraphy, and as such he received the honour of knighthood. It thus appears that the three men who were the pioneers in practical telegraphy were Morse in America, Wheat- stone in England, and O'Shaughnessy in India. In after ages it may be a question of biographical interest whether these three men, whose triumphs took place in scenes so far apart, ever met together. A similar question has been asked of another constellation of great men. " It is a remarkable fact," says Sir David Brewster, " in the history of astronomy, that three of its most distinguished professors were contemporaries. Galileo was the contemporary of Tycho during thirty-seven years and of Kepler during fifty-nine years of his life. Galileo was born seven years before Kepler, and survived him nearly the same time. We have not learned that the intellectual triumvirate of the age enjoyed any opportunity of mutual congratulation. What a privilege it VN'ould have been to have contrasted Professor Morse. 311 the aristocratic dignity of Tycho with the reckless ease of Kepler, and the manly and impetuous mien of the Italian sage." It is possible that three or four centuries hence similar speculations may be indulged in with respect to the group of remarkable men who made the electric telegraph a practical success in different parts of the world. It may therefore be worth while here to state that there is no record of Professor Wheatstone and Professor Morse ever having met personally either for mutual congratulation or recrimination. In several respects they were men of like qualities — modest, unselfish, persevering, versatile, and ingenious in everything except extemporaneous public speaking — a similitude which might perhaps be held to account for the fact that there was no love lost between them, if it be true, as Saint Pierre contends, that men are more attached to those qualities that are the complement of their own than to those that are the counterpart of their own — an observation that would not apply to the three professors of astronomy. Anyhow, the absence of Professor Wheatstone from the banquet given to Professor Morse in London in 1S56 was publicly commented on at the time in the leading English journal, to which a member of the committee wrote, in reply, that "it was intended to pay all honour to Professor Wheatstone, but to the regret of every one at the dinner he was unable to attend : his pre-eminent merits as an electrical engineer were repeatedly acknowledged during the evening, and always with the warmest reception by the whole company." Nevertheless, in the calm perspective of history posterity will probably regard that opportunity for mutual congratulation as a privilege that ought not to have been lost. Professor Morse said in 1856 that it was not in England alone that he had experienced unwonted kindness, but in every place he had visited, — in Copenhagen, in St. Peters- burgh, in Berlin, throughout Germany, Belgium, France, he 312 Lives of the Electricians. had everywhere received distinguished marks of regard — and that he was unable to recall a single unpleasant occurrence to mar the gratifying impression which he carried with him to his Transatlantic home. The first foreign honour he received as an acknowledgment of his invention came from the Sultan of Turkey, who sent him the decoration, set in diamonds, of the Order of Glory, and this was the first decoration which the Sultan conferred on an American citizen. Italy bestowed on him the Cross of a Knight of Saints Lazaro and Mauritio ; Prussia the Gold Medal of Scientific Merit in a gold snuff-box ; Spain the Cross of Knight Commander de Numero of the Order of Isabella ; Austria the Gold Medal of Scientific Merit ; and Portugal the Cross of a Knight of the Tower and Sword. In 1858 he again left New York and went to Paris, where his fellow-countrymen entertained him at a banquet. A movement was then set on foot to make him some recom- pense for the use of his invention in Europe. At a con- ference of delegates of ten leading Governments, held in Paris to consider the subject, Count Walewski said that the honorary distinctions which several sovereigns had conferred on Professor Morse had beyond doubt been appreciated by him as valuable marks of high esteem ; but these had been insufficient to supply the place of the pecuniary compensation which his sacrifices and his labours seemed destined to procure him, and which were so much the more justly called for, since electro-magnetic tele- graphing, — independently of the immense services which it renders by the rapidity of transmitting news and cor- respondence, — also brings to the Governments that have a monopoly of it profits in money which are already considerable, and must continue to increase. With a conviction that there was justice as well as generosity in acceding to the claim of Mr. Morse, who was now subject to the infirmities of age, after devoting the whole of his small Professor Morse. 313 fortune to the experiments and voyages necessary to arrive at the discovery and apphcation of his process, the Emperors Government had sohcited the various States, to whose gratitude Professor Morse had a right, to contribute to the remuneration due to him. It was agreed that the different Governments should contribute in proportion to the number of instruments that they had in use ; and it was found that they had altogether 1,284 Morse instruments in operation, of which France had the highest number, namely 462. On September ist, 1858, Count Walewski addressed to him the following letter from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs : — " I have the honour to announce with lively satisfaction that a sum of 400,000 francs will be remitted to you in four annuities, in the name of France, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Piedmont, Russia, the Holy See, Sweden, Tuscany, and Turkey, as an honorary gratuity, and as a reward, altogether personal, of your useful labours. Nothing can better mark than this collective act of reward the sentiment of public gratitude which your invention has so justly excited. The Emperor had already given you a testimonial of his high esteem when he conferred on you, more than a year ago, the decoration of a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. You will find a new mark of it in the initiative which His Majesty wished that his Government should take on this occasion, and the announcement I now make to you is a brilliant proof of the eager and sympathetic response that his proposition has met with from the States I have just enumerated." The latter years of the Professor's life were mostly spent in retirement at his country residence — a delightful house, near Poughkeepsie, on the eastern bank of the Hudson, where he appeared to possess everything that could promote his comfort or gratify his taste. It was an Italian villa, called Locust Grove, surrounded by very picturesque grounds containing deep ravines and lofty forest trees. 314 Lives of the Electricians. Here he cultivated beautiful gardens, and adorned the spot with all the chasteness of an artist's taste. Here he was surrounded by a lively and affectionate family. Here he delighted to entertain his old friends with accounts of his early struggles and disappointments. Here he was placed in communication with the busy world of work and thought by means of the agency which his own genius had created — the Morse telegraph. But here, amid the repose of Nature, he was not idle. In the sunshine of fortune and fame he was as sympathetic and kind as when under the chilly blasts of adversit3^ He knew well that rt > Tis easy to resign a toilsome place But not to manage leisure with a grace ; i Absence of occupation is not rest, ■ A mind quite vacant is a mind distress' d." Much of his leisure time was spent in assisting struggling inventors and artists, and in doing works of charity. He purposely devoted one-tenth of his income to Christian benevolence, and in honour of his father he gave 10,000 dollars as an endowment for a Morse lectureship on the relation of the Bible to the sciences. Occasionally he was drawn from his retirement to receive some tribute of re- spect from his fellow-countrymen ; for in his own country where no titles or decorations are conferred, the sunset of his useful life was made radiant by some exceptional marks of public favour. On the eve of the last day of 1868 he was entertained at a public banquet in Delmonico's, New York, when some of the most eminent men in the United States paid high tributes to his genius. In the toast of ''Our Guest," Pro- fessor Morse was described as the man of science who explored the laws of Nature, wrested electricity from her embrace, and made it a missionary in the cause of human progress. Professor Morse was as rich in humility as his admirers were in eulogy. He said that, in tracing the Professor Morse. 315 birth and pedigree of the American telegraph, "American is not the highest term of the series that connects the past with the present. There is at least one higher term, — the highest of all, — which cannot and must not be ignored. If not a sparrow falls to the ground without a definite purpose in the plans of Infinite Wisdom, can the creation of an instrument so vitally alTecting the interests of the whole human race have an origin less humble than the Father of every good and perfect gift .'* I am sure I have the sympathy of such an assembly as is here gathered together, if in all humility, and in the sincerity of a grateful heart, I use the words of Inspiration in ascribing honour and praise to Him to whom first of all and most of all it is pre-eminently due. * Not unto us, not unto us, but to God be all the glory ' — not what hath man, but * what hath God wrought ? ' " In April, 1870, it was announced in the public press that the telegraph operators of the United States intended to raise a memorial of the father of their craft, and from all parts of civilised America subscriptions for that purpose were sent to the executive committee, of which Mr. Jas. D. Reid was the chairman. When, six months afterward, information of the movement was officially communicated to the aged Professor, he replied : — " I am astonished and deeply impressed with the evidence of such an unexampled universality of kind and friendly feeling from those whom I have loved to call wj/ children. I know by early experience some of their trials, and can therefore sympathise with them ; and I should be false to my convictions if to those who have called me FatJier^ I should be recreant in mani- festing my grateful thanks for their expressed sentiments of affection and respect." A bronze statue of him on a granite pedestal was erected in the Central Park, New York, and was unveiled on June loth, 1S71, in the presence of a vast multitude, by 3i6 Lives OF the Electricians. the Governor of Massachusetts, the State in which the venerable inventor was born eighty years previously. In the course of a long and eloquent address, Mr. Cullen Bryant observ^ed that it might be said that "the civilised world is already full of memorials which speak the merit of our friend and the grandeur and utility of his invention. Every telegraphic station is such a memorial ; every message sent from one of these stations to another may be counted among the honours paid to his name. Every telegraphic wire, strung from post to post, as it hums in the wind murmurs his eulogy. But we are so constituted that we insist upon seeing the form of that brow beneath which an active, restless, creative brain devised the mechanism that was to subdue the most wayward of the elements to the service of man, and make it his obedient messenger. We require to see the eye that glittered with a thousand lofty hopes when the great discovery was made, and the lips that curled with a smile of triumph when it became certain that the light- ning of the clouds would become tractable to the most delicate touch. We demand to see the hand which first strung the wire by whose means the slender currents of the electric fluid were taught the alphabet of every living language — the hand which pointed them to the spot where they were to inscribe and leave their messages. All this we have in the statue which has this day been unveiled to the eager gaze of the public, and in which the artist has so skilfully and faithfully fulfilled his task as to satisfy those who are the hardest to please — the most intimate friends of the original. On behalf of the telegraphic workers of the Continent, who have so nobly and affectionately provided it, I do now present it to the authorities of the city of New York for perpetual and loving care." In accepting it> Mayor Hall said : — "Our Middle State city loves to remem- ber how her citizen Franklin modestly passed the portals of the temple of electrical science; a southern city how her Professor Morse. 317 citizen Whitney developed a cotton empire ; a western city how her citizen McCormick presented to agriculture its greatest boon ; adjacent eastern cities gratefully recall how their citizens Morton and Jackson blessed humanity, and how Eiias Howe lightened the toil of the poor. The genius of these Americans changed the atmosphere of social life, which now is not in any aspect the same as it was to the elder generation of this Union. Their genius blessed food, raiment, and locomotion. But New York cherishes more proudly and gratefully the thought that the genius of her citizen Morse put all these inventions into world-wide service, and is fast bringing together all the peoples who were dispersed at the Tower of Babel." The venerable Professor also delivered a lengthy speech, during which he said that the subscribers had "chosen to impersonate in my humble effigy an invention which, cradled upon the ocean, had its birth in an American ship. It was nursed and cherished not so much from personal as from patriotic pride. Forecasting its future, even at its birth, my most powerful stimulus to perseverance through all the perils and trials of its early days — and they were neither few nor insignificant — was the thought that it must inevitably be world-wide in its application, and, moreover, that it would everywhere be hailed as a grateful American gift to the nations. It is in this aspect of the present occa- sion that 1 look upon your proceeding as intended, not so much as homage to an individual as to the invention ' whose lines,' from America, 'have gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.' ... It is but a few days since, that our veritable antipodes became telegraphi- cally united to us. We can speak to and receive an answer in a few seconds of time from Hong Kong in China, where 10 o'clock to-night here is 10 o'clock in the day there, and it is perhaps a debatable question whether their 10 o'clock is 10 to-day or 10 to-morrow. China and New York are in 3i8 Lives of the Electricians. interlocutory ccmmunication. We know the fact, but can imacj-ination realise it ? " At a public meeting- held in the evening in the Academy of Music a unique incident occurred. At 9 o'clock all the telegraph wires in America, then measuring over 180,000 miles, with 6,000 stations, were so connected together as to be in communication with a single Morse instrument which stood on a table visible to the large audience present. By means of this instrument the following message was trans- mitted to all the stations : — " Greeting and thanks to the telegraph fraternity throughout the land. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will to men." These words were transmitted by an expert lady operator, and then Professor Morse stepped forward to the instrument, and moved the handle so as to transmit the letters S. F. B. Morse, a proceeding which evoked enthusiastic applause. Mr. W. Orton, who presided, said : "Thus the Father of the Telegraph bids farewell to his children." The Professor afterwards delivered a long address, recounting the chief events in the early history of his invention. His continued interest and faith in the telegraph was evinced by a characteristic letter, which he wrote on December 4th, 1871, to Mr. Cyrus Field, who was then attending a Telegraphic Convention in Rome. He said : — "The excitement occasioned by the visit of the Grand Duke Alexis has but just ceased, and I have been wholly en- grossed by the various duties connected with his presence, I have wished for a few calm moments to put on paper some thoughts respecting the doings of the great Tele- graphic Convention to which you are a delegate. The telegraph has now assumed such a marvellous position in human affairs throughout the world ; its influences are so great and important in all the varied concerns of nations, that its efficient protection from injury has become a neces- sity. It is a powerful advocate for universal peace. Not Professor Morse. 319 that of itself it can command a ' Peace, be still/ to the angry waves of human passions, but that by its rapid interchange of thought and opinion it gives the opportunity of explanations to acts and to laws which in their ordinary wording often create doubt and suspicion. Were there no means of quick explanation, it is readily seen that doubt and suspicion, working on the susceptibilities of the public mind, would engender misconception, hatred, and strife. How- important, then, that in the intercourse of nations there should be the ready means at hand for prompt correction and explanation ! Could there not be passed in the great International Convention some resolution to the effect that in whatever condition, whether of peace or war between nations, the telegraph should be deemed a sacred thing, to be by common consent effectually protected, both on land and beneath the waters ? In the interest of human happiness, of that 'Peace on earth' which, in announcing the advent of the Saviour, the angels proclaimed, with •'good will to men,' I hope that the Convention will not adjourn without adopting a resolution asking of the nations their united effective protection to this great agent of civil- isation. The mode and terms of such resolution may be safely left to the intelligent members of the honourable and distinguished Convention." The reading of this letter in the Convention was hailed with prolonged cheers for the writer of it, and the letter was ordered to be printed among the records of the Convention. The death of his brother Sidney, a few days later, affected him very much, and it then became evident that his own life was ebbing away. While in this state he was asked to unveil a bronze statue of Franklin, which Captain Albert de Groot had presented to the printers of New York, and which was erected in front of the City Hall. Though confined to bed when asked to unveil this statue, the Professor said he would do it if he had to be lifted to 320 Lives of the Electricians. the spot ; and when he was introduced to the vast concourse of people present at the ceremony as ** the distinguished inventor and pride of our country," he stated that no one had more reason to venerate tlie name of FrankHn than himself, and expressed a hope that Franklin's illustrious example of devotion to the interest of universal humanity might be the seed of further fruit for the good of the world. Mr. Horace Greeley said that Professor Morse seemed to have been raised up by Providence to be the continuer of the great work of which Franklin was the beginner. His exposure to the keen breeze blowing when he unveiled the P'ranklin statue aggravated the neuralgia in his head, from which he suffered intense pain. He grad- ually sank, and distracting pain was followed by stupor. The Rev. Dr. Adams, of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York, of which the Professor was a member, attended him in his illness, and afterwards gave the following account of his last days : — " A short time ago he was occupied with other fellow-citizens in acts of atten- tion to a distinguished representative of the Royal House of Russia. At the Holy Communion of this church next ensuing, an occasion in which for domestic and personal reasons he felt an extraordinary interest, at the close of the service he approached me with more than usual warmth and pressure of the hand, and, with a beaming countenance, said : ' Oh, this is something better and greater than standing before princes.' His piety had the simplicity of childhood. When his brother Sidney died last Christmas, he began to die also. Through fear of ex- citing alarm and giving distress to his own household, he did not speak so much to them as to some others, of his expected departure, but he used to say familiarly to some with whom he was ready to converse upon this subject, ' I love to be studying the Guide Book of the country Professor Morse. 321 ' to which I am going; I wish to know more and more about it.' A few days before his decease, in the privacy of his chamber I spoke to him of the great goodness of God to him in his remarkable Hfe. 'Yes; so good, so good,' was the quick response ; * and the best part of all is yet to come.' Though spared more than eighty years, he saw none of the infirmities of age, either of mind or body. His delicate taste, his love for the beautiful, his fondness for the fine arts, his sound judgment, his intellectual activities, his public spirit, his intense interest in all that concerned the welfare and the decoration of the city, his earnest advocacy of Christian liberty through- out the world — all continued unimpaired to the last. With perfect health and the full possession of every faculty, urbane and courteous to all who knew him, there was no infelicity of temper or manner such as sometimes befalls extreme age. Surrounded by a young family, he w^as their genial friend and companion as w^ell as head, sympathising in all the simple and innocent pleasures that give the charms to home. In particular qualities he had many equals and superiors, but in that rare com- bination of qualities which, like the harmony of colours in the finished picture, made him what he was, he seems to have been unrivalled." — On the 2nd of April, 1872, " He passed from sunshine fo the sunless land." His remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery three days after his death. The funeral service was held in Madison Square Presbyterian Church, and the funeral was attended by representatives of the leading telegraph com- panies in New York, of the Academy of Design, of the Evangelical Alliance, the Chamber of Commerce, the* Association for the Advancement of Science and Art, and other public bodies. In the House of Representatives a concurrent resolution was passed recording profound Y 322 Lives of the Electricians. regret at the death of "Professor Morse, whose distinguished and varied abihtics have contributed more than those of any other person to the development and progress of the practical arts," and declaring that his purity of life, his loftiness of scientific aim, and his resolute faith in truth, rendered it highly proper that the Representatives and Senators should solemnly testify to his worth and greatness. Mr. Wood, of New York city, being the only member then in the House who voted in 1843 for the bill for the experi- mental telegraph line, gave a sketch of the measure which enabled Professor Morse to bring his invention to a prac- tical test. Other admirers paid their tributes of respect in verses, such as the following : — " Men of every faith and nation Honor, love, revere, admire One who sought not adulation When he chained the electric fire ; *' Who, discouraged and defeated, Bore it with a patient grace ; By no boastful pride elated. When he conquered time and space." INDEX. ACOUSTTC figures, 1 17 Alpine adventures of Professor Tyndall, 60 Alps, accidents on, 65 America, electrical discoveries in, 231 ; first line of telegraph in, 273 ; tele- graph in (see Morse and Telegraph) ; visit of Professor Tyndall to, 74 Ampere's electrical discoveries, 91 ; proposed telegraph, 134 Aqueous vapour and radiant heat, 44 Arago's electrical discoveries, 91 Atlantic cable, 193, 276, 292 Automatic telegraph, Wheatstone's, 199 B Bain, Alexander, inventions claimed by, 160, 185, 305 Baltimore and Washington telegraph, 273 Batteries described — Volta's, 88; Grove's, 89 ; Daniell's, 128 Beer disease, 53 Bible descriptions of nature, 6 Biographies, use of, xi., xiv. Blackwall telegraph, 167, 173 Brewster, Sir David's account of first telegraph, 150; on vision, 210; improvement of stereoscope, 212 Bridge, Wheatstone, 164 Bryant, W, Cullen, on Morse and his telegraph, 252, 316 Cables, earliest, 187, 269, 292 Calorescence, 47 Carlyle, Thomas, reminiscences of, 99 Celtic genius and science, 7 Channel cable, first, 187, 191 Charges for telegraphing, 181 China, telegraph to, 317 Clark, Latimer, on first English tele- graph, 152 ; on Wheatstone's single- needle telegraph, 167 ; on Wheat- stone's works, 229 Clock, Wheatstone's electro-magnetic, 160 Clouds, experiments in producing, 49 Concertina, invention of, 120 Congress, American, and telegraph, 263, 270 Couke, W. F., account of his first connection with telegraph, 150, 152 ; dispute with Wheatstone about tele- graph, 134, 138, 146 ; efforts to extend telegraph, 173 ; formation of Electric Telegraph Company, 183 Cruikshank, George, on first telegraph, 141 Cryptograph, invention of, 219 Crystals, formation of, 96 ; magnetic properties of, 24 D Daniell, Professor, on Wheatstone's first telegraph, 149 Daniell's constant battery, 128 y 2 324 Index. Day, Professor J., electrical lectures, 234 Dial telegraphs, Wheatstone's, 158, 196 Diamagnetism discovered, 23 ; investi- gated by Tyndall and others, 24, 29, Dynamic radiation of heat, 43 Dynamo machine, invention of, 206 E Earth as return circuit, 171 ; rotatory motion, 217 Earth's magnetic force, 26 Electric currents, measurement of, 93, 163 Electric telegraph. See Telegraph. Electric Telegraph Company, forma- tion of, 183 Electrical biographies, use of, xi. Electrical heat and light, 89 Electricians, distribution of, xii., 231 Electricity, production of, 22, 88, 91, 94, 232 ; force of, 163 ; velocity of, 93 Ellsworth, Miss, connection with Morse telegraph, 272, 277 Enchanted lyre, Wheatstone's, 11 1 Evolution, early days of Darwinian theory of, 97 Exploder, Wheatstone's, 186 Explosion of mines by electricity, 185 Gauss and Weber's telegraph, 136 Germ theory, 51, 98 German scientists, 21, 27 Germany, science in, between 1840 and 1850, 16; student life in, 17; tele- graph in, 136 Glacier phenomena, 38 H Harmonium, \v'Iieatstone's improve- ments in, 123 Heat, radiant, nivestigation of, 42, 58 House, R. E., printing telegraph by, 306 Induced electricity, discovery of, by Faraday, 22 Inventions, popular accounts of origin of, 167 ; Morse's definition of, 280; public appreciation of, 281, 302 Irish scientists, 7 Jackson, Dr., disputes with Morse origin of telegraph, 244, 256 K Kaleidophone, 117 Faraday's associations with Professor Tyndall, 26, 30, 102 ; electrical and magnetic discoveries, 23 ; lecture on scientific theories, 32 ; on Wheat- stone's telegraph, 198 Forbes, Professor J. D., on glaciers, 37, 40 Frankland, Dr., associated with Pro- fessor Tyndall, 15 ; glacier theory by, 45 G Gai.e, Professor, assisted Morse with telegraph, 249 Gases, radiation and absorption of heat by, 42 ; sounding power of, 58 Light, velocity of, 125 Lightning conductors, 131 Longitude determined by telegraph, 287 ^I Magnetic attraction, 28 Magnetic exploder, 186 Magnetisation of light, 93 Magnetism and diamagnetism, 23, 29 ; of the earth, 26 Magnetism and electricity, 22, 91 Magnetism, mechanical theory of, 93 Index. 325 Magneto-electric machine, Wheat- stone's, 159 Magnets, interaction of, 91 ; lengthened by electricity, 92 Marburg, student life in, 17 Measurement of electric currents, Wheatstone's plans for, 124, 163 Metals, new, discovered by electric spark analysis, 127 Microphone, first use of word, 1 19 Morse alphabet, uses of, 307 Morse, Professor S. F. B. : artist, how he became an, 236 ; success as, 243 ; why he ceased to be an, 279 Atlantic cable, connection with, 276, 292 birth and education of, 233 Congress's action towards, 263, 270 death of, 320 difficulties in constructing his tele- graph, 246 ; in introducing it, 268, 281 electrical studies, 234, 242, 244 first line of telegraph constructed by, 273 funeral of, 321 honours conferred on, 308, 3 1 1 Jackson, Dr., controversy with, 244, 256 law-suits to protect patent rights, 303 London visited by, 236, 295 patents, 259, 265 ; defence of, 303 pictures painted by, 237 photography, early connection with, 266 proscribed German student's case, 253 rewards of, 309, 313 statue of, 315 telegraph, distinguishing features of, 279 ; first conception of, 244 ; first public description of, 260 ; labours to improve, 247 ; practi- cal working of, 260 ; public trial of, 268; refusal of, by Ameri- can Government, 283 ; spread of, 284 ; uses of, 286 ; working of, 289 trial of first telegraph line, 277 submarine cable, first, 269, 276, 292 N Needle telegraph, 143, 167 Niagara visited by Prof. Tyndall, 75 O Ohm's work and theory, 140 O'Shaughnessy, Dr., introduction of telegraph in India, 310 Palmerston, Lord, on telegraph, 194 Pasteur's experiments with germs, 52 Photography, invention of, 266 ; intro- duction of, 211, 267 Piz Morteratch, accident upon, 67 Polarised light, Wheatstone's experi- ments, 222 Printing telegraph, Wheatstone's, 161 Proscribed German student, Morse's account of, 253 Pseudoscope, invention of, 216 QuEENSWOOD College, 15 R Railway mania of 1845, 13 Recoiding telegraph, Morses, 277, 290 ; Wheatstone's, 199 Relay, first accounts of, 141, 249 Resistance measurer, 163 Return circuit, 171 Revolution effected by electricity, Ix. Revolving mirror, uses of, 124 Rheostat, Wheatstone's, 165 Ricardo, J. L., connection with tele- graph, 183 Ronalds's telegraph, no Rosa, Monte, ascent of, 61 Royal Institution, changes at, 84 ; lectures by Tyndall at, 30, 38, 87 326 Index. Scientific attainments, recognition of, in England, 35 Scientific discovery, the pursuit of, 79 Sea-water, varying tints of, 56 Semaphore telegraph, 180 Slaty cleavage, 36 Smoke respirator, invention of, 54 Sound, transmission of, 56 j ^Vheat- stone on, 116 Sounder, the INIorse, 291 Spectrum analysis of electric spark, 127 Standards, electrical, 164 Steinheil's telegraph, 136 Stereoscope, invention of, 210 ; im- provement of, 212 ; principle of, 215 Submarine cables, earliest experiments with, 187, 269, 276, 292 Tawell, murderer, apprehended by use of telegraph, 1 78 Telegraph, adoption of, by public, 173, 283 automatic telegraph of Wheatstone, 199 cables, earliest, 189, 269, 292 ; illustration of working, 95 charges for, 18 1 dial, invented by Wheatstone, 158; improvement of, 196 early forecasts of, 106 ; early achievements of, 173, 277, 284 electro-magnetic, Morse's, 248, 277, 290 ; Wheatstone's, 158 extension of, 173, 181, 284, 292 history of, 134, 144, 153, 173, 244, 260, 282, 292 idea and invention of, 105, 244 longitude ascertained by, 2S7 Morse's recording, 244, 260, 2S0, 290 needle, 143, 167 origin of, 134, 138, 142, 150, 244, 292 pedigree of, 108 recording, 199, 246, 260, 26S, 277, 290 relay, 141, 249 Telegraph {continu. d) — sounder, the Morse, 290 Wheatstone's first needle, 143 ; dial, 158 ; printing, 161 j record- ing automatic, 199 Telephone, first, II 5 Thermo-electric pile, 129, 205 Thermometers, self-registering, 221 Tyndall, Professor J. : ancestors of, 3 anecdotes of, 34, 93, 97 birth and education of, 4 daring experiment by, 47 description of, by George Ripley, diamagnetism, explanation of, 24, 29 duty, sense of, 19 endowments for scientific purposes, 80 Faraday, associations with, 26, 30, 102 Germany, student life in, 17, 21 German scientific friends of, 21, 26 investigation of diamagnetism, 24, 29 ; germ.s, 51, 98 ; glacier phe- nomena, 38 ; radiant heat, 42, 58 ; sea-water tints, 56 ; slaiy cleavage, 36; sound, 56 marriage of, 86 Ordnance Survey joined, 9 Pasteur, remarks on, 52 pecuniary assistance declined by, 20, 102 Presidental address to British Association, 81 Professor of Natural Philosophy, appointed, 31 radiant heat, on, 42, 58 railway surveying by, 12 reminiscences of Thomas Carlyle, 99 Royal Institution, at, 30, 85 scientific adviser to Trinity ilouse, 102 scientific examiner at Woolwich, 35 sm.ike respirator, invention of, 54. teaching at Queenswool College, 15 ; elsewhere, 96 travels of, in the Alps, (iO ; at Vesuvius, 70 ; in Amarica, 71, 74 Index. 327 Tyndall, Professor J. {ronfimird) — vindication of scientific education, 35. working habits, 12 youthful studies, 8, 10, 21 Velocity of electricity, 93, 124; of light, 125 Vesuvius, visited in 1 868, 70 Vision, Wheatstone's elucidations of, 210 Voltaic battery described, 88 ; dis- covered, no W West, Benjamin, associated with Morse, 236 Wheatstone, Professor Charles : birth of. III bridge, 164 cryptograph, 219 death and funeral, 228 deciphering secret document, 220 dispute with W. F. Cooke about teleg'-aph, 134, 138, 146, 153 electricity, first studies in, 123 enchanted lyre of, in harmonium improvements, 123 honours conferred on, 166, 226 invention of chronoscope, 162 : concertina, 120; cryptograph, 219 ; dynamo, 206 ; electric clock, 160; enchanted lyre, in ; kaleidophone, 117 , magnetic ex- ploder, 186 ; magneto-electric machiiie, 159 ; polar clock, 223 ; Wheatstone, Professor {cont'nmed) — pseudoscope, 216 ; stereoscope, 210 ; telegraph, 134 {see Tele- graph) ; thermometers, 221 inventions, periodicity of, 223 investigation of algebra, 224 ; Chladni figures, 117; earth's motion, 217 ; mental philosophy, 117 ; musical instruments, 120 ; polarised light, 222 ; sound, 116, 118; submarine cables, 187 ; sub- marine explosions, 185 ; thermo- electric pile, 129, 205 ; tone, 224 ; vision, 210 investigations, latest and incom- plete, 224 lightning conductors, opinions on, 131 magnetic exploder, 1S6 measurement of force of electric currents, 163 originality of his telegraph, 134, 138, 144 patents of, 142, 154, 160, 167, 196 peculiarities of, 225 Professor of Experimental Physics at King's College, 123 revolving mirror, 124 speaking machines, improvements in, 117 spectrum analysis of electric light, 127 submarine cables, early experi- ments with, 187 telegraph, diagram of first, 141 ; history of, 144. 153 ; origin of, 134, 138, 142, 153 telegraphic instruments, automatic, 199 ; dial, 158, 196 ; needle, 141, 145, 167 ; printing, 161 thermo-electric pile, 129, 205 RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LONDON AND BUNGAY. K New Series, No. 8. 2, White Hart Street, Paternoster Square, London, E.G. WHITTAKER AND CO.'S NEW PUBLICATIONS. LIVES OF THE ELECTRICIANS. First Series. Professors TYNDALL, WHEATSTONE, and MORSE. BY WILLIAM T. JEANS. Crown 8vo. ds. The first volume of a series oi Lives of the Electricians. It will contain popular biographies of Professors Tyndall, Wheatstone, and Morse, telling incidentally the story of the progress of the electric telegraph from its origin in 1837 to the present time. Next year will be the jubilee of the electric telegraph in England. Heat, "THE SPECIALISTS' SERIES." New Volume ^ Just Published: — OlSf THE CONVERSION OF HEAT INTO WORK. A Practical Handbook on Heat- Engines. By William Anderson, M.Inst.C.E. With 55 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, pp. viii-252, ds. cloth. The object of this work is to popularize the doctrine that, in heat-engines, the work given out is due to the conversion of the molecular motion of heat into the visible motion which it is desired to produce ; and further to illustrate, by numerous practical examples, the applicability of the doctrine of Sadi Carnot to defining the limits within which improvement in the economical working of heat-engines is possible. THE TE IE PHONE AND ITS PRACTICAL APPLI- CATIONS. By W. H. Preece, F.R.S., and J. Maier, Ph.D. [Reqd^ shortly^ WHITTAKER AND CO:S "THE SPECIALISTS' SERIES." A New Series of Handbooks for Students and Practical Engineers. Crown 8vo. cloth. Illustrated throughout with original and practical Illustrations. Now Ready. Electric Lighti7ig. ARC AND GLOW LAMPS. A Practical Handbook on Electric Lighting. By Julius Maier, Ph.D., Assoc. Soc. Tel. Eng., etc. With 78 Illustrations. Crown Svo, pp. viii-376, 'js. 6d. cloth. \J^'-^t Published, The whole system of modern electric illumination is dealt with in this volume. It gives a detailed description of all the principal modern gene- rators and lamps, together with conductors and the other appliances re- quired in electric light installations. It contains also a full account of the various Applications of Electric Lighting up to recent date. " The author has collected all the most recent available information concerning the process of manufacture, life, &;c., of arc and glow lamps in a very convenient and readable form. Indeed, we do not know any work in which the subject is, on the whole, so fully handled." — The Engineer. Electric Transniission of Energy. ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION OE ENERGY, a?td its Transformation, Subdivision, and Distribution. A Practical Hand- book by GiSBERT Kapp, C.E., Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, &c. With 119 Illustrations. Crown Svo, pp. xi-331, 7^. 6d. cloth. * ^* It has been the aim of the author to present the scientific part of the subject in as simple a form as possible, giving descriptions of work actually carried out. He has endeavoured in this way to place before the reader an unbiassed report on the present state of electric transmission of energy. *' This is ' a practical handbook ' par excellence — a book which will be read, studied, and used not by electricians merely, but by most engineers. It contains a vast amount of original matter, and it bears the signs of much patient thought assisted by practical experience. "We cannot speak too highly of this admirable book, and we trust future editions will follow in rapid succession." — Electrical Review. "A valuable work ; written with regard to facts only." — Electrician. Gas Motors. GAS ENGINES. Their Theory and Management. By William Macgregor. With 7 Plates. Crown Svo, pp. 245, 2>s. 6d. cloth. List of Contetits. Introductory— Direct Working Engines without Compression — Gas Engines work- ing with Compression — Compression En- gines with Compressing Pump— Theory of the Gas Engine — Relative Speed of Com- bustion in Gaseous Explosive Mixtures — Witz's Theoretical Cycles of Gas Engines ^Some further Theoretical Data — Clerk's Theory of the Gas Engine — The Gas En- gine Indicator-Diagram— Index. " Mr. Macgregor has collected a considerable amount of information on his subject of a kind which may prove valuable to many readers. All who desire to be well informed in gas engines will be able to get what they want from these pages." — Engineering. " From the Abbe Hautefeuille's powder machine, invented in 1678, to the Ma.xim Patent of 1883, is a long record of progress fully detailed in Mr. Macgregor's useful and interesting book." — Saturday Revieiu. " This handbook may be safely recommended to all students who wish to acquire a thorough practical knowledge of the mechanism and theoretical principles of the gas engine." — The Building News. NE W PUB L/C A 770NS. Electro Motors, MAGNETO- AND DYNAMO - ELECTRIC MA- CHINES. With a Description of Electric Accumulators. From the German of Glaser de Cew. With 6i Illustrations. Crown 8vo, pp. xiii — 301, 6^-. cloth. In successive chapters the author considers electrical units ; the historical development of magneto- and dynamo-electric generators ; machines gene- rating alternating and direct currents ; the particular applicability of the various electric generators ; automatic switches and current regulation ; electrical storage ; the physical laws bearing on the construction of electric generators ; the construction of the several parts of electric generators ; the employment of these machines in producing the electric light ; and for various other purposes. " Almost all the best known machines are described and illustrated, with the dis- cussion of certain theoretical questions." — Electrician. " Will be welcomed by those who wish, without studj'ing the matter for professional purposes, to possess a scientific knowledge of modem electrical machines." — English Mechanic. "Presents in condensed form an epitome of electrical progress up to recent dates." — Scientific A merican. Ballooning. BALLOONING : A Co?idse Sketch of its History and Prmciplcs. From the best sources, Continental and English. By G. May. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, pp. vi — 97, 2s. 6d. cloth. *^* This deals, not with the possibilities of aeronautics on vague assumption, but gives information from a practical view of what has been done, showing the present position. List of Contents. Introduction — First Practical Experi- ments - Resources and Incidents — The Practical Application of Aeronautics — Mili- tary Applications of Ballooning— Steering " Mr. May gives a clear idea of all the experiments and improvements in aero-navi- gation from its beginning, and the various useful purposes to which it has been applied." — Contemporary Keviciu. " It confines itself to the statement of facts, and should fulfd completely the purpose for which it was written. " — The Graphic. JUST PUBLISHED. THEORY OF MAGNETIC MEASUREMENTS, WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE METHOD OF LEAST SQUARES. BY FRANCIS E. NIPHER, A.M., ysics in Washington University, St. Louis, a the St. Louis Academy of Science. One Volmne. Crown Zvo. ^s. Power — Present State of Ballooning and Recent Proposals for Steering Balloons — The Cost. Professor of Physics in Washington University, St. Louis, and President of the St. Louis Academy of Science. WHITTAKER AND CO:S Will be Published early in January^ One Volume, royal 4to, with 21 double and 30 single Plates. TECHNICAL SCHOOL AND COLLEGE BUILDINGS: BEING • A TREATISE ON THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF APPLIED SCIENCE AND ART BUILDINGS, AND THEIR SUITABLE FITTINGS AND SANITATION, With a Chapter on Technical Education. BY EDWARD COOKWORTHY ROBINS, F.S.A., Fellow of the Royal Instit. of Brit. Architects, Member of the Institute of Surveyors, Member of Council of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, Src. &c., Member of the Executive Committee of the City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education. CONTENTS. Introduction. I. Our British and Foreign Technical Education. II. An Analysis of the Second Report of the Royal Commissioners on Technical Education. III. Buildings for Applied Science and Art Instruction. Illustrated by Foreign examples. IV. Buildings for Applied Science and Art Instruction. Illustrated by English examples. V. Fittings necessary for Applied Science Instruction. VI. A Description of the various Drawings illustrating the Fittings required for Science Buildings. VII. Heating and Ventilation as required for such Buildings, and Belgian mode of Calculation. VIII. Special examples of Heating and Ventilation. IX. Buildings for Secondary Education generally (with discussion thereon). X. Sanitary Science in its relation to Civil Architecture (with discussion thereon). LONDON : WHITTAKER AND CO., 2, WHITE HART STREET, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.G. NEV/ PUBLICATIONS. The Cheapest and the Best Office Book, handsomely bound in fcap. 8vo. Will be Published early in Ja7iuary. DOD'S PEERAGE, BARONETAGE, AND KNIGHTAGE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, FOR 1887, INCLUDING ALL THE TITLED CLASSES. Forty-Seventh Year. This differs from all other Peerages in — I. Its low pHc-e. II. Its enlarged Contents. III. Its facility of refereiice. Cloth, gilt, \Q)s. 6d. JUST PUBLISHED. A N«vv Edition containing all the recent Parliamentary changes to August 20th, DOD'S PARLIAMENTARY COMPANION. 60th issue. 1886. Second Edition. Neatly bound, gilt edges, 4?. 6d. SURTEES' SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS, New Volumes. Just Published. YORKSHIRE DIARIES AND AUTOBIOGRA- PHIES IN THE 17th and i8th CENTURIES. With Portraits. 8vo, pp. ii-173. Cloth, "js. 6d. MEMORIALS OF THE CHURCH OF SS. PETER AND WILFRID, RIPON. Vol. II. 8vo, pp. xii-398. Cloth. 6 WHITTAKER AND CO:S JUST PUBLISHED. A Cheap Edition of Nimrod's Celebrated Letters. NIMROD'S REMARKS ON THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS. The Choice of Horses and their Management. By C. TONGUE. Fourth Edition, tastefully bound in cloth, 2s. dd. PRACTICAL MERCANTILE CORRESPONDENCE, A COLLECTION OF COMMERCIAL LETTERS AND FORMS WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, INDICATING THE CORRECT EQUIVALENTS IN FRENCH, GERMAN, OR ENGLISH, AND A VOCABULARY OF COMMERCIAL TERMS. EDITED BY L. SIMON, CHR. VOGEL, Ph.D., H. P. SKELTON, W. C. WRANKMORE, LELAND MASON, AND OTHERS. Now Ready ^ crown Svo, cloth. ENGLISH, WITH German Notes, is. GERMAN, WITH English Notes. 3^. ENGLISH, WITH French Notes. 4s-. 6d. FRENCH, WITH English Notes. \s. 6d. NE W PUB Lie A TIONS, TECHNOLOGICAL HANDBOOKS. Edited by H. TRUEMAN WOOD, i. B.B. Secretary to the Society of Arts. A Series of Technical Manuals for the use of Workmen and others practically interested in the Industrial Arts, and specially adapted for Candidates in the Examinations of the City Guilds Institute. . Illustrated and uniformly printed in small post 8vo. 1. DYEING AND TISSUE-PRINTING. By William Crookes, F.R.S,, V.P.C.S. ^s. 2. GLASS MANUFACTURE. Introductory Essay by H. J. Powell, B.A. (Whitefriars Glass Works) ; Crown and Sheet Glass, by Henry Chance, M.A. (Chance Bros., Birminc^- ham) ; Plate Glass, by H. G. Harris, Assoc. Memb. Inst. C.E. 3^. (od. 3. COTTON SPINNING: Its Developnmit, Principles, and Practice. By R. Marsden, Editor of the "Textile Manufacturer," with an Appendix on Steam Engines and Boilers. 6s. 6d. 4. COAI-TAR COIOURS, The Chemistry of. With special reference to their application to Dyeing, &c. By Dr. R. Benedik, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Vienna. Trans- lated from the German by E. Knecht, Ph.D., Head Master of the Chemistry and Dyeing Department in the Technical College, Brad- ford. 5^. Ready, 2 vols., 8vo, pp. 711—970, cloth, ;^i *js. TECHNOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH AND GERMAN LANGUAGES. Containing Words and Phrases employed in Civil and Military Engi- neering, Shipbuilding and Navigation, Railway Construction, Mechanics, Chemistry, Chemical Technology, Industrial Arts, Agriculture, Com- merce, Mining, Physics, Meteorology, Metallurgy, Mathematics, Astro- nomy, Mineralogy, Botany, &c. In Co-operation with P. R. Bedson, O. Brandes, M. Briitt, Ch. A. Burghardt, Th. Carnelly, J. J. Hummel, J. G. Lunge, J. Liiroth, G. Schaftler, W. H. M. Ward, W. Carleton Williams. Edited by GUSTAVUS EGER, Professor of the Polytechnic School of Darmstadt, &c. Vol. I. — English-German. Vol. II. — German-English. " A really valuable work, which treats the two languages well and exhaustively, and, best of all, correctly. We can confidently recommend it to every one who has to work in English and German technical terms." — Engineerins. 8 WHITTAKER AND CO.'S NEW PUBLICATIONS. Just published, Vol. I., English - Spanish, in super-royal 8vo, pp. 873, bound in half-morocco, £\ \6s. TECHNOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. ENGLISH-SPANISH AND SPANISH-ENGLISH. Containing Terms employed in the Applied Sciences, Industrial Arts, Mechanics, Fine Arts, Metallurgy, Machinery, Commerce, Ship-build- ing and Navigation, Civil and Military Engineering, Agriculture, Railway Construction, Electro-technics, &c. By NESTOR PONCE DE LEON. Vol. I.— ENGLISH-SPANISH. Vol. II.— SPANISH-ENGLISH. [/;z Preparation. Post 8ro, cloth, pp. xii-203, price 5^. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM, i860 to 18S3. With Special References to Electro- Technics. Compiled by G. MAY. With an Index by O. Salle, Ph.D. Cloth, price 2s. 6d. each ; the Two Parts in one Volume, 5^. Part I. ENGLISH-GERMAN. Part II. GERMAN-ENGLISH. TECHNOLOGICAL DICTIONARY Of the Physical, Mechanical, and Chemical Sciences. By F. J. Wershoren, D.Sc. " It is worth having, and by its cheapness in the reach of everybody." — Textile • Colourist. NEW EDITION. FODEN'S MECHANICAL TABLES For Smiths and Millwrights. Fourth Edition, Crown 8vo, pp. 47, \s. 6d. cloth. / LONDON : WHITTAKER AND CO., 2, WHITE HART STREET, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.G. '\ DATE DUE .^^^ _ J)EC \ ^?004 — r-^? '"ni \C ' .)A^ i i i t.^\^ 1 ■^ -' GAYLORD PRINTED IN U.S.A. o in a COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 0046019111