RSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN 3 1822019460658 rnia tl SAN MAR 2 1 1396 Central University Library University of California, San Diego Please Note: This item is subject to recall. Date Due 0139(7/93) UCSD Lib. TELEGRAPHIC TALES AND TELEGRAPHIC HISTOEY. A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ITS USES, EXTENT AND OUTGROWTHS. By W. J. JOHNSTON, EDITOR OF "THE OPERATOR." W. J. JOHNSTON, PUBLISHES, No. 9 MUBBAY STREET. Copyright, W. J . JOHNSTON, 1880. PREFACE. Some time ago the subscriber published a number of anecdotes relating to telegraphy, which were received with an unexpected degree of favor. They were so extensively copied in the newspapers as to set him thinking that the preparation of such a book as this would please the reading public, as well as members of the telegraphic profession. Hence the undertaking herewith put on the book market as a candidate for popular favor. No more is claimed for it than that it presents, in a methodized and compact form, a compre- hensive summary of such telegraphic information as is likely to be valued by the general public, and of use to the operator because of the convenient method of its presentation varied, as is desirable, with lighter matter. Very considerable labor has been expended upon it, in the hope and belief that it will occupy an unique place among those books which instruct without being tedious and entertain wholesomely. Should this expec- tation be verified, the subscriber will be justified in his confidence that the reading public and the profession will in a new instance show their appreciation of that sort of literary work which constructs miscellaneous materials into an edifice not wanting, as he trusts, in symmetry and beauty. The well-read operator may find individual passages herein which he has met with before; but it is believed that he will be the readiest to appre- ciate the judgment and industry which have put them exactly in their proper places as portions of a book. The subscriber's modesty would lead him to claim even less than he does for this his latest publication, had he been solely engaged in its production. He will add no more than his hearty acknowledgments of the valu- able assistance rendered him by Mr. Henry G. Taylor, a New York journalist whose experience and graceful ease of expression give him distinction under the severe test of metropolitan competition. W. J. JOHNSTON. CONTENTS. PRE-ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. Signaling among the ancients Telephonic system of the Afric an negroes Signaling by sound in Montenegro Fire commu nication in war and otherwise Dr. Hooke's telegraph The sema- phore Semaphoric blunder and its result The word "telegraph" Prediction quoted by Addison. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. First lightning-rod man Fractional electricity discovered The Leyden jar Experiments to Franklin's time His famous kite ex- periment Robert Stephenson's boyish imitation Lomond's elec- tric signals Lesage's invention of electric telegrai " twenty -four wires Reiser's thirty-six wire telegraph Si experiments to Morse and subsequently to present time. INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN THE U. S 29 First American line Apathy of scientists, press and public Why the Herald refused to encourage the telegraph Cornell and Morse First apparatus Interesting relic First week of telegraph Slen- der returns Humors of early -day telegraphy Countryman, tur- keys and telegraph Mr. Stearns and obstreperous church bell Honor to whom honor is due Ronalds Morse Henry Vail Claim for laborers" Be jabers, who dug the post holes ? " A. CHAPTER ABOUT OPERATORS AND MESSENGERS 50 The operators' view of human nature Their faithfulness Their literature Their difficulties and trials Epileptic telegrapher Armless operator Deaf operator receiving by sound The ". light- ning striker's " blunder and a case of jealousy Recognizing by touch Love over the wire Love disappointment in humorous verse First marriage by telegraph Absconding operator caught by novice Wonderful speed in telegraphing Messenger service -' ' ' ' ' ' arious duties they perform- lessenger mistaken for police- THE TELEGRAPH IN WAR. Earliest military sigi Field telegraphy descr electricity-felegraph in civil war-Its great value-Wh Earliest military signaling Introduction of field telegraphy- Field telegraphy described Dangers to apparatus Firing guns by -' ' ~ "^ .-...._..* ~. . .,._. ""iat General Sherman said of it Origin of U. S. Military Telegraph Cost of ser- vice during war Duties of cipher operators Official acknowl- edgment of their services Anecdotes of military operators' ready wit, heroic courage and nervous Military operators' poor quar Richmond taken Receipt of the wit, heroic courage and nervousness Funny war story Another " poor quarters A provident telegrapher ipt of the great news Lincoln's assassina- tionGrand feat of Prussian soldier, and heroism of French fe- male operator. CABLE TELEGRAPHS.. General The Atlantic cable First suggestion of it Its origin Or- able The gestor Field Cost of first Atlantic cable Recent improvements In cable ganization of company Laying cable The Great Eastern Dis- couragements First message Suggestor wittily silenced by Mr. laying Mr. Field's services Cable operators Cable codes A spec- imenIts interpretation. HUMORS OF THE TELEGRAPH 107 Economical Irishman Timid old lady Apprehensive Texan- Witty, incongruous and rhyming telegrams A " killing " blunder The " additional wurred "A furious message Satchel by tele- graphSnubbing a king A proper old lady Little "Johnny Rus- sell "-Peter to Margaret Flagarty-He couldn't be fooled-" She writes like a man "Model (?) Maine man Hollow and " hello " Fooling savages "Onnateral fixing "Chicago and Witty illustration Electrifying loaf ers Shocking the negroes Blind- folding the " masheen "A crammer. TELEGRAPHIC "BULLS" nces of oper- A fatal " bull "Matrimony killed by a " bull " Instsn ators' " bulls "A lord's mistake John Brown and Seaton Bros. Ale or oil Too much coffee Blessings in disguise A profitable mis- takeA military "bull" that was not all a " bull " Senders' ' bulls "Habit and halibut " Bulls " from bad spelling A fishy story Tragic " bull" Injustice to operators. LIGHTNING FREAKS AND TRAGEDIES 138 Deaths from lightning Effects in different countries A triple tra- "y Curious freaks of lightning Some wonderful instances- ing in telegraph offices Operators killed. SHARP PRACTICE BY TELEGRAPH 148 Abuse of General McClellan's name A modern " St. John "Big swindle in Toledo" Spiritualistic " swindling Rappers' tricks Their magnets How to make them Sir Charles Wneatstone's ex- perimentsTwo good stories of sharp practice by operators Tam- pering with cipher message The biters bit Great bank swindle- Barb's telegraphic trap for burglars. THE TELEGRAPH AN UNIVERSAL INSTITUTION 160 A well-traveled message Spanish peasants and telegraph Tele- graph in Morocco China India The East in general Japan In THE WEATHERJREPORTS.. r er His j ;ure i of sii Death of General Meyer His account of storm signal system its value to commerce and agriculture The New York station Cipher rigin of weather reports Institution Prof essor Henry. THE RAILROAD TELEGRAPHIC SYSTEM Originated in England First instance of train dispatching in this country System at Grand Central depot Moving trains by tele- graphic orders Official instructions Train dispatchers and oper- ators Their responsibility Thrilling incident Operator who "forgot "Noble operator Latest inventions in railroad signaling The train telegraph No more screaming engines Simplying locomotives with water by electricity Fun on the railroad- Waking the Pullman porter Operators' anti-suporific. ELECTRICITY AND LIFE General remarks Electric girl of La Perriere^-Elec marks Electric girl of La Perriere Electrical lady of ty Electricity on dinner table^Feeling pulse by tele- _._,._ _ _ velopment of growth by electricity Uses in surgery and dentistry Electricity as a healer An " anti-fat " story. OUTGROWTHS OF THE TELEGRAPH 218 The electric light Edison's description The light at Niagara- Experiments in San Francisco Proposed illumination of Holyoke Use in stores, stear 'lips, and in war The telephone How con- structedThe Gemini name for it Its invention Telephone ser- vice meter Transmitting sermons by telephone First Instance Mr. Beecher's The telephone in Jersey City law courts Communi- cating between ships Use in wooing In military operations- Music Humors of the telephone The singing telephone Yarn from Pine Bluff Joke on reporters One for Dawdles Marriage by telephone Telegraphing by light The photophone Electrical egg hatching and seed germination Tlieatrical th under Tooth- ache cured by electricity Gas lighting and bell ringing by same means Electricity as an umbrella In taming horses In connec- tion witli .M iy ami Simkf.Vs meetings- 'I'dcui-ajiiiiiigby electrical Maps by telegraph Magnetic magic writii air currents trie dri taps by telegraph Magnetic magic writing Elec- >wer Electricity in managing refractory horses iving by electricity Diagrams of targets over the wire- Electric combs and brushes New uses for the sun's rays The ocean a source of electricity Suggested use of electricity in ex- ecuting criminals Slaughtering cattle and killing whales ' electricity Electric clocks that require no wir " by steam at sea Electricity in steam The Edison electric imotlve Description of it Electricity aiding weary cash TELEGRAPHIC TALES AND TELEGRAPHIC H ISTORY. PRE-ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. When signaling as a mode of communication was first adopted, no amount of research can ascertain. We find it difficult to conceive of a time when it was not convenient, if not necessary, and when human ingenuity was incapable of providing it. One of the earliest recorded systems of telegraphy for signaling over long distances originated among the Afri- can negroes, and has been practiced from tune imme- morial. The means used are telephonic, the signals being read by sound, and not by the eye. The "elliembic," as the instrument used is termed, is still in existence, and used in the Cameroons Coun- try, on the west coast of Africa. By the sounds pro- duced on striking it, the natives carry on conversation with great rapidity, and at several miles distance. The noises are made to produce a perfect and distinct lan- guage, as intelligible to the operator as that uttered by the human voice. It is hardly necessary to add that the existence of this contrivance, capable of such useful effects, implies evolution, probably carried on through a series of ages, 8 PRE-ELECTBIC TELEGKAPHS. from devices which, we may presume, originated in the very infancy of human society. One of these still prevails in Montenegro, where, when a shepherd in the mountains finds himself in want of society, he sends out at random a peculiar kind of yell, with a view of attracting the attention of any one similarly situated, who may chance to be within hearing upon some other mountain side, and may also feel a desire for conversation. It is well known at what a great distance shrill sounds may be distinctly heard in the mountainous regions. The unseen friend, whose ears have caught the sound, responds in the same way, and then begins a dialogue about their flocks and herds, or any other country gossip ; and should there chance to be news of public interest, such as of any important person or foreigner passing that way, the receiver of the intelligence shouts it out in the open air for the benefit of the mountain nearest to him, and so it passes from one to another through a considerable part of the country. In saying that signaling by sound probably antici- pated all other methods of telegraphing, we are simply saying that the most natural and obvious mode of com- munication, namely, that by means of the voice, was the first made of service in the rapid transmission of intelli- gence over long distances. The employment of objects to be seen was a later expression of human ingenuity, intended to better an- swer the demand for easy and far-reaching communica- tion. And what better for this purpose than fire a ready servant and the most available for its conspicu- PRE-ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. 9 ousness ; real even in the glare of day, and made in- tense by surrounding darkness during the night ? Accordingly, we find records of the use of fire-signal- ing during the Greek and Roman wars ; and in the writings of Polybius, about two hundred and sixty years before Christ, there is an account of a signal corps at- tached to the military. Down through the ages " fire- swingers " were employed as signal men. It is related that at the siege of Vienna, John Smith, the explorer of Virginia, used the plan of Polybius with effect, to arrange with the besieged forces for a sortie, he having learned it from the Turks. The quaint old English works of 1650, or thereabouts, tell of " a marvelous device by which those who know may converse so far as light may be known from dark- ness." As a matter of course, every reader is acquaint- ed with the modern use of the fiery cross, and certainly with the telegraphic use of fireworks. In 1684 Dr. Hooke proposed a kind of mechanical telegraph, which, however, was not carried into opera- tion. He prepared as many different shaped figures in wood, as, for example, squares, triangles, circles, etc., as there are letters in the alphabet. He exhibited them successively in the required order, from behind a screen, and proposed that torches or other lights, combined in different arrangements, should supply their place at night. Twenty years later Amontous, of Paris, ex- hibited some experiments before the royal family of France and the members of the Academy of Science, showing the practicability of the system. Semaphoric signaling contrivances were in use in 10 PRE-EI.ECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. various countries down to within a half century of the present year (1880). That employed by the English Ad- miralty was not abolished until the end of the year 1847. In contrast with the convenience of the electric tele- graph it was cumbrous and costly. The expense of working and mounting the line from London to Ports- mouth was three thousand three hundred pounds ($16,- 500) per annum. Though of great service to the government, it was, of course, only available in clear weather. Vexatious interruptions continually took place, and droll accidents occasionally resulted from the sudden cessation of com- munication, from a fog, or similar cause, during the transmission of a message. When, for example, the British army was fighting under "Wellington in Spain, news was anxiously expected from that great commander through the Admiralty sig- nals. The public was in a feverish excitement, when one day the disastrous message was received : " Well- ington defeated." The funds were violently agitated, the people and the government were bewildered, and terrible rumors of enormous slaughter and great loss of guns, colors, and ammunition were heard on all sides. It turned out, however, that, just as the word " defeated " had been deciphered at some part of the line, a sudden mist had come on and cut off the remainder of the message. When this inopportune visitor had passed away, the public mind was instantly relieved with the news that the message was not "Wellington defeated," but " Wellington defeated the French." PRE-ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. 11 Lest readers should take exception to the use of the word "telegraph," with reference to signaling before the introduction of the electric telegraph, it is interest- ing to know that in an article published in " Nicholson's Journal of Philosophy " for October, 1798, and entitled, " An Essay on the Art of Conveying Secret and Swift Intelligence," by Richard Lovell Edgeworth, the word " telegraph " is frequently used, and in such a way as to show that it was then a common current term. The following extract from the paper shows what could even then be done in the way of instantaneous transmission of intelligence : " In September, 1796, the lord lieuten- ant ordered me to prepare telegraphs for an experiment before his excellency. In consequence I constructed four new telegraphs. I had found that the large ma- chines, thirty feet high, with which my sons talked, in September, 1794, across the Channel, between Ireland and Scotland, were liable to accidents in stormy weather, etc." In the grand march of human progress all previous methods of distant communication were surpassed in general availability by the electric telegraph, which, associated with locomotion by the agency of steam, in- troduced a new era into the history of civilization. Very curiously, Addison, in No. 241 of the Spectator, December 6th, 1711, quoting from a mediaeval writer of monkish Latin, realizes the instrument used for tele- graphic purposes in this nineteenth century. He says : " Strada, in one of his Prolusions, gives an account of a chimerical correspondence between two friends, by 12 IRE ELECTKIC TELEGRAPHS. the help of a certain loadstone, which had such virtue in it, that if it touched two several needles, when one of the needles so touched began to move, the other, though at never so great a distance, moved at the same time and in the same manner. He tells us that the two friends, being each of them possessed of one of these needles, made a kind of dial plate, inscribing it with the four-and-twenty letters, in the same manner as the hours of the day are marked upon the ordinary dial- plate. They then fixed one of the needles on each of these plates in such a manner that it could be moved round without impediment so as to touch any of the four-and-twenty letters. Upon their separating from one another into distant countries, they agreed to withdraw themselves punctually into their closets at a certain hour of the day, and to converse with one an- other by means of this invention. Accordingly, when they were some hundred miles asunder, each of them shut himself up in his closet at the time appointed, and immediately cast his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a mind to write anything to his friend, he directed his needle to every letter that formed the words which he had occasion for, making a little pause at the end of every word or sentence, to avoid confusion. The friend, in the meanwhile, saw his own sympathetic needle mov- ing of itself to every letter which that of his corres- pondent pointed at. By this means they talked to- gether across a whole continent, and conveyed their thoughts to one another in an instant over cities or mountains, seas or deserts. ***** if ev er this invention should be revived or put into practice, I would propose that upon the lovers' dial-plate there should be written not only the four-and-twenty letters, but several entire words which have always a place in passionate epistles, as ' Flames, Darts, Die, Languish, Absence, Cupid, Heart, Eyes, Hang, Drown, and the like.' This would very much abridge the lover's pains PBE ELECTRIC TKLEGKAI'HS. 13 in this way of writing a letter, as it would enable him to express the most useful and significant words with a single touch of the needle." "We must now take our readers from the elegant periods of Addison into an account of the successive experiments and discoveries which led up to the in- vention of the electric telegraph, and afterward to its remarkable perfection as we now know it. 14 THE ELECTKIC TELEGRAPH: THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. " Coining events," says a time-honored maxim, " cast their shadows before." Long ere the electric telegraph became an "institution," its feasibility had been antici- pated by scientific minds, with greater or less clearness. There is nothing more interesting in the history of ex- periment than the successive results of the attempt to dominate the electric fluid. The imagination is awed by the sublimity of human endeavor, which, in their turn, overcomes one natural force after another. Water, air, fire, steam, Lightning, have had to succumb to the potent spirit of man, "for whom all things were made;" and the future will, doubtless, see still stronger in- stances than the past, of the triumph which intellect and courage gain in the struggle with nature. Proba- bly never is this glorious victory due to one man. The electric telegraph is no exception to the general rule. As Robert Sabine says: "It grew up little by little, each inventor adding his little to advance it toward perfec- tion." BEFORE 1794. Our familiar friend the lightning rod was an appli- ance of the earliest civilization, namely, that of the an- cient Egyptians. These people, alas! had experiences of the persistency of the brazen-cheeked lightning-rod man, who fitly represented the first and simplest pro- cess in the subjugation of the electric fluid. ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 15 We are in the dark as to the history of man's rela- tions with this subtle agent from the last days of an- cient Egypt until about six hundred years before Christ, when Thales, of Miletz, discovered that the rubbing of amber (electron, in Greek) produced what is, perhaps somewhat clumsily, called frictional electricity. Two hun- dred years later, Plato attempted the first theory of elec- tricity. Ten years before the Christian era, Plutarchus is recorded as having described the electric phenomena observed in his time. Through a very long hiatus we arrive at the date 1690, A. D., when Otto Van Guericke, of Germany, made a friction electric machine. Thirty- eight years afterward, Etienne Grey, of England, dis- covered the difference between conductors and insula- tors; and, in the following year, he and another En- glishman, named Wheeler, succeeded in transmitting an electric shock through several hundred feet of wire. The Leyden jar was invented in 1745, by Musschen- brook, of Leyden, Holland. It may be described as a glass jar or bottle used to accumulate electricity. The jar is coated with tin foil within and without nearly to its top, and is surmounted by a brass knob for the pur- pose of charging it with electricity. We next turn to our own shores and the experiment of the illustrious Franklin, who gives the following ac- count of it, in a letter written by himself to Peter Col- linson, Esq., P. R. S., London, which probably contains about all that is definitely know in relation to the American philosopher's discovery of the analogy be- tween the electric spark and lightning. This had been previously conjectured. So early as 1708 Dr. Wall had 16 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH: pointed out a resemblance between them. In 1735 Grey, whom we mentioned just now, had stated that they differ only in degree ; and four years before Frank- lin's great experiment, the Abbe Nollet gave more sub- stantial reasons than had been adduced by Grey, for agreement with him. But to Franklin's letter, which is taken from a quarto volume published in London in 1774, and entitled, "Experiments and Observations on Electricity, made at Philadelphia, in America, by Ben- jamin Franklin, LL. D. and F. R. S." FRANKLIN'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS EXPERIMENT WITH THE KITE. "As frequent mention is made in public papers : Europe of the success of the Philadelphia experii from experiment for drawing the electric fire from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high buildings, etc., it may be agreeable to the curious to be informed that the same experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, though made in a different and more easy manner, which is as follows : "Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as to reach to ftie corners of a large thin silk handkerchief when extended , tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of the cross, so you have the body of a kite, which being properly accomo- dated with a tail, loop and string, will rise in the air like those made of paper; but this being of silk is bet- ter fitted to bear the wet and wind of a thundergust without tearing. To the top of the upright stick of the cross is to be fixed a very sharp pointed wire, rising a foot or more above the wood. To the end of the twine, next the hand, is to be tied a silk ribbon, and where the silk and twine join a key may be fastened. This kite is to be raised when a thundergust appears to be coming ITS BEGESTfING AND DEVELOPMENT. 17 on, and the person who holds the string must standwith- in a door or window, or under some cover, so that the silk ribbon may not be wet, and care must be taken that the twine does not touch the frame of the door or window. As soon as any of the thunder clouds come over the kite, the pointed wire will draw the electric fire from them, and the kite, with all the twine will be electrified, and the loose filaments of the twine will stand out every way, and be attracted by an approaching fin- ger And when the rain has wet the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial (Leyden jar) may be charged; and from the electric fire thus ob- tained spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be formed which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube, and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated. B. FRANKLIN "Oct. 19, 1752." Eight here is the proper place to record an amusing anecdote of Robert Stephenson, who worthily bore the name which his father had made immortal, and exem- plified in his fondness as a boy for scientific experiments that "The child is father of the man." This young gentleman, we are told, was very fond of reducing his scientific reading to practice ; and after studying Frank- lin's description of the lightning experiment, he pro- ceeded to spend his store of Saturday pennies in pur- chasing about half a mile of copper wire. Having pre- pared his kite, he sent it up in the field opposite his father's door, and bringing the wire, insulated by means of a few feet of silk cord, over the backs of some of Farmer Wigham's cows, he soon had them skipping 2 18 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH : about the field in all directions, with their tails up. One day he had his kite flying at the cottage door as his father's galloway was hanging by the bridle to the paling, waiting for the master to mount. Bringing the end of the wire just over the pony's crupper, so smart an electric shock was given it that the brute was almost knocked down. At this juncture the father issued from the door, riding-whip in hand, and was witness to the scientific trick just played off upon his galloway "Ah! you mischievous scoundrel!" cried he to the boy, who ran off He inwardly chuckled with pride, nevertheless, at Robert's successful experiment. After Franklin's audacious and most notable experi- ment, the history of the electric telegraph hastens apace. We have but to record one more experiment, before arriving at the date usually given as the first in the long series which indicates the development of tele- graphs by electricity. This is 1787, when a French- man named Lomond succeeded in communicating sig- nals from one house to another by electroscopic action. It was in the year 1774 that George Louis Lesage, of Geneva, constructed a telegraph composed of twenty- four line wires, corresponding to the twenty- four letters of the alphabet, and by the use of frictional electricity and pith balls, succeeded in transmitting intelligible signals over the wires to a distance. The date men- tioned is accordingly the time when the electric tele- graph was invented, and Lesage was its inventor. M. Lomond's name occurs once more among the emi- nent men to whom we are indebted for improvements previous to the introduction of the present system of ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 19 rapid communication between widely different places, to which all precedent systems were but toys in com- parison, although they were of great use in preparing the way for it. The following passage occurs in "Arthur Young's Travels in France," published in Dublin in 1793. The date of the letter from which the extract is taken is Oct. 16th, 1787: "In the evening to Monsieur Lomond, a very ingenins and inventive mechanic, who has made an improvement in the jenny for spinning cotton. In electricity he has made a remarkable discovery. You write two or three words on paper ; he takes it with him into a room, and turns a machine inclosed in a cy lindrical case, at the top of which is an electrometer, and a small fine pitch ball; a wire connects with a cylinder and electrometer in a distant apartment, and his wife, by remarking the corresponding motions of the ball, writes down the words they indicate, from which it appears that he has formed an alphabet of mo- tions. As the form of the wire makes no difference in the effect, the correspondence may be carried on to any distance within or without a fortified town, for instance, or for purposes much more worthy. Whatever the use may be, the invention is beautiful." In the year 1794, M. Reiser, of Geneva, used thirty- six insulated wires for letters and numerals, in connec- tion with a like number of narrow strips of tin foil pasted on glass ; the letters and figures were cut in the foil and made visible by the passage of the electric spark. A year later, Tiberius Cavallo, in England, sent explosive and other electric signals through fine insu- 20 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH 5 lated copper wire, using Ley den jars, and sending "sparks at different intervals according to a settled plan." Three additional experiments, according to Steinheil, put it beyond a doubt that frictional electric- ity might be made a successful means of telegraphic in- tercourse. These were (1) That of D. F. Salva, Spain, who in the year 1798, worked an electric telegraph through twenty-six miles, using a single wire, and the sparks of a Leyden jar for signals. (2) That of Francis Ronalds, who, in 1816, constructed in England an ex- perimental telegraph line, of a single insulated wire eight miles long, operated by an electrical machine, or small Leyden jar. His elementary signal was the di- vergence of the pith balls of a Canton's electrometer, produced by the communication of a statical charge to the wire. Lettered dials, rotated synchronously at each end of the line, served, in connection with the pith balls, to indicate the letter designated by the sender. This dial system was the precursor of Wheatstone's dial telegraph in 1839 ; House s letter printing telegraph in 1846; and Hughes printing telegraph in 1855; and (3) that of Hai-rison Gray Dyar, America, who, in 1823, constructed a telegraph line on Long Island, support- ing his wires by glass insulators fixed on trees and poles; the electric signals printed themselves upon lit- mus paper, the spacing of the marks indicating the let; ters and other signs. Just as Dyar and his partner Brown were seeking capital to set up a line between New York and Philadelphia, a blackmailing agent, fail- ing to extort the concession of a large share in the en- terprise, obtained a writ against the two partners on a ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 21 charge of conspiracy to carry on secret communication between the cities! The case was never brought to trial, but the enterprise was blocked. For the above information, beginning with the date 1794, we are largely indebted to an article which recent- ly appeared in the Scientific American, reviewing a work on the origin and development of the electro-magnetic telegraph, with special reference to Professor Joseph Henry's contributions thereto. The work referred to is from the pen of William B. Taylor, an authority on the subject. We quote the remainder of the article as be- ing the best summary of the subject with which we are acquainted, of particular use to the student of electric- ity, and of great value, for reference, to the general reader. TELEGRAPHS BY GALVANISM. "1808. The first to apply to telegraphy the galvanic battery introduced by Volta, in 1800, was Dr. Samuel Thomas Von Soemmering, of Munich. He employed the energy of a powerful voltaic pile to bring about the decomposition of water by means of thirty-five gold pins immersed in an oblong glass trough. Each of these electrodes was in connection with one of the thirty -five wires forming the line. The bubbles evolved as these electrodes were received in figured and lettered tubes, and the messages were thus spelled out. In 1810 Soemmering telegraphed through two miles of wire. "1816. Dr. John Redman Coxe, of Philadelphia, suggested a system substantially the same as Soemmer- 22 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH : ing's (of which he appeared to be ignorant). He also proposed to accomplish the same result by decomposing metallic salts, as was afterward done. "1843. Mr. Eobert Smith, Scotland, devised a gal- vano-chemical telegraph, carrying out practically the suggestion of Dr. Coxe. At first he used a separate wire for each letter, the message being printed on a strip of paper wet with a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium. Subsequently Mr. Smith reduced his line to a single circuit of two wires, and worked his system through 1,800 yards of fence wire (1846). "1846. Mr. Alexander Bain, Scotland, patented in England a galvano-chemical telegraph, different in me- chanical details, but similar in its chemical record to the system of Smith. "1849. Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, New York, pa- tented in this country a telegraph similar to Smith. TELEGRAPHS BY GALVANO-MAGNETISM. "1820. Hans Christian Oersted, Copenhagen, redis- covered the directive influence of a galvanic conductor on a magnetic needle (Komagnosi's of the same in 1802 having attracted no attention). The same year (1820) Professor Schweiger, of Halle, made the first real gal- vanometer; and shortly afterward Ampere, in Paris, proved experimentally the feasibility of an electro-mag- netic telegraph, in which the galvanometer should take the place of the electrometer employed by Lesage. "1823. Baron Paul L. Schilling, of Cronstadt, Rus- sia, practically applied Ampere's suggestion. In his ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 23 apparatus signals were produced by five galvanometer needles, provided with independent circuits. "1824. Peter Barlow, England, experimenting with considerable lengths of wire, to test the practicability of Ampere s suggestion, was convinced that it was im- practicable, owing to the rapid dimunition of effect (due to increased resistance), by lengthening the conducting wire. Other inclusive experiments in the same direc- tion were made by Fechter in 1829, and Ritchie in 1830. "1833. Prof. Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Edward Weber constructed at Gottingen a galvanom- eter telegraph of a single circuit of uninsulated wire a mile and a half long. The alphabet of signs was made up of right and left deflections of the needle, observed by reflections from a small mirror. Gauss was the first to employ magneto electricity in telegraphs. Weber added to the signaling device a delicate apparatus for setting off a clock alarm. "1836. Prof. C. A. Steinheil, of Munich, undertook, at the request of Gauss, the development of the ar- rangement above described, and constructed a similar galvanometer telegraph line two miles in length, intro- ducing considerable improvements. The next year Steinheil discovered that the ground might be made a part of the circuit, thus dispensing with a second wire for the return circuit. 1837. Mr. William Fothergill Cooke and Prof. Charles Wheatstone patented in England a galvanom- eter or needle telegraph very similar to the earlier one of Schilling, employing six wires and five indicating 24 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH t needles. An experimental line a mile and a quarter long was worked with partial success, July 25 ; and one thirteen miles long was established in 1838." While these experiments with the needle were go- ing on, the electro-magnet was being developed and ap- plied. 1820. The germ of the electro-magnet was discov- ered by Arago, who observed that the electric current would develop magnetic power in strips of iron and steel. 1824. William Sturgeon, England, produced the true electro-magnet, with its intermittent control of an armature. The electro-magnet of Sturgeon was improved by Professor Henry in 1828; and in 1829 he exhibited a larger magnet of the same character, tightly wound with 35 feet of silk covered wire. A pair of small galvanic plates, which could be dipped into a tumbler of diluted acid, was soldered to the ends of the wire, and the whole mounted on a stand. This was the first magnetic spool or bobbin. This invention was further improved the same year, and in 1830 Professor Henry, assisted by Dr. Philip Ten Eyck, constructed an electro- magnet which lifted 750 pounds. In 1831 he made one weighing 82 1 pounds, which sustained over a ton. In the meantime Professor Henry practically worked out the differing functions of quantity and intensity mag- nets, and experimentally established the conditions re- quired for magnetizing iron at great distances through long conducting wires. This first made the electro- magnet available for telegraphic purposes. ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 25 1831. The transmission of signals through a mile of copper bell wire interposed in a circuit between a small Cruickshank's battery and an intensity magnet a practical telegraph was practiced by Professor Henry. This memorable experimental telegraphic arrange- ment involved three significant and important novelties. In the first place, it was the first electro-magnetic tele- graph employing an "intensity" magnet capable of being excited at very great distances from a suitable "intensity" battery. In the second place, it was the first electro-magnetic telegraph employing the armature as a signaling device, or employing the attractive power of the intermittent magnet, as distinguished from the directive action of the galvanic circuit. That is to say, it was, strictly speaking, the first magnetic telegraph. In the third place, it was the first acoustic electro- magnetic telegraph, 1837. Professor Samuel F. B. Morse devised a magneto-electric telegraph capable of transmitting sig- nals through a circuit of forty feet, but failed for longer distances from the circumstance that he used a quantity current. His friend, Dr. Gale, made for him an inten- sity battery, and added a hundred or more turns to the coil of wire around the poles of the magnet. With these necessary (and radical) improvements the appa- ratus was made to work through ten miles of wire. In applying for a caveat for his invention, October 6, 1837, Professor Morse specified six distract parts, not one of which enters into the established " Morse " tele- graph of to-day. Mr. Taylor shows that Professor ZO THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ' Morse's real contribution to telegraphy consists first in the adaptation of the armature of a Henry electro-mag- net to the purpose of a recording instrument ; and second, in connection therewith, the improvement on the Gauss and Steinheil dual-sign alphabets, made by employing the single line dot and dash alphabet. In his general summary of the history of the origin and developement of the electro-magnetic telegraph, Mr. Taylor sets down the leading preparatory investiga- tions and discoveries as these five : 1. The discovery of galvanic electricity by Galvani, 1786-1790. 2. The galvanic or voltaic battery by Volta, 1800. 3. The directive influence of the galvanic current on a magnetic needle by Komagnosi, 1802, and by Hoersted, 1820. 4. The galvanometer by Schweigger,1820 (the parent of the needle system). 5. The electro-magnet by Arago and Sturgeon, 1820-1825 (the parent of the magnet system). The second half dozen capital steps in the evolu- tion of telegraphy were : 1. Henry's most vital discovery, in 1829 and 1830, of the intensity magnet and its intimate relation to the intensity battery. 2. Gauss' improvement, in 1833 (or probably Schilling's, considerably earlier), of reducing the electric conductors to a single circuit by the ingenious application of a dual sign, so combined as to produce ITS BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT. 27 a true alphabet. (The anticipations of this idea by Lomond in 1787, Cavallo in 1795, and Dyar in 1825, are not regarded as practically influential in the progress of telegraphy). 3. Weber's discovery, in 1833, that the conducting wires of an electric telegraph could be carried through the air, without insulation, except at the points of support. 4. As a valuable adjunct to telegraphy, Daniell's invention of a constant galvanic battery in 1836. 5. Steinheil's discovery, in 1837, that a single conducting wire is sufficient for telegraphic purposes. 6. Morse's adaptation of the armature of a Henry electro-magnet as a recording instrument, 1837, and the single line dot and dash alphabet in 1838. The earlier needle type of electro-magnetic telegraph has found its special application in ocean lines, no element of the Morse system entering into the opera- tion of submarine cables. The more recent telegraphic developments do not fall within the scope of Mr. Taylor's review. A few other dates, as given by Prescott, may appropriately serve to complete this chronology. 1861. Reiss discovered that a vibrating diaphragm could be actuated by the voice so as to cause the pitch and rhythm of vocal sounds to be transmitted to a distance and reproduced by electro-magnetism. 1872. Stearns perfected a duplex system, where- by two communications could be simultaneously trans- mitted over one wire. 28 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 1874. Edison's quadruples was invented. 1874. Gray invented a method of electrical trans- mission, by means of which the intensity of tones as well as their pitch and rhythm could be re- produced at a distance ; and subsequently conceived the idea of controlling the formation of electric waves by means of the vibrations of a diaphragm capable of responding to all the tones of the human voice. 1876. Telephone invented. Bell invented an im- provement in the apparatus for the transmission and reproduction of articulate speech, in which magneto- electric currents were superposed upon a voltaic circuit, and actuated an iron diaphragm attached to a soft iron magnet. During the same year Dolbear conceived the idea of using permanent magnets in place of the electro-magnets and battery previously employed, and of using the same instrument for both sending and receiving. 1877. Edison's carbon telephone was brought out. To these may be added Edison's electro-motograph, or electro-chemical telephone, 1877. 1878. Duplexing of ocean telegraph. 1 1879. Cowper's writing telegraph. 1880. Field's successful substitution of dynamo- electricity for galvanic batteries in telegraphing. In the next chapter we shall introduce very interest- ing matter in regard to the early days of the electric telegraph, which, by the way, began in this coun- try in 1844, with one wire between Baltimore and Washington. INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRIC TELE- GRAPH IN THE UNITED STATES. Under this head we shall introduce matter personal, biographical and historical; funny and scientific very miscellaneous, indeed, but all having a direct connec- tion with that great event in our national history the introduction of the electric telegraph into this country. THE FIRST AMERICAN LINE. Anent this event, it is a matter of historic record that on the 3d of March, 1843, Congress passed a bill appropriating thirty thousand dollars for the con- struction of Professor Morse's experimental line be- tween Baltimore and Washington, in order to test the practicability of the invention. The original model of a telegraphic apparatus filed by the honored in- ventor when he got his patent has been unearthed from a lot of rubbish in the cellar of the Patent Office at Washington, where it has been lying for years. The clumsiness of the signal key, as compared with the one of the present day, is ridiculous. It is nearly two feet long, and has a large lump of lead at the furthest end from the hand, to throw the key and break the circuit. It was at first proposed to lay the wires under ground, inclosed in a leaden tube, and the contract for laying this tube was taken by Mr. F. O. J. Smith, of Maine, who was at that time editor of the Portland Farmer, and who had previously been as a member of Congress, and 30 INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH chairman of the Committee on Commerce largely instrumental in the passage of the appropriation. About this time Mr. Ezra Cornell, who was on a visit to Maine on business, called upon Mr. Smith, who, in speaking of the contract which he had taken for laying the wires, and for which he was to receive one hundred dollars per mile, incidentally remarked that, after a careful examination, he had found he would lose money by the job. Mr. Smith at the same time showed Mr. Cornell a piece of the pipe, and explained the manner of its construction, the depth to which it was to be laid, and the difficulties which he expected to encounter in carrying out the design. Mr. Cornell at this same interview, after the brief explanation which Mr. Smith had given, told him that in his opinion the pipe could be laid by machinery at a much less ex- pense than one hundred dollars per mile, and would be in the main a profitable operation. At the same time he sketched on paper the plan of a machine which he thought practicable. This led to the engagement of Mr Cornell by Mr. Smith to make such a machine, and he immediately went to work and made patterns for its construction. While the machine was being made, Mr. Cornell went to Augusta, Maine, and settled up his business, and then returned to Portland and completed the pipe' machine. Professor Morse was notified by Smith in regard to the machine, and went to Portland to see it tried. The trial proved a success. Mr. Cornell was employed to take charge of laying the pipe. Under his hands the work advanced rapidly, and he had laid ten miles or more of the pipe when IN THE UNITED STATES. 31 Professor Morse discovered that the insulation was so imperfect that the telegraph would not operate. He did not, however, stop the work until he had received orders ; which order came in the following singular manner: When the evening train came out from Baltimore, Professor Morse was observed to step from the car ; he walked up to Mr. Cornell, took him aside, and said: "Mr. Cornell, cannot you contrive to stop the work for a few days without its being known that it is done on purpose? If it is known that I ordered its stoppage, the plaguy papers will find it out and have all kinds of stories about it." Mr. Cornell, with his usual quickness of discernment, saw the con- dition of affairs and told the professor that he would make it all right. So he ordered the drivers to start the team of eight mules which set the machine in motion, and, while driving along at a lively pace, in order to reach the Relay House, a distance of about twenty rods, before it was time to "turn out," managed to tilt the machine so as to catch it under the point of a projecting rock. This apparent accident so damaged the machine as to render it useless. The professor retired in a state of perfect contentment, and the Baltimore papers on the following morning had an interesting subject for a paragraph. The work thus being of necessity suspended, Professor Morse con- vened a grand council at the Relay House, composed of himself, Professor Gale, Dr. Fisher, Mr. Vail, and F. O. J. Smith, the persons especially concerned in the undertaking. After discussing the matter, they de- termined upon further efforts for perfecting the insula- 32 INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH tion. These failed, and orders were given to remove everything to Washington. Up to this time Professor Morse and his assistants had expended twenty-two thousand dollars, and all in vain. Measures were taken to reduce the expenses, and Mr. Cornell was appointed assistant superintendent, and took entire charge of the undertakir-