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@@ -0,0 +1,7993 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Heroes of the Telegraph, by J. Munro + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Heroes of the Telegraph + +Author: J. Munro + +Posting Date: July 26, 2008 [EBook #979] +Release Date: July, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE TELEGRAPH *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + +HEROES OF THE TELEGRAPH + +By J. Munro + +Author Of 'Electricity And Its Uses,' Pioneers Of Electricity,' +'The Wire And The Wave'; And Joint Author Of 'Munro And Jamieson's +Pocket-Book Of Electrical Rules And Tables.' + + +(Note: All accents etc. have been omitted. Italics have been converted +to capital letters. The British 'pound' sign has been written as 'L'. +Footnotes have been placed in square brackets at the place in the text +where a suffix originally indicated their existence.) + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The present work is in some respects a sequel to the PIONEERS OF +ELECTRICITY, and it deals with the lives and principal achievements of +those distinguished men to whom we are indebted for the introduction +of the electric telegraph and telephone, as well as other marvels of +electric science. + + + +CONTENTS. + + CHAPTER + I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPH + II. CHARLES WHEATSTONE + III. SAMUEL MORSE + IV. SIR WILLIAM THOMSON + V. SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS + VI. FLEEMING JENKIN + VII. JOHANN PHILIPP REIS + VIII. GRAHAM BELL + IX. THOMAS ALVA EDISON + X. DAVID EDWIN HUGHES + + APPENDIX. + I. CHARLES FERDINAND GAUSS + II. WILLIAM EDWARD WEBER + III. SIR WILLIAM FOTHERGILL COOKE + IV. ALEXANDER BAIN + V. DR. WERNER SIEMENS + VI. LATIMER CLARK + VII. COUNT DU MONCEL + VIII. ELISHA GRAY + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPH. + +The history of an invention, whether of science or art, may be compared +to the growth of an organism such as a tree. The wind, or the random +visit of a bee, unites the pollen in the flower, the green fruit forms +and ripens to the perfect seed, which, on being planted in congenial +soil, takes root and flourishes. Even so from the chance combination of +two facts in the human mind, a crude idea springs, and after maturing +into a feasible plan is put in practice under favourable conditions, and +so develops. These processes are both subject to a thousand accidents +which are inimical to their achievement. Especially is this the case +when their object is to produce a novel species, or a new and great +invention like the telegraph. It is then a question of raising, not one +seedling, but many, and modifying these in the lapse of time. + +Similarly the telegraph is not to be regarded as the work of any one +mind, but of many, and during a long course of years. Because at length +the final seedling is obtained, are we to overlook the antecedent +varieties from which it was produced, and without which it could not +have existed? Because one inventor at last succeeds in putting the +telegraph in operation, are we to neglect his predecessors, whose +attempts and failures were the steps by which he mounted to success? All +who have extended our knowledge of electricity, or devised a telegraph, +and familiarised the public mind with the advantages of it, are +deserving of our praise and gratitude, as well as he who has entered +into their labours, and by genius and perseverance won the honours of +being the first to introduce it. + +Let us, therefore, trace in a rapid manner the history of the electric +telegraph from the earliest times. + +The sources of a river are lost in the clouds of the mountain, but it +is usual to derive its waters from the lakes or springs which are +its fountain-head. In the same way the origins of our knowledge of +electricity and magnetism are lost in the mists of antiquity, but there +are two facts which have come to be regarded as the starting-points +of the science. It was known to the ancients at least 600 years before +Christ, that a piece of amber when excited by rubbing would attract +straws, and that a lump of lodestone had the property of drawing iron. +Both facts were probably ascertained by chance. Humboldt informs us that +he saw an Indian child of the Orinoco rubbing the seed of a trailing +plant to make it attract the wild cotton; and, perhaps, a prehistoric +tribesman of the Baltic or the plains of Sicily found in the yellow +stone he had polished the mysterious power of collecting dust. A Greek +legend tells us that the lodestone was discovered by Magnes, a shepherd +who found his crook attracted by the rock. + +However this may be, we are told that Thales of Miletus attributed the +attractive properties of the amber and the lodestone to a soul within +them. The name Electricity is derived from ELEKTRON, the Greek for +amber, and Magnetism from Magnes, the name of the shepherd, or, more +likely, from the city of Magnesia, in Lydia, where the stone occurred. + +These properties of amber and lodestone appear to have been widely +known. The Persian name for amber is KAHRUBA, attractor of straws, and +that for lodestone AHANG-RUBA attractor of iron. In the old Persian +romance, THE LOVES OF MAJNOON AND LEILA, the lover sings-- + + 'She was as amber, and I but as straw: + She touched me, and I shall ever cling to her.' + +The Chinese philosopher, Kuopho, who flourished in the fourth century, +writes that, 'the attraction of a magnet for iron is like that of amber +for the smallest grain of mustard seed. It is like a breath of wind +which mysteriously penetrates through both, and communicates itself with +the speed of an arrow.' [Lodestone was probably known in China before +the Christian era.] Other electrical effects were also observed by the +ancients. Classical writers, as Homer, Caesar, and Plutarch, speak of +flames on the points of javelins and the tips of masts. They regarded +them as manifestations of the Deity, as did the soldiers of the Mahdi +lately in the Soudan. It is recorded of Servius Tullus, the sixth king +of Rome, that his hair emitted sparks on being combed; and that sparks +came from the body of Walimer, a Gothic chief, who lived in the year 415 +A.D. + +During the dark ages the mystical virtues of the lodestone drew more +attention than those of the more precious amber, and interesting +experiments were made with it. The Romans knew that it could attract +iron at some distance through an intervening fence of wood, brass, or +stone. One of their experiments was to float a needle on a piece of +cork, and make it follow a lodestone held in the hand. This arrangement +was perhaps copied from the compass of the Phoenician sailors, who +buoyed a lodestone and observed it set towards the north. There is +reason to believe that the magnet was employed by the priests of the +Oracle in answering questions. We are told that the Emperor Valerius, +while at Antioch in 370 A.D., was shown a floating needle which pointed +to the letters of the alphabet when guided by the directive force of +a lodestone. It was also believed that this effect might be produced +although a stone wall intervened, so that a person outside a house or +prison might convey intelligence to another inside. + +This idea was perhaps the basis of the sympathetic telegraph of the +Middle Ages, which is first described in the MAGIAE NATURALIS of John +Baptista Porta, published at Naples in 1558. It was supposed by Porta +and others after him that two similar needles touched by the same +lodestone were sympathetic, so that, although far apart, if both +were freely balanced, a movement of one was imitated by the other. +By encircling each balanced needle with an alphabet, the sympathetic +telegraph was obtained. Although based on error, and opposed by Cabeus +and others, this fascinating notion continued to crop up even to the +days of Addison. It was a prophetic shadow of the coming invention. In +the SCEPSIS SCIENTIFICA, published in 1665, Joseph Glanvil wrote, 'to +confer at the distance of the Indies by sympathetic conveyances may +be as usual to future times as to us in literary correspondence.' [The +Rosicrucians also believed that if two persons transplanted pieces of +their flesh into each other, and tattooed the grafts with letters, a +sympathetic telegraph could be established by pricking the letters.] + +Dr. Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth, by his systematic researches, +discovered the magnetism of the earth, and laid the foundations of +the modern science of electricity and magnetism. Otto von Guericke, +burgomaster of Magdeburg, invented the electrical machine for generating +large quantities of the electric fire. Stephen Gray, a pensioner of +the Charterhouse, conveyed the fire to a distance along a line of pack +thread, and showed that some bodies conducted electricity, while others +insulated it. Dufay proved that there were two qualities of electricity, +now called positive and negative, and that each kind repelled the like, +but attracted the unlike. Von Kleist, a cathedral dean of Kamm, in +Pomerania, or at all events Cuneus, a burgher, and Muschenbroek, a +professor of Leyden, discovered the Leyden jar for holding a charge of +electricity; and Franklin demonstrated the identity of electricity and +lightning. + +The charge from a Leyden jar was frequently sent through a chain of +persons clasping hands, or a length of wire with the earth as part of +the circuit. This experiment was made by Joseph Franz, of Vienna, in +1746, and Dr. Watson, of London, in 1747; while Franklin ignited spirits +by a spark which had been sent across the Schuylkill river by the same +means. But none of these men seem to have grasped the idea of employing +the fleet fire as a telegraph. + +The first suggestion of an electric telegraph on record is that +published by one 'C. M.' in the Scots Magazine for February 17, 1753. +The device consisted in running a number of insulated wires between +two places, one for each letter of the alphabet. The wires were to be +charged with electricity from a machine one at a time, according to the +letter it represented. At its far end the charged wire was to attract a +disc of paper marked with the corresponding letter, and so the message +would be spelt. 'C. M.' also suggested the first acoustic telegraph, +for he proposed to have a set of bells instead of the letters, each of a +different tone, and to be struck by the spark from its charged wire. + +The identity of 'C. M.,' who dated his letter from Renfrew, has not been +established beyond a doubt. There is a tradition of a clever man living +in Renfrew at that time, and afterwards in Paisley, who could 'licht a +room wi' coal reek (smoke), and mak' lichtnin' speak and write upon +the wa'.' By some he was thought to be a certain Charles Marshall, +from Aberdeen; but it seems likelier that he was a Charles Morrison, of +Greenock, who was trained as a surgeon, and became connected with +the tobacco trade of Glasgow. In Renfrew he was regarded as a kind of +wizard, and he is said to have emigrated to Virginia, where he died. + +In the latter half of the eighteenth century, many other suggestions +of telegraphs based on the known properties of the electric fire were +published; for example, by Joseph Bozolus, a Jesuit lecturer of Rome, in +1767; by Odier, a Geneva physicist, in 1773, who states in a letter to +a lady, that he conceived the idea on hearing a casual remark, while +dining at Sir John Pringle's, with Franklin, Priestley, and other great +geniuses. 'I shall amuse you, perhaps, in telling you,' he says,'that I +have in my head certain experiments by which to enter into conversation +with the Emperor of Mogol or of China, the English, the French, or any +other people of Europe... You may intercommunicate all that you wish at +a distance of four or five thousands leagues in less than half an hour. +Will that suffice you for glory?' + +George Louis Lesage, in 1782, proposed a plan similar to 'C. M.'s,' +using underground wires. An anonymous correspondent of the JOURNAL DE +PARIS for May 30, 1782, suggested an alarm bell to call attention to the +message. Lomond, of Paris, devised a telegraph with only one wire; the +signals to be read by the peculiar movements of an attracted pith-ball, +and Arthur Young witnessed his plan in action, as recorded in his diary. +M. Chappe, the inventor of the semaphore, tried about the year 1790 to +introduce a synchronous electric telegraph, and failed. + +Don Francisco Salva y Campillo, of Barcelona, in 1795, proposed to +make a telegraph between Barcelona and Mataro, either overhead or +underground, and he remarks of the wires, 'at the bottom of the sea +their bed would be ready made, and it would be an extraordinary casualty +that should disturb them.' In Salva's telegraph, the signals were to be +made by illuminating letters of tinfoil with the spark. Volta's great +invention of the pile in 1800 furnished a new source of electricity, +better adapted for the telegraph, and Salva was apparently the first +to recognise this, for, in the same year, he proposed to use it +and interpret the signals by the twitching of a frog's limb, or the +decomposition of water. + +In 1802, Jean Alexandre, a reputed natural son of Jean Jacques Rousseau, +brought out a TELEGRAPHE INTIME, or secret telegraph, which appears to +have been a step-by-step apparatus. The inventor concealed its mode of +working, but it was believed to be electrical, and there was a needle +which stopped at various points on a dial. Alexandre stated that he +had found out a strange matter or power which was, perhaps generally +diffused, and formed in some sort the soul of the universe. He +endeavoured to bring his invention under the eye of the First Consul, +but Napoleon referred the matter to Delambre, and would not see it. +Alexandre was born at Paris, and served as a carver and gilder at +Poictiers; then sang in the churches till the Revolution suppressed this +means of livelihood. He rose to influence as a Commissary-general, then +retired from the army and became an inventor. His name is associated +with a method of steering balloons, and a filter for supplying Bordeaux +with water from the Garonne. But neither of these plans appear to have +been put in practice, and he died at Angouleme, leaving his widow in +extreme poverty. + +Sommering, a distinguished Prussian anatomist, in 1809 brought out a +telegraph worked by a voltaic battery, and making signals by decomposing +water. Two years later it was greatly simplified by Schweigger, of +Halle; and there is reason to believe that but for the discovery of +electro-magnetism by Oersted, in 1824 the chemical telegraph would have +come into practical use. + +In 1806, Ralph Wedgwood submitted a telegraph based on frictional +electricity to the Admiralty, but was told that the semaphore was +sufficient for the country. In a pamphlet he suggested the establishment +of a telegraph system with public offices in different centres. Francis +Ronalds, in 1816, brought a similar telegraph of his invention to the +notice of the Admiralty, and was politely informed that 'telegraphs of +any kind are now wholly unnecessary.' + +In 1826-7, Harrison Gray Dyar, of New York, devised a telegraph in +which the spark was made to stain the signals on moist litmus paper by +decomposing nitric acid; but he had to abandon his experiments in Long +Island and fly the country, because of a writ which charged him with +a conspiracy for carrying on secret communication. In 1830 Hubert +Recy published an account of a system of Teletatodydaxie, by which the +electric spark was to ignite alcohol and indicate the signals of a code. + +But spark or frictional electric telegraphs were destined to give way +to those actuated by the voltaic current, as the chemical mode of +signalling was superseded by the electro-magnet. In 1820 the separate +courses of electric and magnetic science were united by the connecting +discovery of Oersted, who found that a wire conveying a current had the +power of moving a compass-needle to one side or the other according to +the direction of the current. + +La Place, the illustrious mathematician, at once saw that this fact +could be utilised as a telegraph, and Ampere, acting on his suggestion, +published a feasible plan. Before the year was out, Schweigger, of +Halle, multiplied the influence of the current on the needle by coiling +the wire about it. Ten years later, Ritchie improved on Ampere's method, +and exhibited a model at the Royal Institution, London. About the same +time, Baron Pawel Schilling, a Russian nobleman, still further modified +it, and the Emperor Nicholas decreed the erection of a line from +Cronstadt to St. Petersburg, with a cable in the Gulf of Finland but +Schilling died in 1837, and the project was never realised. + +In 1833-5 Professors Gauss and Weber constructed a telegraph between the +physical cabinet and the Observatory of the University of Gottingen. +At first they used the voltaic pile, but abandoned it in favour of +Faraday's recent discovery that electricity could be generated in a wire +by the motion of a magnet. The magnetic key with which the message was +sent Produced by its action an electric current which, after traversing +the line, passed through a coil and deflected a suspended magnet to +the right or left, according to the direction of the current. A mirror +attached to the suspension magnified the movement of the needle, +and indicated the signals after the manner of the Thomson mirror +galvanometer. This telegraph, which was large and clumsy, was +nevertheless used not only for scientific, but for general +correspondence. Steinheil, of Munich, simplified it, and added an alarm +in the form of a bell. + +In 1836, Steinheil also devised a recording telegraph, in which the +movable needles indicated the message by marking dots and dashes +with printer's ink on a ribbon of travelling paper, according to an +artificial code in which the fewest signs were given to the commonest +letters in the German language. With this apparatus the message was +registered at the rate of six words a minute. The early experimenters, +as we have seen, especially Salva, had utilised the ground as the return +part of the circuit; and Salva had proposed to use it on his telegraph, +but Steinheil was the first to demonstrate its practical value. In +trying, on the suggestion of Gauss, to employ the rails of the Nurenberg +to Furth railway as the conducting line for a telegraph in the year +1838, he found they would not serve; but the failure led him to employ +the earth as the return half of the circuit. + +In 1837, Professor Stratingh, of Groninque, Holland, devised a telegraph +in which the signals were made by electro-magnets actuating the hammers +of two gongs or bells of different tone; and M. Amyot invented an +automatic sending key in the nature of a musical box. From 1837-8, +Edward Davy, a Devonshire surgeon, exhibited a needle telegraph in +London, and proposed one based on the discovery of Arago, that a piece +of soft iron is temporarily magnetised by the passage of an electric +current through a coil surrounding it. This principle was further +applied by Morse in his electro-magnetic printing telegraph. Davy was a +prolific inventor, and also sketched out a telegraph in which the +gases evolved from water which was decomposed by the current actuated a +recording pen. But his most valuable discovery was the 'relay,' that is +to say, an auxiliary device by which a current too feeble to indicate +the signals could call into play a local battery strong enough to make +them. Davy was in a fair way of becoming one of the fathers of the +working telegraph, when his private affairs obliged him to emigrate to +Australia, and leave the course open to Cooke and Wheatstone. + + + +CHAPTER II. CHARLES WHEATSTONE. + +The electric telegraph, like the steam-engine and the railway, was a +gradual development due to the experiments and devices of a long +train of thinkers. In such a case he who crowns the work, making it +serviceable to his fellow-men, not only wins the pecuniary prize, but +is likely to be hailed and celebrated as the chief, if not the sole +inventor, although in a scientific sense the improvement he has made is +perhaps less than that of some ingenious and forgotten forerunner. He +who advances the work from the phase of a promising idea, to that of a +common boon, is entitled to our gratitude. But in honouring the keystone +of the arch, as it were, let us acknowledge the substructure on which +it rests, and keep in mind the entire bridge. Justice at least is due to +those who have laboured without reward. + +Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone were the first +to bring the electric telegraph into daily use. But we have selected +Wheatstone as our hero, because he was eminent as a man of science, +and chiefly instrumental in perfecting the apparatus. As James Watt +is identified with the steam-engine, and George Stephenson with the +railway, so is Wheatstone with the telegraph. + +Charles Wheatstone was born near Gloucester, in February, 1802. His +father was a music-seller in the town, who, four years later, removed +to 128, Pall Mall, London, and became a teacher of the flute. He used to +say, with not a little pride, that he had been engaged in assisting at +the musical education of the Princess Charlotte. Charles, the second +son, went to a village school, near Gloucester, and afterwards to +several institutions in London. One of them was in Kennington, and kept +by a Mrs. Castlemaine, who was astonished at his rapid progress. From +another he ran away, but was captured at Windsor, not far from the +theatre of his practical telegraph. As a boy he was very shy and +sensitive, liking well to retire into an attic, without any other +company than his own thoughts. When he was about fourteen years old he +was apprenticed to his uncle and namesake, a maker and seller of musical +instruments, at 436, Strand, London; but he showed little taste for +handicraft or business, and loved better to study books. His father +encouraged him in this, and finally took him out of the uncle's charge. + +At the age of fifteen, Wheatstone translated French poetry, and wrote +two songs, one of which was given to his uncle, who published it without +knowing it as his nephew's composition. Some lines of his on the lyre +became the motto of an engraving by Bartolozzi. Small for his age, but +with a fine brow, and intelligent blue eyes, he often visited an old +book-stall in the vicinity of Pall Mall, which was then a dilapidated +and unpaved thoroughfare. Most of his pocket-money was spent in +purchasing the books which had taken his fancy, whether fairy tales, +history, or science. One day, to the surprise of the bookseller, he +coveted a volume on the discoveries of Volta in electricity, but not +having the price, he saved his pennies and secured the volume. It was +written in French, and so he was obliged to save again, till he could +buy a dictionary. Then he began to read the volume, and, with the help +of his elder brother, William, to repeat the experiments described in +it, with a home-made battery, in the scullery behind his father's house. +In constructing the battery the boy philosophers ran short of money to +procure the requisite copper-plates. They had only a few copper coins +left. A happy thought occurred to Charles, who was the leading spirit in +these researches, 'We must use the pennies themselves,' said he, and the +battery was soon complete. + +In September, 1821, Wheatstone brought himself into public notice by +exhibiting the 'Enchanted Lyre,' or 'Aconcryptophone,' at a music-shop +at Pall Mall and in the Adelaide Gallery. It consisted of a mimic lyre +hung from the ceiling by a cord, and emitting the strains of several +instruments--the piano, harp, and dulcimer. In reality it was a mere +sounding box, and the cord was a steel rod that conveyed the vibrations +of the music from the several instruments which were played out of sight +and ear-shot. At this period Wheatstone made numerous experiments +on sound and its transmission. Some of his results are preserved in +Thomson's ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY for 1823. He recognised that sound is +propagated by waves or oscillations of the atmosphere, as light by +undulations of the luminiferous ether. Water, and solid bodies, such +as glass, or metal, or sonorous wood, convey the modulations with high +velocity, and he conceived the plan of transmitting sound-signals, +music, or speech to long distances by this means. He estimated that +sound would travel 200 miles a second through solid rods, and proposed +to telegraph from London to Edinburgh in this way. He even called his +arrangement a 'telephone.' [Robert Hooke, in his MICROGRAPHIA, published +in 1667, writes: 'I can assure the reader that I have, by the help of a +distended wire, propagated the sound to a very considerable distance in +an instant, or with as seemingly quick a motion as that of light.' Nor +was it essential the wire should be straight; it might be bent into +angles. This property is the basis of the mechanical or lover's +telephone, said to have been known to the Chinese many centuries ago. +Hooke also considered the possibility of finding a way to quicken our +powers of hearing.] A writer in the REPOSITORY OF ARTS for September 1, +1821, in referring to the 'Enchanted Lyre,' beholds the prospect of an +opera being performed at the King's Theatre, and enjoyed at the Hanover +Square Rooms, or even at the Horns Tavern, Kennington. The vibrations +are to travel through underground conductors, like to gas in pipes. 'And +if music be capable of being thus conducted,' he observes,'perhaps the +words of speech may be susceptible of the same means of propagation. The +eloquence of counsel, the debates of Parliament, instead of being read +the next day only,--But we shall lose ourselves in the pursuit of this +curious subject.' + +Besides transmitting sounds to a distance, Wheatstone devised a simple +instrument for augmenting feeble sounds, to which he gave the name +of 'Microphone.' It consisted of two slender rods, which conveyed the +mechanical vibrations to both ears, and is quite different from the +electrical microphone of Professor Hughes. + +In 1823, his uncle, the musical instrument maker, died, and Wheatstone, +with his elder brother, William, took over the business. Charles had no +great liking for the commercial part, but his ingenuity found a vent +in making improvements on the existing instruments, and in devising +philosophical toys. At the end of six years he retired from the +undertaking. + +In 1827, Wheatstone introduced his 'kaleidoscope,' a device for +rendering the vibrations of a sounding body apparent to the eye. It +consists of a metal rod, carrying at its end a silvered bead, which +reflects a 'spot' of light. As the rod vibrates the spot is seen to +describe complicated figures in the air, like a spark whirled about in +the darkness. His photometer was probably suggested by this appliance. +It enables two lights to be compared by the relative brightness of their +reflections in a silvered bead, which describes a narrow ellipse, so as +to draw the spots into parallel lines. + +In 1828, Wheatstone improved the German wind instrument, called the MUND +HARMONICA, till it became the popular concertina, patented on June 19, +1829 The portable harmonium is another of his inventions, which gained +a prize medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851. He also improved the +speaking machine of De Kempelen, and endorsed the opinion of Sir David +Brewster, that before the end of this century a singing and talking +apparatus would be among the conquests of science. + +In 1834, Wheatstone, who had won a name for himself, was appointed to +the Chair of Experimental Physics in King's College, London, But his +first course of lectures on Sound were a complete failure, owing to an +invincible repugnance to public speaking, and a distrust of his powers +in that direction. In the rostrum he was tongue-tied and incapable, +sometimes turning his back on the audience and mumbling to the diagrams +on the wall. In the laboratory he felt himself at home, and ever after +confined his duties mostly to demonstration. + +He achieved renown by a great experiment--the measurement of the +velocity of electricity in a wire. His method was beautiful and +ingenious. He cut the wire at the middle, to form a gap which a spark +might leap across, and connected its ends to the poles of a Leyden jar +filled with electricity. Three sparks were thus produced, one at either +end of the wire, and another at the middle. He mounted a tiny mirror +on the works of a watch, so that it revolved at a high velocity, and +observed the reflections of his three sparks in it. The points of the +wire were so arranged that if the sparks were instantaneous, their +reflections would appear in one straight line; but the middle one was +seen to lag behind the others, because it was an instant later. The +electricity had taken a certain time to travel from the ends of the wire +to the middle. This time was found by measuring the amount of lag, and +comparing it with the known velocity of the mirror. Having got the time, +he had only to compare that with the length of half the wire, and he +found that the velocity of electricity was 288,000 miles a second. + +Till then, many people had considered the electric discharge to be +instantaneous; but it was afterwards found that its velocity depended +on the nature of the conductor, its resistance, and its electro-static +capacity. Faraday showed, for example, that its velocity in a submarine +wire, coated with insulator and surrounded with water, is only 144,000 +miles a second, or still less. Wheatstone's device of the revolving +mirror was afterwards employed by Foucault and Fizeau to measure the +velocity of light. + +In 1835, at the Dublin meeting of the British Association, Wheatstone +showed that when metals were volatilised in the electric spark, their +light, examined through a prism, revealed certain rays which were +characteristic of them. Thus the kind of metals which formed the +sparking points could be determined by analysing the light of the spark. +This suggestion has been of great service in spectrum analysis, and as +applied by Bunsen, Kirchoff, and others, has led to the discovery +of several new elements, such as rubidium and thallium, as well as +increasing our knowledge of the heavenly bodies. Two years later, +he called attention to the value of thermo-electricity as a mode of +generating a current by means of heat, and since then a variety +of thermo-piles have been invented, some of which have proved of +considerable advantage. + +Wheatstone abandoned his idea of transmitting intelligence by the +mechanical vibration of rods, and took up the electric telegraph. In +1835 he lectured on the system of Baron Schilling, and declared that the +means were already known by which an electric telegraph could be made of +great service to the world. He made experiments with a plan of his own, +and not only proposed to lay an experimental line across the Thames, but +to establish it on the London and Birmingham Railway. Before these plans +were carried out, however, he received a visit from Mr. Fothergill +Cooke at his house in Conduit Street on February 27, 1837, which had an +important influence on his future. + +Mr. Cooke was an officer in the Madras army, who, being home on +furlough, was attending some lectures on anatomy at the University of +Heidelberg, where, on March 6, 1836, he witnessed a demonstration +with the telegraph of Professor Moncke, and was so impressed with its +importance, that he forsook his medical studies and devoted all his +efforts to the work of introducing the telegraph. He returned to London +soon after, and was able to exhibit a telegraph with three needles in +January, 1837. Feeling his want of scientific knowledge, he consulted +Faraday and Dr. Roget, the latter of whom sent him to Wheatstone. + +At a second interview, Mr. Cooke told Wheatstone of his intention to +bring out a working telegraph, and explained his method. Wheatstone, +according to his own statement, remarked to Cooke that the method would +not act, and produced his own experimental telegraph. Finally, Cooke +proposed that they should enter into a partnership, but Wheatstone was +at first reluctant to comply. He was a well-known man of science, and +had meant to publish his results without seeking to make capital of +them. Cooke, on the other hand, declared that his sole object was to +make a fortune from the scheme. In May they agreed to join their forces, +Wheatstone contributing the scientific, and Cooke the administrative +talent. The deed of partnership was dated November 19, 1837. A joint +patent was taken out for their inventions, including the five-needle +telegraph of Wheatstone, and an alarm worked by a relay, in which the +current, by dipping a needle into mercury, completed a local circuit, +and released the detent of a clockwork. + +The five-needle telegraph, which was mainly, if not entirely, due to +Wheatstone, was similar to that of Schilling, and based on the principle +enunciated by Ampere--that is to say, the current was sent into the line +by completing the circuit of the battery with a make and break key, and +at the other end it passed through a coil of wire surrounding a magnetic +needle free to turn round its centre. According as one pole of the +battery or the other was applied to the line by means of the key, the +current deflected the needle to one side or the other. There were five +separate circuits actuating five different needles. The latter were +pivoted in rows across the middle of a dial shaped like a diamond, and +having the letters of the alphabet arranged upon it in such a way that +a letter was literally pointed out by the current deflecting two of the +needles towards it. + +An experimental line, with a sixth return wire, was run between the +Euston terminus and Camden Town station of the London and North Western +Railway on July 25, 1837. The actual distance was only one and a half +mile, but spare wire had been inserted in the circuit to increase its +length. It was late in the evening before the trial took place. Mr. +Cooke was in charge at Camden Town, while Mr. Robert Stephenson and +other gentlemen looked on; and Wheatstone sat at his instrument in a +dingy little room, lit by a tallow candle, near the booking-office at +Euston. Wheatstone sent the first message, to which Cooke replied, +and 'never,' said 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 +pronounced to be practicable beyond cavil or dispute.' + +In spite of this trial, however, the directors of the railway treated +the 'new-fangled' invention with indifference, and requested its +removal. In July, 1839, however, it was favoured by the Great Western +Railway, and a line erected from the Paddington terminus to West +Drayton station, a distance of thirteen miles. Part of the wire was laid +underground at first, but subsequently all of it was raised on posts +along the line. Their circuit was eventually extended to Slough in 1841, +and was publicly exhibited at Paddington as a marvel of science, which +could transmit fifty signals a distance of 280,000 miles in a minute. +The price of admission was a shilling. + +Notwithstanding its success, the public did not readily patronise the +new invention until its utility was noised abroad by the clever capture +of the murderer Tawell. Between six and seven o'clock one morning a +woman named Sarah Hart was found dead in her home at Salt Hill, and a +man had been observed to leave her house some time before. The police +knew that she was visited from time to time by a Mr. John Tawell, +from Berkhampstead, where he was much respected, and on inquiring and +arriving at Slough, they found that a person answering his description +had booked by a slow train for London, and entered a first-class +carriage. The police telegraphed at once to Paddington, giving the +particulars, and desiring his capture. 'He is in the garb of a Quaker,' +ran the message, 'with a brown coat on, which reaches nearly to his +feet.' There was no 'Q' in the alphabet of the five-needle instrument, +and the clerk at Slough began to spell the word 'Quaker' with a +'kwa'; but when he had got so far he was interrupted by the clerk at +Paddington, who asked him to 'repent.' The repetition fared no better, +until a boy at Paddington suggested that Slough should be allowed to +finish the word. 'Kwaker' was understood, and as soon as Tawell stepped +out on the platform at Paddington he was 'shadowed' by a detective, +who followed him into a New Road omnibus, and arrested him in a coffee +tavern. + +Tawell was tried for the murder of the woman, and astounding revelations +were made as to his character. Transported in 1820 for the crime of +forgery, he obtained a ticket-of-leave, and started as a chemist in +Sydney, where he flourished, and after fifteen years left it a rich man. +Returning to England, he married a Quaker lady as his second wife. He +confessed to the murder of Sarah Hart, by prussic acid, his motive being +a dread of their relations becoming known. + +Tawell was executed, and the notoriety of the case brought the telegraph +into repute. Its advantages as a rapid means of conveying intelligence +and detecting criminals had been signally demonstrated, and it was soon +adopted on a more extensive scale. + +In 1845 Wheatstone introduced two improved forms of the apparatus, +namely, the 'single' and the 'double' needle instruments, in which +the signals were made by the successive deflections of the needles. Of +these, the single-needle instrument, requiring only one wire, is still +in use. + +In 1841 a difference arose between Cooke and Wheatstone as to the share +of each in the honour of inventing the telegraph. The question was +submitted to the arbitration of the famous engineer, Marc Isambard +Brunel, on behalf of Cooke, and Professor Daniell, of King's College, +the inventor of the Daniell battery, on the part of Wheatstone. They +awarded to Cooke the credit of having introduced the telegraph as a +useful undertaking which promised to be of national importance, and +to Wheatstone that of having by his researches prepared the public to +receive it. They concluded with the words: '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 five years since they have been associated.' The decision, +however vague, pronounces the needle telegraph a joint production. If it +was mainly invented by Wheatstone, it was chiefly introduced by Cooke. +Their respective shares in the undertaking might be compared to that of +an author and his publisher, but for the fact that Cooke himself had a +share in the actual work of invention. + +In 1840 Wheatstone had patented an alphabetical telegraph, or, +'Wheatstone A B C instrument,' which moved with a step-by-step motion, +and showed the letters of the message upon a dial. The same principle +was utilised in his type-printing telegraph, patented in 1841. This was +the first apparatus which printed a telegram in type. It was worked +by two circuits, and as the type revolved a hammer, actuated by the +current, pressed the required letter on the paper. In 1840 Wheatstone +also brought out his magneto-electrical machine for generating +continuous currents, and his chronoscope, for measuring minute intervals +of time, which was used in determining the speed of a bullet or the +passage of a star. In this apparatus an electric current actuated an +electro-magnet, which noted the instant of an occurrence by means of +a pencil on a moving paper. It is said to have been capable of +distinguishing 1/7300 part of a second, and the time a body took to fall +from a height of one inch. + +The same year he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society +for his explanation of binocular vision, a research which led him to +construct the stereoscope. He showed that our impression of solidity +is gained by the combination in the mind of two separate pictures of an +object taken by both of our eyes from different points of view. Thus, in +the stereoscope, an arrangement of lenses and mirrors, two photographs +of the same object taken from different points are so combined as +to make the object stand out with a solid aspect. Sir David Brewster +improved the stereoscope by dispensing with the mirrors, and bringing it +into its existing form. + +The 'pseudoscope' (Wheatstone was partial to exotic forms of speech) was +introduced by its professor in 1850, and is in some sort the reverse of +the stereoscope, since it causes a solid object to seem hollow, and a +nearer one to be farther off; thus, a bust appears to be a mask, and a +tree growing outside of a window looks as if it were growing inside the +room. + +On November 26, 1840, he exhibited his electro-magnetic clock in the +library of the Royal Society, and propounded a plan for distributing the +correct time from a standard clock to a number of local timepieces. +The circuits of these were to be electrified by a key or contact-maker +actuated by the arbour of the standard, and their hands corrected by +electro-magnetism. The following January Alexander Bain took out a +patent for an electro-magnetic clock, and he subsequently charged +Wheatstone with appropriating his ideas. It appears that Bain worked as +a mechanist to Wheatstone from August to December, 1840, and he asserted +that he had communicated the idea of an electric clock to Wheatstone +during that period; but Wheatstone maintained that he had experimented +in that direction during May. Bain further accused Wheatstone of +stealing his idea of the electro-magnetic printing telegraph; but +Wheatstone showed that the instrument was only a modification of his own +electro-magnetic telegraph. + +In 1843 Wheatstone communicated an important paper to the Royal Society, +entitled 'An Account of Several New Processes for Determining the +Constants of a Voltaic Circuit.' It contained an exposition of the +well-known balance for measuring the electrical resistance of a +conductor, which still goes by the name of Wheatstone's Bridge or +balance, although it was first devised by Mr. S. W. Christie, of the +Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, who published it in the PHILOSOPHICAL +TRANSACTIONS for 1833. The method was neglected until Wheatstone brought +it into notice. His paper abounds with simple and practical formula: +for the calculation of currents and resistances by the law of Ohm. He +introduced a unit of resistance, namely, a foot of copper wire weighing +one hundred grains, and showed how it might be applied to measure the +length of wire by its resistance. He was awarded a medal for his paper +by the Society. The same year he invented an apparatus which enabled the +reading of a thermometer or a barometer to be registered at a distance +by means of an electric contact made by the mercury. A sound telegraph, +in which the signals were given by the strokes of a bell, was also +patented by Cooke and Wheatstone in May of that year. + +The introduction of the telegraph had so far advanced that, on September +2, 1845, the Electric Telegraph Company was registered, and Wheatstone, +by his deed of partnership with Cooke, received a sum of L33,000 for the +use of their joint inventions. + +From 1836-7 Wheatstone had thought a good deal about submarine +telegraphs, and in 1840 he gave evidence before the Railway Committee of +the House of Commons on the feasibility of the proposed line from Dover +to Calais. He had even designed the machinery for making and laying +the cable. In the autumn of 1844, with the assistance of Mr. J. D. +Llewellyn, he submerged a length of insulated wire in Swansea Bay, and +signalled through it from a boat to the Mumbles Lighthouse. Next year he +suggested the use of gutta-percha for the coating of the intended wire +across the Channel. + +Though silent and reserved in public, Wheatstone was a clear and voluble +talker in private, if taken on his favourite studies, and his small +but active person, his plain but intelligent countenance, was full of +animation. Sir Henry Taylor tells us that he once observed Wheatstone at +an evening party in Oxford earnestly holding forth to Lord Palmerston +on the capabilities of his telegraph. 'You don't say so!' exclaimed the +statesman. 'I must get you to tell that to the Lord Chancellor.' And so +saying, he fastened the electrician on Lord Westbury, and effected his +escape. A reminiscence of this interview may have prompted Palmerston +to remark that a time was coming when a minister might be asked in +Parliament if war had broken out in India, and would reply, 'Wait a +minute; I'll just telegraph to the Governor-General, and let you know.' + +At Christchurch, Marylebone, on February 12, 1847, Wheatstone was +married. His wife was the daughter of a Taunton tradesman, and of +handsome appearance. She died in 1866, leaving a family of five young +children to his care. His domestic life was quiet and uneventful. + +One of Wheatstone's most ingenious devices was the 'Polar clock,' +exhibited at the meeting of the British Association in 1848. It is based +on the fact discovered by Sir David Brewster, that the light of the sky +is polarised in a plane at an angle of ninety degrees from the position +of the sun. It follows that by discovering that plane of polarisation, +and measuring its azimuth with respect to the north, the position of the +sun, although beneath the horizon, could be determined, and the apparent +solar time obtained. The clock consisted of a spy-glass, having a nichol +or double-image prism for an eye-piece, and a thin plate of selenite for +an object-glass. When the tube was directed to the North Pole--that +is, parallel to the earth's axis--and the prism of the eye-piece turned +until no colour was seen, the angle of turning, as shown by an index +moving with the prism over a graduated limb, gave the hour of day. The +device is of little service in a country where watches are reliable; but +it formed part of the equipment of the North Polar expedition commanded +by Captain Nares. Wheatstone's remarkable ingenuity was displayed in the +invention of cyphers which have never been unravelled, and interpreting +cypher manuscripts in the British Museum which had defied the experts. +He devised a cryptograph or machine for turning a message into +cypher which could only be interpreted by putting the cypher into a +corresponding machine adjusted to reproduce it. + +The rapid development of the telegraph in Europe may be gathered +from the fact that in 1855, the death of the Emperor Nicholas at St. +Petersburg, about one o'clock in the afternoon, was announced in the +House of Lords a few hours later; and as a striking proof of its further +progress, it may be mentioned that the result of the Oaks of 1890 +was received in New York fifteen seconds after the horses passed the +winning-post. + +Wheatstone's next great invention was the automatic transmitter, in +which the signals of the message are first punched out on a strip of +paper, which is then passed through the sending-key, and controls the +signal currents. By substituting a mechanism for the hand in sending +the message, he was able to telegraph about 100 words a minute, or five +times the ordinary rate. In the Postal Telegraph service this apparatus +is employed for sending Press telegrams, and it has recently been so +much improved, that messages are now sent from London to Bristol at +a speed of 600 words a minute, and even of 400 words a minute between +London and Aberdeen. On the night of April 8, 1886, when Mr. Gladstone +introduced his Bill for Home Rule in Ireland, no fewer than 1,500,000 +words were despatched from the central station at St. Martin's-le-Grand +by 100 Wheatstone transmitters. Were Mr. Gladstone himself to speak +for a whole week, night and day, and with his usual facility, he could +hardly surpass this achievement. The plan of sending messages by a +running strip of paper which actuates the key was originally patented +by Bain in 1846; but Wheatstone, aided by Mr. Augustus Stroh, an +accomplished mechanician, and an able experimenter, was the first to +bring the idea into successful operation. + +In 1859 Wheatstone was appointed by the Board of Trade to report on the +subject of the Atlantic cables, and in 1864 he was one of the experts +who advised the Atlantic Telegraph Company on the construction of the +successful lines of 1865 and 1866. On February 4, 1867, he published the +principle of reaction in the dynamo-electric machine by a paper to the +Royal Society; but Mr. C. W. Siemens had communicated the identical +discovery ten days earlier, and both papers were read on the same day. +It afterwards appeared that Herr Werner Siemens, Mr. Samuel Alfred +Varley, and Professor Wheatstone had independently arrived at the +principle within a few months of each other. Varley patented it on +December 24, 1866; Siemens called attention to it on January 17, 1867; +and Wheatstone exhibited it in action at the Royal Society on the above +date. But it will be seen from our life of William Siemens that Soren +Hjorth, a Danish inventor, had forestalled them. + +In 1870 the electric telegraph lines of the United Kingdom, worked by +different companies, were transferred to the Post Office, and placed +under Government control. + +Wheatstone was knighted in 1868, after his completion of the automatic +telegraph. He had previously been made a Chevalier of the Legion of +Honour. Some thirty-four distinctions and diplomas of home or foreign +societies bore witness to his scientific reputation. Since 1836 he +had been a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1873 he was appointed a +Foreign Associate of the French Academy of Sciences. The same year he +was awarded the Ampere Medal by the French Society for the Encouragement +of National Industry. In 1875 he was created an honorary member of the +Institution of Civil Engineers. He was a D.C.L. of Oxford and an LL.D. +of Cambridge. + +While on a visit to Paris during the autumn of 1875, and engaged in +perfecting his receiving instrument for submarine cables, he caught a +cold, which produced inflammation of the lungs, an illness from which he +died in Paris, on October 19, 1875. A memorial service was held in the +Anglican Chapel, Paris, and attended by a deputation of the Academy. His +remains were taken to his home in Park Crescent, London, and buried in +Kensal Green. + + + +CHAPTER III. SAMUEL MORSE. + +Cooke and Wheatstone were the first to introduce a public telegraph +worked by electro-magnetism; but it had the disadvantage of not marking +down the message. There was still room for an instrument which would +leave a permanent record that might be read at leisure, and this was +the invention of Samuel Finley Breeze Morse. He was born at the foot of +Breed's Hill, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 27th of April, 1791. +The place was a little over a mile from where Benjamin Franklin was +born, and the date was a little over a year after he died. His family +was of British origin. Anthony Morse, of Marlborough, in Wiltshire, had +emigrated to America in 1635, and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, He +and his descendants prospered. The grandfather of Morse was a member +of the Colonial and State Legislatures, and his father, Jedediah Morse, +D.D., was a well-known divine of his day, and the author of Morse's +AMERICAN GEOGRAPHY, as well as a compiler of a UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER. His +mother was Elizabeth Ann Breeze, apparently of Welsh extraction, and +the grand-daughter of Samuel Finley, a distinguished President of the +Princeton College. Jedediah Morse is reputed a man of talent, industry, +and vigour, with high aims for the good of his fellow-men, ingenious +to conceive, resolute in action, and sanguine of success. His wife is +described as a woman of calm, reflective mind, animated conversation, +and engaging manners. + +They had two other sons besides Samuel, the second of whom, Sidney E. +Morse, was founder of the New York OBSERVER, an able mathematician, +author of the ART OF CEROGRAPHY, or engraving upon wax, to stereotype +from, and inventor of a barometer for sounding the deep-sea. Sidney was +the trusted friend and companion of his elder brother. + +At the age of four Samuel was sent to an infant school kept by an old +lady, who being lame, was unable to leave her chair, but carried her +authority to the remotest parts of her dominion by the help of a long +rattan. Samuel, like the rest, had felt the sudden apparition of this +monitor. Having scratched a portrait of the dame upon a chest of drawers +with the point of a pin, he was called out and summarily punished. Years +later, when he became notable, the drawers were treasured by one of his +admirers. + +He entered a preparatory school at Andover, Mass., when he was seven +years old, and showed himself an eager pupil. Among other books, he was +delighted with Plutarch's LIVES, and at thirteen he composed a biography +of Demosthenes, long preserved by his family. A year later he entered +Yale College as a freshman. + +During his curriculum he attended the lectures of Professor Jeremiah Day +on natural philosophy and Professor Benjamin Sieliman on chemistry, and +it was then he imbibed his earliest knowledge of electricity. In 1809-10 +Dr. Day was teaching from Enfield's text-book on philosophy, that 'if +the (electric) circuit be interrupted, the fluid will become visible, +and when: it passes it will leave an impression upon any intermediate +body,' and he illustrated this by sending the spark through a metal +chain, so that it became visible between the links, and by causing it to +perforate paper. Morse afterwards declared this experiment to have been +the seed which rooted in his mind and grew into the 'invention of the +telegraph.' + +It is not evident that Morse had any distinct idea of the electric +telegraph in these days; but amidst his lessons in literature and +philosophy he took a special interest in the sciences of electricity +and chemistry. He became acquainted with the voltaic battery through the +lectures of his friend, Professor Sieliman; and we are told that during +one of his vacations at Yale he made a series of electrical experiments +with Dr. Dwight. Some years later he resumed these studies under his +friend Professor James Freeman Dana, of the University of New York, +who exhibited the electro-magnet to his class in 1827, and also under +Professor Renwick, of Columbia College. + +Art seems to have had an equal if not a greater charm than science for +Morse at this period. A boy of fifteen, he made a water-colour sketch +of his family sitting round the table; and while a student at Yale he +relieved his father, who was far from rich, of a part of his education +by painting miniatures on ivory, and selling them to his companions at +five dollars a-piece. Before he was nineteen he completed a painting of +the 'Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth,' which formerly hung in the +office of the Mayor, at Charlestown, Massachusetts. + +On graduating at Yale, in 1810, he devoted himself to Art, and became +a pupil of Washington Allston, the well-known American painter. He +accompanied Allston to Europe in 1811, and entered the studio of +Benjamin West, who was then at the zenith of his reputation. +The friendship of West, with his own introductions and agreeable +personality, enabled him to move in good society, to which he was always +partial. William Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, father of the historian, +Coleridge, and Copley, were among his acquaintances. Leslie, the artist, +then a struggling genius like himself, was his fellow-lodger. His heart +was evidently in the profession of his choice. 'My passion for my +art,' he wrote to his mother, in 1812, 'is so firmly rooted that I am +confident no human power could destroy it. The more I study the greater +I think is its claim to the appellation of divine. I am now going to +begin a picture of the death of Hercules the figure to be as large as +life.' + +After he had perfected this work to his own eyes, he showed it, with not +a little pride, to Mr. West, who after scanning it awhile said, 'Very +good, very good. Go on and finish it.' Morse ventured to say that it was +finished. 'No! no! no!' answered West; 'see there, and there, and there. +There is much to be done yet. Go on and finish it.' Each time the pupil +showed it the master said, 'Go on and finish it.' [THE TELEGRAPH IN +AMERICA, by James D. Reid] This was a lesson in thoroughness of work and +attention to detail which was not lost on the student. The picture was +exhibited at the Royal Academy, in Somerset House, during the summer +of 1813, and West declared that if Morse were to live to his own age he +would never make a better composition. The remark is equivocal, but +was doubtless intended as a compliment to the precocity of the young +painter. + +In order to be correct in the anatomy he had first modelled the figure +of his Hercules in clay, and this cast, by the advice of West, was +entered in competition for a prize in sculpture given by the Society +of Arts. It proved successful, and on May 13 the sculptor was presented +with the prize and a gold medal by the Duke of Norfolk before a +distinguished gathering in the Adelphi. + +Flushed with his triumph, Morse determined to compete for the prize of +fifty guineas and a gold medal offered by the Royal Academy for the best +historical painting, and took for his subject, 'The Judgment of Jupiter +in the case of Apollo, Marpessa, and Idas.' The work was finished to the +satisfaction of West, but the painter was summoned home. He was still, +in part at least, depending on his father, and had been abroad a year +longer than the three at first intended. During this time he had been +obliged to pinch himself in a thousand ways in order to eke out his +modest allowance. 'My drink is water, porter being too expensive,' he +wrote to his parents. 'I have had no new clothes for nearly a year. My +best are threadbare, and my shoes are out at the toes. My stockings all +want to see my mother, and my hat is hoary with age.' + +Mr. West recommended him to stay, since the rules of the competition +required the winner to receive the prize in person. But after trying +in vain to get this regulation waived, he left for America with his +picture, having, a few days prior to his departure, dined with Mr. +Wilberforce as the guns of Hyde Park were signalling the victory of +Waterloo. + +Arriving in Boston on October 18, he lost no time in renting a studio. +His fame had preceded him, and he became the lion of society. His +'Judgment of Jupiter' was exhibited in the town, and people flocked to +see it. But no one offered to buy it. If the line of high art he had +chosen had not supported him in England, it was tantamount to starvation +in the rawer atmosphere of America. Even in Boston, mellowed though it +was by culture, the classical was at a discount. Almost penniless, and +fretting under his disappointment, he went to Concord, New Hampshire, +and contrived to earn a living by painting cabinet portraits. Was this +the end of his ambitious dreams? + +Money was needful to extricate him from this drudgery and let him follow +up his aspirations. Love may have been a still stronger motive for its +acquisition. So he tried his hand at invention, and, in conjunction with +his brother Sidney, produced what was playfully described as 'Morse's +Patent Metallic Double-Headed Ocean-Drinker and Deluge-Spouter +Pump-Box.' The pump was quite as much admired as the 'Jupiter,' and it +proved as great a failure. + +Succeeding as a portrait painter, he went, in 1818, on the invitation +of his uncle, Dr. Finley, to Charleston, in South Carolina, and opened +a studio there. After a single season he found himself in a position +to marry, and on October 1, 1818, was united to Lucretia P. Walker, of +Concord, New Hampshire, a beautiful and accomplished lady. He thrived so +well in the south that he once received as many as one hundred and fifty +orders in a few weeks; and his reputation was such that he was honoured +with a commission from the Common Council of Charleston to execute a +portrait of James Monroe, then President of the United States. It was +regarded as a masterpiece. In January, 1821, he instituted the South +Carolina Academy of Fine Arts, which is now extinct. + +After four years of life in Charleston he returned to the north with +savings to the amount of L600, and settled in New York. He devoted +eighteen months to the execution of a large painting of the House of +Representatives in the Capitol at Washington; but its exhibition proved +a loss, and in helping his brothers to pay his father's debts the +remains of his little fortune were swept away. He stood next to Allston +as an American historical painter, but all his productions in that line +proved a disappointment. The public would not buy them. On the other +hand, he received an order from the Corporation of New York for a +portrait of General Lafayette, the hero of the hour. + +While engaged on this work he lost his wife in February, 1825, and then +his parents. In 1829 he visited Europe, and spent his time among the +artists and art galleries of England, France, and Italy. In Paris he +undertook a picture of the interior of the Louvre, showing some of the +masterpieces in miniature, but it seems that nobody purchased it. He +expected to be chosen to illustrate one of the vacant panels in the +Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington; but in this too he was mistaken. +However, some fellow-artists in America, thinking he had deserved +the honour, collected a sum of money to assist him in painting the +composition he had fixed upon: 'The Signing of the First Compact on +Board the Mayflower.' + +In a far from hopeful mood after his three years' residence abroad he +embarked on the packet Sully, Captain Pell, and sailed from Havre for +New York on October 1, 1832. Among the passengers was Dr. Charles T. +Jackson, of Boston, who had attended some lectures on electricity in +Paris, and carried an electro-magnet in his trunk. One day while Morse +and Dr. Jackson, with a few more, sat round the luncheon table in the +cabin, he began to talk of the experiments he had witnessed. Some +one asked if the speed of the electricity was lessened by its passage +through a long wire, and Dr. Jackson, referring to a trial of Faraday, +replied that the current was apparently instantaneous. Morse, who +probably remembered his old lessons in the subject, now remarked that if +the presence of the electricity could be rendered visible at any point +of the circuit he saw no reason why intelligence might not be sent by +this means. + +The idea became rooted in his mind, and engrossed his thoughts. Until +far into the night he paced the deck discussing the matter with Dr. +Jackson, and pondering it in solitude. Ways of rendering the electricity +sensible at the far end of the line were considered. The spark might +pierce a band of travelling paper, as Professor Day had mentioned years +before; it might decompose a chemical solution, and leave a stain to +mark its passage, as tried by Mr. Dyar in 1827; Or it could excite +an electro-magnet, which, by attracting a piece of soft iron, would +inscribe the passage with a pen or pencil. The signals could be made by +very short currents or jets of electricity, according to a settled code. +Thus a certain number of jets could represent a corresponding numeral, +and the numeral would, in its turn, represent a word in the language. +To decipher the message, a special code-book or dictionary would be +required. In order to transmit the currents through the line, he devised +a mechanical sender, in which the circuit would be interrupted by +a series of types carried on a port-rule or composing-stick, which +travelled at a uniform speed. Each type would have a certain number of +teeth or projections on its upper face, and as it was passed through +a gap in the circuit the teeth would make or break the current. At the +other end of the line the currents thus transmitted would excite the +electro-magnet, actuate the pencil, and draw a zig-zag line on the +paper, every angle being a distinct signal, and the groups of signals +representing a word in the code. + +During the voyage of six weeks the artist jotted his crude ideas in his +sketch-book, which afterwards became a testimony to their date. That +he cherished hopes of his invention may be gathered from his words on +landing, 'Well, Captain Pell, should you ever hear of the telegraph one +of these days as the wonder of the world, remember the discovery was +made on the good ship Sully.' + +Soon after his return his brothers gave him a room on the fifth floor +of a house at the corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets, New York. For +a long time it was his studio and kitchen, his laboratory and bedroom. +With his livelihood to earn by his brush, and his invention to work out, +Morse was now fully occupied. His diet was simple; he denied himself the +pleasures of society, and employed his leisure in making models of +his types. The studio was an image of his mind at this epoch. Rejected +pictures looked down upon his clumsy apparatus, type-moulds lay among +plaster-casts, the paint-pot jostled the galvanic battery, and the easel +shared his attention with the lathe. By degrees the telegraph allured +him from the canvas, and he only painted enough to keep the wolf from +the door. His national picture, 'The Signing of the First Compact on +Board the Mayflower,' was never finished, and the 300 dollars which had +been subscribed for it were finally returned with interest. + +For Morse by nature was proud and independent, with a sensitive horror +of incurring debt. He would rather endure privation than solicit help +or lie under a humiliating obligation. His mother seems to have been +animated with a like spirit, for the Hon. Amos Kendall informs us that +she had suffered much through the kindness of her husband in becoming +surety for his friends, and that when she was dying she exacted a +promise from her son that he would never endanger his peace of mind and +the comfort of his home by doing likewise. + +During the two and a half years from November, 1832, to the summer of +1835 he was obliged to change his residence three times, and want of +money prevented him from combining the several parts of his invention +into a working whole. In 1835, however, his reputation as an historical +painter, and the esteem in which he was held as a man of culture +and refinement, led to his appointment as the first Professor of the +Literature of the Arts of Design in the newly founded University of the +city of New York. In the month of July he took up his quarters in the +new buildings of the University at Washington Square, and was henceforth +able to devote more time to his apparatus. The same year Professor +Daniell, of King's College, London, brought out his constant-current +battery, which befriended Morse in his experiments, as it afterwards did +Cooke and Wheatstone, Hitherto the voltaic battery had been a source of +trouble, owing to the current becoming weak as the battery was kept in +action. + +The length of line through which Morse could work his apparatus was +an important point to be determined, for it was known that the current +grows feebler in proportion to the resistance of the wire it traverses. +Morse saw a way out of the difficulty, as Davy, Cooke, and Wheatstone +did, by the device known as the relay. Were the current too weak to +effect the marking of a message, it might nevertheless be sufficiently +strong to open and close the circuit of a local battery which would +print the signals. Such relays and local batteries, fixed at intervals +along the line, as post-horses on a turnpike, would convey the message +to an immense distance. 'If I can succeed in working a magnet ten +miles,' said Morse,'I can go round the globe. It matters not how +delicate the movement may be.' + +According to his own statement, he devised the relay in 1836 or earlier; +but it was not until the beginning of 1837 that he explained the device, +and showed the working of his apparatus to his friend, Mr. Leonard D. +Gale, Professor of Chemistry in the University. This gentleman took +a lively interest in the apparatus, and proved a generous ally of the +inventor. Until then Morse had only tried his recorder on a few yards +of wire, the battery was a single pair of plates, and the electro-magnet +was of the elementary sort employed by Moll, and illustrated in the +older books. The artist, indeed, was very ignorant of what had been done +by other electricians; and Professor Gale was able to enlighten him. +When Gale acquainted him with some results in telegraphing obtained by +Mr. Barlow, he said he was not aware that anyone had even conceived +the notion of using the magnet for such a purpose. The researches of +Professor Joseph Henry on the electro-magnet, in 1830, were equally +unknown to Morse, until Professor Gale drew his attention to them, +and in accordance with the results, suggested that the simple +electro-magnet, with a few turns of thick wire which he employed, should +be replaced by one having a coil of long thin wire. By this change +a much feebler current would be able to excite the magnet, and the +recorder would mark through a greater length of line. Henry himself, in +1832, had devised a telegraph similar to that of Morse, and signalled +through a mile of wire, by causing the armature of his electro-magnet +to strike a bell. This was virtually the first electro-magnetic acoustic +telegraph.[AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.] + +The year of the telegraph--1837--was an important one for Morse, as +it was for Cooke and Wheatstone. In the privacy of his rooms he had +constructed, with his own hands, a model of his apparatus, and +fortune began to favour him. Thanks to Professor Gale, he improved the +electro-magnet, employed a more powerful battery, and was thus able to +work through a much longer line. In February, 1837, the American House +of Representatives passed a resolution asking the Secretary of the +Treasury to report on the propriety of establishing a system of +telegraphs for the United States, and on March 10 issued a circular of +inquiry, which fell into the hands of the inventor, and probably urged +him to complete his apparatus, and bring it under the notice of the +Government. Lack of mechanical skill, ignorance of electrical science, +as well as want of money, had so far kept it back. + +But the friend in need whom he required was nearer than he anticipated. +On Saturday, September 2, 1837, while Morse was exhibiting the model to +Professor Daubeny, of Oxford, then visiting the States, and others, a +young man named Alfred Vail became one of the spectators, and was +deeply impressed with the results. Vail was born in 1807, a son of +Judge Stephen Vail, master of the Speedwell ironworks at Morristown, +New Jersey. After leaving the village school his father took him and his +brother George into the works; but though Alfred inherited a mechanical +turn of mind, he longed for a higher sphere, and on attaining to his +majority he resolved to enter the Presbyterian Church. In 1832 he +went to the University of the city of New York, where he graduated in +October, 1836. Near the close of the term, however, his health failed, +and he was constrained to relinquish his clerical aims. While in doubts +as to his future he chanced to see the telegraph, and that decided him. +He says: 'I accidentally and without invitation called upon Professor +Morse at the University, and found him with Professors Torrey and +Daubeny in the mineralogical cabinet and lecture-room of Professor Gale, +where Professor Morse was exhibiting to these gentlemen an apparatus +which he called his Electro-Magnetic Telegraph. There were wires +suspended in the room running from one end of it to the other, and +returning many times, making a length of seventeen hundred feet. The +two ends of the wire were connected with an electro-magnet fastened to a +vertical wooden frame. In front of the magnet was its armature, and also +a wooden lever or arm fitted at its extremity to hold a lead-pencil.... +I saw this instrument work, and became thoroughly acquainted with +the principle of its operation, and, I may say, struck with the rude +machine, containing, as I believed, the germ of what was destined to +produce great changes in the conditions and relations of mankind. I well +recollect the impression which was then made upon my mind. I rejoiced to +think that I lived in such a day, and my mind contemplated the future +in which so grand and mighty an agent was about to be introduced for the +benefit of the world. Before leaving the room in which I beheld for the +first time this magnificent invention, I asked Professor Morse if he +intended to make an experiment on a more extended line of conductors. He +replied that he did, but that he desired pecuniary assistance to carry +out his plans. I promised him assistance provided he would admit me +into a share of the invention, to which proposition he assented. I then +returned to my boarding-house, locked the door of my room, threw myself +upon the bed, and gave myself up to reflection upon the mighty results +which were certain to follow the introduction of this new agent in +meeting and serving the wants of the world. With the atlas in my hand I +traced the most important lines which would most certainly be erected in +the United States, and calculated their length. The question then rose +in my mind, whether the electro-magnet could be made to work through +the necessary lengths of line, and after much reflection I came to the +conclusion that, provided the magnet would work even at a distance +of eight or ten miles, there could be no risk in embarking in the +enterprise. And upon this I decided in my own mind to SINK OR SWIM WITH +IT.' + +Young Vail applied to his father, who was a man of enterprise and +intelligence. He it was who forged the shaft of the Savannah, the first +steamship which crossed the Atlantic. Morse was invited to Speedwell +with his apparatus, that the judge might see it for himself, and the +question of a partnership was mooted. Two thousand dollars were required +to procure the patents and construct an instrument to bring before the +Congress. In spite of a financial depression, the judge was brave enough +to lend his assistance, and on September 23, 1837, an agreement was +signed between the inventor and Alfred Vail, by which the latter was to +construct, at his own expense, a model for exhibition to a Committee of +Congress, and to secure the necessary patents for the United States. +In return Vail was to receive one-fourth of the patent rights in that +country. Provision was made also to give Vail an interest in any foreign +patents he might furnish means to obtain. The American patent was +obtained by Morse on October 3, 1837. He had returned to New York, and +was engaged in the preparation of his dictionary. + +For many months Alfred Vail worked in a secret room at the iron factory +making the new model, his only assistant being an apprentice of fifteen, +William Baxter, who subsequently designed the Baxter engine, and died +in 1885. When the workshop was rebuilt this room was preserved as +a memorial of the telegraph, for it was here that the true Morse +instrument, such as we know it, was constructed. + +It must be remembered that in those days almost everything they wanted +had either to be made by themselves or appropriated to their purpose. +Their first battery was set up in a box of cherry-wood, parted into +cells, and lined with bees-wax; their insulated wire was that used by +milliners for giving outline to the 'sky-scraper' bonnets of that day. +The first machine made at Speedwell was a copy of that devised by Morse, +but as Vail grew more intimate with the subject his own ingenuity +came into play, and he soon improved on the original. The pencil was +discarded for a fountain pen, and the zig-zag signals for the short and +long lines now termed 'dots' and 'dashes.' + +This important alteration led him to the 'Morse alphabet,' or code of +signals, by which a letter is transmitted as a group of short and long +jets, indicated as 'dots' and 'dashes' on the paper. Thus the letter E, +which is so common in English words, is now transmitted by a short jet +which makes a dot; T, another common letter, by a long jet, making a +dash; and Q, a rare letter, by the group dash, dash, dot, dash. Vail +tried to compute the relative frequency of all the letters in order to +arrange his alphabet; but a happy idea enabled him to save his time. +He went to the office of the local newspaper, and found the result he +wanted in the type-cases of the compositors. The Morse, or rather Vail +code, is at present the universal telegraphic code of symbols, and its +use is extending to other modes of signalling-for example, by flags, +lights, or trumpets. + +The hard-fisted farmers of New Jersey, like many more at that date, had +no faith in the 'telegraph machine,' and openly declared that the judge +had been a fool for once to put his money in it. The judge, on his part, +wearied with the delay, and irritated by the sarcasm of his neighbours, +grew dispirited and moody. Alfred, and Morse, who had come to assist, +were careful to avoid meeting him. At length, on January 6, 1838, Alfred +told the apprentice to go up to the house and invite his father to come +down to see the telegraph at work. It was a cold day, but the boy was so +eager that he ran off without putting on his coat. In the sitting-room +he found the judge with his hat on as if about to go out, but seated +before the fire leaning his head on his hand, and absorbed in gloomy +reflection. 'Well, William?' he said, looking up, as the boy entered; +and when the message was delivered he started to his feet. In a few +minutes he was standing in the experimental-room, and the apparatus was +explained. Calling for a piece of paper he wrote upon it the words, 'A +PATIENT WAITER IS NO LOSER,' and handed it to Alfred, with the remark, +'If you can send this, and Mr. Morse can read it at the other end, I +shall be convinced.' The message was transmitted, and for a moment the +judge was fairly mastered by his feelings. + +The apparatus was then exhibited in New York, in Philadelphia, and +subsequently before the Committee of Congress at Washington. At first +the members of this body were somewhat incredulous about the merits of +the uncouth machine; but the Chairman, the Hon. Francis O. J. Smith, +of Maine, took an interest in it, and secured a full attendance of the +others to see it tried through ten miles of wire one day in February. +The demonstration convinced them, and many were the expressions of +amazement from their lips. Some said, 'The world is coming to an end,' +as people will when it is really budding, and putting forth symptoms +of a larger life. Others exclaimed, 'Where will improvements and +discoveries stop?' and 'What would Jefferson think should he rise up and +witness what we have just seen?' One gentleman declared that, 'Time and +space are now annihilated.' + +The practical outcome of the trial was that the Chairman reported a Bill +appropriating 30,000 dollars for the erection of an experimental line +between Washington and Baltimore. Mr. Smith was admitted to a fourth +share in the invention, and resigned his seat in Congress to become +legal adviser to the inventors. Claimants to the invention of the +telegraph now began to spring up, and it was deemed advisable for Mr. +Smith and Morse to proceed to Europe and secure the foreign patents. +Alfred Vail undertook to provide an instrument for exhibition in Europe. + +Among these claimants was Dr. Jackson, chemist and geologist, of Boston, +who had been instrumental in evoking the idea of the telegraph in the +mind of Morse on board the Sully. In a letter to the NEW YORK OBSERVER +he went further than this, and claimed to be a joint inventor; but Morse +indignantly repudiated the suggestion. He declared that his instrument +was not mentioned either by him or Dr. Jackson at the time, and that +they had made no experiments together. 'It is to Professor Gale that I +am most of all indebted for substantial and effective aid in many of my +experiments,' he said; 'but he prefers no claim of any kind.' + +Morse and Smith arrived in London during the month of June. Application +was immediately made for a British patent, but Cooke and Wheatstone and +Edward Davy, it seems, opposed it; and although Morse demonstrated that +his was different from theirs, the patent was refused, owing to a prior +publication in the London MECHANICS' MAGAZINE for February 18, 1838, +in the form of an article quoted from Silliman's AMERICAN JOURNAL OF +SCIENCE for October, 1837. Morse did not attempt to get this legal +disqualification set aside. In France he was equally unfortunate. His +instrument was exhibited by Arago at a meeting of the Institute, and +praised by Humboldt and Gay-Lussac; but the French patent law requires +the invention to be at work in France within two years, and when Morse +arranged to erect a telegraph line on the St. Germain Railway, the +Government declined to sanction it, on the plea that the telegraph must +become a State monopoly. + +All his efforts to introduce the invention into Europe were futile, and +he returned disheartened to the United States on April 15, 1839. +While in Paris, he had met M. Daguerre, who, with M. Niepce, had just +discovered the art of photography. The process was communicated to +Morse, who, with Dr. Draper, fitted up a studio on the roof of the +University, and took the first daguerreotypes in America. + +The American Congress now seemed as indifferent to his inventions as +the European governments. An exciting campaign for the presidency was at +hand, and the proposed grant for the telegraph was forgotten. Mr. +Smith had returned to the political arena, and the Vails were under a +financial cloud, so that Morse could expect no further aid from them. +The next two years were the darkest he had ever known. 'Porte Crayon' +tells us that he had little patronage as a professor, and at one time +only three pupils besides himself. Crayon's fee of fifty dollars for +the second quarter were overdue, owing to his remittance from home not +arriving; and one day the professor said, 'Well, Strother, my boy, +how are we off for money?' Strother explained how he was situated, and +stated that he hoped to have the money next week. + +'Next week!' repeated Morse. 'I shall be dead by that time... dead of +starvation.' + +'Would ten dollars be of any service?' inquired the student, both +astonished and distressed. + +'Ten dollars would save my life,' replied Morse; and Strother paid the +money, which was all he owned. They dined together, and afterwards +the professor remarked, 'This is my first meal for twenty-four hours. +Strother, don't be an artist. It means beggary. A house-dog lives +better. The very sensitiveness that stimulates an artist to work keeps +him alive to suffering.' + +Towards the close of 1841 he wrote to Alfred Vail: 'I have not a cent +in the world;' and to Mr. Smith about the same time he wrote: 'I find +myself without sympathy or help from any who are associated with me, +whose interests, one would think, would impell them at least to inquire +if they could render some assistance. For nearly two years past I have +devoted all my time and scanty means, living on a mere pittance, denying +myself all pleasures, and even necessary food, that I might have a sum +to put my telegraph into such a position before Congress as to insure +success to the common enterprise. I am crushed for want of means, and +means of so trifling a character too, that they who know how to ask +(which I do not) could obtain in a few hours.... As it is, although +everything is favourable, although I have no competition and no +opposition--on the contrary, although every member of Congress, so far +as I can learn, is favourable--yet I fear all will fail because I am +too poor to risk the trifling expense which my journey and residence +in Washington will occasion me. I WILL NOT RUN INTO DEBT, if I lose the +whole matter. So unless I have the means from some source, I shall be +compelled, however reluctantly, to leave it. No one call tell the days +and months of anxiety and labour I have had in perfecting my telegraphic +apparatus. For want of means I have been compelled to make with my own +hands (and to labour for weeks) a piece of mechanism which could be made +much better, and in a tenth part of the time, by a good mechanician, +thus wasting time--time which I cannot recall, and which seems +double-winged to me. + +'"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." It is true, and I have known +the full meaning of it. Nothing but the consciousness that I have an +invention which is to mark an era in human civilisation, and which is to +contribute to the happiness of millions, would have sustained me through +so many and such lengthened trials of patience in perfecting it.' Morse +did not invent for money or scientific reputation; he believed himself +the instrument of a great purpose. + +During the summer of 1842 he insulated a wire two miles long with hempen +threads saturated with pitch-tar and surrounded with india-rubber. On +October 18, during bright moonlight, he submerged this wire in New York +Harbour, between Castle Garden and Governor's Island, by unreeling it +from a small boat rowed by a man. After signals had been sent through +it, the wire was cut by an anchor, and a portion of it carried off by +sailors. This appears to be the first experiment in signalling on a +subaqueous wire. It was repeated on a canal at Washington the following +December, and both are described in a letter to the Secretary of the +Treasury, December 23, 1844, in which Morse states his belief that +'telegraphic communication on the electro-magnetic plan may with +certainty be established across the Atlantic Ocean. Startling as this +may now seem, I am confident the time will come when the project will be +realised.' + +In December, 1842, the inventor made another effort to obtain the +help of Congress, and the Committee on Commerce again recommended an +appropriation of 30,000 dollars in aid of the telegraph. Morse had come +to be regarded as a tiresome 'crank' by some of the Congressmen, and +they objected that if the magnetic telegraph were endowed, mesmerism or +any other 'ism' might have a claim on the Treasury. The Bill passed +the House by a slender majority of six votes, given orally, some of the +representatives fearing that their support of the measure would alienate +their constituents. Its fate in the Senate was even more dubious; and +when it came up for consideration late one night before the adjournment, +a senator, the Hon. Fernando Wood, went to Morse, who watched in the +gallery, and said,'There is no use in your staying here. The Senate is +not in sympathy with your project. I advise you to give it up, return +home, and think no more about it.' + +Morse retired to his rooms, and after paying his bill for board, +including his breakfast the next morning, he found himself with only +thirty-seven cents and a half in the world. Kneeling by his bed-side +he opened his heart to God, leaving the issue in His hands, and then, +comforted in spirit, fell asleep. While eating his breakfast next +morning, Miss Annie G. Ellsworth, daughter of his friend the Hon. +Henry L. Ellsworth, Commissioner of Patents, came up with a beaming +countenance, and holding out her hand, said-- + +'Professor, I have come to congratulate you.' + +'Congratulate me!' replied Morse; 'on what?' + +'Why,' she exclaimed,' on the passage of your Bill by the Senate!' + +It had been voted without debate at the very close of the session. Years +afterwards Morse declared that this was the turning-point in the history +of the telegraph. 'My personal funds,' he wrote,' were reduced to the +fraction of a dollar; and had the passage of the Bill failed from any +cause, there would have been little prospect of another attempt on my +part to introduce to the world my new invention.' + +Grateful to Miss Ellsworth for bringing the good news, he declared that +when the Washington to Baltimore line was complete hers should be the +first despatch. + +The Government now paid him a salary of 2,500 dollars a month to +superintend the laying of the underground line which he had decided +upon. Professors Gale and Fisher became his assistants. Vail was put in +charge, and Mr. Ezra Cornell, who founded the Cornell University on the +site of the cotton mill where he had worked as a mechanic, and who had +invented a machine for laying pipes, was chosen to supervise the running +of the line. The conductor was a five-wire cable laid in pipes; but +after several miles had been run from Baltimore to the house intended +for the relay, the insulation broke down. Cornell, it is stated, injured +his machine to furnish an excuse for the stoppage of the work. The +leaders consulted in secret, for failure was staring them in the face. +Some 23,000 dollars of the Government grant were spent, and Mr. Smith, +who had lost his faith in the undertaking, claimed 4000 of the remaining +7000 dollars under his contract for laying the line. A bitter quarrel +arose between him and Morse, which only ended in the grave. He opposed +an additional grant from Government, and Morse, in his dejection, +proposed to let the patent expire, and if the Government would use his +apparatus and remunerate him, he would reward Alfred Vail, while Smith +would be deprived of his portion. Happily, it was decided to abandon the +subterranean line, and erect the conductor on poles above the ground. A +start was made from the Capitol, Washington, on April 1, 1844, and the +line was carried to the Mount Clare Depot, Baltimore, on May 23, 1843. +Next morning Miss Ellsworth fulfilled her promise by inditing the first +message. She chose the words, 'What hath God wrought?' and they were +transmitted by Morse from the Capitol at 8.45 a.m., and received at +Mount Clare by Alfred Vail. + +This was the first message of a public character sent by the electric +telegraph in the Western World, and it is preserved by the Connecticut +Historical Society. The dots and dashes representing the words were not +drawn with pen and ink, but embossed on the paper with a metal stylus. +The machine itself was kept in the National Museum at Washington, and on +removing it, in 1871, to exhibit it at the Morse Memorial Celebration at +New York, a member of the Vail family discovered a folded paper attached +to its base. A corner of the writing was torn away before its importance +was recognised; but it proved to be a signed statement by Alfred Vail, +to the effect that the method of embossing was invented by him in the +sixth storey of the NEW YORK OBSERVER office during 1844, prior to the +erection of the Washington to Baltimore line, without any hint from +Morse. 'I have not asserted publicly my right as first and sole +inventor,' he says, 'because I wished to preserve the peaceful unity of +the invention, and because I could not, according to my contract with +Professor Morse, have got a patent for it.' + +The powers of the telegraph having been demonstrated, enthusiasm took +the place of apathy, and Morse, who had been neglected before, was in +some danger of being over-praised. A political incident spread the fame +of the telegraph far and wide. The Democratic Convention, sitting in +Baltimore, nominated Mr. James K. Polk as candidate for the Presidency, +and Mr. Silas Wright for the Vice-Presidency. Alfred Vail telegraphed +the news to Morse in Washington, and he at once told Mr. Wright. The +result was that a few minutes later the Convention was dumbfounded to +receive a message from Wright declining to be nominated. They would not +believe it, and appointed a committee to inquire into the matter; but +the telegram was found to be genuine. + +On April 1, 1845, the Baltimore to Washington line was formally opened +for public business. The tariff adopted by the Postmaster-General was +one cent for every four characters, and the receipts of the first four +days were a single cent. At the end of a week they had risen to about a +dollar. + +Morse offered the invention to the Government for 100,000 dollars, but +the Postmaster-General declined it on the plea that its working 'had not +satisfied him that under any rate of postage that could be adopted its +revenues could be made equal to its expenditures.' Thus through the +narrow views and purblindness of its official the nation lost an +excellent opportunity of keeping the telegraph system in its own hands. +Morse was disappointed at this refusal, but it proved a blessing in +disguise. He and his agent, the Hon. Amos Kendall, determined to rely on +private enterprise. + +A line between New York and Philadelphia was projected, and the +apparatus was exhibited in Broadway at a charge of twenty-five cents a +head. But the door-money did not pay the expenses. There was an air +of poverty about the show. One of the exhibitors slept on a couple of +chairs, and the princely founder of Cornell University was grateful to +Providence for a shilling picked up on the side-walk, which enabled +him to enjoy a hearty breakfast. Sleek men of capital, looking with +suspicion on the meagre furniture and miserable apparatus, withheld +their patronage; but humbler citizens invested their hard-won earnings, +the Magnetic Telegraph Company was incorporated, and the line was built. +The following year, 1846, another line was run from Philadelphia to +Baltimore by Mr. Henry O'Reilly, of Rochester, N.Y., an acute pioneer +of the telegraph. In the course of ten years the Atlantic States were +covered by a straggling web of lines under the control of thirty or +forty rival companies working different apparatus, such as that of +Morse, Bain, House, and Hughes, but owing to various causes only one or +two were paying a dividend. It was a fit moment for amalgamation, and +this was accomplished in 1856 by Mr. Hiram Sibley. 'This Western Union,' +says one in speaking of the united corporation, 'seems to me very like +collecting all the paupers in the State and arranging them into a union +so as to make rich men of them.' But 'Sibley's crazy scheme' proved the +salvation of the competing companies. In 1857, after the first stage +coach had crossed the plains to California, Mr. Henry O'Reilly proposed +to build a line of telegraph, and Mr. Sibley urged the Western Union to +undertake it. He encountered a strong opposition. The explorations +of Fremont were still fresh in the public mind, and the country was +regarded as a howling wilderness. It was objected that no poles could +be obtained on the prairies, that the Indians or the buffaloes would +destroy the line, and that the traffic would not pay. 'Well, gentlemen,' +said Sibley, 'if you won't join hands with me in the thing, I'll go +it alone.' He procured a subsidy from the Government, who realised the +value of the line from a national point of view, the money was raised +under the auspices of the Western Union, and the route by Omaha, Fort +Laramie, and Salt Lake City to San Francisco was fixed upon. The work +began on July 4, 1861, and though it was expected to occupy two years, +it was completed in four months and eleven days. The traffic soon became +lucrative, and the Indians, except in time of war, protected the line +out of friendship for Mr. Sibley. A black-tailed buck, the gift of White +Cloud, spent its last years in the park of his home at Rochester. + +The success of the overland wire induced the Company to embark on a +still greater scheme, the project of Mr. Perry MacDonough Collins, for +a trunk line between America and Europe by way of British Columbia, +Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. A line already existed +between European Russia and Irkutsk, in Siberia, and it was to be +extended to the mouth of the Amoor, where the American lines were to +join it. Two cables, one across Behring Sea and another across the Bay +of Anadyr, were to link the two continents. + +The expedition started in the summer of 1865 with a fleet of about +thirty vessels, carrying telegraph and other stores. In spite of severe +hardships, a considerable part of the line had been erected when the +successful completion of the trans-Atlantic cable, in 1866, caused the +enterprise to be abandoned after an expenditure of 3,000,000 dollars. A +trace cut for the line through the forests of British Columbia is still +known as the 'telegraph trail.' In spite of this misfortune the Western +Union Telegraph Company has continued to flourish. In 1883 its capital +amounted to 80,000,000 dollars, and it now possesses a virtual monopoly +of telegraphic communication in the United States. + +Morse did not limit his connections to land telegraphy. In 1854, when +Mr. Cyrus Field brought out the Atlantic Telegraph Company, to lay a +cable between Europe and America, he became its electrician, and went to +England for the purpose of consulting with the English engineers on the +execution of the project. But his instrument was never used on the ocean +lines, and, indeed, it was not adapted for them. + +During this time Alfred Vail continued to improve the Morse apparatus, +until it was past recognition. The porte-rule and type of the +transmitter were discarded for a simple 'key' or rocking lever, worked +up and down by the hand, so as to make and break the circuit. The clumsy +framework of the receiver was reduced to a neat and portable size. The +inking pen was replaced by a metal wheel or disc, smeared with ink, and +rolling on the paper at every dot or dash. Vail, as we have seen, also +invented the plan of embossing the message. But he did still more. When +the recording instrument was introduced, it was found that the clerks +persisted in 'reading' the signals by the clicking of the marking lever, +and not from the paper. Threats of instant dismissal did not stop the +practice when nobody was looking on. Morse, who regarded the record +as the distinctive feature of his invention, was very hostile to the +practice; but Nature was too many for him. The mode of interpreting by +sound was the easier and more economical of the two; and Vail, with +his mechanical instinct, adopted it. He produced an instrument in which +there is no paper or marking device, and the message is simply sounded +by the lever of the armature striking on its metal stops. At present the +Morse recorder is rarely used in comparison with the 'sounder.' + +The original telegraph of Morse, exhibited in 1837, has become an +archaic form. Apart from the central idea of employing an electro-magnet +to signal--an idea applied by Henry in 1832, when Morse had only thought +of it--the development of the apparatus is mainly due to Vail. His +working devices made it a success, and are in use to-day, while those of +Morse are all extinct. + +Morse has been highly honoured and rewarded, not only by his countrymen, +but by the European powers. The Queen of Spain sent him a Cross of the +Order of Isabella, the King of Prussia presented him with a jewelled +snuff-box, the Sultan of Turkey decorated him with the Order of Glory, +the Emperor of the French admitted him into the Legion of Honour. +Moreover, the ten European powers in special congress awarded him +400,000 francs (some 80,000 dollars), as an expression of their +gratitude: honorary banquets were a common thing to the man who had +almost starved through his fidelity to an idea. + +But beyond his emoluments as a partner in the invention, Alfred Vail had +no recompense. Morse, perhaps, was somewhat jealous of acknowledging +the services of his 'mechanical assistant,' as he at one time chose to +regard Vail. When personal friends, knowing his services, urged Vail +to insist upon their recognition, he replied, 'I am confident that +Professor Morse will do me justice.' But even ten years after the death +of Vail, on the occasion of a banquet given in his honour by the leading +citizens of New York, Morse, alluding to his invention, said: 'In 1835, +according to the concurrent testimony of many witnesses, it lisped its +first accents, and automatically recorded them a few blocks only distant +from the spot from which I now address you. It was a feeble child +indeed, ungainly in its dress, stammering in its speech; but it had then +all the distinctive features and characteristics of its present manhood. +It found a friend, an efficient friend, in Mr. Alfred Vail, of New +Jersey, who, with his father and brother, furnished the means to give +the child a decent dress, preparatory to its' visit to the seat of +Government.' + +When we remember that even by this time Vail had entirely altered the +system of signals, and introduced the dot-dash code, we cannot but +regard this as a stinted acknowledgment of his colleague's work. But +the man who conceives the central idea, and cherishes it, is apt to be +niggardly in allowing merit to the assistant whose mechanical skill +is able to shape and put it in practice; while, on the other hand, the +assistant is sometimes inclined to attach more importance to the working +out than it deserves. Alfred Vail cannot be charged with that, however, +and it would have been the more graceful on the part of Morse had he +avowed his indebtedness to Vail with a greater liberality. Nor would +this have detracted from his own merit as the originator and preserver +of the idea, without which the improvements of Vail would have had no +existence. In the words of the Hon. Amos Kendall, a friend of both: 'If +justice be done, the name of Alfred Vail will for ever stand associated +with that of Samuel F. B. Morse in the history and introduction into +public use of the electro-magnetic telegraph.' + +Professor Morse spent his declining years at Locust Grove, a charming +retreat on the banks of the River Hudson. In private life he was a fine +example of the Christian gentleman. + +In the summer of 1871, the Telegraphic Brotherhood of the World erected +a statue to his honour in the Central Park, New York. Delegates from +different parts of America were present at the unveiling; and in the +evening there was a reception at the Academy of Music, where the +first recording telegraph used on the Washington to Baltimore line was +exhibited. The inventor himself appeared, and sent a message at a small +table, which was flashed by the connected wires to the remotest parts +of the Union, It ran: 'Greeting and thanks to the telegraph fraternity +throughout the world. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, +goodwill towards men.' + +It was deemed fitting that Morse should unveil the statue of Benjamin +Franklin, which had been erected in Printing House Square, New York. +When his venerable figure appeared on the platform, and the long white +hair was blown about his handsome face by the winter wind, a great cheer +went up from the assembled multitude. But the day was bitterly cold, and +the exposure cost him his life. Some months later, as he lay on his sick +bed, he observed to the doctor, 'The best is yet to come.' In tapping +his chest one day, the physician said,' This is the way we doctors +telegraph, professor,' and Morse replied with a smile, 'Very good--very +good.' These were his last words. He died at New York on April 2, +1872, at the age of eighty-one years, and was buried in the Greenwood +Cemetery. + + + +CHAPTER IV. SIR WILLIAM THOMSON. + +Sir William Thomson, the greatest physicist of the age, and the highest +authority on electrical science, theoretical and applied, was born at +Belfast on June 25, 1824. His father, Dr. James Thomson, the son of a +Scots-Irish farmer, showed a bent for scholarship when a boy, and became +a pupil teacher in a small school near Ballynahinch, in County Down. +With his summer earnings he educated himself at Glasgow University +during winter. Appointed head master of a school in connection with the +Royal Academical Institute, he subsequently obtained the professorship +of mathematics in that academy. In 1832 he was called to the chair of +mathematics in the University of Glasgow, where he achieved a reputation +by his text-books on arithmetic and mathematics. + +William began his course at the same college in his eleventh year, and +was petted by the older students for his extraordinary quickness in +solving the problems of his father's class. It was quite plain that his +genius lay in the direction of mathematics; and on finishing at Glasgow +he was sent to the higher mathematical school of St. Peter's College, +Cambridge. In 1845 he graduated as second wrangler, but won the Smith +prize. This 'consolation stakes' is regarded as a better test of +originality than the tripos. The first, or senior, wrangler probably +beat him by a facility in applying well-known rules, and a readiness +in writing. One of the examiners is said to have declared that he was +unworthy to cut Thomson's pencils. It is certain that while the victor +has been forgotten, the vanquished has created a world-wide renown. + +While at Cambridge he took an active part in the field sports and +athletics of the University. He won the Silver Sculls, and rowed in the +winning boat of the Oxford and Cambridge race. He also took a lively +interest in the classics, in music, and in general literature; but the +real love, the central passion of his intellectual life, was the pursuit +of science. The study of mathematics, physics, and in particular, of +electricity, had captivated his imagination, and soon engrossed all the +teeming faculties of his mind. At the age of seventeen, when ordinary +lads are fond of games, and the cleverer sort are content to learn +without attempting to originate, young Thomson had begun to make +investigations. The CAMBRIDGE MATHEMATICAL JOURNAL of 1842 contains +a paper by him--'On the uniform motion of heat in homogeneous solid +bodies, and its connection with the mathematical theory of electricity.' +In this he demonstrated the identity of the laws governing the +distribution of electric or magnetic force in general, with the laws +governing the distribution of the lines of the motion of heat in certain +special cases. The paper was followed by others on the mathematical +theory of electricity; and in 1845 he gave the first mathematical +development of Faraday's notion, that electric induction takes place +through an intervening medium, or 'dielectric,' and not by some +incomprehensible 'action at a distance.' He also devised an hypothesis +of electrical images, which became a powerful agent in solving problems +of electrostatics, or the science which deals with the forces of +electricity at rest. + +On gaining a fellowship at his college, he spent some time in the +laboratory of the celebrated Regnault, at Paris; but in 1846 he was +appointed to the chair of natural philosophy in the University of +Glasgow. It was due to the brilliant promise he displayed, as much as +to the influence of his father, that at the age of twenty-two he found +himself wearing the gown of a learned professor in one of the oldest +Universities in the country, and lecturing to the class of which he was +a freshman but a few years before. + +Thomson became a man of public note in connection with the laying of the +first Atlantic cable. After Cooke and Wheatstone had introduced their +working telegraph in 1839; the idea of a submarine line across the +Atlantic Ocean began to dawn on the minds of men as a possible triumph +of the future. Morse proclaimed his faith in it as early as the year +1840, and in 1842 he submerged a wire, insulated with tarred hemp and +india-rubber, in the water of New York harbour, and telegraphed through +it. The following autumn Wheatstone performed a similar experiment in +the Bay of Swansea. A good insulator to cover the wire and prevent the +electricity from leaking into the water was requisite for the success +of a long submarine line. India-rubber had been tried by Jacobi, the +Russian electrician, as far back as 1811. He laid a wire insulated with +rubber across the Neva at St. Petersburg, and succeeded in firing a mine +by an electric spark sent through it; but india-rubber, although it is +now used to a considerable extent, was not easy to manipulate in those +days. Luckily another gum which could be melted by heat, and readily +applied to the wire, made its appearance. Gutta-percha, the adhesive +juice of the ISONANDRA GUTTA tree, was introduced to Europe in 1842 +by Dr. Montgomerie, a Scotch surveyor in the service of the East India +Company. Twenty years before he had seen whips made of it in Singapore, +and believed that it would be useful in the fabrication of surgical +apparatus. Faraday and Wheatstone soon discovered its merits as an +insulator, and in 1845 the latter suggested that it should be employed +to cover the wire which it was proposed to lay from Dover to Calais. It +was tried on a wire laid across the Rhine between Deutz and Cologne. In +1849 Mr. C. V. Walker, electrician to the South Eastern Railway Company, +submerged a wire coated with it, or, as it is technically called, a +gutta-percha core, along the coast off Dover. + +The following year Mr. John Watkins Brett laid the first line across the +Channel. It was simply a copper wire coated with gutta-percha, without +any other protection. The core was payed out from a reel mounted behind +the funnel of a steam tug, the Goliath, and sunk by means of lead +weights attached to it every sixteenth of a mile. She left Dover about +ten o'clock on the morning of August 28, 1850, with some thirty men on +board and a day's provisions. The route she was to follow was marked by +a line of buoys and flags. By eight o'clock in the evening she arrived +at Cape Grisnez, and came to anchor near the shore. Mr. Brett watched +the operations through a glass at Dover. 'The declining sun,' he says, +'enabled me to discern the moving shadow of the steamer's smoke on the +white cliff; thus indicating her progress. At length the shadow ceased +to move. The vessel had evidently come to an anchor. We gave them +half an hour to convey the end of the wire to shore and attach the +type-printing instrument, and then I sent the first electrical message +across the Channel. This was reserved for Louis Napoleon.' According to +Mr. F. C. Webb, however, the first of the signals were a mere jumble of +letters, which were torn up. He saved a specimen of the slip on which +they were printed, and it was afterwards presented to the Duke of +Wellington. + +Next morning this pioneer line was broken down at a point about 200 +Yards from Cape Grisnez, and it turned out that a Boulogne fisherman +had raised it on his trawl and cut a piece away, thinking he had found a +rare species of tangle with gold in its heart. This misfortune suggested +the propriety of arming the core against mechanical injury by sheathing +it in a cable of hemp and iron wires. The experiment served to keep +alive the concession, and the next year, on November 13, 1851, a +protected core or true cable was laid from a Government hulk, the +Blazer, which was towed across the Channel. + +Next year Great Britain and Ireland were linked together. In May, 1853, +England was joined to Holland by a cable across the North Sea, from +Orfordness to the Hague. It was laid by the Monarch, a paddle steamer +which had been fitted for the work. During the night she met with such +heavy weather that the engineer was lashed near the brakes; and the +electrician, Mr. Latimer Clark, sent the continuity signals by jerking +a needle instrument with a string. These and other efforts in the +Mediterranean and elsewhere were the harbingers of the memorable +enterprise which bound the Old World and the New. + +Bishop Mullock, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland, was +lying becalmed in his yacht one day in sight of Cape Breton Island, and +began to dream of a plan for uniting his savage diocese to the mainland +by a line of telegraph through the forest from St. John's to Cape Ray, +and cables across the mouth of the St. Lawrence from Cape Ray to Nova +Scotia. St. John's was an Atlantic port, and it seemed to him that the +passage of news between America and Europe could thus be shortened by +forty-eight hours. On returning to St. John's he published his idea in +the COURIER by a letter dated November 8, 1850. + +About the same time a similar plan occurred to Mr. F. N. Gisborne, a +telegraph engineer in Nova Scotia. In the spring of 1851 he procured a +grant from the Legislature of Newfoundland, resigned his situation in +Nova Scotia, and having formed a company, began the construction of the +land line. But in 1853 his bills were dishonoured by the company, he was +arrested for debt, and stripped of all his fortune. The following year, +however, he was introduced to Mr. Cyrus Field, of New York, a wealthy +merchant, who had just returned from a six months' tour in South +America. Mr. Field invited Mr. Gisborne to his house in order to discuss +the project. When his visitor was gone, Mr. Field began to turn over a +terrestrial globe which stood in his library, and it flashed upon him +that the telegraph to Newfoundland might be extended across the Atlantic +Ocean. The idea fired him with enthusiasm. It seemed worthy of a man's +ambition, and although he had retired from business to spend his days +in peace, he resolved to dedicate his time, his energies, and fortune to +the accomplishment of this grand enterprise. + +A presentiment of success may have inspired him; but he was ignorant +alike of submarine cables and the deep sea. Was it possible to submerge +the cable in the Atlantic, and would it be safe at the bottom? Again, +would the messages travel through the line fast enough to make it pay! +On the first question he consulted Lieutenant Maury, the great authority +on mareography. Maury told him that according to recent soundings by +Lieutenant Berryman, of the United States brig Dolphin, the bottom +between Ireland and Newfoundland was a plateau covered with microscopic +shells at a depth not over 2000 fathoms, and seemed to have been made +for the very purpose of receiving the cable. He left the question of +finding a time calm enough, the sea smooth enough, a wire long enough, +and a ship big enough,' to lay a line some sixteen hundred miles in +length to other minds. As to the line itself, Mr. Field consulted +Professor Morse, who assured him that it was quite possible to make and +lay a cable of that length. He at once adopted the scheme of Gisborne as +a preliminary step to the vaster undertaking, and promoted the New +York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, to establish a line +of telegraph between America and Europe. Professor Morse was appointed +electrician to the company. + +The first thing to be done was to finish the line between St. John's and +Nova Scotia, and in 1855 an attempt was made to lay a cable across the +Gulf of the St. Lawrence, It was payed out from a barque in tow of a +steamer; but when half was laid a gale rose, and to keep the barque from +sinking the line was cut away. Next summer a steamboat was fitted +out for the purpose, and the cable was submerged. St. John's was now +connected with New York by a thousand miles of land and submarine +telegraph. + +Mr. Field then directed his efforts to the completion of the +trans-oceanic section. He induced the American Government to despatch +Lieutenant Berryman, in the Arctic, and the British Admiralty to send +Lieutenant: Dayman, in the Cyclops, to make a special survey along the +proposed route of the cable. These soundings revealed the existence of a +submarine hill dividing the 'telegraph plateau' from the shoal water on +the coast of Ireland, but its slope was gradual and easy. + +Till now the enterprise had been purely American, and the funds provided +by American capitalists, with the exception of a few shares held by Mr. +J. W. Brett. But seeing that the cable was to land on British soil, it +was fitting that the work should be international, and that the British +people should be asked to contribute towards the manufacture and +submersion of the cable. Mr. Field therefore proceeded to London, and +with the assistance of Mr. Brett the Atlantic Telegraph Company was +floated. Mr. Field himself supplied a quarter of the needed capital; and +we may add that Lady Byron, and Mr. Thackeray, the novelist, were among +the shareholders. + +The design of the cable was a subject of experiment by Professor +Morse and others. It was known that the conductor should be of copper, +possessing a high conductivity for the electric current, and that its +insulating jacket of gutta-percha should offer a great resistance to +the leakage of the current. Moreover, experience had shown that the +protecting sheath or armour of the core should be light and flexible as +well as strong, in order to resist external violence and allow it to be +lifted for repair. There was another consideration, however, which at +this time was rather a puzzle. As early as 1823 Mr. (afterwards Sir) +Francis Ronalds had observed that electric signals were retarded in +passing through an insulated wire or core laid under ground, and the +same effect was noticeable on cores immersed in water, and particularly +on the lengthy cable between England and the Hague. Faraday showed that +it was caused by induction between the electricity in the wire and the +earth or water surrounding it. A core, in fact, is an attenuated Leyden +jar; the wire of the core, its insulating jacket, and the soil or water +around it stand respectively for the inner tinfoil, the glass, and the +outer tinfoil of the jar. When the wire is charged from a battery, the +electricity induces an opposite charge in the water as it travels +along, and as the two charges attract each other, the exciting charge is +restrained. The speed of a signal through the conductor of a submarine +cable is thus diminished by a drag of its own making. The nature of +the phenomenon was clear, but the laws which governed it were still a +mystery. It became a serious question whether, on a long cable such as +that required for the Atlantic, the signals might not be so sluggish +that the work would hardly pay. Faraday had said to Mr. Field that a +signal would take 'about a second,' and the American was satisfied; but +Professor Thomson enunciated the law of retardation, and cleared up the +whole matter. He showed that the velocity of a signal through a given +core was inversely proportional to the square of the length of the +core. That is to say, in any particular cable the speed of a signal is +diminished to one-fourth if the length is doubled, to one-ninth if it +is trebled, to one-sixteenth if it is quadrupled, and so on. It was +now possible to calculate the time taken by a signal in traversing the +proposed Atlantic line to a minute fraction of a second, and to design +the proper core for a cable of any given length. + +The accuracy of Thomson's law was disputed in 1856 by Dr. Edward O. +Wildman Whitehouse, the electrician of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, +who had misinterpreted the results of his own experiments. Thomson +disposed of his contention in a letter to the ATHENAEUM, and the +directors of the company saw that he was a man to enlist in their +adventure. It is not enough to say the young Glasgow professor threw +himself heart and soul into their work. He descended in their midst +like the very genius of electricity, and helped them out of all their +difficulties. In 1857 he published in the ENGINEER the whole theory of +the mechanical forces involved in the laying of a submarine cable, and +showed that when the line is running out of the ship at a constant speed +in a uniform depth of water, it sinks in a slant or straight incline +from the point where it enters the water to that where it touches the +bottom. + +To these gifts of theory, electrical and mechanical, Thomson added a +practical boon in the shape of the reflecting galvanometer, or mirror +instrument. This measurer of the current was infinitely more sensitive +than any which preceded it, and enables the electrician to detect +the slightest flaw in the core of a cable during its manufacture and +submersion. Moreover, it proved the best apparatus for receiving the +messages through a long cable. The Morse and other instruments, however +suitable for land lines and short cables, were all but useless on the +Atlantic line, owing to the retardation of the signals; but the mirror +instrument sprang out of Thomson's study of this phenomenon, and was +designed to match it. Hence this instrument, through being the fittest +for the purpose, drove the others from the field, and allowed the first +Atlantic cables to be worked on a profitable basis. + +The cable consisted of a strand of seven copper wires, one weighing +107 pounds a nautical mile or knot, covered with three coats of +gutta-percha, weighing 261 pounds a knot, and wound with tarred hemp, +over which a sheath of eighteen strands, each of seven iron wires, +was laid in a close spiral. It weighed nearly a ton to the mile, was +flexible as a rope, and able to withstand a pull of several tons. It +was made conjointly by Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co., of Greenwich, and +Messrs. R. S. Newall & Co., of Liverpool. + +The British Government promised Mr. Field a subsidy of L1,400 a year, +and the loan of ships to lay the cable. He solicited an equal help from +Congress, but a large number of the senators, actuated by a national +jealousy of England, and looking to the fact that both ends of the line +were to lie in British territory, opposed the grant. It appeared to +these far-sighted politicians that England, the hereditary foe, was +'literally crawling under the sea to get some advantage over the United +States.' The Bill was only passed by a majority of a single vote. In +the House of Representatives it encountered a similar hostility, but was +ultimately signed by President Pierce. + +The Agamemnon, a British man-of-war fitted out for the purpose, took +in the section made at Greenwich, and the Niagara, an American warship, +that made at Liverpool. The vessels and their consorts met in the bay of +Valentia Island, on the south-west coast of Ireland, where on August 5, +1857, the shore end of the cable was landed from the Niagara. It was a +memorable scene. The ships in the bay were dressed in bunting, and +the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland stood on the beach, attended by his +following, to receive the end from the American sailors. Visitors in +holiday attire collected in groups to watch the operations, and eagerly +joined with his excellency in helping to pull the wire ashore. When +it was landed, the Reverend Mr. Day, of Kenmore, offered up a prayer, +asking the Almighty to prosper the undertaking, Next day the expedition +sailed; but ere the Niagara had proceeded five miles on her way the +shore-end parted, and the repairing of it delayed the start for another +day. + +At first the Niagara went slowly ahead to avoid a mishap, but as the +cable ran out easily she increased her speed. The night fell, but hardly +a soul slept. The utmost vigilance was maintained throughout the vessel. +Apart from the noise of the paying-out machinery, there was an awful +stillness on board. Men walked about with a muffled step, or spoke in +whispers, as if they were afraid the sound of their voices would break +the slender line. It seemed as though a great and valued friend lay at +the point of death. + +The submarine hill, with its dangerous slope, was passed in safety, +and the 'telegraph plateau,' nearly two miles deep, was reached, when +suddenly the signals from Ireland, which told that the conductor +was intact, stopped altogether. Professor Morse and De Sauty, the +electricians, failed to restore the communication, and the engineers +were preparing to cut the cable, when quite as suddenly the signals +returned, and every face grew bright. A weather-beaten old sailor said, +'I have watched nearly every mile of it as it came over the side, and +I would have given fifty dollars, poor man as I am, to have saved it, +although I don't expect to make anything by it when it is laid down.' + +But the joy was short-lived. The line was running out at the rate of +six miles an hour, while the vessel was only making four. To check this +waste of cable the engineer tightened the brakes; but as the stern of +the ship rose on the swell, the cable parted under the heavy strain, and +the end was lost in the sea. + +The bad news ran like a flash of lightning through all the ships, and +produced a feeling of sorrow and dismay. + +No attempt was made to grapple the line in such deep water, and the +expedition returned to England. It was too late to try again that +year, but the following summer the Agamemnon and Niagara, after an +experimental trip to the Bay of Biscay, sailed from Plymouth on June +10 with a full supply of cable, better gear than before, and a riper +experience of the work. They were to meet in the middle of the Atlantic, +where the two halves of the cable on board of each were to be spliced +together, and while the Agamemnon payed out eastwards to Valentia Island +the Niagara was to pay out westward to Newfoundland. On her way to the +rendezvous the Agamemnon encountered a terrific gale, which lasted for a +week, and nearly proved her destruction. + +On Saturday, the 26th, the middle splice was effected and the bight +dropped into the deep. The two ships got under weigh, but had not +proceeded three miles when the cable broke in the paying-out machinery +of the Niagara. Another splice, followed by a fresh start, was made +during the same afternoon; but when some fifty miles were payed out +of each vessel, the current which kept up communication between them +suddenly failed owing to the cable having snapped in the sea. Once more +the middle splice was made and lowered, and the ships parted company a +third time. For a day or two all went well; over two hundred miles of +cable ran smoothly out of each vessel, and the anxious chiefs began to +indulge in hopes of ultimate success, when the cable broke about twenty +feet behind the stern of the Agamemnon. + +The expedition returned to Queenstown, and a consultation took place. +Mr. Field, and Professor Thomson, who was on board the Agamemnon, were +in favour of another trial, and it was decided to make one without +delay. The vessels left the Cove of Cork on July 17; but on this +occasion there was no public enthusiasm, and even those on board felt +as if they were going on another wild goose chase. The Agamemnon was now +almost becalmed on her way to the rendezvous; but the middle splice was +finished by 12.30 p.m. on July 29, 1858, and immediately dropped into +the sea. The ships thereupon started, and increased their distance, +while the cable ran easily out of them. Some alarm was caused by the +stoppage of the continuity signals, but after a time they reappeared. +The Niagara deviated from the great arc of a circle on which the cable +was to be laid, and the error was traced to the iron of the cable +influencing her compass. Hence the Gorgon, one of her consorts, was +ordered to go ahead and lead the way. The Niagara passed several +icebergs, but none injured the cable, and on August 4 she arrived in +Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. At 6. a.m. next morning the shore end was +landed into the telegraph-house which had been built for its reception. +Captain Hudson, of the Niagara, then read prayers, and at one p.m. +H.M.S. Gorgon fired a salute of twenty-one guns. + +The Agamemnon made an equally successful run. About six o'clock on the +first evening a huge whale was seen approaching on the starboard bow, +and as he sported in the waves, rolling and lashing them into foam, +the onlookers began to fear that he might endanger the line. Their +excitement became intense as the monster heaved astern, nearer and +nearer to the cable, until his body grazed it where it sank into the +water; but happily no harm was done. Damaged portions of the cable had +to be removed in paying-out, and the stoppage of the continuity signals +raised other alarms on board. Strong head winds kept the Agamemnon back, +and two American ships which got into her course had to be warned off +by firing guns. The signals from the Niagara became very weak, but on +Professor Thomson asking the electricians on board of her to increase +their battery power, they improved at once. At length, on Thursday, +August, 5, the Agamemnon, with her consort, the Valorous, arrived at +Valentia Island, and the shore end was landed into the cable-house at +Knightstown by 3 p.m., and a royal salute announced the completion of +the work. + +The news was received at first with some incredulity, but on being +confirmed it caused a universal joy. On August 16 Queen Victoria sent a +telegram of congratulation to President Buchanan through the line, and +expressed a hope that it would prove 'an additional link between +the nations whose friendship is founded on their common interest and +reciprocal esteem.' The President responded that, 'it is a triumph +more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by +conqueror on the field of battle. May the Atlantic telegraph, under the +blessing of heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship +between the kindred nations, and an instrument destined by Divine +Providence to diffuse religion, civilisation, liberty, and law +throughout the world.' + +These messages were the signal for a fresh outburst of enthusiasm. Next +morning a grand salute of 100 guns resounded in New York, the streets +were decorated with flags, the bells of the churches rung, and at night +the city was illuminated. + +The Atlantic cable was a theme of inspiration for innumerable sermons +and a prodigious quantity of doggerel. Among the happier lines were +these:-- + + ''Tis done! the angry sea consents, + The nations stand no more apart; + With clasped hands the continents + Feel throbbings of each other's heart. + + Speed! speed the cable! let it run + A loving girdle round the earth, + Till all the nations 'neath the sun + Shall be as brothers of one hearth. + + As brothers pledging, hand in hand, + One freedom for the world abroad, + One commerce over every land, + One language, and one God.' + +The rejoicing reached a climax in September, when a public service was +held in Trinity Church, and Mr. Field, the hero of the hour, as head and +mainspring of the expedition, received an ovation in the Crystal Palace +at New York. The mayor presented him with a golden casket as a souvenir +of 'the grandest enterprise of our day and generation.' The band played +'God save the Queen,' and the whole audience rose to their feet. In +the evening there was a magnificent torchlight procession of the city +firemen. + +That very day the cable breathed its last. Its insulation had been +failing for some days, and the only signals which could be read were +those given by the mirror galvanometer.[It is said to have broken down +while Newfoundland was vainly attempting to inform Valentia that it was +sending with THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE CELLS!] The reaction at this news +was tremendous. Some writers even hinted that the line was a mere hoax, +and others pronounced it a stock exchange speculation. Sensible men +doubted whether the cable had ever 'spoken;' but in addition to the +royal despatch, items of daily news had passed through the wire; for +instance, the announcement of a collision between two ships, the Arabia +and the Europa, off Cape Race, Newfoundland, and an order from London, +countermanding the departure of a regiment in Canada for the seat of the +Indian Mutiny, which had come to an end. + +Mr. Field was by no means daunted at the failure. He was even more eager +to renew the work, since he had come so near to success. But the public +had lost confidence in the scheme, and all his efforts to revive the +company were futile. It was not until 1864 that with the assistance of +Mr. Thomas (afterwards Lord) Brassey, and Mr. (now Sir) John Fender, +that he succeeded in raising the necessary capital. The Glass, Elliot, +and Gutta-Percha Companies were united to form the well-known Telegraph +Construction and Maintenance Company, which undertook to manufacture and +lay the new cable. + +Much experience had been gained in the meanwhile. Long cables had been +submerged in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The Board of Trade +in 1859 had appointed a committee of experts, including Professor +Wheatstone, to investigate the whole subject, and the results were +published in a Blue-book. Profiting by these aids, an improved type of +cable was designed. The core consisted of a strand of seven very +pure copper wires weighing 300 lbs. a knot, coated with Chatterton's +compound, which is impervious to water, then covered with four layers of +gutta-percha alternating with four thin layers of the compound cementing +the whole, and bringing the weight of the insulator to 400 lbs. per +knot. This core was served with hemp saturated in a preservative +solution, and on the hemp as a padding were spirally wound eighteen +single wires of soft steel, each covered with fine strands of Manilla +yam steeped in the preservative. The weight of the new cable was +35.75 cwt. per knot, or nearly twice the weight of the old, and it was +stronger in proportion. + +Ten years before, Mr. Marc Isambard Brunel, the architect of the Great +Eastern, had taken Mr. Field to Blackwall, where the leviathan was +lying, and said to him, 'There is the ship to lay the Atlantic cable.' +She was now purchased to fulfil the mission. Her immense hull was fitted +with three iron tanks for the reception of 2,300 miles of cable, and +her decks furnished with the paying-out gear. Captain (now Sir) James +Anderson, of the Cunard steamer China, a thorough seaman, was appointed +to the command, with Captain Moriarty, R.N., as chief navigating +officer. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Samuel Canning was engineer for the +contractors, the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, and Mr. +de Sauty their electrician; Professor Thomson and Mr. Cromwell Fleetwood +Varley were the electricians for the Atlantic Telegraph Company. The +Press was ably represented by Dr. W. H. Russell, correspondent of the +TIMES. The Great Eastern took on board seven or eight thousand tons of +coal to feed her fires, a prodigious quantity of stores, and a multitude +of live stock which turned her decks into a farmyard. Her crew all told +numbered 500 men. + +At noon on Saturday, July 15, 1865, the Great Eastern left the Nore for +Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, where the shore end was laid by the +Caroline. + +At 5.30 p.m. on Sunday, July 23, amidst the firing of cannon and the +cheers of the telegraph fleet, she started on her voyage at a speed of +about four knots an hour. The weather was fine, and all went well until +next morning early, when the boom of a gun signalled that a fault had +broken out in the cable. It turned out that a splinter of iron wire had +penetrated the core. More faults of the kind were discovered, and as +they always happened in the same watch, there was a suspicion of foul +play. In repairing one of these on July 31, after 1,062 miles had been +payed out, the cable snapped near the stern of the ship, and the end was +lost. 'All is over,' quietly observed Mr. Canning; and though spirited +attempts were made to grapple the sunken line in two miles of water, +they failed to recover it. + +The Great Eastern steamed back to England, where the indomitable Mr. +Field issued another prospectus, and formed the Anglo-American Telegraph +Company, with a capital of L600,000, to lay a new cable and complete +the broken one. On July 7, 1866, the William Cory laid the shore end +at Valentia, and on Friday, July 13, about 3 p.m., the Great Eastern +started paying-out once more. [Friday is regarded as an unlucky, and +Sunday as a lucky day by sailors. The Great Eastern started on Sunday +before and failed; she succeeded now. Columbus sailed on a Friday, and +discovered America on a Friday.] A private service of prayer was held +at Valentia by invitation of two directors of the company, but otherwise +there was no celebration of the event. Professor Thomson was on board; +but Dr. W. H. Russell had gone to the seat of the Austro-Prussian war, +from which telegrams were received through the cable. + +The 'big ship' was attended by three consorts, the Terrible, to act as +a spy on the starboard how, and warn other vessels off the course, the +Medway on the port, and the Albany on the starboard quarter, to drop +or pick up buoys, and make themselves generally useful. Despite the +fickleness of the weather, and a 'foul flake,' or clogging of the line +as it ran out of the tank, there was no interruption of the work. The +'old coffee mill,' as the sailors dubbed the paying-out gear, kept +grinding away. 'I believe we shall do it this time, Jack,' said one of +the crew to his mate. + +On the evening of Friday, July 27, the expedition made the entrance of +Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, in a thick fog, and next morning the Great +Eastern cast her anchor at Heart's Content. Flags were flying from the +little church and the telegraph station on shore. The Great Eastern was +dressed, three cheers were given, and a salute was fired. At 9 a.m. a +message from England cited these words from a leading article in the +current TIMES: 'It is a great work, a glory to our age and nation, +and the men who have achieved it deserve to be honoured among the +benefactors of their race.' 'Treaty of peace signed between Prussia and +Austria.' The shore end was landed during the day by the Medway; and +Captain Anderson, with the officers of the telegraph fleet, went in a +body to the church to return thanks for the success of the expedition. +Congratulations poured in, and friendly telegrams were again exchanged +between Her Majesty and the United States. The great work had been +finally accomplished, and the two worlds were lastingly united. + +On August 9 the Great Eastern put to sea again in order to grapple +the lost cable of 1865, and complete it to Newfoundland. Arriving in +mid-ocean she proceeded to fish for the submerged line in two thousand +fathoms of water, and after repeated failures, involving thirty casts of +the grapnel, she hooked and raised it to surface, then spliced it to +the fresh cable in her hold, and payed out to Heart's Content, where +she arrived on Saturday, September 7. There were now two fibres of +intelligence between the two hemispheres. + +On his return home, Professor Thomson was among those who received +the honour of knighthood for their services in connection with the +enterprise. He deserved it. By his theory and apparatus he probably did +more than any other man, with the exception of Mr. Field, to further the +Atlantic telegraph. We owe it to his admirable inventions, the mirror +instrument of 1857 and the siphon recorder of 1869, that messages +through long cables are so cheap and fast, and, as a consequence, that +ocean telegraphy is now so common. Hence some account of these two +instruments will not be out of place. + +Sir William Thomson's siphon recorder, in all its present completeness, +must take rank as a masterpiece of invention. As used in the recording +or writing in permanent characters of the messages sent through +long submarine cables, it is the acknowledged chief of 'receiving +instruments,' as those apparatus are called which interpret the +electrical condition of the telegraph wire into intelligible signals. +Like other mechanical creations, no doubt its growth in idea and +translation into material fact was a step-by-step process of evolution, +culminating at last in its great fitness and beauty. + +The marvellous development of telegraphy within the last generation has +called into existence a great variety of receiving instruments, each +admirable in its way. The Hughes, or the Stock Exchange instruments, for +instance, print the message in Roman characters; the sounders strike it +out on stops or bells of different tone; the needle instruments indicate +it by oscillations of their needles; the Morse daubs it in ink on paper, +or embosses it by a hard style; while Bain's electro-chemical receiver +stains it on chemically prepared paper. The Meyer-Baudot and the +Quadruple receive four messages at once and record them separately; +while the harmonic telegraph of Elisha Gray can receive as many as +eight simultaneously, by means of notes excited by the current in eight +separate tuning forks. + +But all these instruments have one great drawback for delicate work, +and, however suitable they may be for land lines, they are next to +useless for long cables. They require a certain definite strength of +current to work them, whatever it may be, and in general it is +very considerable. Most of the moving parts of the mechanism are +comparatively heavy, and unless the current is of the proper strength to +move them, the instrument is dumb, while in Bain's the solution requires +a certain power of current to decompose it and leave the stain. + +In overland lines the current traverses the wire suddenly, like a +bullet, and at its full strength, so that if the current be sufficiently +strong these instruments will be worked at once, and no time will be +lost. But it is quite different on submarine cables. There the current +is slow and varying. It travels along the copper wire in the form of +a wave or undulation, and is received feebly at first, then gradually +rising to its maximum strength, and finally dying away again as slowly +as it rose. In the French Atlantic cable no current can be detected +by the most delicate galvanoscope at America for the first tenth of +a second after it has been put on at Brest; and it takes about half +a second for the received current to reach its maximum value. This +is owing to the phenomenon of induction, very important in submarine +cables, but almost entirely absent in land lines. In submarine cables, +as is well known, the copper wire which conveys the current is insulated +from the sea-water by an envelope, usually of gutta-percha. Now the +electricity sent into this wire INDUCES electricity of an opposite kind +to itself in the sea-water outside, and the attraction set up between +these two kinds 'holds back' the current in the wire, and retards its +passage to the receiving station. + +It follows, that with a receiving instrument set to indicate a +particular strength of current, the rate of signalling would be very +slow on long cables compared to land lines; and that a different form +of instrument is required for cable work. This fact stood greatly in +the way of early cable enterprise. Sir William (then Professor) +Thomson first solved the difficulty by his invention of the 'mirror +galvanometer,' and rendered at the same time the first Atlantic cable +company a commercial success. The merit of this receiving instrument +is, that it indicates with extreme sensibility all the variations of +the current in the cable, so that, instead of having to wait until +each signal wave sent into the cable has travelled to the receiving end +before sending another, a series of waves may be sent after each other +in rapid succession. These waves, encroaching upon each other, will +coalesce at their bases; but if the crests remain separate, the delicate +decipherer at the other end will take cognisance of them and make them +known to the eye as the distinct signals of the message. + +The mirror galvanometer is at once beautifully simple and exquisitely +scientific. It consists of a very long fine coil of silk-covered copper +wire, and in the heart of the coil, within a little air-chamber, a small +round mirror, having four tiny magnets cemented to its back, is hung, by +a single fibre of floss silk no thicker than a spider's line. The mirror +is of film glass silvered, the magnets of hair-spring, and both together +sometimes weigh only one-tenth of a grain. A beam of light is thrown +from a lamp upon the mirror, and reflected by it upon a white screen or +scale a few feet distant, where it forms a bright spot of light. + +When there is no current on the instrument, the spot of light remains +stationary at the zero position on the screen; but the instant a +current traverses the long wire of the coil, the suspended magnets twist +themselves horizontally out of their former position, the mirror is of +course inclined with them, and the beam of light is deflected along the +screen to one side or the other, according to the nature of the current. +If a POSITIVE current--that is to say, a current from the copper pole +of the battery--gives a deflection to the RIGHT of zero, a NEGATIVE +current, or a current from the zinc pole of the battery, will give a +deflection to the left of zero, and VICE VERSA. + +The air in the little chamber surrounding the mirror is compressed at +will, so as to act like a cushion, and 'deaden' the movements of the +mirror. The needle is thus prevented from idly swinging about at each +deflection, and the separate signals are rendered abrupt and 'dead +beat,' as it is called. + +At a receiving station the current coming in from the cable has simply +to be passed through the coil of the 'speaker' before it is sent into +the ground, and the wandering light spot on the screen faithfully +represents all its variations to the clerk, who, looking on, interprets +these, and cries out the message word by word. + +The small weight of the mirror and magnets which form the moving part of +this instrument, and the range to which the minute motions of the mirror +can be magnified on the screen by the reflected beam of light, +which acts as a long impalpable hand or pointer, render the mirror +galvanometer marvellously sensitive to the current, especially when +compared with other forms of receiving instruments. Messages have been +sent from England to America through one Atlantic cable and back +again to England through another, and there received on the mirror +galvanometer, the electric current used being that from a toy battery +made out of a lady's silver thimble, a grain of zinc, and a drop of +acidulated water. + +The practical advantage of this extreme delicacy is, that the signal +waves of the current may follow each other so closely as almost entirely +to coalesce, leaving only a very slight rise and fall of their crests, +like ripples on the surface of a flowing stream, and yet the light spot +will respond to each. The main flow of the current will of course shift +the zero of the spot, but over and above this change of place the spot +will follow the momentary fluctuations of the current which form the +individual signals of the message. What with this shifting of the zero +and the very slight rise and fall in the current produced by rapid +signalling, the ordinary land line instruments are quite unserviceable +for work upon long cables. + +The mirror instrument has this drawback, however--it does not 'record' +the message. There is a great practical advantage in a receiving +instrument which records its messages; errors are avoided and time +saved. It was to supply such a desideratum for cable work that Sir +William Thomson invented the siphon recorder, his second important +contribution to the province of practical telegraphy. He aimed at giving +a GRAPHIC representation of the varying strength of the current, just as +the mirror galvanometer gives a visual one. The difficulty of producing +such a recorder was, as he himself says, due to a difficulty in +obtaining marks from a very light body in rapid motion, without +impeding that motion. The moving body must be quite free to follow the +undulations of the current, and at the same time must record its motions +by some indelible mark. As early as 1859, Sir William sent out to +the Red Sea cable a piece of apparatus with this intent. The marker +consisted of a light platinum wire, constantly emitting sparks from a +Rhumkorff coil, so as to perforate a line on a strip of moving +paper; and it was so connected to the movable needle of a species of +galvanometer as to imitate the motions of the needle. But before it +reached the Red Sea the cable had broken down, and the instrument was +returned dismantled, to be superseded at length by the siphon recorder, +in which the marking point is a fine glass siphon emitting ink, and the +moving body a light coil of wire hung between the poles of a magnet. + +The principle of the siphon recorder is exactly the inverse of the +mirror galvanometer. In the latter we have a small magnet suspended in +the centre of a large coil of wire--the wire enclosing the magnet, which +is free to rotate round its own axis. In the former we have a small coil +suspended between the poles of a large magnet--the magnet enclosing the +coil, which is also free to rotate round its own axis. When a current +passes through this coil, so suspended in the highly magnetic space +between the poles of the magnet, the coil itself experiences a +mechanical force, causing it to take up a particular position, which +varies with the nature of the current, and the siphon which is attached +to it faithfully figures its motion on the running paper. + +The point of the siphon does not touch the paper, although it is +very close. It would impede the motion of the coil if it did. But the +'capillary attraction' of so fine a tube will not permit the ink to flow +freely of itself, so the inventor, true to his instincts, again called +in the aid of electricity, and electrified the ink. The siphon and +reservoir are together supported by an EBONITE bracket, separate from +the rest of the instrument, and INSULATED from it; that is to say, +electricity cannot escape from them to the instrument. The ink may, +therefore, be electrified to an exalted state, or high POTENTIAL as it +is called, while the body of the instrument, including the paper and +metal writing-tablet, are in connection with the earth, and at low +potential, or none at all, for the potential of the earth is in general +taken as zero. + +The ink, for example, is like a highly-charged thunder-cloud supported +over the earth's surface. Now the tendency of a charged body is to move +from a place of higher to a place of lower potential, and consequently +the ink tends to flow downwards to the writing-tablet. The only avenue +of escape for it is by the fine glass siphon, and through this it rushes +accordingly and discharges itself in a rain upon the paper. The natural +repulsion between its like electrified particles causes the shower to +issue in spray. As the paper moves over the pulleys a delicate hair line +is marked, straight when the siphon is stationary, but curved when the +siphon is pulled from side to side by the oscillations of the signal +coil. + +It is to the mouse-mill that me must look both for the electricity which +is used to electrify the ink and for the motive power which drives +the paper. This unique and interesting little motor owes its somewhat +epigrammatic title to the resemblance of the drum to one of those +sparred wheels turned by white mice, and to the amusing fact of its +capacity for performing work having been originally computed in terms of +a 'mouse-power.' The mill is turned by a stream of electricity flowing +from the battery above described, and is, in fact, an electro-magnetic +engine worked by the current. + +The alphabet of signals employed is the 'Morse code,' so generally +in vogue throughout the world. In the Morse code the letters of the +alphabet are represented by combinations of two distinct elementary +signals, technically called 'dots' and 'dashes,' from the fact that the +Morse recorder actually marks the message in long and short lines, +or dots and dashes. In the siphon recorder script dots and dashes are +represented by curves of opposite flexure. The condensers are merely +used to sharpen the action of the current, and render the signals more +concise and distinct on long cables. On short cables, say under three +hundred miles long, they are rarely, if ever, used. + +The speed of signalling by the siphon recorder is of course regulated by +the length of cable through which it is worked. The instrument itself +is capable of a wide range of speed. The best operators cannot send over +thirty-five words per minute by hand, but a hundred and twenty words +or more per minute can be transmitted by an automatic sender, and the +recorder has been found on land lines and short cables to write off the +message at this incredible speed. When we consider that every word +is, on the average, composed of fifteen separate waves, we may better +appreciate the rapidity with which the siphon can move. On an ordinary +cable of about a thousand miles long, the working speed is about twenty +words per minute. On the French Atlantic it is usually about thirteen, +although as many as seventeen have sometimes been sent. + +The 'duplex' system, or method of telegraphing in opposite directions +at once through the same wire, has of late years been applied, in +connection with the recorder, to all the long cables of that most +enterprising of telegraph companies--the Eastern--so that both stations +may 'speak' to each other simultaneously. Thus the carrying capacity of +the wire is in practice nearly doubled, and recorders are busy writing +at both ends of the cable at once, as if the messages came up out of the +sea itself. + +We have thus far followed out the recorder in its practical application +to submarine telegraphy. Let us now regard it for a moment in its more +philosophic aspect. We are at once struck with its self-dependence as a +machine, and even its resemblance in some respects to a living creature. +All its activity depends on the galvanic current. From three separate +sources invisible currents are led to its principal parts, and are at +once physically changed. That entering the mouse-mill becomes transmuted +in part into the mechanical motion of the revolving drum, and part into +electricity of a more intense nature--into mimic lightning, in fact, +with its accompaniments of heat and sound. That entering the signal +magnet expends part of its force in the magnetism of the core. That +entering the signal coil, which may be taken as the brain of the +instrument, appears to us as INTELLIGENCE. + +The recorder is now in use in all four quarters of the globe, from +Northern Europe to Southern Brazil, from China to New England. Many and +complete are the adjustments for rendering it serviceable under a wide +range of electrical conditions and climatic changes. The siphon is, +of course, in a mechanical sense, the most delicate part, but, in an +electrical sense, the mouse-mill proves the most susceptible. It is +essential for the fine marking of the siphon that the ink should neither +be too strongly nor too feebly electrified. When the atmosphere is +moderately humid, a proper supply of electricity is generated by the +mouse-mill, the paper is sufficiently moist, and the ink flows freely. +But an excess of moisture in the air diminishes the available supply of +EXALTED electricity. In fact, the damp depositing on the parts leads the +electricity away, and the ink tends to clog in the siphon. On the other +hand, drought not only supercharges the ink, but dries the paper so much +that it INSULATES the siphon point from the metal tablet and the earth. +There is then an insufficient escape for the electricity of the ink to +earth; the ink ceases to flow down the siphon; the siphon itself becomes +highly electrified and agitated with vibrations of its own; the line +becomes spluttered and uncertain. + +Various devices are employed at different stations to cure these local +complaints. The electrician soon learns to diagnose and prescribe for +this, his most valuable charge. At Aden, where they suffer much from +humidity, the mouse-mill is or has been surrounded with burning carbon. +At Malta a gas flame was used for the same purpose. At Suez, where +they suffer from drought, a cloud of steam was kept rising round the +instrument, saturating the air and paper. At more temperate places the +ordinary means of drying the air by taking advantage of the absorbing +power of sulphuric acid for moisture prevailed. At Marseilles the +recorder acted in some respects like a barometer. Marseilles is subject +to sudden incursions of dry northerly winds, termed the MISTRAL. +The recorder never failed to indicate the mistral when it blew, and +sometimes even to predict it by many hours. Before the storm was itself +felt, the delicate glass pen became agitated and disturbed, the frail +blue line broken and irregular. The electrician knew that the mistral +would blow before long, and, as it rarely blows for less than three days +at a time, that rather rude wind, so dreaded by the Marseillaise, was +doubly dreaded by him. + +The recorder was first used experimentally at St. Pierre, on the French +Atlantic cable, in 1869. This was numbered 0, as we were told by Mr. +White of Glasgow, the maker, whose skill has contributed not a little +to the success of the recorder. No. 1 was first used practically on the +Falmouth and Gibraltar cable of the Eastern Telegraph Company in July, +1870. No. 1 was also exhibited at Mr. (now Sir John) Pender's telegraph +soiree in 1870. On that occasion, memorable even beyond telegraphic +circles, 'three hundred of the notabilities of rank and fashion gathered +together at Mr. Pender's house in Arlington Street, Piccadilly, to +celebrate the completion of submarine communication between London and +Bombay by the successful laying of the Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta and +the British Indian cable lines.' Mr. Pender's house was literally +turned outside in; the front door was removed, the courtyard temporarily +covered with an iron roof and the whole decorated in the grandest +style. Over the gateway was a gallery filled with the band of the Scots +Fusilier Guards; and over the portico of the house door hung the grapnel +which brought up the 1865 cable, made resplendent to the eye by a +coating of gold leaf. A handsome staircase, newly erected, permitted +the guests to pass from the reception-room to the drawing-room. In the +grounds at the back of the house stood the royal tent, where the Prince +of Wales and a select party, including the Duke of Cambridge and Lady +Mayo, wife of the Viceroy of India at that time, were entertained at +supper. Into this tent were brought wires from India, America, Egypt, +and other places, and Lady Mayo sent off a message to India about +half-past eleven, and had received a reply before twelve, telling her +that her husband and sons were quite well at five o'clock the next +morning. The recorder, which was shown in operation, naturally stood in +the place of honour, and attracted great attention. + +The minor features of the recorder have been simplified by other +inventors of late; for example, magnets of steel have been substituted +for the electro-magnets which influence the swinging coil; and the ink, +instead of being electrified by the mouse-mill, is shed on the paper by +a rapid vibration of the siphon point. + +To introduce his apparatus for signalling on long submarine cables, Sir +William Thomson entered into a partnership with Mr. C. F. Varley, who +first applied condensers to sharpen the signals, and Professor Fleeming +Jenkin, of Edinburgh University. In conjunction with the latter, he also +devised an 'automatic curb sender,' or key, for sending messages on a +cable, as the well-known Wheatstone transmitter sends them on a land +line. + +In both instruments the signals are sent by means of a perforated ribbon +of paper; but the cable sender was the more complicated, because the +cable signals are formed by both positive and negative currents, and not +merely by a single current, whether positive or negative. Moreover, to +curb the prolongation of the signals due to induction, each signal was +made by two opposite currents in succession--a positive followed by a +negative, or a negative followed by a positive, as the case might +be. The after-current had the effect of curbing its precursor. This +self-acting cable key was brought out in 1876, and tried on the lines of +the Eastern Telegraph Company. + +Sir William Thomson took part in the laying of the French Atlantic +cable of 1869, and with Professor Jenkin was engineer of the Western and +Brazilian and Platino-Brazilian cables. He was present at the laying of +the Para to Pernambuco section of the Brazilian coast cables in 1873, +and introduced his method of deep-sea sounding, in which a steel +pianoforte wire replaces the ordinary land line. The wire glides so +easily to the bottom that 'flying soundings' can be taken while the ship +is going at full speed. A pressure-gauge to register the depth of the +sinker has been added by Sir William. + +About the same time he revived the Sumner method of finding a ship's +place at sea, and calculated a set of tables for its ready application. +His most important aid to the mariner is, however, the adjustable +compass, which he brought out soon afterwards. It is a great improvement +on the older instrument, being steadier, less hampered by friction, +and the deviation due to the ship's own magnetism can be corrected by +movable masses of iron at the binnacle. + +Sir William is himself a skilful navigator, and delights to cruise in +his fine yacht, the Lalla Rookh, among the Western Islands, or up +the Mediterranean, or across the Atlantic to Madeira and America. His +interest in all things relating to the sea perhaps arose, or at any rate +was fostered, by his experiences on the Agamemnon and the Great Eastern. +Babbage was among the first to suggest that a lighthouse might be made +to signal a distinctive number by occultations of its light; but Sir +William pointed out the merits of the Morse telegraphic code for the +purpose, and urged that the signals should consist of short and long +flashes of the light to represent the dots and dashes. + +Sir William has done more than any other electrician to introduce +accurate methods and apparatus for measuring electricity. As early as +1845 his mind was attracted to this subject. He pointed out that the +experimental results of William Snow Harris were in accordance with the +laws of Coulomb. + +In the Memoirs of the Roman Academy of Sciences for 1857 he published a +description of his new divided ring electrometer, which is based on +the old electroscope of Bohnenberger and since then he has introduced +a chain or series of beautiful and effective instruments, including the +quadrant electrometer, which cover the entire field of electrostatic +measurement. His delicate mirror galvanometer has also been the +forerunner of a later circle of equally precise apparatus for the +measurement of current or dynamic electricity. + +To give even a brief account of all his physical researches would +require a separate volume; and many of them are too abstruse or +mathematical for the general reader. His varied services have been +acknowledged by numerous distinctions, including the highest honour a +British man of science can obtain--the Presidency of the Royal Society +of London, to which he was elected at the end of last year. + +Sir William Thomson has been all his life a firm believer in the truth +of Christianity, and his great scientific attainments add weight to the +following words, spoken by him when in the chair at the annual meeting +of the Christian Evidence Society, May 23, 1889:--'I have long felt that +there was a general impression in the non-scientific world, that the +scientific world believes Science has discovered ways of explaining all +the facts of Nature without adopting any definite belief in a Creator. I +have never doubted that that impression was utterly groundless. It seems +to me that when a scientific man says--as it has been said from time to +time--that there is no God, he does not express his own ideas clearly. +He is, perhaps, struggling with difficulties; but when he says he does +not believe in a creative power, I am convinced he does not faithfully +express what is in his own mind, He does not fully express his own +ideas. He is out of his depth. + +'We are all out of our depth when we approach the subject of life. The +scientific man, in looking at a piece of dead matter, thinking over the +results of certain combinations which he can impose upon it, is himself +a living miracle, proving that there is something beyond that mass of +dead matter of which he is thinking. His very thought is in itself a +contradiction to the idea that there is nothing in existence but dead +matter. Science can do little positively towards the objects of this +society. But it can do something, and that something is vital and +fundamental. It is to show that what we see in the world of dead matter +and of life around us is not a result of the fortuitous concourse of +atoms. + +'I may refer to that old, but never uninteresting subject of the +miracles of geology. Physical science does something for us here. St. +Peter speaks of scoffers who said that "all things continue as they were +from the beginning of the creation;" but the apostle affirms himself +that "all these things shall be dissolved." It seems to me that even +physical science absolutely demonstrates the scientific truth of these +words. We feel that there is no possibility of things going on for ever +as they have done for the last six thousand years. In science, as in +morals and politics, there is absolutely no periodicity. One thing we +may prophesy of the future for certain--it will be unlike the past. +Everything is in a state of evolution and progress. The science of dead +matter, which has been the principal subject of my thoughts during my +life, is, I may say, strenuous on this point, that THE AGE OF THE EARTH +IS DEFINITE. We do not say whether it is twenty million years or more, +or less, but me say it is NOT INDEFINITE. And we can say very definitely +that it is not an inconceivably great number of millions of years. +Here, then, we are brought face to face with the most wonderful of all +miracles, the commencement of life on this earth. This earth, certainly +a moderate number of millions of years ago, was a red-hot globe; all +scientific men of the present day agree that life came upon this earth +somehow. If some form or some part of the life at present existing came +to this earth, carried on some moss-grown stone perhaps broken away from +mountains in other worlds; even if some part of the life had come in +that way--for there is nothing too far-fetched in the idea, and probably +some such action as that did take place, since meteors do come every day +to the earth from other parts of the universe;--still, that does not +in the slightest degree diminish the wonder, the tremendous miracle, we +have in the commencement of life in this world.' + + + +CHAPTER V. CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS. + +Charles William Siemens was born on April 4, 1823, at the little +village of Lenthe, about eight miles from Hanover, where his father, Mr. +Christian Ferdinand Siemens, was 'Domanen-pachter,' and farmed an estate +belonging to the Crown. His mother was Eleonore Deichmann, a lady of +noble disposition, and William, or Carl Wilhelm, was the fourth son of +a family of fourteen children, several of whom have distinguished +themselves in scientific pursuits. Of these, Ernst Werner Siemens, the +fourth child, and now the famous electrician of Berlin, was associated +with William in many of his inventions; Fritz, the ninth child, is the +head of the well-known Dresden glass works; and Carl, the tenth child, +is chief of the equally well-known electrical works at St. Petersburg. +Several of the family died young; others remained in Germany; but +the enterprising spirit, natural to them, led most of the sons +abroad--Walter, the twelfth child, dying at Tiflis as the German Consul +there, and Otto, the fourteenth child, also dying at the same place. +It would be difficult to find a more remarkable family in any age or +country. Soon after the birth of William, Mr. Siemens removed to a +larger estate which he had leased at Menzendorf, near Lubeck. + +As a child William was sensitive and affectionate, the baby of the +family, liking to roam the woods and fields by himself, and curious to +observe, but not otherwise giving any signs of the engineer. He received +his education at a commercial academy in Lubeck, the Industrial School +at Magdeburg (city of the memorable burgomaster, Otto von Guericke), and +at the University of Gottingen, which he entered in 1841, while in his +eighteenth year. Were he attended the chemical lectures of Woehler, the +discoverer of organic synthesis, and of Professor Himly, the well-known +physicist, who was married to Siemens's eldest sister, Mathilde. With +a year at Gottingen, during which he laid the basis of his theoretical +knowledge, the academical training of Siemens came to an end, and he +entered practical life in the engineering works of Count Stolberg, at +Magdeburg. At the University he had been instructed in mechanical +laws and designs; here he learned the nature and use of tools and the +construction of machines. But as his University career at Gottingen +lasted only about a year, so did his apprenticeship at the Stolberg +Works. In this short time, however, he probably reaped as much advantage +as a duller pupil during a far longer term. + +Young Siemens appears to have been determined to push his way +forward. In 1841 his brother Werner obtained a patent in Prussia for +electro-silvering and gilding; and in 1843 Charles William came to +England to try and introduce the process here. In his address on +'Science and Industry,' delivered before the Birmingham and Midland +Institute in 1881, while the Paris Electrical Exhibition was running, +Sir William gave a most interesting account of his experiences during +that first visit to the country of his adoption. + +'When,' said he, 'the electrotype process first became known, it excited +a very general interest; and although I was only a young student at +Gottingen, under twenty years of age, who had just entered upon his +practical career with a mechanical engineer, I joined my brother, Werner +Siemens, then a young lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian service, +in his endeavours to accomplish electro-gilding; the first impulse +in this direction having been given by Professor C. Himly, then +of Gottingen. After attaining some promising results, a spirit of +enterprise came over me, so strong that I tore myself away from the +narrow circumstances surrounding me, and landed at the east end of +London with only a few pounds in my pocket and without friends, but with +an ardent confidence of ultimate success within my breast. + +'I expected to find some office in which inventions were examined into, +and rewarded if found meritorious, but no one could direct me to such +a place. In walking along Finsbury Pavement, I saw written up in large +letters, "So-and-so" (I forget the name), "Undertaker," and the thought +struck me that this must be the place I was in quest of; at any rate, I +thought that a person advertising himself as an "undertaker" would not +refuse to look into my invention with a view of obtaining for me the +sought-for recognition or reward. On entering the place I soon convinced +myself, however, that I came decidedly too soon for the kind of +enterprise here contemplated, and, finding myself confronted with the +proprietor of the establishment, I covered my retreat by what he must +have thought a very lame excuse. By dint of perseverance I found my +way to the patent office of Messrs. Poole and Carpmael, who received me +kindly, and provided me with a letter of introduction to Mr. Elkington. +Armed with this letter, I proceeded to Birmingham, to plead my cause +before your townsman. + +'In looking back to that time, I wonder at the patience with which Mr. +Elkington listened to what I had to say, being very young, and scarcely +able to find English words to convey my meaning. After showing me what +he was doing already in the way of electro-plating, Mr. Elkington sent +me back to London in order to read some patents of his own, asking me to +return if, after perusal, I still thought I could teach him anything. To +my great disappointment, I found that the chemical solutions I had +been using were actually mentioned in one of his patents, although in +a manner that would hardly have sufficed to enable a third person to +obtain practical results. + +On my return to Birmingham I frankly stated what I had found, and with +this frankness I evidently gained the favour of another townsman of +yours, Mr. Josiah Mason, who had just joined Mr. Elkington in business, +and whose name, as Sir Josiah Mason, will ever be remembered for his +munificent endowment of education. It was agreed that I should not +be judged by the novelty of my invention, but by the results which I +promised, namely, of being able to deposit with a smooth surface 30 dwt. +of silver upon a dish-cover, the crystalline structure of the deposit +having theretofore been a source of difficulty. In this I succeeded, and +I was able to return to my native country and my mechanical engineering +a comparative Croesus. + +'But it was not for long, as in the following year (1844) I again landed +in the Thames with another invention, worked out also with my brother, +namely, the chronometric governor, which, though less successful, +commercially speaking, than the first, obtained for me the advantage of +bringing me into contact with the engineering world, and of fixing +me permanently in this country. This invention was in course of time +applied by Sir George Airy, the then Astronomer-Royal, for regulating +the motion of his great transit and touch-recording instrument at the +Royal Observatory, where it still continues to be employed. + +'Another early subject of mine, the anastatic printing process, found +favour with Faraday, "the great and the good," who made it the subject +of a Friday evening lecture at the Royal Institution. These two +circumstances, combined, obtained for me an entry into scientific +circles, and helped to sustain me in difficulty, until, by dint of a +certain determination to win, I was able to advance step by step up +to this place of honour, situated within a gunshot of the scene of +my earliest success in life, but separated from it by the time of a +generation. But notwithstanding the lapse of time, my heart still +beats quick each time I come back to the scene of this, the determining +incident of my life.' + +The 'anastatic' process, described by Faraday in 1845, and partly due +to Werner Siemens, was a method of reproducing printed matter by +transferring the print from paper to plates of zinc. Caustic baryta was +applied to the printed sheet to convert the resinous ingredients of +the ink into an insoluble soap, the stearine being precipitated with +sulphuric acid. The letters were then transferred to the zinc by +pressure, so as to be printed from. The process, though ingenious and of +much interest at the time, has long ago been superseded by photographic +methods. + +Even at this time Siemens had several irons in the fire. Besides the +printing process and the chronometric governor, which operated by the +differential movement between the engine and a chronometer, he was +occupied with some minor improvements at Hoyle's Calico Printing Works. +He also engaged in railway works from time to time; and in 1846 he +brought out a double cylinder air-pump, in which the two cylinders are +so combined, that the compressing side of the first and larger cylinder +communicated with the suction side of the second and smaller cylinder, +and the limit of exhaustion was thereby much extended. The invention was +well received at the time, but is now almost forgotten. + +Siemens had been trained as a mechanical engineer, and, although he +became an eminent electrician in later life, his most important work at +this early stage was non-electrical; indeed, the greatest achievement of +his life was non-electrical, for we must regard the regenerative furnace +as his MAGNUM OPUS. Though in 1847 he published a paper in Liebig's +ANNALEN DER CHEMIE on the 'Mercaptan of Selenium,' his mind was busy +with the new ideas upon the nature of heat which were promulgated by +Carnot, Clayperon, Joule, Clausius, Mayer, Thomson, and Rankine. He +discarded the older notions of heat as a substance, and accepted it as +a form of energy. Working on this new line of thought, which gave him an +advantage over other inventors of his time, he made his first attempt +to economise heat, by constructing, in 1847, at the factory of Mr. +John Hick, of Bolton, an engine of four horse-power, having a condenser +provided with regenerators, and utilising superheated steam. Two +years later he continued his experiments at the works of Messrs. Fox, +Henderson, and Co., of Smethwick, near Birmingham, who had taken the +matter in hand. The use of superheated steam was, however, attended +with many practical difficulties, and the invention was not entirely +successful, but it embraced the elements of success; and the Society of +Arts, in 1850, acknowledged the value of the principle, by awarding Mr. +Siemens a gold medal for his regenerative condenser. Various papers read +before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Civil +Engineers, or appearing in DINGLER'S JOURNAL and the JOURNAL OF THE +FRANKLIN INSTITUTE about this time, illustrate the workings of his mind +upon the subject. That read in 1853, before the Institution of Civil +Engineers, 'On the Conversion of Heat into Mechanical Effect,' was +the first of a long series of communications to that learned body, and +gained for its author the Telford premium and medal. In it he contended +that a perfect engine would be one in which all the heat applied to the +steam was used up in its expansion behind a working piston, leaving none +to be sent into a condenser or the atmosphere, and that the best results +in any actual engine would be attained by carrying expansion to the +furthest possible limit, or, in practice, by the application of a +regenerator. Anxious to realise his theories further, he constructed a +twenty horse-power engine on the regenerative plan, and exhibited it +at the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855; but, not realising his +expectations, he substituted for it another of seven-horse power, +made by M. Farcot, of Paris, which was found to work with considerable +economy. The use of superheated steam, however, still proved a drawback, +and the Siemens engine has not been extensively used. + +On the other hand, the Siemens water-meter, which he introduced in 1851, +has been very widely used, not only in this country, but abroad. It acts +equally well under all variations of pressure, and with a constant or an +intermittent supply. + +Meanwhile his brother Werner had been turning his attention to +telegraphy, and the correspondence which never ceased between the +brothers kept William acquainted with his doings. In 1844, Werner, +then an officer in the Prussian army, was appointed to a berth in the +artillery workshops of Berlin, where he began to take an interest in +the new art of telegraphy. In 1845 Werner patented his dial and printing +telegraph instruments, which came into use all over Germany, and +introduced an automatic alarm on the same principle. These inventions +led to his being made, in 1846, a member of a commission in Berlin +for the introduction of electric telegraphs instead of semaphores. +He advocated the use of gutta-percha, then a new material, for the +insulation of underground wires, and in 1847 designed a screw-press for +coating the wires with the gum rendered plastic by heat. The following +year he laid the first great underground telegraph line from Berlin to +Frankfort-on-the-Main, and soon afterwards left the army to engage +with Mr. Halske in the management of a telegraph factory which they had +conjointly established in 1847. In 1852 William took an office in John +Street, Adelphi, with a view to practise as a civil engineer. Eleven +years later, Mr. Halske and William Siemens founded in London the house +of Siemens, Halske & Co., which began with a small factory at Millbank, +and developed in course of time into the well-known firm of Messrs. +Siemens Brothers, and was recently transformed into a limited liability +company. + +In 1859 William Siemens became a naturalised Englishman, and from this +time forward took an active part in the progress of English engineering +and telegraphy. He devoted a great part of his time to electrical +invention and research; and the number of telegraph apparatus of all +sorts--telegraph cables, land lines, and their accessories--which have +emanated from the Siemens Telegraph Works has been remarkable. The +engineers of this firm have been pioneers of the electric telegraph in +every quarter of the globe, both by land and sea. The most important +aerial line erected by the firm was the Indo-European telegraph line, +through Prussia, Russia, and Persia, to India. The North China cable, +the Platino-Brazileira, and the Direct United States cable, were laid +by the firm, the latter in 1874-5 So also was the French Atlantic cable, +and the two Jay Could Atlantic cables. At the time of his death the +manufacture and laying of the Bennett-Mackay Atlantic cables was in +progress at the company's works, Charlton. Some idea of the extent of +this manufactory may be gathered from the fact that it gives employment +to some 2,000 men. All branches of electrical work are followed out +in its various departments, including the construction of dynamos and +electric lamps. + +On July 23, 1859, Siemens was married at St. James's, Paddington, to +Anne, the youngest daughter of Mr. Joseph Gordon, Writer to the Signet, +Edinburgh, and brother to Mr. Lewis Gordon, Professor of Engineering in +the University of Glasgow, He used to say that on March 19 of that year +he took oath and allegiance to two ladies in one day--to the Queen and +his betrothed. The marriage was a thoroughly happy one. + +Although much engaged in the advancement of telegraphy, he was also +occupied with his favourite idea of regeneration. The regenerative +gas furnace, originally invented in 1848 by his brother Friedrich, +was perfected and introduced by him during many succeeding years. +The difficulties overcome in the development of this invention were +enormous, but the final triumph was complete. + +The principle of this furnace consists in utilising the heat of the +products of combustion to warm up the gaseous fuel and air which +enters the furnace. This is done by making these products pass through +brickwork chambers which absorb their heat and communicate it to the gas +and air currents going to the flame. An extremely high temperature is +thus obtained, and the furnace has, in consequence, been largely used in +the manufacture of glass and steel. + +Before the introduction of this furnace, attempts had been made to +produce cast-steel without the use of a crucible--that is to say, on +the 'open hearth' of the furnace. Reaumur was probably the first to show +that steel could be made by fusing malleable iron with cast-iron. Heath +patented the process in 1845; and a quantity of cast-steel was actually +prepared in this way, on the bed of a reverberatory furnace, by Sudre, +in France, during the year 1860. But the furnace was destroyed in the +act; and it remained for Siemens, with his regenerative furnace, to +realise the object. In 1862 Mr. Charles Atwood, of Tow Law, agreed to +erect such a furnace, and give the process a fair trial; but although +successful in producing the steel, he was afraid its temper was not +satisfactory, and discontinued the experiment. Next year, however, +Siemens, who was not to be disheartened, made another attempt with a +large furnace erected at the Montlucon Works, in France, where he was +assisted by the late M. le Chatellier, Inspecteur-General des Mines. +Some charges of steel were produced; but here again the roof of the +furnace melted down, and the company which had undertaken the trials +gave them up. The temperature required for the manufacture of the +steel was higher than the melting point of most fire-bricks. Further +endeavours also led to disappointments; but in the end the inventor was +successful. He erected experimental works at Birmingham, and gradually +matured his process until it was so far advanced that it could be +trusted to the hands of others. Siemens used a mixture of cast-steel +and iron ore to make the steel; but another manufacturer, M. Martin, +of Sireuil, in France, developed the older plan of mixing the cast-iron +with wrought-iron scrap. While Siemens was improving his means +at Birmingham, Martin was obtaining satisfactory results with a +regenerative furnace of his own design; and at the Paris Exhibition of +1867 samples of good open-hearth steel were shown by both manufacturers. +In England the process is now generally known as the 'Siemens-Martin,' +and on the Continent as the 'Martin-Siemens' process. + +The regenerative furnace is the greatest single invention of Charles +William Siemens. Owing to the large demand for steel for engineering +operations, both at home and abroad, it proved exceedingly remunerative. +Extensive works for the application of the process were erected at +Landore, where Siemens prosecuted his experiments on the subject with +unfailing ardour, and, among other things, succeeded in making a basic +brick for the lining of his furnaces which withstood the intense heat +fairly well. + +The process in detail consists in freeing the bath of melted pig-iron +from excess of carbon by adding broken lumps of pure hematite or +magnetite iron ore. This causes a violent boiling, which is kept up +until the metal becomes soft enough, when it is allowed to stand to let +the metal clear from the slag which floats in scum upon the top. The +separation of the slag and iron is facilitated by throwing in some lime +from time to time. Spiegel, or specular iron, is then added; about 1 per +cent. more than in the scrap process. From 20 to 24 cwt. of ore are used +in a 5-ton charge, and about half the metal is reduced and turned into +steel, so that the yield in ingots is from 1 to 2 per cent. more than +the weight of pig and spiegel iron in the charge. The consumption of +coal is rather larger than in the scrap process, and is from 14 to 15 +cwt. per ton of steel. The two processes of Siemens and Martin are often +combined, both scrap and ore being used in the same charge, the latter +being valuable as a tempering material. + +At present there are several large works engaged in manufacturing the +Siemens-Martin steel in England, namely, the Landore, the Parkhead +Forge, those of the Steel Company of Scotland, of Messrs. Vickers & Co., +Sheffield, and others. These produced no less than 340,000 tons of steel +during the year 1881, and two years later the total output had risen to +half a million tons. In 1876 the British Admiralty built two iron-clads, +the Mercury and Iris, of Siemens-Martin steel, and the experiment +proved so satisfactory, that this material only is now used in the Royal +dockyards for the construction of hulls and boilers. Moreover, the use +of it is gradually extending in the mercantile marine. Contemporaneous +with his development of the open-hearth process, William Siemens +introduced the rotary furnace for producing wrought-iron direct from the +ore without the need of puddling. + +The fervent heat of the Siemens furnace led the inventor to devise a +novel means of measuring high temperatures, which illustrates the value +of a broad scientific training to the inventor, and the happy manner in +which William Siemens, above all others, turned his varied knowledge to +account, and brought the facts and resources of one science to bear upon +another. As early as 1860, while engaged in testing the conductor of the +Malta to Alexandria telegraph cable, then in course of manufacture, he +was struck by the increase of resistance in metallic wires occasioned by +a rise of temperature, and the following year he devised a thermometer +based on the fact which he exhibited before the British Association +at Manchester. Mathiessen and others have since enunciated the +law according to which this rise of resistance varies with rise of +temperature; and Siemens has further perfected his apparatus, and +applied it as a pyrometer to the measurement of furnace fires. It forms +in reality an electric thermometer, which will indicate the temperature +of an inaccessible spot. A coil of platinum or platinum-alloy wire is +enclosed in a suitable fire-proof case and put into the furnace of which +the temperature is wanted. Connecting wires, properly protected, lend +from the coil to a differential voltameter, so that, by means of +the current from a battery circulating in the system, the electric +resistance of the coil in the furnace can be determined at any moment. +Since this resistance depends on the temperature of the furnace, the +temperature call be found from the resistance observed. The instrument +formed the subject of the Bakerian lecture for the year 1871. + +Siemens's researches on this subject, as published in the JOURNAL OF THE +SOCIETY OF TELEGRAPH ENGINEERS (Vol. I., p. 123, and Vol. III., p. 297), +included a set of curves graphically representing the relation between +temperature and electrical resistance in the case of various metals. + +The electric pyrometer, which is perhaps the most elegant and original +of all William Siemens's inventions, is also the link which connects his +electrical with his metallurgical researches. His invention ran in two +great grooves, one based upon the science of heat, the other based upon +the science of electricity; and the electric thermometer was, as it +were, a delicate cross-coupling which connected both. Siemens might have +been two men, if we are to judge by the work he did; and either half +of the twin-career he led would of itself suffice to make an eminent +reputation. + +The success of his metallurgical enterprise no doubt reacted on his +telegraphic business. The making and laying of the Malta to Alexandria +cable gave rise to researches on the resistance and electrification of +insulating materials under pressure, which formed the subject of a paper +read before the British Association in 1863. The effect of pressure +up to 300 atmospheres was observed, and the fact elicited that the +inductive capacity of gutta-percha is not affected by increased +pressure, whereas that of india-rubber is diminished. The electrical +tests employed during the construction of the Malta and Alexandria +cable, and the insulation and protection of submarine cables, also +formed the subject of a paper which was read before the Institution of +Civil Engineers in 1862. + +It is always interesting to trace the necessity which directly or +indirectly was the parent of a particular invention; and in the great +importance of an accurate record of the sea-depth in which a cable +is being laid, together with the tedious and troublesome character of +ordinary sounding by the lead-line, especially when a ship is actually +paying out cable, we may find the requirements which led to the +invention of the 'bathometer,' an instrument designed to indicate the +depth of water over which a vessel is passing without submerging a line. +The instrument was based on the ingenious idea that the attractive power +of the earth on a body in the ship must depend on the depth of water +interposed between it and the sea bottom; being less as the layer of +water was thicker, owing to the lighter character of water as compared +with the denser land. Siemens endeavoured to render this difference +visible by means of mercury contained in a chamber having a bottom +extremely sensitive to the pressure of the mercury upon it, and +resembling in some respects the vacuous chamber of an aneroid barometer. +Just as the latter instrument indicates the pressure of the atmosphere +above it, so the bathometer was intended to show the pull of the earth +below it; and experiment proved, we believe, that for every 1,000 +fathoms of sea-water below the ship, the total gravity of the mercury +was reduced by 1/3200 part. The bathometer, or attraction-meter, was +brought out in 1876, and exhibited at the Loan Exhibition in South +Kensington. The elastic bottom of the mercury chamber was supported by +volute springs which, always having the same tension, caused a portion +of the mercury to rise or fall in a spiral tube of glass, according to +the variations of the earth's attraction. The whole was kept at an even +temperature, and correction was made for barometric influence. Though +of high scientific interest, the apparatus appears to have failed at the +time from its very sensitiveness; the waves on the surface of the sea +having a greater disturbing action on its readings than the change of +depth. Siemens took a great interest in this very original machine, and +also devised a form applicable to the measurement of heights. Although +he laid the subject aside for some years, he ultimately took it up +again, in hopes of producing a practical apparatus which would be of +immediate service in the cable expeditions of the s.s. Faraday. + +This admirable cable steamer of 5,000 tons register was built for +Messrs. Siemens Brothers by Messrs. Mitchell & Co., at Newcastle. The +designs were mainly inspired by Siemens himself; and after the Hooper, +now the Silvertown, she was the second ship expressly built for cable +purposes. All the latest improvements that electric science and naval +engineering could suggest were in her united. With a length of 360 feet, +a width of 52 feet, and a depth of 36 feet in the hold, she was fitted +with a rudder at each end, either of which could be locked when desired, +and the other brought into play. Two screw propellers, actuated by a +pair of compound engines, were the means of driving the vessel, and they +were placed at a slight angle to each other, so that when the engines +were worked in opposite directions the Faraday could turn completely +round in her own length. Moreover, as the ship could steam forwards +or backwards with equal ease, it became unnecessary to pass the cable +forward before hauling it in, if a fault were discovered in the part +submerged: the motion of the ship had only to be reversed, the stern +rudder fixed, and the bow rudder turned, while a small engine was +employed to haul the cable back over the stern drum, which had been used +a few minutes before to pay it out. + +The first expedition of the Faraday was the laying of the Direct United +States cable in the winter of 1874 a work which, though interrupted by +stormy weather, was resumed and completed in the summer of 1875. She +has been engaged in laying several Atlantic cables since, and has been +fitted with the electric light, a resource which has proved of the +utmost service, not only in facilitating the night operations of +paying-out, but in guarding the ship from collision with icebergs in +foggy weather off the North American coast. + +Mention of the electric light brings us to an important act of the +inventor, which, though done on behalf of his brother Werner, was +pregnant with great consequences. This was his announcement before +a meeting of the Royal Society, held on February 14, 1867, of the +discovery of the principle of reinforcing the field magnetism of +magneto-electric generators by part or the whole of the current +generated in the revolving armature--a principle which has been applied +in the dynamo-electric machines, now so much used for producing electric +light and effecting the transmission of power to a distance by means of +the electric current. By a curious coincidence the same principle was +enunciated by Sir Charles Wheatstone at the very same meeting; while a +few months previously Mr. S. A. Varley had lodged an application for +a British patent, in which the same idea was set forth. The claims +of these three inventors to priority in the discovery were, however, +anticipated by at least one other investigator, Herr Soren Hjorth, +believed to be a Dane by birth, and still remembered by a few living +electricians, though forgotten by the scientific world at large, until +his neglected specification was unexpectedly dug out of the musty +archives of the British Patent Office and brought into the light. + +The announcement of Siemens and Wheatstone came at an apter time than +Hjorth's, and was more conspicuously made. Above all, in the affluent +and enterprising hands of the brothers Siemens, it was not suffered to +lie sterile, and the Siemens dynamo-electric machine was its offspring. +This dynamo, as is well known, differs from those of Gramme and +Paccinotti chiefly in the longitudinal winding of the armature, and it +is unnecessary to describe it here. It has been adapted by its inventors +to all kinds of electrical work, electrotyping, telegraphy, electric +lighting, and the propulsion of vehicles. + +The first electric tramway run at Berlin in 1879 was followed by another +at Dusseldorf in 1880, and a third at Paris in 1881. With all of these +the name of Werner Siemens was chiefly associated; but William Siemens +had also taken up the matter, and established at his country house +of Sherwood, near Tunbridge Wells, an arrangement of dynamos and +water-wheel, by which the power of a neighbouring stream was made to +light the house, cut chaff turn washing-machines, and perform other +household duties. More recently the construction of the electric +railway from Portrush to Bushmills, at the Giant's Causeway, engaged his +attention; and this, the first work of its kind in the United Kingdom, +and to all appearance the pioneer of many similar lines, was one of his +very last undertakings. + +In the recent development of electric lighting, William Siemens, whose +fame had been steadily growing, was a recognised leader, although +he himself made no great discoveries therein. As a public man and +a manufacturer of great resources his influence in assisting the +introduction of the light has been immense. The number of Siemens +machines and Siemens electric lamps, together with measuring instruments +such as the Siemens electro-dynamometer, which has been supplied to +different parts of the world by the firm of which he was the head, is +very considerable, and probably exceeds that of any other manufacturer, +at least in this country. + +Employing a staff of skilful assistants to develop many of his +ideas, Dr. Siemens was able to produce a great variety of electrical +instruments for measuring and other auxiliary purposes, all of which +bear the name of his firm, and have proved exceedingly useful in a +practical sense. + +Among the most interesting of Siemens's investigations were his +experiments on the influence of the electric light in promoting +the growth of plants, carried out during the winter of 1880 in the +greenhouses of Sherwood. These experiments showed that plants do not +require a period of rest, but continue to grow if light and other +necessaries are supplied to them. Siemens enhanced the daylight, and, as +it were, prolonged it through the night by means of arc lamps, with the +result of forcing excellent fruit and flowers to their maturity before +the natural time in this climate. + +While Siemens was testing the chemical and life-promoting influence of +the electric arc light, he was also occupied in trying its temperature +and heating power with an 'electric furnace,' consisting of a plumbago +crucible having two carbon electrodes entering it in such a manner that +the voltaic arc could be produced within it. He succeeded in fusing +a variety of refractory metals in a comparatively short time: thus, a +pound of broken files was melted in a cold crucible in thirteen minutes, +a result which is not surprising when we consider that the temperature +of the voltaic arc, as measured by Siemens and Rosetti, is between +2,000 and 3,000 Deg. Centigrade, or about one-third that of the probable +temperature of the sun. Sir Humphry Davy was the first to observe the +extraordinary fusing power of the voltaic arc, but Siemens first applied +it to a practical purpose in his electric furnace. + +Always ready to turn his inventive genius in any direction, the +introduction of the electric light, which had given an impetus to +improvement in the methods of utilising gas, led him to design a +regenerative gas lamp, which is now employed on a small scale in this +country, either for street lighting or in class-rooms and public +halls. In this burner, as in the regenerative furnace, the products +of combustion are made to warm up the air and gas which go to feed the +flame, and the effect is a full and brilliant light with some economy of +fuel. The use of coal-gas for heating purposes was another subject which +he took up with characteristic earnestness, and he advocated for a time +the use of gas stoves and fires in preference to those which burn coal, +not only on account of their cleanliness and convenience, but on the +score of preventing fogs in great cities, by checking the discharge +of smoke into the atmosphere. He designed a regenerative gas and coke +fireplace, in which the ingoing air was warmed by heat conducted from +the back part of the grate; and by practical trials in his own office, +calculated the economy of the system. The interest in this question, +however, died away after the close of the Smoke Abatement Exhibition; +and the experiments of Mr. Aiken, of Edinburgh, showed how futile was +the hope that gas fires would prevent fogs altogether. They might indeed +ameliorate the noxious character of a fog by checking the discharge +of soot into the atmosphere; but Mr. Aiken's experiments showed that +particles of gas were in themselves capable of condensing the moisture +of the air upon them. The great scheme of Siemens for making London a +smokeless city, by manufacturing gas at the coal-pit and leading it in +pipes from street to street, would not have rendered it altogether a +fogless one, though the coke and gas fires would certainly have reduced +the quantity of soot launched into the air. Siemens's scheme was +rejected by a Committee of the House of Lords on the somewhat mistaken +ground that if the plan were as profitable as Siemens supposed, it would +have been put in practice long ago by private enterprise. + +From the problem of heating a room, the mind of Siemens also passed to +the maintenance of solar fires, and occupied itself with the supply +of fuel to the sun. Some physicists have attributed the continuance +of solar heat to the contraction of the solar mass, and others to the +impact of cometary matter. Imbued with the idea of regeneration, and +seeking in nature for that thrift of power which he, as an inventor, +had always aimed at, Siemens suggested a hypothesis on which the sun +conserves its heat by a circulation of its fuel in space. The elements +dissociated in the intense heat of the glowing orb rush into the cooler +regions of space, and recombine to stream again towards the sun, where +the self-same process is renewed. The hypothesis was a daring one, and +evoked a great deal of discussion, to which the author replied with +interest, afterwards reprinting the controversy in a volume, ON THE +CONSERVATION OF SOLAR ENERGY. Whether true or not--and time will +probably decide--the solar hypothesis of Siemens revealed its author +in a new light. Hitherto he had been the ingenious inventor, the +enterprising man of business, the successful engineer; but now he took a +prominent place in the ranks of pure science and speculative philosophy. +The remarkable breadth of his mind and the abundance of his energies +were also illustrated by the active part he played in public matters +connected with the progress of science. His munificent gifts in the +cause of education, as much as his achievements in science, had brought +him a popular reputation of the best kind; and his public utterances in +connection with smoke abatement, the electric light. Electric railways, +and other topics of current interest, had rapidly brought him into a +foremost place among English scientific men. During the last years of +his life, Siemens advanced from the shade of mere professional celebrity +into the strong light of public fame. + +President of the British Association in 1882, and knighted in 1883, +Siemens was a member of numerous learned societies both at home +and abroad. In 1854 he became a Member of the Institution of Civil +Engineers; and in 1862 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. +He was twice President of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and the +Institution of Mechanical Engineers, besides being a Member of Council +of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a Vice-President of the Royal +Institution. The Society of Arts, as we have already seen, was the first +to honour him in the country of his adoption, by awarding him a gold +medal for his regenerative condenser in 1850; and in 1883 he became +its chairman. Many honours were conferred upon him in the course of +his career--the Telford prize in 1853, gold medals at the various great +Exhibitions, including that of Paris in 1881, and a GRAND PRIX at the +earlier Paris Exhibition of 1867 for his regenerative furnace. In 1874 +he received the Royal Albert Medal for his researches on heat, and in +1875 the Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute. Moreover, a few +days before his death, the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers +awarded him the Howard Quinquennial prize for his improvements in the +manufacture of iron and steel. At the request of his widow, it took the +form of a bronze copy of the 'Mourners,' a piece of statuary by J. G. +Lough, originally exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, in the +Crystal Palace. In 1869 the University of Oxford conferred upon him the +high distinction of D.C.L. (Doctor of Civil Law); and besides being +a member of several foreign societies, he was a Dignitario of the +Brazilian Order of the Rose, and Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. + +Rich in honours and the appreciation of his contemporaries, in the prime +of his working power and influence for good, and at the very climax of +his career, Sir William Siemens was called away. The news of his death +came with a shock of surprise, for hardly any one knew he had been ill. +He died on the evening of Monday, November 19, 1883, at nine o'clock. A +fortnight before, while returning from a managers' meeting of the Royal +Institution, in company with his friend Sir Frederick Bramwell, he +tripped upon the kerbstone of the pavement, after crossing Hamilton +Place, Piccadilly, and fell heavily to the ground, with his left arm +under him. Though a good deal shaken by the fall, he attended at his +office in Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, the next and for several +following days; but the exertion proved too much for him, and almost for +the first time in his busy life he was compelled to lay up. On his last +visit to the office he was engaged most of the time in dictating to his +private secretary a large portion of the address which he intended to +deliver as Chairman of the Council of the Society of Arts. This was on +Thursday, November 8, and the following Saturday he awoke early in the +morning with an acute pain about the heart and a sense of coldness in +the lower limbs. Hot baths and friction removed the pain, from which he +did not suffer much afterwards. A slight congestion of the left lung was +also relieved; and Sir William had so far recovered that he could leave +his room. On Saturday, the 17th, he was to have gone for a change of air +to his country seat at Sherwood; but on Wednesday, the 14th, he appears +to have caught a chill which affected his lungs, for that night he was +seized with a shortness of breath and a difficulty in breathing. Though +not actually confined to bed, he never left his room again. On the last +day, and within four hours of his death, we are told, his two medical +attendants, after consultation, spoke so hopefully of the future, that +no one was prepared for the sudden end which was then so near. In the +evening, while he was sitting in an arm-chair, very quiet and calm, +a change suddenly came over his face, and he died like one who falls +asleep. Heart disease of long standing, aggravated by the fall, was the +immediate cause; but the opinion has been expressed by one who knew +him well, that Siemens 'literally immolated himself on the shrine of +labour.' At any rate he did not spare himself, and his intense devotion +to his work proved fatal. + +Every day was a busy one with Siemens. His secretary was with him in +his residence by nine o'clock nearly every morning, except on Sundays, +assisting him in work for one society or another, the correction of +proofs, or the dictation of letters giving official or scientific +advice, and the preparation of lectures or patent specifications. Later +on, he hurried across the Park 'almost at racing speed,' to his offices +at Westminster, where the business of the Landore-Siemens Steel Company +and the Electrical Works of Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Company was +transacted. As chairman of these large undertakings, and principal +inventor of the processes and systems carried out by them, he had a +hundred things to attend to in connection with them, visitors to see, +and inquiries to answer. In the afternoon and evenings he was generally +engaged at council meetings of the learned societies, or directory +meetings of the companies in which he was interested. He was a man who +took little or no leisure, and though he never appeared to over-exert +himself, few men could have withstood the strain so long. + +Siemens was buried on Monday, November 26, in Kensal Green Cemetery. The +interment was preceded by a funeral service held in Westminster Abbey, +and attended by representatives of the numerous learned societies of +which he had been a conspicuous member, by many leading men in all +branches of science, and also by a large body of other friends and +admirers, who thus united in doing honour to his memory, and showing +their sense of the loss which all classes had sustained by his death. + +Siemens was above all things a 'labourer.' Unhasting, unresting +labour was the rule of his life; and the only relaxation, not to say +recreation, which he seems to have allowed himself was a change of task +or the calls of sleep. This natural activity was partly due to the spur +of his genius, and partly to his energetic spirit. For a man of his +temperament science is always holding out new problems to solve and +fresh promises of triumph. All he did only revealed more work to be +done; and many a scheme lies buried in his grave. + +Though Siemens was a man of varied powers, and occasionally gave himself +to pure speculation in matters of science, his mind was essentially +practical; and it was rather as an engineer than a discoverer that he +was great. Inventions are associated with his name, not laws or new +phenomena. Standing on the borderland between pure and applied science, +his sympathies were yet with the latter; and as the outgoing President +of the British Association at Southport, in 1882, he expressed the +opinion that 'in the great workshop of nature there are no lines +of demarcation to be drawn between the most exalted speculation and +common-place practice.' The truth of this is not to be gain-said, but it +is the utterance of an engineer who judges the merit of a thing by +its utility. He objected to the pursuit of science apart from its +application, and held that the man of science does most for his kind who +shows the world how to make use of scientific results. Such a view was +natural on the part of Siemens, who was himself a living representative +of the type in question; but it was not the view of such a man as +Faraday or Newton, whose pure aim was to discover truth, well knowing +that it would be turned to use thereafter. In Faraday's eyes the new +principle was a higher boon than the appliance which was founded upon +it. + +Tried by his own standard, however, Siemens was a conspicuous benefactor +of his fellow-men; and at the time of his decease he had become our +leading authority upon applied science. In electricity he was a pioneer +of the new advances, and happily lived to obtain at least a Pisgah view +of the great future which evidently lies before that pregnant force. + +If we look for the secret of Siemens's remarkable success, we shall +assuredly find it in an inventive mind, coupled with a strong commercial +instinct, and supported by a physical energy which enabled him to labour +long and incessantly. It is told that when a mechanical problem was +brought to him for solution, he would suggest six ways of overcoming the +difficulty, three of which would be impracticable, the others feasible, +and one at least successful. From this we gather that his mind was +fertile in expedients. The large works which he established are also a +proof that, unlike most inventors, he did not lose his interest in an +invention, or forsake it for another before it had been brought into the +market. On the contrary, he was never satisfied with an invention until +it was put into practical operation. + +To the ordinary observer, Siemens did not betray any signs of the +untiring energy that possessed him. His countenance was usually serene +and tranquil, as that of a thinker rather than a man of action; his +demeanour was cool and collected; his words few and well-chosen. In his +manner, as well as in his works, there was no useless waste of power. + +To the young he was kind and sympathetic, hearing, encouraging, +advising; a good master, a firm friend. His very presence had a calm and +orderly influence on those about him, which when he presided at a Public +meeting insensibly introduced a gracious tone. The diffident took +heart before him, and the presumptuous were checked. The virtues which +accompanied him into public life did not desert him in private. In +losing him, we have lost not only a powerful intellect, but a bright +example, and an amiable man. + + + +CHAPTER VI. FLEEMING JENKIN. + +The late Fleeming Jenkin, Professor of Engineering in Edinburgh +University, was remarkable for the versatility of his talent. Known to +the world as the inventor of Telpherage, he was an electrician and cable +engineer of the first rank, a lucid lecturer, and a good linguist, a +skilful critic, a writer and actor of plays, and a clever sketcher. In +popular parlance, Jenkin was a dab at everything. + +His father, Captain Charles Jenkin, R.N., was the second son of Mr. +Charles Jenkin, of Stowting Court, himself a naval officer, who had +taken part in the actions with De Grasse. Stowting Court, a small estate +some six miles north of Hythe, had been in the family since the year +1633, and was held of the Crown by the feudal service of six men and a +constable to defend the sea-way at Sandgate. Certain Jenkins had settled +in Kent during the reign of Henry VIII., and claimed to have come from +Yorkshire. They bore the arms of Jenkin ap Phillip of St. Melans, who +traced his descent from 'Guaith Voeth,' Lord of Cardigan. + +While cruising in the West Indies, carrying specie, or chasing +buccaneers and slavers, Charles Jenkin, junior, was introduced to the +family of a fellow midshipman, son of Mr. Jackson, Custos Rotulorum of +Kingston, Jamaica, and fell in love with Henrietta Camilla, the youngest +daughter. Mr. Jackson came of a Yorkshire stock, said to be of Scottish +origin, and Susan, his wife, was a daughter of [Sir] Colin Campbell, +a Greenock merchant, who inherited but never assumed the baronetcy of +Auchinbreck. [According to BURKE'S PEERAGE (1889), the title went to +another branch.] + +Charles Jenkin, senior, died in 1831, leaving his estate so heavily +encumbered, through extravagance and high living, that only the +mill-farm was saved for John, the heir, an easy-going, unpractical +man, with a turn for abortive devices. His brother Charles married soon +afterwards, and with the help of his wife's money bought in most of +Stowting Court, which, however, yielded him no income until late in +life. Charles was a useful officer and an amiable gentleman; but lacking +energy and talent, he never rose above the grade of Commander, and was +superseded after forty-five years of service. He is represented as a +brave, single-minded, and affectionate sailor, who on one occasion saved +several men from suffocation by a burning cargo at the risk of his own +life. Henrietta Camilla Jackson, his wife, was a woman of a strong and +energetic character. Without beauty of countenance, she possessed the +art of pleasing, and in default of genius she was endowed with a variety +of gifts. She played the harp, sang, and sketched with native art. At +seventeen, on hearing Pasta sing in Paris, she sought out the artist +and solicited lessons. Pasta, on hearing her sing, encouraged her, and +recommended a teacher. She wrote novels, which, however, failed to +make their mark. At forty, on losing her voice, she took to playing the +piano, practising eight hours a day; and when she was over sixty she +began the study of Hebrew. + +The only child of this union was Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, +generally called Fleeming Jenkin, after Admiral Fleeming, one of his +father's patrons. He was born on March 25, 1833, in a building of +the Government near Dungeness, his father at that time being on the +coast-guard service. His versatility was evidently derived from his +mother, who, owing to her husband's frequent absence at sea and his +weaker character, had the principal share in the boy's earlier training. + +Jenkin was fortunate in having an excellent education. His mother took +him to the south of Scotland, where, chiefly at Barjarg, she taught +him drawing among other things, and allowed him to ride his pony on the +moors. He went to school at Jedburgh, and afterwards to the Edinburgh +Academy, where he carried off many prizes. Among his schoolfellows were +Clerk Maxwell and Peter Guthrie Tait, the friends of his maturer life. + +On the retirement of his father the family removed to Frankfort in 1847, +partly from motives of economy and partly for the boy's instruction. +Here Fleeming and his father spent a pleasant time together, sketching +old castles, and observing the customs of the peasantry. Fleeming was +precocious, and at thirteen had finished a romance of three hundred +lines in heroic measure, a Scotch novel, and innumerable poetical +fragments, none of which are now extant. He learned German in Frankfort; +and on the family migrating to Paris the following year, he studied +French and mathematics under a certain M. Deluc. While here, Fleeming +witnessed the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848, and heard the first +shot. In a letter written to an old schoolfellow while the sound still +rang in his ears, and his hand trembled with excitement, he gives a +boyish account of the circumstances. The family were living in the Rue +Caumartin, and on the evening of February 23 he and his father were +taking a walk along the boulevards, which were illuminated for joy at +the resignation of M. Guizot. They passed the residence of the Foreign +Minister, which was guarded with troops, and further on encountered a +band of rioters marching along the street with torches, and singing the +Marseillaise. After them came a rabble of men and women of all sorts, +rich and poor, some of them armed with sticks and sabres. They turned +back with these, the boy delighted with the spectacle, 'I remarked to +papa' (he writes),'I would not have missed the scene for anything. I +might never see such a splendid one; when PONG went one shot. Every face +went pale: R--R--R--R--R went the whole detachment [of troops], and +the whole crowd of gentlemen and ladies turned and cut. Such a +scene!---ladies, gentlemen, and vagabonds went sprawling in the mud, not +shot but tripped up, and those that went down could not rise--they were +trampled over.... I ran a short time straight on and did not fall, then +turned down a side street, ran fifty yards, and felt tolerably safe; +looked for papa; did not see him; so walked on quickly, giving the news +as I went.' + +Next day, while with his father in the Place de la Concorde, which was +filled with troops, the gates of the Tuileries Garden were suddenly +flung open, and out galloped a troop of cuirassiers, in the midst +of whom was an open carriage containing the king and queen, who had +abdicated. Then came the sacking of the Tuileries, the people mounting +a cannon on the roof, and firing blank cartridges to testify their joy. +'It was a sight to see a palace sacked' (wrote the boy), 'and armed +vagabonds firing out of the windows, and throwing shirts, papers, and +dresses of all kinds out.... They are not rogues, the French; they are +not stealing, burning, or doing much harm.' [MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN, +by R. L. Stevenson.] + +The Revolution obliged the Jenkins to leave Paris, and they proceeded to +Genoa, where they experienced another, and Mrs. Jenkin, with her son +and sister-in-law, had to seek the protection of a British vessel in the +harbour, leaving their house stored with the property of their friends, +and guarded by the Union Jack and Captain Jenkin. + +At Genoa, Fleeming attended the University, and was its first Protestant +student. Professor Bancalari was the professor of natural philosophy, +and lectured on electro-magnetism, his physical laboratory being the +best in Italy. Jenkin took the degree of M.A. with first-class honours, +his special subject having been electro-magnetism. The questions in the +examinations were put in Latin, and answered in Italian. Fleeming also +attended an Art school in the city, and gained a silver medal for a +drawing from one of Raphael's cartoons. His holidays were spent in +sketching, and his evenings in learning to play the piano; or, when +permissible, at the theatre or opera-house; for ever since hearing +Rachel recite the Marseillaise at the Theatre Francaise, he had +conceived a taste for acting. + +In 1850 Fleeming spent some time in a Genoese locomotive shop under Mr. +Philip Taylor, of Marseilles; but on the death of his Aunt Anna, who +lived with them, Captain Jenkin took his family to England, and settled +in Manchester, where the lad, in 1851, was apprenticed to mechanical +engineering at the works of Messrs. Fairbairn, and from half-past eight +in the morning till six at night had, as he says, 'to file and chip +vigorously, in a moleskin suit, and infernally dirty.' At home he +pursued his studies, and was for a time engaged with Dr. Bell in +working out a geometrical method of arriving at the proportions of Greek +architecture. His stay amidst the smoke and bustle of Manchester, though +in striking contrast to his life in Genoa, was on the whole agreeable. +He liked his work, had the good spirits of youth, and made some pleasant +friends, one of them the authoress, Mrs. Gaskell. Even as a boy he was +disputatious, and his mother tells of his having overcome a Consul at +Genoa in a political discussion when he was only sixteen, 'simply from +being well-informed on the subject, and honest. He is as true as steel,' +she writes, 'and for no one will he bend right or left... Do not fancy +him a Bobadil; he is only a very true, candid boy. I am so glad he +remains in all respects but information a great child.' + +On leaving Fairbairn's he was engaged for a time on a survey for the +proposed Lukmanier Railway, in Switzerland, and in 1856 he entered the +engineering works of Mr. Penn, at Greenwich, as a draughtsman, and was +occupied on the plans of a vessel designed for the Crimean war. He did +not care for his berth, and complained of its late hours, his rough +comrades, with whom he had to be 'as little like himself as possible,' +and his humble lodgings, 'across a dirty green and through some +half-built streets of two-storied houses.... Luckily,' he adds, 'I +am fond of my profession, or I could not stand this life.' There was +probably no real hardship in his present situation, and thousands of +young engineers go through the like experience at the outset of their +career without a murmur,' and even with enjoyment; but Jenkin had +been his mother's pet until then, with a girl's delicate training, and +probably felt the change from home more keenly on that account. At +night he read engineering and mathematics, or Carlyle and the poets, and +cheered his drooping spirits with frequent trips to London to see his +mother. + +Another social pleasure was his visits to the house of Mr. Alfred +Austin, a barrister, who became permanent secretary to Her Majesty's +Office of Works and Public Buildings, and retired in 1868 with the title +of C.B. His wife, Eliza Barron, was the youngest daughter of Mr. +E. Barron, a gentleman of Norwich, the son of a rich saddler, or +leather-seller, in the Borough, who, when a child, had been patted on +the head, in his father's shop, by Dr. Johnson, while canvassing for Mr. +Thrale. Jenkin had been introduced to the Austins by a letter from Mrs. +Gaskell, and was charmed with the atmosphere of their choice home, where +intellectual conversation was happily united with kind and courteous +manners, without any pretence or affectation. 'Each of the Austins,' +says Mr. Stevenson, in his memoir of Jenkin, to which we are much +indebted, 'was full of high spirits; each practised something of the +same repression; no sharp word was uttered in the house. The same point +of honour ruled them: a guest was sacred, and stood within the pale from +criticism.' In short, the Austins were truly hospitable and cultured, +not merely so in form and appearance. It was a rare privilege and +preservative for a solitary young man in Jenkin's position to have the +entry into such elevating society, and he appreciated his good fortune. + +Annie Austin, their only child, had been highly educated, and knew Greek +among other things. Though Jenkin loved and admired her parents, he did +not at first care for Annie, who, on her part, thought him vain, and +by no means good-looking. Mr. Stevenson hints that she vanquished his +stubborn heart by correcting a 'false quantity' of his one day, for he +was the man to reflect over a correction, and 'admire the castigator.' +Be this as it may, Jenkin by degrees fell deeply in love with her. + +He was poor and nameless, and this made him diffident; but the liking of +her parents for him gave him hope. Moreover, he had entered the service +of Messrs. Liddell and Gordon, who were engaged in the new work of +submarine telegraphy, which satisfied his aspirations, and promised him +a successful career. With this new-born confidence in his future, he +solicited the Austins for leave to court their daughter, and it was not +withheld. Mrs. Austin consented freely, and Mr. Austin only reserved +the right to inquire into his character. Neither of them mentioned his +income or prospects, and Jenkin, overcome by their disinterestedness, +exclaimed in one of his letters, 'Are these people the same as other +people?' Thus permitted, he addressed himself to Annie, and was nearly +rejected for his pains. Miss Austin seems to have resented his courtship +of her parents first; but the mother's favour, and his own spirited +behaviour, saved him, and won her consent. + +Then followed one of the happiest epochs in Jenkin's life. After leaving +Penn's he worked at railway engineering for a time under Messrs. Liddell +and Gordon; and, in 1857, became engineer to Messrs. R. S. Newall & Co., +of Gateshead, who shared the work of making the first Atlantic cable +with Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co., of Greenwich. Jenkin was busy +designing and fitting up machinery for cableships, and making electrical +experiments. 'I am half crazy with work,' he wrote to his betrothed; +'I like it though: it's like a good ball, the excitement carries you +through.' Again he wrote, 'My profession gives me all the excitement and +interest I ever hope for.'... 'I am at the works till ten, and sometimes +till eleven. But I have a nice office to sit in, with a fire to myself, +and bright brass scientific instruments all round me, and books to read, +and experiments to make, and enjoy myself amazingly. I find the study of +electricity so entertaining that I am apt to neglect my other +work.'... 'What shall I compare them to,' he writes of some electrical +experiments, 'a new song? or a Greek play?' In the spring of 1855 he +was fitting out the s.s. Elba, at Birkenhead, for his first telegraph +cruise. It appears that in 1855 Mr. Henry Brett attempted to lay a +cable across the Mediterranean between Cape Spartivento, in the south +of Sardinia, and a point near Bona, on the coast of Algeria. It was +a gutta-percha cable of six wires or conductors, and manufactured by +Messrs. Glass & Elliott, of Greenwich--a firm which afterwards combined +with the Gutta-Percha Company, and became the existing Telegraph +Construction and Maintenance Company. Mr. Brett laid the cable from the +Result, a sailing ship in tow, instead of a more manageable steamer; +and, meeting with 600 fathoms of water when twenty-five miles from land, +the cable ran out so fast that a tangled skein came up out of the hold, +and the line had to be severed. Having only 150 miles on board to span +the whole distance of 140 miles, he grappled the lost cable near the +shore, raised it, and 'under-run' or passed it over the ship, for some +twenty miles, then cut it, leaving the seaward end on the bottom. He +then spliced the ship's cable to the shoreward end and resumed his +paying-out; but after seventy miles in all were laid, another rapid rush +of cable took place, and Mr. Brett was obliged to cut and abandon the +line. + +Another attempt was made the following year, but with no better +success. Mr. Brett then tried to lay a three-wire cable from the steamer +Dutchman, but owing to the deep water--in some places 1500 fathoms--its +egress was so rapid, that when he came to a few miles from Galita, his +destination on the Algerian coast, he had not enough cable to reach the +land. He therefore telegraphed to London for more cable to be made and +sent out, while the ship remained there holding to the end. For five +days he succeeded in doing so, sending and receiving messages; but heavy +weather came on, and the cable parted, having, it is said, been chafed +through by rubbing on the bottom. After that Mr. Brett went home. + +It was to recover the lost cable of these expeditions that the Elba was +got ready for sea. Jenkin had fitted her out the year before for laying +the Cagliari to Malta and Corfu cables; but on this occasion she was +better equipped. She had a new machine for picking up the cable, and +a sheave or pulley at the bows for it to run over, both designed by +Jenkin, together with a variety of wooden buoys, ropes, and chains. Mr. +Liddell, assisted by Mr. F. C. Webb and Fleeming Jenkin, were in charge +of the expedition. The latter had nothing to do with the electrical +work, his care being the deck machinery for raising the cable; but +it entailed a good deal of responsibility, which was flattering and +agreeable to a young man of his parts. + +'I own I like responsibility,' he wrote to Miss Austin, while fitting +up the vessel; 'it flatters one; and then, your father might say, I have +more to gain than lose. Moreover, I do like this bloodless, painless +combat with wood and iron, forcing the stubborn rascals to do my will, +licking the clumsy cubs into an active shape, seeing the child of +to-day's thought working to-morrow in full vigour at his appointed +task.' Another letter, dated May 17, gives a picture of the start. 'Not +a sailor will join us till the last moment; and then, just as the ship +forges ahead through the narrow pass, beds and baggage fly on board, the +men, half tipsy, clutch at the rigging, the captain swears, the women +scream and sob, the crowd cheer and laugh, while one or two pretty +little girls stand still and cry outright, regardless of all eyes.' + +The Elba arrived at Bona on June 3, and Jenkin landed at Fort Genova, +on Cape Hamrah, where some Arabs were building a land line. 'It was +a strange scene,' he writes, 'far more novel than I had imagined; the +high, steep bank covered with rich, spicy vegetation, of which I hardly +knew one plant. The dwarf palm, with fan-like leaves, growing about two +feet high, forms the staple verdure.' After dining in Fort Genova, he +had nothing to do but watch the sailors ordering the Arabs about under +the 'generic term "Johnny."' He began to tire of the scene, although, +as he confesses, he had willingly paid more money for less strange and +lovely sights. Jenkin was not a dreamer; he disliked being idle, and if +he had had a pencil he would have amused himself in sketching what he +saw. That his eyes were busy is evident from the particulars given +in his letter, where he notes the yellow thistles and 'Scotch-looking +gowans' which grow there, along with the cistus and the fig-tree. + +They left Bona on June 5, and, after calling at Cagliari and Chia, +arrived at Cape Spartivento on the morning of June 8. The coast here +is a low range of heathy hills, with brilliant green bushes and marshy +pools. Mr. Webb remarks that its reputation for fever was so bad as to +cause Italian men-of-war to sheer off in passing by. Jenkin suffered +a little from malaria, but of a different origin. 'A number of the +SATURDAY REVIEW here,' he writes; 'it reads so hot and feverish, so +tomb-like and unhealthy, in the midst of dear Nature's hills and sea, +with good wholesome work to do.' + +There were several pieces of submerged cable to lift, two with their +ends on shore, and one or two lying out at sea. Next day operations +were begun on the shore end, which had become buried under the sand, and +could not be raised without grappling. After attempts to free the cable +from the sand in small boats, the Elba came up to help, and anchored +in shallow water about sunset. Curiously enough, the anchor happened to +hook, and so discover the cable, which was thereupon grappled, cut, and +the sea end brought on board over the bow sheave. After being passed six +times round the picking-up drum it was led into the hold, and the +Elba slowly forged ahead, hauling in the cable from the bottom as she +proceeded. At half-past nine she anchored for the night some distance +from the shore, and at three next morning resumed her picking up. 'With +a small delay for one or two improvements I had seen to be necessary +last night,' writes Jenkin, 'the engine started, and since that time I +do not think there has been half an hour's stoppage. A rope to splice, a +block to change, a wheel to oil, an old rusted anchor to disengage from +the cable, which brought it up--these have been our only obstructions. +Sixty, seventy, eighty, a hundred, a hundred and twenty revolutions at +last my little engine tears away. The even black rope comes straight +out of the blue, heaving water, passes slowly round an open-hearted, +good-tempered-looking pulley, five feet in diameter, aft past a vicious +nipper, to bring all up should anything go wrong, through a gentle guide +on to a huge bluff drum, who wraps him round his body, and says, "Come +you must," as plain as drum can speak; the chattering pauls say, "I've +got him, I've got him; he can't come back," whilst black cable, much +slacker and easier in mind and body, is taken by a slim V-pulley +and passed down into the huge hold, where half a dozen men put him +comfortably to bed after his exertion in rising from his long bath. + +'I am very glad I am here, for my machines are my own children, and I +look on their little failings with a parent's eye, and lead them into +the path of duty with gentleness and firmness. I am naturally in good +spirits, but keep very quiet, for misfortunes may arise at any instant; +moreover, to-morrow my paying-out apparatus will be wanted should all +go well, and that will be another nervous operation. Fifteen miles are +safely in, but no one knows better than I do that nothing is done till +all is done.' + +JUNE 11.--'It would amuse you to see how cool (in head) and jolly +everybody is. A testy word now and then shows the nerves are strained +a little, but every one laughs and makes his little jokes as if it were +all in fun....I enjoy it very much.' + +JUNE 13, SUNDAY.--'It now (at 10.30) blows a pretty stiff gale, and the +sea has also risen, and the Elba's bows rise and fall about nine feet. +We make twelve pitches to the minute, and the poor cable must feel very +sea-sick by this time. We are quite unable to do anything, and continue +riding at anchor in one thousand fathoms, the engines going constantly, +so as to keep the ship's bows close up to the cable, which by this means +hangs nearly vertical, and sustains no strain but that caused by its own +weight and the pitching of the vessel. We were all up at four, but the +weather entirely forbade work for to-day; so some went to bed, and +most lay down, making up our lee-way, as we nautically term our loss of +sleep. I must say Liddell is a fine fellow, and keeps his patience and +his temper wonderfully; and yet how he does fret and fume about trifles +at home!' + +JUNE 16.--'By some odd chance a TIMES of June 7 has found its way on +board through the agency of a wretched old peasant who watches the end +of the line here. A long account of breakages in the Atlantic trial +trip. To-night we grapple for the heavy cable, eight tons to the mile. I +long to have a tug at him; he may puzzle me; and though misfortunes, +or rather difficulties, are a bore at the time, life, when working with +cables, is tame without them.--2 p.m. Hurrah! he is hooked--the big +fellow--almost at the first cast. He hangs under our bows, looking so +huge and imposing that I could find it in my heart to be afraid of him.' + +JUNE 17.--'We went to a little bay called Chia, where a fresh-water +stream falls into the sea, and took in water. This is rather a long +operation, so I went up the valley with Mr. Liddell. The coast here +consists of rocky mountains 800 to 1000 feet high, covered with shrubs +of a brilliant green. On landing, our first amusement was watching the +hundreds of large fish who lazily swam in shoals about the river. The +big canes on the further side hold numberless tortoises, we are told, +but see none, for just now they prefer taking a siesta. A little further +on, and what is this with large pink flowers in such abundance?--the +oleander in full flower! At first I fear to pluck them, thinking they +must be cultivated and valuable; but soon the banks show a long line of +thick tall shrubs, one mass of glorious pink and green, set there in a +little valley, whose rocks gleam out blue and purple colours, such +as pre-Raphaelites only dare attempt, shining out hard and weird-like +amongst the clumps of castor-oil plants, cistus, arbor-vitae, and many +other evergreens, whose names, alas! I know not; the cistus is brown +now, the rest all deep and brilliant green. Large herds of cattle +browse on the baked deposit at the foot of these large crags. One or +two half-savage herdsmen in sheepskin kilts, etc., ask for cigars; +partridges whirr up on either side of us; pigeons coo and nightingales +sing amongst the blooming oleander. We get six sheep, and many fowls +too, from the priest of the small village, and then run back to +Spartivento and make preparations for the morning.' + +JUNE 18.--'The short length (of the big-cable) we have picked up was +covered at places with beautiful sprays of coral, twisted and twined +with shells of those small fairy animals we saw in the aquarium at +home. Poor little things! they died at once, with their little bells and +delicate bright tints.' + +JUNE 19.--'Hour after hour I stand on the fore-castle-head picking off +little specimens of polypi and coral, or lie on the saloon deck reading +back numbers of the TIMES, till something hitches, and then all is +hurly-burly once more. There are awnings all along the ship, and a most +ancient and fish-like smell (from the decaying polypi) beneath.' + +JUNE 22.--'Yesterday the cable was often a lovely sight, coming out of +the water one large incrustation of delicate net-like corals and long +white curling shells. No portion of the dirty black wire was visible; +instead we had a garland of soft pink, with little scarlet sprays and +white enamel intermixed. All was fragile, however, and could hardly +be secured in safety; and inexorable iron crushed the tender leaves to +atoms.' + +JUNE 24.--'The whole day spent in dredging, without success. This +operation consists in allowing the ship to drift slowly across the line +where you expect the cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, +fast either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along the ground. The +grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to back. +When the rope gets taut the ship is stopped and the grapnel hauled up to +the surface in the hopes of finding the cable on its prongs. I am much +discontented with myself for idly lounging about and reading WESTWARD +HO! for the second time instead of taking to electricity or picking up +nautical information.' + +During the latter part of the work much of the cable was found to be +looped and twisted into 'kinks' from having been so slackly laid, and +two immense tangled skeins were raised on board, one by means of the +mast-head and fore-yard tackle. Photographs of this ravelled cable +were for a long time exhibited as a curiosity in the windows of Messrs. +Newall & Co's. shop in the Strand, where we remember to have seen them. + +By July 5 the whole of the six-wire cable had been recovered, and a +portion of the three-wire cable, the rest being abandoned as unfit +for use, owing to its twisted condition. Their work was over, but an +unfortunate accident marred its conclusion. On the evening of the 2nd +the first mate, while on the water unshackling a buoy, was struck in +the back by a fluke of the ship's anchor as she drifted, and so severely +injured that he lay for many weeks at Cagliari. Jenkin's knowledge of +languages made him useful as an interpreter; but in mentioning this +incident to Miss Austin, he writes, 'For no fortune would I be a doctor +to witness these scenes continually. Pain is a terrible thing.' + +In the beginning of 1859 he made the acquaintance of Sir William +Thomson, his future friend and partner. Mr. Lewis Gordon, of Messrs. R. +S. Newall & Co., afterwards the earliest professor of engineering in a +British University, was then in Glasgow seeing Sir William's instruments +for testing and signalling on the first Atlantic cable during the six +weeks of its working. Mr. Gordon said he should like to show them to 'a +young man of remarkable ability,' engaged at their Birkenhead Works, and +Jenkin, being telegraphed for, arrived next morning, and spent a week +in Glasgow, mostly in Sir William's class-room and laboratory at the old +college. Sir William tells us that he was struck not only with Jenkin's +brightness and ability, but with his resolution to understand everything +spoken of; to see, if possible, thoroughly into every difficult +question, and to slur over nothing. 'I soon found,' he remarks, 'that +thoroughness of honesty was as strongly engrained in the scientific +as in the moral side of his character.' Their talk was chiefly on +the electric telegraph; but Jenkin was eager, too, on the subject of +physics. After staying a week he returned to the factory; but he began +experiments, and corresponded briskly with Sir William about cable +work. That great electrician, indeed, seems to have infected his visitor +during their brief contact with the magnetic force of his personality +and enthusiasm. + +The year was propitious, and, in addition to this friend, Fortune about +the same time bestowed a still better gift on Jenkin. On Saturday, +February 26, during a four days' leave, he was married to Miss Austin +at Northiam, returning to his work the following Tuesday. This was the +great event of his life; he was strongly attached to his wife, and his +letters reveal a warmth of affection, a chivalry of sentiment, and +even a romance of expression, which a casual observer would never have +suspected in him. Jenkin seemed to the outside world a man without a +heart, and yet we find him saying in the year 1869, 'People may write +novels, and other people may write poems, but not a man or woman among +them can say how happy a man can be who is desperately in love with his +wife after ten years of marriage.' Five weeks before his death he +wrote to her, 'Your first letter from Bournemouth gives me heavenly +pleasure--for which I thank Heaven and you, too, who are my heaven on +earth.' + +During the summer he enjoyed another telegraph cruise in the +Mediterranean, a sea which for its classical memories, its lovely +climate, and diversified scenes, is by far the most interesting in the +world. This time the Elba was to lay a cable from the Greek islands of +Syra and Candia to Egypt. Cable-laying is a pleasant mode of travel. +Many of those on board the ship are friends and comrades in former +expeditions, and all are engaged in the same venture. Some have seen a +good deal of the world, both in and out of the beaten track; they have +curious 'yarns to spin,' and useful hints or scraps of worldly wisdom to +bestow. The voyage out is like a holiday excursion, for it is only +the laying that is arduous, and even that is lightened by excitement. +Glimpses are got of hide-away spots, where the cable is landed, perhaps. +on the verge of the primeval forest or near the port of a modern city, +or by the site of some ruined monument of the past. The very magic of +the craft and its benefit to the world are a source of pleasure to the +engineer, who is generally made much of in the distant parts he has come +to join. No doubt there are hardships to be borne, sea-sickness, broken +rest, and anxiety about the work--for cables are apt suddenly to fail, +and the ocean is treacherous; but with all its drawbacks this happy +mixture of changing travel and profitable labour is very attractive, +especially to a young man. + +The following extracts from letters to his wife will illustrate the +nature of the work, and also give an idea of Jenkin's clear and graphic +style of correspondence:--May 14.--'Syra is semi-eastern. The pavement, +huge shapeless blocks sloping to a central gutter; from this base +two-storeyed houses, sometimes plaster, many-coloured, sometimes +rough-hewn marble, rise, dirty and ill-finished, to straight, plain, +flat roofs; shops guiltless of windows, with signs in Greek letters; +dogs, Greeks in blue, baggy, Zouave breeches and a fez, a few +narghilehs, and a sprinkling of the ordinary continental shop-boys. +In the evening I tried one more walk in Syra with A----, but in +vain endeavoured to amuse myself or to spend money, the first effort +resulting in singing DOODAH to a passing Greek or two, the second in +spending--no, in making A---- spend--threepence on coffee for three.' + +Canea Bay, in Candia (or Crete), which they reached on May 16, appeared +to Jenkin one of the loveliest sights that man could witness. + +May 23.--'I spent the day at the little station where the cable was +landed, which has apparently been first a Venetian monastery and then +a Turkish mosque. At any rate the big dome is very cool, and the little +ones hold batteries capitally. A handsome young Bashi-Bazouk guards it, +and a still handsomer mountaineer is the servant; so I draw them and the +monastery and the hill till I'm black in the face with heat, and come on +board to hear the Canea cable is still bad.' + +May 23.--'We arrived in the morning at the east end of Candia, and had a +glorious scramble over the mountains, which seem built of adamant. +Time has worn away the softer portions of the rock, only leaving sharp, +jagged edges of steel; sea eagles soaring above our heads--old tanks, +ruins, and desolation at our feet. The ancient Arsinoe stood here: a +few blocks of marble with the cross attest the presence of Venetian +Christians; but now--the desolation of desolations. Mr. Liddell and I +separated from the rest, and when we had found a sure bay for the cable, +had a tremendous lively scramble back to the boat. These are the bits of +our life which I enjoy; which have some poetry, some grandeur in them. + +May 29.-'Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour (of Alexandria), +landed the shore end of the cable close to Cleopatra's Bath, and made a +very satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We had scarcely +gone 200 yards when I noticed that the cable ceased to run out, and I +wondered why the ship had stopped.' + +The Elba had run her nose on a sandbank. After trying to force her over +it, an anchor was put out astern and the rope wound by a steam winch, +while the engines were backed; but all in vain. At length a small +Turkish steamer, the consort of the Elba, came to her assistance, and by +means of a hawser helped to tug her off: The pilot again ran her aground +soon after, but she was delivered by the same means without much damage. +When two-thirds of this cable was laid the line snapped in deep water, +and had to be recovered. On Saturday, June 4, they arrived at Syra, +where they had to perform four days' quarantine, during which, however, +they started repairing the Canea cable. + +Bad weather coming on, they took shelter in Siphano, of which Jenkin +writes: 'These isles of Greece are sad, interesting places. They are +not really barren all over, but they are quite destitute of verdure; and +tufts of thyme, wild mastic, or mint, though they sound well, are not +nearly so pretty as grass. Many little churches, glittering white, dot +the islands; most of them, I believe, abandoned during the whole year +with the exception of one day sacred to their patron saint. The villages +are mean; but the inhabitants do not look wretched, and the men are +capital sailors. There is something in this Greek race yet; they will +become a powerful Levantine nation in the course of time.' + +In 1861 Jenkin left the service of Newall & Co., and entered into +partnership with Mr. H. C. Forde, who had acted as engineer under +the British Government for the Malta-Alexandria cable, and was now +practising as a civil engineer. For several years after this business +was bad, and with a young family coming, it was an anxious time for him; +but he seems to have borne his troubles lightly. Mr. Stevenson says +it was his principle 'to enjoy each day's happiness as it arises, like +birds and children.' + +In 1863 his first son was born, and the family removed to a cottage at +Claygate, near Esher. Though ill and poor at this period, he kept up +his self-confidence. 'The country,' he wrote to his wife, 'will give us, +please God, health and strength. I will love and cherish you more than +ever. You shall go where you wish, you shall receive whom you wish, and +as for money, you shall have that too. I cannot be mistaken. I have now +measured myself with many men. I do not feel weak. I do not feel that I +shall fail. In many things I have succeeded, and I will in this.... And +meanwhile, the time of waiting, which, please Heaven, shall not be so +long, shall also not be so bitter. Well, well, I promise much, and do +not know at this moment how you and the dear child are. If he is but +better, courage, my girl, for I see light.' + +He took to gardening, without a natural liking for it, and soon became +an ardent expert. He wrote reviews, and lectured, or amused himself in +playing charades, and reading poetry. Clerk Maxwell, and Mr. Ricketts, +who was lost in the La Plata, were among his visitors. During October, +1860, he superintended the repairs of the Bona-Spartivento cable, +revisiting Chia and Cagliari, then full of Garibaldi's troops. The +cable, which had been broken by the anchors of coral fishers, was +grapnelled with difficulty. 'What rocks we did hook!' writes Jenkin. 'No +sooner was the grapnel down than the ship was anchored; and then came +such a business: ship's engines going, deck engine thundering, belt +slipping, tear of breaking ropes; actually breaking grapnels. It was +always an hour or more before we could get the grapnels down again.' + +In 1865, on the birth of his second son, Mrs. Jenkin was very ill, +and Jenkin, after running two miles for a doctor, knelt by her bedside +during the night in a draught, not wishing to withdraw his hand from +hers. Never robust, he suffered much from flying rheumatism and sciatica +ever afterwards. It nearly disabled him while laying the Lowestoft +to Norderney cable for Mr. Reuter, in 1866. This line was designed by +Messrs. Forde & Jenkin, manufactured by Messrs. W. T. Henley & Co., and +laid by the Caroline and William Cory. Miss Clara Volkman, a niece of +Mr. Reuter, sent the first message, Mr. C. F, Varley holding her hand. + +In 1866 Jenkin was appointed to the professorship of Engineering in +University College, London. Two years later his prospects suddenly +improved; the partnership began to pay, and he was selected to fill the +Chair of Engineering, which had been newly established, in Edinburgh +University. What he thought of the change may be gathered from a letter +to his wife: 'With you in the garden (at Claygate), with Austin in the +coach-house, with pretty songs in the little low white room, with the +moonlight in the dear room upstairs--ah! it was perfect; but the long +walk, wondering, pondering, fearing, scheming, and the dusty jolting +railway, and the horrid fusty office, with its endless disappointments, +they are well gone. It is well enough to fight, and scheme, and bustle +about in the eager crowd here (in London) for awhile now and then; but +not for a lifetime. What I have now is just perfect. Study for winter, +action for summer, lovely country for recreation, a pleasant town for +talk.' + +The liberality of the Scotch universities allowed him to continue his +private enterprises, and the summer holiday was long enough to make a +trip round the globe. + +The following June he was on board the Great Eastern while she laid the +French Atlantic cable from Brest to St. Pierre. Among his shipmates +were Sir William Thomson, Sir James Anderson, C. F. Varley, Mr. Latimer +Clark, and Willoughby Smith. Jenkin's sketches of Clark and Varley are +particularly happy. At St. Pierre, where they arrived in a fog, which +lifted to show their consort, the William Cory, straight ahead, and the +Gulnare signalling a welcome, Jenkin made the curious observation +that the whole island was electrified by the battery at the telegraph +station. + +Jenkin's position at Edinburgh led to a partnership in cable work with +Sir William Thomson, for whom he always had a love and admiration. +Jenkin's clear, practical, and business-like abilities were doubtless +an advantage to Sir William, relieving him of routine, and sparing +his great abilities for higher work. In 1870 the siphon recorder, for +tracing a cablegram in ink, instead of merely flashing it by the moving +ray of the mirror galvanometer, was introduced on long cables, and +became a source of profit to Jenkin and Varley as well as to Sir +William, its inventor. + +In 1873 Thomson and Jenkin were engineers for the Western and Brazilian +cable. It was manufactured by Messrs. Hooper & Co., of Millwall, and the +wire was coated with india-rubber, then a new insulator. The Hooper left +Plymouth in June, and after touching at Madeira, where Sir William was +up 'sounding with his special toy' (the pianoforte wire) 'at half-past +three in the morning,' they reached Pernambuco by the beginning of +August, and laid a cable to Para. + +During the next two years the Brazilian system was connected to the +West Indies and the River Plate; but Jenkin was not present on the +expeditions. While engaged in this work, the ill-fated La Plata, bound +with cable from Messrs. Siemens Brothers to Monte Video, perished in +a cyclone off Cape Ushant, with the loss of nearly all her crew. The +Mackay-Bennett Atlantic cables were also laid under their charge. + +As a professor Jenkin's appearance was against him; but he was a clear, +fluent speaker, and a successful teacher. Of medium height, and very +plain, his manner was youthful, and alert, but unimposing. Nevertheless, +his class was always in good order, for his eye instantly lighted on any +unruly member, and his reproof was keen. + +His experimental work was not strikingly original. At Birkenhead he made +some accurate measurements of the electrical properties of materials +used in submarine cables. Sir William Thomson says he was the first to +apply the absolute methods of measurement introduced by Gauss and Weber. +He also investigated there the laws of electric signals in submarine +cables. As Secretary to the British Association Committee on Electrical +Standards he played a leading part in providing electricians with +practical standards of measurement. His Cantor lectures on submarine +cables, and his treatise on ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM, published +in 1873, were notable works at the time, and contained the latest +development of their subjects. He was associated with Sir William +Thomson in an ingenious 'curb-key' for sending signals automatically +through a long cable; but although tried, it was not adopted. His most +important invention was Telpherage, a means of transporting goods and +passengers to a distance by electric panniers supported on a wire or +conductor, which supplied them with electricity. It was first patented +in 1882, and Jenkin spent his last years on this work, expecting great +results from it; but ere the first public line was opened for traffic at +Glynde, in Sussex, he was dead. + +In mechanical engineering his graphical methods of calculating strains +in bridges, and determining the efficiency of mechanism, are of much +value. The latter, which is based on Reulaux's prior work, procured him +the honour of the Keith Gold Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh. +Another successful work of his was the founding of the Sanitary +Protection Association, for the supervision of houses with regard to +health. + +In his leisure hours Jenkin wrote papers on a wide variety of subjects. +To the question, 'Is one man's gain another man's loss?' he answered +'Not in every case.' He attacked Darwin's theory of development, and +showed its inadequacy, especially in demanding more time than the +physicist could grant for the age of the habitable world. Darwin himself +confessed that some of his arguments were convincing; and Munro, the +scholar, complimented him for his paper on Lucretius and the Atomic +Theory.' In 1878 he constructed a phonograph from the newspaper reports +of this new invention, and lectured on it at a bazaar in Edinburgh, +then employed it to study the nature of vowel and consonantal sounds. An +interesting paper on Rhythm in English Verse,' was also published by him +in the SATURDAY REVIEW for 1883. + +He was clever with his pencil, and could seize a likeness with +astonishing rapidity. He has been known while on a cable expedition to +stop a peasant woman in a shop for a few minutes and sketch her on the +spot. His artistic side also shows itself in a paper on 'Artist and +Critic,' in which he defines the difference between the mechanical and +fine arts. 'In mechanical arts,' he says, 'the craftsman uses his skill +to produce something useful, but (except in the rare case when he is at +liberty to choose what he shall produce) his sole merit lies in skill. +In the fine arts the student uses skill to produce something beautiful. +He is free to choose what that something shall be, and the layman claims +that he may and must judge the artist chiefly by the value in beauty of +the thing done. Artistic skill contributes to beauty, or it would not be +skill; but beauty is the result of many elements, and the nobler the art +the lower is the rank which skill takes among them.' + +A clear and matter-of-fact thinker, Jenkin was an equally clear and +graphic writer. He read the best literature, preferring, among other +things, the story of David, the ODYSSEY, the ARCADIA, the saga of Burnt +Njal, and the GRAND CYRUS. Aeschylus, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Ariosto, +Boccaccio, Scott, Dumas, Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot, were +some of his favourite authors. He once began a review of George Eliot's +biography, but left it unfinished. Latterly he had ceased to admire +her work as much as before. He was a rapid, fluent talker, with excited +utterance at times. Some of his sayings were shrewd and sharp; but +he was sometimes aggressive. 'People admire what is pretty in an ugly +thing,' he used to say 'not the ugly thing.' A lady once said to him she +would never be happy again. 'What does that signify?' cried Jenkin; 'we +are not here to be happy, but to be good.' On a friend remarking that +Salvini's acting in OTHELLO made him want to pray, Jenkin answered, +'That is prayer.' + +Though admired and liked by his intimates, Jenkin was never popular with +associates. His manner was hard, rasping, and unsympathetic. 'Whatever +virtues he possessed,' says Mr. Stevenson, 'he could never count on +being civil.' He showed so much courtesy to his wife, however, that a +Styrian peasant who observed it spread a report in the village that Mrs. +Jenkin, a great lady, had married beneath her. At the Saville Club, +in London, he was known as the 'man who dines here and goes up to +Scotland.' Jenkin was conscious of this churlishness, and latterly +improved. 'All my life,' he wrote,'I have talked a good deal, with the +almost unfailing result of making people sick of the sound of my +tongue. It appeared to me that I had various things to say, and I had +no malevolent feelings; but, nevertheless, the result was that expressed +above. Well, lately some change has happened. If I talk to a person one +day they must have me the next. Faces light up when they see me. "Ah! +I say, come here." "Come and dine with me." It's the most preposterous +thing I ever experienced. It is curiously pleasant.' + +Jenkin was a good father, joining in his children's play as well as +directing their studies. The boys used to wait outside his office +for him at the close of business hours; and a story is told of little +Frewen, the second son, entering in to him one day, while he was at +work, and holding out a toy crane he was making, with the request, 'Papa +you might finiss windin' this for me, I'm so very busy to-day.' He was +fond of animals too, and his dog Plate regularly accompanied him to the +University. But, as he used to say, 'It's a cold home where a dog is the +only representative of a child.' + +In summer his holidays were usually spent in the Highlands, where Jenkin +learned to love the Highland character and ways of life. He was a +good shot, rode and swam well, and taught his boys athletic exercises, +boating, salmon fishing, and such like. He learned to dance a Highland +reel, and began the study of Gaelic; but that speech proved too +stubborn, craggy, and impregnable even for Jenkin. Once he took his +family to Alt Aussee, in the Stiermark, Styria, where he hunted chamois, +won a prize for shooting at the Schutzen-fest, learned the dialect of +the country, sketched the neighbourhood, and danced the STEIERISCH and +LANDLER with the peasants. He never seemed to be happy unless he was +doing, and what he did was well done. + +Above all, he was clear-headed and practical, mastering many things; +no dreamer, but an active, business man. Had he confined himself to +engineering he might have adorned his profession more, for he liked and +fitted it; but with his impulses on other lines repressed, he might have +been less happy. Moreover, he was one who believed, with the sage, that +all good work is profitable, having its value, if only in exercise and +skill. + +His own parents and those of his wife had come to live in Edinburgh; +but he lost them all within ten months of each other. Jenkin had showed +great devotion to them in their illnesses, and was worn out with grief +and watching. His telpherage, too, had given him considerable anxiety to +perfect; and his mother's illness, which affected her mind, had caused +himself to fear. + +He was meditating a holiday to Italy with his wife in order to +recuperate, and had a trifling operation performed on his foot, which +resulted, it is believed, in blood poisoning. There seemed to be no +danger, and his wife was reading aloud to him as he lay in bed, when his +intellect began to wander. It is doubtful whether he regained his senses +before he died, on June 12, 1885. + +At one period of his life Jenkin was a Freethinker, holding, as Mr. +Stevenson says, all dogmas as 'mere blind struggles to express the +inexpressible.' Nevertheless, as time went on he came back to a belief +in Christianity. 'The longer I live,' he wrote, 'the more convinced +I become of a direct care by God--which is reasonably impossible--but +there it is.' In his last year he took the Communion. + + + +CHAPTER VII. JOHANN PHILIPP REIS. + +Johann Philipp Reis, the first inventor of an electric telephone, was +born on January 7, 1834, at the little town of Gelnhausen, in Cassel, +where his father was a master baker and petty farmer. The boy lost +his mother during his infancy, and was brought up by his paternal +grandmother, a well-read, intelligent woman, of a religious turn. While +his father taught him to observe the material world, his grandmother +opened his mind to the Unseen. + +At the age of six he was sent to the common school of the town, where +his talents attracted the notice of his instructors, who advised his +father to extend his education at a higher college. Mr. Reis died before +his son was ten years old; but his grandmother and guardians afterwards +placed him at Garnier's Institute, in Friedrichsdorf, where he showed a +taste for languages, and acquired both French and English, as well as a +stock of miscellaneous information from the library. At the end of +his fourteenth year he passed to Hassel's Institute, at +Frankfort-on-the-Main, where he picked up Latin and Italian. A love of +science now began to show itself, and his guardians were recommended to +send him to the Polytechnic School of Carlsruhe; but one of them, his +uncle, wished him to become a merchant, and on March 1, 1850, Reis +was apprenticed to the colour trade in the establishment of Mr. J. F +Beyerbach, of Frankfort, against his own will. He told his uncle that he +would learn the business chosen for him, but should continue his proper +studies by-and-by. + +By diligent service he won the esteem of Mr. Beyerbach, and devoted his +leisure to self-improvement, taking private lessons in mathematics and +physics, and attending the lectures of Professor R. Bottger on mechanics +at the Trade School. When his apprenticeship ended he attended the +Institute of Dr. Poppe, in Frankfort, and as neither history nor +geography was taught there, several of the students agreed to instruct +each other in these subjects. Reis undertook geography, and believed +he had found his true vocation in the art of teaching. He also became a +member of the Physical Society of Frankfort. + +In 1855 he completed his year of military service at Cassel, then +returned to Frankfort to qualify himself as a teacher of mathematics and +science in the schools by means of private study and public lectures. +His intention was to finish his training at the University of +Heidelberg, but in the spring of 1858 he visited his old friend and +master, Hofrath Garnier, who offered him a post in Garnier's Institute. +In the autumn of 1855 he removed to Friedrichsdorf, to begin his new +career, and in September following he took a wife and settled down. + +Reis imagined that electricity could be propagated through space, as +light can, without the aid of a material conductor, and he made some +experiments on the subject. The results were described in a paper 'On +the Radiation of Electricity,' which, in 1859, he posted to Professor +Poggendorff; for insertion in the well-known periodical, the ANNALEN +DER PHYSIK. The memoir was declined, to the great disappointment of the +sensitive young teacher. + +Reis had studied the organs of hearing, and the idea of an apparatus for +transmitting sound by means of electricity had been floating in his +mind for years. Incited by his lessons on physics, in the year 1860 he +attacked the problem, and was rewarded with success. In 1862 he again +tried Poggendorff, with an account of his 'Telephon,' as he called +it;[The word 'telephone' occurs in Timbs' REPOSITORY OF SCIENCE AND ART +for 1845, in connection With a signal trumpet operated by compressed +air.] but his second offering was rejected like the first. The learned +professor, it seems, regarded the transmission of speech by electricity +as a chimera; but Reis, in the bitterness of wounded feeling, attributed +the failure to his being 'only a poor schoolmaster.' + +Since the invention of the telephone, attention has been called to the +fact that, in 1854, M. Charles Bourseul, a French telegraphist, [Happily +still alive (1891).] had conceived a plan for conveying sounds and even +speech by electricity. 'Suppose,' he explained, 'that a man speaks near +a movable disc sufficiently flexible to lose none of the vibrations of +the voice; that this disc alternately makes and breaks the currents +from a battery: you may have at a distance another disc which will +simultaneously execute the same vibrations.... It is certain that, in a +more or less distant future, speech will be transmitted by electricity. +I have made experiments in this direction; they are delicate and demand +time and patience, but the approximations obtained promise a favourable +result.'[See Du Moncel's EXPOSE DES APPLICATIONS, etc.] + +Bourseul deserves the credit of being perhaps the first to devise an +electric telephone and try to make it; but to Reis belongs the honour of +first realising the idea. A writer may plot a story, or a painter invent +a theme for a picture; but unless he execute the work, of what benefit +is it to the world? True, a suggestion in mechanics may stimulate +another to apply it in practice, and in that case the suggester is +entitled to some share of the credit, as well as the distinction of +being the first to think of the matter. But it is best when the original +deviser also carries out the work; and if another should independently +hit upon the same idea and bring it into practice, we are bound to +honour him in full, though we may also recognise the merit of his +predecessor. + +Bourseul's idea seems to have attracted little notice at the time, and +was soon forgotten. Even the Count du Moncel, who was ever ready to +welcome a promising invention, evidently regarded it as a fantastic +notion. It is very doubtful if Reis had ever heard of it. He was led to +conceive a similar apparatus by a study of the mechanism of the human +ear, which he knew to contain a membrane, or 'drum,' vibrating under the +waves of sound, and communicating its vibrations through the hammer-bone +behind it to the auditory nerve. It therefore occurred to him, that if +he made a diaphragm in imitation of the drum, and caused it by vibrating +to make and break the circuit of an electric current, he would be able +through the magnetic power of the interrupted current to reproduce the +original sounds at a distance. + +In 1837-8 Professor Page, of Massachusetts, had discovered that' a +needle or thin bar of iron, placed in the hollow of a coil or bobbin of +insulated wire, would emit an audible 'tick' at each interruption of a +current, flowing in the coil, and that if these separate ticks followed +each other fast enough, by a rapid interruption of the current, they +would run together into a continuous hum, to which he gave the name of +'galvanic music.' The pitch of this note would correspond to the rate of +interruption of the current. From these and other discoveries which had +been made by Noad, Wertheim, Marrian, and others, Reis knew that if +the current which had been interrupted by his vibrating diaphragm were +conveyed to a distance by a metallic circuit, and there passed through +a coil like that of Page, the iron needle would emit a note like that +which had caused the oscillation of the transmitting diaphragm. Acting +on this knowledge, he constructed a rude telephone. + +Dr. Messel informs us that his first transmitter consisted of the bung +of a beer barrel hollowed out in imitation of the external ear. The cup +or mouth-piece thus formed was closed by the skin of a German sausage to +serve as a drum or diaphragm. To the back of this he fixed, with a +drop of sealing-wax, a little strip of platinum, representing the +hammer-bone, which made and broke the metallic circuit of the current as +the membrane oscillated under the sounds which impinged against it. The +current thus interrupted was conveyed by wires to the receiver, which +consisted of a knitting-needle loosely surrounded by a coil of wire +fastened to the breast of a violin as a sounding-board. When a musical +note was struck near the bung, the drum vibrated in harmony with the +pitch of the note, the platinum lever interrupted the metallic circuit +of the current, which, after traversing the conducting wire, passed +through the coil of the receiver, and made the needle hum the original +tone. This primitive arrangement, we are told, astonished all who heard +it. [It is now in the museum of the Reichs Post-Amt, Berlin.] + +Another of his early transmitters was a rough model of the human ear, +carved in oak, and provided with a drum which actuated a bent and +pivoted lever of platinum, making it open and close a springy contact +of platinum foil in the metallic circuit of the current. He devised some +ten or twelve different forms, each an improvement on its predecessors, +which transmitted music fairly well, and even a word or two of speech +with more or less perfection. But the apparatus failed as a practical +means of talking to a distance. + +The discovery of the microphone by Professor Hughes has enabled us to +understand the reason of this failure. The transmitter of Reis was based +on the plan of interrupting the current, and the spring was intended to +close the contact after it had been opened by the shock of a vibration. +So long as the sound was a musical tone it proved efficient, for a +musical tone is a regular succession of vibrations. But the vibrations +of speech are irregular and complicated, and in order to transmit +them the current has to be varied in strength without being altogether +broken. The waves excited in the air by the voice should merely produce +corresponding waves in the current. In short, the current ought to +UNDULATE in sympathy with the oscillations of the air. It appears +from the report of Herr Von Legat, inspector of the Royal Prussian +Telegraphs, on the Reis telephone, published in 1862, that the inventor +was quite aware of this principle, but his instrument was not well +adapted to apply it. No doubt the platinum contacts he employed in the +transmitter behaved to some extent as a crude metal microphone, and +hence a few words, especially familiar or expected ones, could be +transmitted and distinguished at the other end of the line. But Reis +does not seem to have realised the importance of not entirely breaking +the circuit of the current; at all events, his metal spring is not in +practice an effective provision against this, for it allows the metal +contacts to jolt too far apart, and thus interrupt the current. Had he +lived to modify the spring and the form or material of his contacts so +as to keep the current continuous--as he might have done, for example, +by using carbon for platinum--he would have forestalled alike Bell, +Edison, and Hughes in the production of a good speaking telephone. Reis +in fact was trembling on the verge of a great discovery, which was, +however, reserved for others. + +His experiments were made in a little workshop behind his home at +Friedrichsdorff; and wires were run from it to an upper chamber. Another +line was erected between the physical cabinet at Garnier's Institute +across the playground to one of the class-rooms, and there was a +tradition in the school that the boys were afraid of creating an uproar +in the room for fear Herr Reis should hear them with his 'telephon.' + +The new invention was published to the world in a lecture before the +Physical Society of Frankfort on October 26, 1861, and a description, +written by himself for the JAHRESBERICHT, a month or two later. It +excited a good deal of scientific notice in Germany; models of it were +sent abroad, to London, Dublin, Tiflis, and other places. It became a +subject for popular lectures, and an article for scientific cabinets. +Reis obtained a brief renown, but the reaction soon set in. The Physical +Society of Frankfort turned its back on the apparatus which had given +it lustre. Reis resigned his membership in 1867; but the Free German +Institute of Frankfort, which elected him an honorary member, also +slighted the instrument as a mere 'philosophical toy.' At first it was +a dream, and now it is a plaything. Have we not had enough of that +superior wisdom which is another name for stupidity? The dreams of the +imagination are apt to become realities, and the toy of to-day has a +knack of growing into the mighty engine of to-morrow. + +Reis believed in his invention, if no one else did; and had he been +encouraged by his fellows from the beginning, he might have brought it +into a practical shape. But rebuffs had preyed upon his sensitive heart, +and he was already stricken with consumption. It is related that, after +his lecture on the telephone at Geissen, in 1854, Professor Poggendorff, +who was present, invited him to send a description of his instrument +to the ANNALEN. Reis answered him,'Ich danke Ihnen recht Sehr, Herr +Professor; es ist zu spaty. Jetzt will ICH nicht ihn schickeny. Mein +Apparat wird ohne Beschreibung in den ANNALEN bekannt werden.' ('Thank +you very much, Professor, but it is too late. I shall not send it now. +My apparatus will become known without any writing in the ANNALEN.') + +Latterly Reis had confined his teaching and study to matters of science; +but his bad health was a serious impediment. For several years it was +only by the exercise of a strong will that he was able to carry on his +duties. His voice began to fail as the disease gained upon his lungs, +and in the summer of 1873 he was obliged to forsake tuition during +several weeks. The autumn vacation strengthened his hopes of recovery, +and he resumed his teaching with his wonted energy. But this was the +last flicker of the expiring flame. It was announced that he would show +his new gravity-machine at a meeting of the Deutscher Naturforscher of +Wiesbaden in September, but he was too ill to appear. In December he lay +down, and, after a long and painful illness, breathed his last at five +o'clock in the afternoon of January 14, 1874. + +In his CURRICULUM VITAE he wrote these words: 'As I look back upon my +life I call indeed say with the Holy Scriptures that it has been "labour +and sorrow." But I have also to thank the Lord that He has given me His +blessing in my calling and in my family, and has bestowed more good upon +me than I have known how to ask of Him. The Lord has helped hitherto; He +will help yet further.' + +Reis was buried in the cemetery of Friedrichsdorff, and in 1878, after +the introduction of the speaking telephone, the members of the Physical +Society of Frankfort erected over his grave an obelisk of red sandstone +bearing a medallion portrait. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. GRAHAM BELL. + +The first to produce a practicable speaking telephone was Alexander +Graham Bell. He was born at Edinburgh on March 1, 1847, and comes of +a family associated with the teaching of elocution. His grandfather in +London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, Mr. Andrew Melville Bell, +in Edinburgh, were all professed elocutionists. The latter has published +a variety of works on the subject, several of which are well known, +especially his treatise on Visible Speech, which appeared in Edinburgh +in 1868. In this he explains his ingenious method of instructing deaf +mutes, by means of their eyesight, how to articulate words, and also +how to read what other persons are saying by the motions of their lips. +Graham Bell, his distinguished son, was educated at the high school of +Edinburgh, and subsequently at Warzburg, in Germany, where he obtained +the degree of Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy). While still in Scotland he +is said to have turned his attention to the science of acoustics, with a +view to ameliorate the deafness of his mother. + +In 1873 he accompanied his father to Montreal, in Canada, where he was +employed in teaching the system of visible speech. The elder Bell was +invited to introduce it into a large day-school for mutes at Boston, but +he declined the post in favour of his son, who soon became famous in the +United States for his success in this important work. He published more +than one treatise on the subject at Washington, and it is, we believe, +mainly through his efforts that thousands of deaf mutes in America are +now able to speak almost, if not quite, as well as those who are able to +hear. + +Before he left Scotland Mr. Graham Bell had turned his attention to +telephony, and in Canada he designed a piano which could transmit its +music to a distance by means of electricity. At Boston he continued his +researches in the same field, and endeavoured to produce a telephone +which would not only send musical notes, but articulate speech. + +If it be interesting to trace the evolution of an animal from its +rudimentary germ through the lower phases to the perfect organism, it +is almost as interesting to follow an invention from the original model +through the faultier types to the finished apparatus. + +In 1860 Philipp Reis, as we have seen, produced a telephone which could +transmit musical notes, and even a lisping word or two; and some ten +years later Mr. Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, F.R.S., a well-known English +electrician, patented a number of ingenious devices for applying the +musical telephone to transmit messages by dividing the notes into short +or long signals, after the Morse code, which could be interpreted by +the ear or by the eye in causing them to mark a moving paper. These +inventions were not put in practice; but four years afterwards Herr Paul +la Cour, a Danish inventor, experimented with a similar appliance on a +line of telegraph between Copenhagen and Fredericia in Jutland. In this +a vibrating tuning-fork interrupted the current, which, after traversing +the line, passed through an electro-magnet, and attracted the limbs of +another fork, making it strike a note like the transmitting fork. By +breaking up the note at the sending station with a signalling key, the +message was heard as a series of long and short hums. Moreover, the hums +were made to record themselves on paper by turning the electro-magnetic +receiver into a relay, which actuated a Morse printer by means of a +local battery. + +Mr. Elisha Gray, of Chicago, also devised a tone telegraph of this kind +about the same time as Herr La Cour. In this apparatus a vibrating +steel tongue interrupted the current, which at the other end of the line +passed through the electro-magnet and vibrated a band or tongue of iron +near its poles. Gray's 'harmonic telegraph,' with the vibrating tongues +or reeds, was afterwards introduced on the lines of the Western Union +Telegraph Company in America. As more than one set of vibrations--that +is to say, more than one note--can be sent over the same wire +simultaneously, it is utilised as a 'multiplex' or many-ply telegraph, +conveying several messages through the same wire at once; and these can +either be interpreted by the sound, or the marks drawn on a ribbon of +travelling paper by a Morse recorder. + +Gray also invented a 'physiological receiver,' which has a curious +history. Early in 1874 his nephew was playing with a small induction +coil, and, having connected one end of the secondary circuit to the zinc +lining of a bath, which was dry, he was holding the other end in his +left hand. While he rubbed the zinc with his right hand Gray noticed +that a sound proceeded from it, which had the pitch and quality of the +note emitted by the vibrating contact or electrotome of the coil. 'I +immediately took the electrode in my hand,' he writes, 'and, repeating +the operation, found to my astonishment that by rubbing hard and rapidly +I could make a much louder sound than the electrotome. I then changed +the pitch of the vibration, and found that the pitch of the sound under +my hand was also changed, agreeing with that of the vibration.' +Gray lost no time in applying this chance discovery by designing the +physiological receiver, which consists of a sounding-box having a zinc +face and mounted on an axle, so that it can be revolved by a handle. One +wire of the circuit is connected to the revolving zinc, and the other +wire is connected to the finger which rubs on the zinc. The sounds are +quite distinct, and would seem to be produced by a microphonic action +between the skin and the metal. + +All these apparatus follow in the track of Reis and Bourseul--that is +to say, the interruption of the current by a vibrating contact. It +was fortunate for Bell that in working with his musical telephone an +accident drove him into a new path, which ultimately brought him to the +invention of a speaking telephone. He began his researches in 1874 with +a musical telephone, in which he employed the interrupted current to +vibrate the receiver, which consisted of an electro-magnet causing an +iron reed or tongue to vibrate; but, while trying it one day with his +assistant, Mr. Thomas A. Watson, it was found that a reed failed to +respond to the intermittent current. Mr. Bell desired his assistant, +who was at the other end of the line, to pluck the reed, thinking it +had stuck to the pole of the magnet. Mr. Watson complied, and to his +astonishment Bell observed that the corresponding reed at his end of the +line thereupon began to vibrate and emit the same note, although there +was no interrupted current to make it. A few experiments soon showed +that his reed had been set in vibration by the magneto-electric currents +induced in the line by the mere motion of the distant reed in the +neighbourhood of its magnet. This discovery led him to discard the +battery current altogether and rely upon the magneto-induction currents +of the reeds themselves. Moreover, it occurred to him that, since the +circuit was never broken, all the complex vibrations of speech might be +converted into sympathetic currents, which in turn would reproduce the +speech at a distance. + +Reis had seen that an undulatory current was needed to transmit sounds +in perfection, especially vocal sounds; but his mode of producing the +undulations was defective from a mechanical and electrical point of +view. By forming 'waves' of magnetic disturbance near a coil of wire, +Professor Bell could generate corresponding waves of electricity in the +line so delicate and continuous that all the modulations of sound could +be reproduced at a distance. + +As Professor of Vocal Physiology in the University of Boston, he was +engaged in training teachers in the art of instructing deaf mutes how to +speak, and experimented with the Leon Scott phonautograph in recording +the vibrations of speech. This apparatus consists essentially of a thin +membrane vibrated by the voice and carrying a light stylus, which traces +an undulatory line on a plate of smoked glass. The line is a graphic +representation of the vibrations of the membrane and the waves of sound +in the air. + +On the suggestion of Dr. Clarence J. Blake, an eminent Boston aurist, +Professor Bell abandoned the phonautograph for the human ear, which it +resembled; and, having removed the stapes bone, moistened the drum with +glycerine and water, attached a stylus of hay to the nicus or anvil, and +obtained a beautiful series of curves in imitation of the vocal sounds. +The disproportion between the slight mass of the drum and the bones +it actuated, is said to have suggested to him the employment of +goldbeater's skin as membrane in his speaking telephone. Be this as it +may, he devised a receiver, consisting of a stretched diaphragm or drum +of this material having an armature of magnetised iron attached to its +middle, and free to vibrate in front of the pole of an electro-magnet in +circuit with the line. + +This apparatus was completed on June 2, 1875, and the same day he +succeeded in transmitting SOUNDS and audible signals by magneto-electric +currents and without the aid of a battery. On July 1, 1875, he +instructed his assistant to make a second membrane-receiver which could +be used with the first, and a few days later they were tried together, +one at each end of the line, which ran from a room in the inventor's +house at Boston to the cellar underneath. Bell, in the room, held one +instrument in his hands, while Watson in the cellar listened at the +other. The inventor spoke into his instrument, 'Do you understand what +I say?' and we can imagine his delight when Mr. Watson rushed into the +room, under the influence of his excitement, and answered,'Yes.' + +A finished instrument was then made, having a transmitter formed of +a double electro-magnet, in front of which a membrane, stretched on a +ring, carried an oblong piece of soft iron cemented to its middle. A +mouthpiece before the diaphragm directed the sounds upon it, and as +it vibrated with them, the soft iron 'armature' induced corresponding +currents in the cells of the electro-magnet. These currents after +traversing the line were passed through the receiver, which consisted +of a tubular electro-magnet, having one end partially closed by a thin +circular disc of soft iron fixed at one point to the end of the tube. +This receiver bore a resemblance to a cylindrical metal box with thick +sides, having a thin iron lid fastened to its mouth by a single screw. +When the undulatory current passed through the coil of this magnet, the +disc, or armature-lid, was put into vibration and the sounds evolved +from it. + +The apparatus was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, +in 1876, and at the meeting of the British Association in Glasgow, +during the autumn of that year, Sir William Thomson revealed its +existence to the European public. In describing his visit to the +Exhibition, he went on to say: 'In the Canadian department I heard, +"To be or not to be... there's the rub," through an electric wire; +but, scorning monosyllables, the electric articulation rose to higher +flights, and gave me passages taken at random from the New York +newspapers: "s.s. Cox has arrived" (I failed to make out the s.s. Cox); +"The City of New York," "Senator Morton," "The Senate has resolved to +print a thousand extra copies," "The Americans in London have resolved +to celebrate the coming Fourth of July!" All this my own ears heard +spoken to me with unmistakable distinctness by the then circular disc +armature of just such another little electro-magnet as this I hold in my +hand.' + +To hear the immortal words of Shakespeare uttered by the small inanimate +voice which had been given to the world must indeed have been a rare +delight to the ardent soul of the great electrician. + +The surprise created among the public at large by this unexpected +communication will be readily remembered. Except one or two inventors, +nobody had ever dreamed of a telegraph that could actually speak, +any more than they had ever fancied one that could see or feel; and +imagination grew busy in picturing the outcome of it. Since it was +practically equivalent to a limitless extension of the vocal powers, +the ingenious journalist soon conjured up an infinity of uses for the +telephone, and hailed the approaching time when ocean-parted friends +would be able to whisper to one another under the roaring billows of the +Atlantic. Curiosity, however, was not fully satisfied until Professor +Bell, the inventor of the instrument, himself showed it to British +audiences, and received the enthusiastic applause of his admiring +countrymen. + +The primitive telephone has been greatly improved, the double +electro-magnet being replaced by a single bar magnet having a small coil +or bobbin of fine wire surrounding one pole, in front of which a thin +disc of ferrotype is fixed in a circular mouthpiece, and serves as a +combined membrane and armature. On speaking into the mouthpiece, the +iron diaphragm vibrates with the voice in the magnetic field of the +pole, and thereby excites the undulatory currents in the coil, which, +after travelling through the wire to the distant place, are received in +an identical apparatus. [This form was patented January 30, 1877.] In +traversing the coil of the latter they reinforce or weaken the magnetism +of the pole, and thus make the disc armature vibrate so as to give out +a mimesis of the original voice. The sounds are small and elfin, a minim +of speech, and only to be heard when the ear is close to the mouthpiece, +but they are remarkably distinct, and, in spite of a disguising twang, +due to the fundamental note of the disc itself, it is easy to recognise +the speaker. + +This later form was publicly exhibited on May 4, 1877 at a lecture +given by Professor Bell in the Boston Music Hall. 'Going to the small +telephone box with its slender wire attachments,' says a report, 'Mr. +Bell coolly asked, as though addressing some one in an adjoining room, +"Mr. Watson, are you ready!" Mr. Watson, five miles away in Somerville, +promptly answered in the affirmative, and soon was heard a voice singing +"America."....Going to another instrument, connected by wire with +Providence, forty-three miles distant, Mr. Bell listened a moment, and +said, "Signor Brignolli, who is assisting at a concert in Providence +Music Hall, will now sing for us." In a moment the cadence of the +tenor's voice rose and fell, the sound being faint, sometimes lost, and +then again audible. Later, a cornet solo played in Somerville was very +distinctly heard. Still later, a three-part song floated over the +wire from the Somerville terminus, and Mr. Bell amused his audience +exceedingly by exclaiming, "I will switch off the song from one part of +the room to another, so that all can hear." At a subsequent lecture +in Salem, Massachusetts, communication was established with Boston, +eighteen miles distant, and Mr. Watson at the latter place sang "Auld +Lang Syne," the National Anthem, and "Hail Columbia," while the audience +at Salem joined in the chorus.' + +Bell had overcome the difficulty which baffled Reis, and succeeded in +making the undulations of the current fit the vibrations of the voice +as a glove will fit the hand. But the articulation, though distinct, was +feeble, and it remained for Edison, by inventing the carbon transmitter, +and Hughes, by discovering the microphone, to render the telephone the +useful and widespread apparatus which we see it now. + +Bell patented his speaking telephone in the United States at the +beginning of 1876, and by a strange coincidence, Mr. Elisha Gray applied +on the same day for another patent of a similar kind. Gray's transmitter +is supposed to have been suggested by the very old device known as +the 'lovers' telephone,' in which two diaphragms are joined by a taut +string, and in speaking against one the voice is conveyed through the +string, solely by mechanical vibration, to the other. Gray employed +electricity, and varied the strength of the current in conformity with +the voice by causing the diaphragm in vibrating to dip a metal probe +attached to its centre more or less deep into a well of conducting +liquid in circuit with the line. As the current passed from the probe +through the liquid to the line a greater or less thickness of liquid +intervened as the probe vibrated up and down, and thus the strength of +the current was regulated by the resistance offered to the passage of +the current. His receiver was an electro-magnet having an iron plate as +an armature capable of vibrating under the attractions of the varying +current. But Gray allowed his idea to slumber, whereas Bell continued +to perfect his apparatus. However, when Bell achieved an unmistakable +success, Gray brought a suit against him, which resulted in a +compromise, one public company acquiring both patents. + +Bell's invention has been contested over and over again, and more than +one claimant for the honour and reward of being the original inventor +of the telephone have appeared. The most interesting case was that +of Signor Antonio Meucci, an Italian emigrant, who produced a mass of +evidence to show that in 1849, while in Havanna, Cuba, he experimented +with the view of transmitting speech by the electric current. He +continued his researches in 1852-3, and subsequently at Staten Island, +U.S.; and in 1860 deputed a friend visiting Europe to interest people +in his invention. In 1871 he filed a caveat in the United States Patent +Office, and tried to get Mr. Grant, President of the New York District +Telegraph Company, to give the apparatus a trial. Ill-health and +poverty, consequent on an injury due to an explosion on board the Staten +Island ferry boat Westfield, retarded his experiments, and prevented +him from completing his patent. Meucci's experimental apparatus was +exhibited at the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1884, and attracted much +attention. But the evidence he adduces in support of His early claims is +that of persons ignorant of electrical science, and the model shown +was not complete. The caveat of 1871 is indeed a reliable document; but +unfortunately for him it is not quite clear from it whether he employed +a 'lovers' telephone,' with a wire instead of a string, and joined a +battery to it in the hope of enhancing the effect. 'I employ,' he says, +'the well known conducting effect of continuous metallic conductors as +a medium for sound, and increase the effect by electrically insulating +both the conductor and the parties who are communicating. It forms +a speaking telegraph without the necessity of any hollow tube.' In +connection with the telephone he used an electric alarm. It is by +no means evident from this description that Meucci had devised a +practicable speaking telephone; but he may have been the first to employ +electricity in connection with the transmission of speech. [Meucci is +dead.] + +'This crowning marvel of the electric telegraph,' as Sir William Thomson +happily expressed it, was followed by another invention in some respects +even more remarkable. During the winter of 1878 Professor Bell was +in England, and while lecturing at the Royal Institution, London, he +conceived the idea of the photophone. It was known that crystalline +selenium is a substance peculiarly sensitive to light, for when a ray +strikes it an electric current passes far more easily through it than if +it were kept in the dark. It therefore occurred to Professor Bell that +if a telephone were connected in circuit with the current, and the ray +of light falling on the selenium was eclipsed by means of the vibrations +of sound, the current would undulate in keeping with the light, and +the telephone would emit a corresponding note. In this way it might be +literally possible 'to hear a shadow fall athwart the stillness.' + +He was not the first to entertain the idea, for in the summer of 1878, +one 'L. F. W.,' writing from Kew on June 3 to the scientific journal +NATURE describes an arrangement of the kind. To Professor Bell, in +conjunction with Mr. Summer Tainter, belongs the honour of having, by +dint of patient thought and labour, brought the photophone into material +existence. By constructing sensitive selenium cells through which the +current passed, then directing a powerful beam of light upon them, and +occulting it by a rotary screen, he was able to vary the strength of the +current in such a manner as to elicit musical tones from the telephone +in circuit with the cells. Moreover, by reflecting the beam from a +mirror upon the cells, and vibrating the mirror by the action of the +voice, he was able to reproduce the spoken words in the telephone. In +both cases the only connecting line between the transmitting screen or +mirror and the receiving cells and telephone was the ray of light. With +this apparatus, which reminds us of the invocation to Apollo in the +MARTYR OF ANTIOCH-- + + 'Lord of the speaking lyre, + That with a touch of fire + Strik'st music which delays the charmed spheres.' + +Professor Bell has accomplished the curious feat of speaking along a +beam of sunshine 830 feet long. The apparatus consisted of a transmitter +with a mouthpiece, conveying the sound of the voice to a silvered +diaphragm or mirror, which reflected the vibratory beam through a lens +towards the selenium receiver, which was simply a parabolic reflector, +in the focus of which was placed the selenium cells connected in +circuit with a battery and a pair of telephones, one for each ear. +The transmitter was placed in the top of the Franklin schoolhouse, +at Washington, and the receiver in the window of Professor Bell's +laboratory in L Street. 'It was impossible,' says the inventor, +'to converse by word of mouth across that distance; and while I was +observing Mr. Tainter, on the top of the schoolhouse, almost blinded by +the light which was coming in at the window of my laboratory, and vainly +trying to understand the gestures he was making to me at that great +distance, the thought occurred to me to listen to the telephones +connected with the selenium receiver. Mr. Tainter saw me disappear from +the window, and at once spoke to the transmitter. I heard him distinctly +say, "Mr. Bell, if you hear what I say, come to the window and wave your +hat!" It is needless to say with what gusto I obeyed.' + +The spectroscope has demonstrated the truth of the poet, who said that +'light is the voice of the stars,' and we have it on the authority +of Professor Bell and M. Janssen, the celebrated astronomer, that the +changing brightness of the photosphere, as produced by solar hurricanes, +has produced a feeble echo in the photophone. + +Pursuing these researches, Professor Bell discovered that not only +the selenium cell, but simple discs of wood, glass, metal, ivory, +india-rubber, and so on, yielded a distinct note when the intermittent +ray of light fell upon them. Crystals of sulphate of copper, chips +of pine, and even tobacco-smoke, in a test-tube held before the beam, +emitted a musical tone. With a thin disc of vulcanite as receiver, the +dark heat rays which pass through an opaque screen were found to yield a +note. Even the outer ear is itself a receiver, for when the intermittent +beam is focussed in the cavity a faint musical tone is heard. + +Another research of Professor Bell was that in which he undertook to +localise the assassin's bullet in the body of the lamented President +Garfield. In 1879 Professor Hughes brought out his beautiful induction +balance, and the following year Professor Bell, who had already worked +in the same field, consulted him by telegraph as to the best mode of +applying the balance to determining the place of the bullet, which had +hitherto escaped the probes of the President's physicians. Professor +Hughes advised him by telegraph, and with this and other assistance an +apparatus was devised which indicated the locality of the ball. A full +account of his experiments was given in a paper read before the American +Association for the Advancement of Science in August, 1882. + +Professor Bell continues to reside in the United States, of which he is +a naturalised citizen. He is married to a daughter of Mr. Gardiner G. +Hubbard, who in 1860, when she was four years of age, lost her hearing +by an illness, but has learned to converse by the Horace-Mann system of +watching the lips. Both he and his father-in-law (who had a pecuniary +interest in his patents) have made princely fortunes by the introduction +of the telephone. + + + +CHAPTER IX. THOMAS ALVA EDISON. + +Thomas Alva Edison, the most famous inventor of his time and country, +was born at Milan, Erie County, Ohio, in the United States, on February +11, 1847. His pedigree has been traced for two centuries to a family +of prosperous millers in Holland, some of whom emigrated to America +in 1730. Thomas, his great-grandfather, was an officer of a bank in +Manhattan Island during the Revolution, and his signature is extant on +the old notes of the American currency. Longevity seems a characteristic +of the strain, for Thomas lived to the patriarchal term of 102, his son +to 103, and Samuel, the father of the inventor, is, we understand, a +brisk and hale old man of eighty-six. + +Born at Digby, in the county of Annapolis, Nova Scotia, on August 16, +1804, Samuel was apprenticed to a tailor, but in his manhood he forsook +the needle to engage in the lumber trade, and afterwards in grain. He +resided for a time in Canada, where, at Vienna, he was married to Miss +Nancy Elliott, a popular teacher in the high school. She was of Scotch +descent, and born in Chenango County, New York, on January 10, 1810. +After his marriage he removed, in 1837, to Detroit, Michigan, and the +following year settled in Milan. + +In his younger days Samuel Edison was a man of fine appearance. He stood +6 feet 2 inches in his stockings, and even at the age of sixty-four +he was known to outjump 260 soldiers of a regiment quartered at Fort +Gratiot, in Michigan. His wife was a fine-looking woman, intelligent, +well-educated, and a social favourite. The inventor probably draws his +physical endurance from his father, and his intellect from his mother. + +Milan is situated on the Huron River, about ten miles from the lake, and +was then a rising town of 3,000 inhabitants, mostly occupied with the +grain and timber trade. Mr. Edison dwelt in a plain cottage with a low +fence in front, which stood beside the roadway under the shade of one or +two trees. + +The child was neither pale nor prematurely thoughtful; he was +rosy-cheeked, laughing, and chubby. He liked to ramble in the woods, +or play on the banks of the river, and could repeat the songs of the +boatmen ere he was five years old. Still he was fond of building little +roads with planks, and scooping out canals or caverns in the sand. + +An amusing anecdote is imputed to his sister, Mrs. Homer Page, of Milan. +Having been told one day that a goose hatches her goslings by the warmth +of her body, the child was missed, and subsequently found in the barn +curled up in a nest beside a quantity of eggs! + +The Lake Shore Railway having injured the trade of Milan, the family +removed to Port Huron, in Michigan, when Edison was about seven years +old. Here they lived in an old-fashioned white frame-house, surrounded +by a grove, and commanding a fine view of the broad river, with the +Canadian hills beyond. His mother undertook his education, and with +the exception of two months he never went to school. She directed his +opening mind to the acquisition of knowledge, and often read aloud to +the family in the evening. She and her son were a loving pair, and it +is pleasant to know that although she died on April 9, 1871, before he +finally emerged from his difficulties, her end was brightened by the +first rays of his coming glory. + +Mr. Edison tells us that his son never had any boyhood in the ordinary +sense, his early playthings being steam-engines and the mechanical +powers. But it is like enough that he trapped a wood-chuck now and then, +or caught a white-fish with the rest. + +He was greedy of knowledge, and by the age of ten had read the PENNY +ENCYCLOPAEDIA; Hume's HISTORY OF ENGLAND; Dubigne's HISTORY OF THE +REFORMATION; Gibbon's DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, and Sears' +HISTORY OF THE WORLD. His father, we are told, encouraged his love of +study by making him a small present for every book he read. + +At the age of twelve he became a train-boy, or vendor of candy, fruit, +and journals to the passengers on the Grand Trunk Railway, between Port +Huron and Detroit. The post enabled him to sleep at home, and to extend +his reading by the public library at Detroit. Like the boy Ampere, he +proposed, it is said, to master the whole collection, shelf by shelf, +and worked his way through fifteen feet of the bottom one before he +began to select his fare. + +Even the PRINCIPIA of Newton never daunted him; and if he did not +understand the problems which have puzzled some of the greatest +minds, he read them religiously, and pressed on. Burton's ANATOMY OF +MELANCHOLY, Ure's DICTIONARY OF CHEMISTRY, did not come amiss; but +in Victor Hugo's LES MISERABLES and THE TOILERS OF THE SEA he found +a treasure after his own heart. Like Ampere, too, he was noted for a +memory which retained many of the facts thus impressed upon it, as the +sounds are printed on a phonogram. + +The boy student was also a keen man of business, and his pursuit of +knowledge in the evening did not sap his enterprises of the day. He soon +acquired a virtual monopoly for the sale of newspapers on the line, and +employed four boy assistants. His annual profits amounted to about 500 +dollars, which were a substantial aid to his parents. To increase the +sale of his papers, he telegraphed the headings of the war news to +the stations in advance of the trains, and placarded them to tempt the +passengers. Ere long he conceived the plan of publishing a newspaper +of his own. Having bought a quantity of old type at the office of the +DETROIT FREE PRESS, he installed it in a spingless car, or 'caboose' of +the train meant for a smoking-room, but too uninviting to be much used +by the passengers. Here he set the type, and printed a smallsheet about +a foot square by pressing it with his hand. The GRAND TRUNK HERALD, +as he called it, was a weekly organ, price three cents, containing a +variety of local news, and gossip of the line. It was probably the only +journal ever published on a railway train; at all events with a boy for +editor and staff, printer and 'devil,' publisher and hawker. Mr. Robert +Stephenson, then building the tubular bridge at Montreal, was taken with +the venture, and ordered an extra edition for his own use. The London +TIMES correspondent also noticed the paper as a curiosity of journalism. +This was a foretaste of notoriety. + +Unluckily, however, the boy did not keep his scientific and literary +work apart, and the smoking-car was transformed into a laboratory as +well as a printing house. + +Having procured a copy of Fresenius' QUALITIVE ANALYSIS and some +old chemical gear; he proceeded to improve his leisure by making +experiments. One day, through an extra jolt of the car, a bottle of +phosphorus broke on the floor, and the car took fire. The incensed +conductor of the train, after boxing his ears, evicted him with all his +chattels. + +Finding an asylum in the basement of his father's house (where he +took the precaution to label all his bottles 'poison'), he began the +publication of a new and better journal, entitled the PAUL PRY. It +boasted of several contributors and a list of regular subscribers. +One of these (Mr. J.H.B.), while smarting under what he considered a +malicious libel, met the editor one day on the brink of the St. Clair, +and taking the law into his own hands, soused him in the river. The +editor avenged his insulted dignity by excluding the subscriber's name +from the pages of the PAUL PRY. + +Youthful genius is apt to prove unlucky, and another story (we hope +they are all true, though we cannot vouch for them), is told of his +partiality for riding with the engine-driver on the locomotive. After +he had gained an insight into the working of the locomotive he would run +the train himself; but on one occasion he pumped so much water into the +boiler that it was shot from the funnel, and deluged the engine with +soot. By using his eyes and haunting the machine shops he was able to +construct a model of a locomotive. + +But his employment of the telegraph seems to have diverted his thoughts +in that direction, and with the help of a book on the telegraph he +erected a makeshift line between his new laboratory and the house of +James Ward, one of his boy helpers. The conductor was run on trees, and +insulated with bottles, and the apparatus was home-made, but it seems +to have been of some use. Mr. James D. Reid, author of THE TELEGRAPH IN +AMERICA, would have us believe that an attempt was made to utilise the +electricity obtained by rubbing a cat connected up in lieu of a battery; +but the spirit of Artemus Ward is by no means dead in the United States, +and the anecdote may be taken with a grain of salt. Such an experiment +was at all events predestined to an ignominious failure. + +An act of heroism was the turning-point in his career. One day, at the +risk of his life, he saved the child of the station-master at Mount +Clemens, near Port Huron, from being run over by an approaching train, +and the grateful father, Mr. J. A. Mackenzie, learning of his interest +in the telegraph, offered to teach him the art of sending and receiving +messages. After his daily service was over, Edison returned to Mount +Clemens on a luggage train and received his lesson. + +At the end of five months, while only sixteen years of age, he forsook +the trains, and accepted an offer of twenty-five dollars a month, with +extra pay for overtime, as operator in the telegraph office at Port +Huron, a small installation in a jewelry store. He worked hard to +acquire more skill; and after six months, finding his extra pay +withheld, he obtained an engagement as night operator at Stratford, in +Canada. To keep him awake the operator was required to report the word +'six,' an office call, every half-hour to the manager of the circuit. +Edison fulfilled the regulation by inventing a simple device which +transmitted the required signals. It consisted of a wheel with the +characters cut on the rim, and connected with the circuit in such a +way that the night watchman, by turning the wheel, could transmit the +signals while Edison slept or studied. + +His employment at Stratford came to a grievous end. One night he +received a service message ordering a certain train to stop, and before +showing it to the conductor he, perhaps for greater certainty, repeated +it back again. When he rushed out of the office to deliver it the train +was gone, and a collision seemed inevitable; but, fortunately, the +opposing trains met on a straight portion of the track, and the accident +was avoided. The superintendent of the railway threatened to prosecute +Edison, who was thoroughly frightened, and returned home without his +baggage. + +During this vacation at Port Huron his ingenuity showed itself in a more +creditable guise. An 'ice-jam' occurred on the St. Clair, and broke the +telegraph cable between Port Huron and Sarnia, on the opposite +shore. Communication was therefore interrupted until Edison mounted a +locomotive and sounded the whistle in short and long calls according to +the well-known 'Morse,' or telegraphic code. After a time the reporter +at Sarnia caught the idea, and messages were exchanged by the new +system. + +His next situation was at Adrian, in Michigan, where he fitted up a +small shop, and employed his spare time in repairing telegraph apparatus +and making crude experiments. One day he violated the rules of the +office by monopolising the use of the line on the strength of having a +message from the superintendent, and was discharged. + +He was next engaged at Fort Wayne, and behaved so well that he was +promoted to a station at Indianapolis. While there he invented an +'automatic repeater,' by which a message is received on one line and +simultaneously transmitted on another without the assistance of an +operator. Like other young operators, he was ambitious to send or +receive the night reports for the press, which demand the highest speed +and accuracy of sending. But although he tried to overcome his faults by +the device of employing an auxiliary receiver working at a slower rate +than the direct one, he was found incompetent, and transferred to a day +wire at Cincinnati. Determined to excel, however, he took shift for +the night men as often as he could, and after several months, when +a delegation of Cleveland operators came to organise a branch of the +Telegraphers' Union, and the night men were out on 'strike,' he received +the press reports as well as he was able, working all the night. For +this feat his salary was raised next day from sixty-five to one hundred +and five dollars, and he was appointed to the Louisville circuit, one +of the most desirable in the office. The clerk at Louisville was Bob +Martin, one of the most expert telegraphists in America, and Edison soon +became a first-class operator. + +In 1864, tempted by a better salary, he removed to Memphis, where +he found an opportunity of introducing his automatic repeater, +thus enabling Louisville to communicate with New Orleans without an +intermediary clerk. For this innovation he was complimented; but nothing +more. He embraced the subject of duplex telegraphy, or the simultaneous +transmission of two messages on the same wire, one from each end; but +his efforts met with no encouragement. Men of routine are apt to look +with disfavour on men of originality; they do not wish to be disturbed +from the official groove; and if they are not jealous of improvement, +they have often a narrow-minded contempt or suspicion of the servant who +is given to invention, thinking him an oddity who is wasting time which +might be better employed in the usual way. A telegraph operator, in +their eyes, has no business to invent. His place is to sit at his +instrument and send or receive the messages as fast as he can, without +troubling his mind with inventions or anything else. When his shift is +over he can amuse himself as he likes, provided he is always fit for +work. Genius is not wanted. + +The clerks themselves, reckless of a culture which is not required, and +having a good string to their bow in the matter of livelihood, namely, +the mechanical art of signalling, are prone to lead a careless, gay, and +superficial life, roving from town to town throughout: the length and +breadth of the States. But for his genius and aspirations, Edison +might have yielded to the seductions of this happy-go-lucky, free, and +frivolous existence. Dissolute comrades at Memphis won upon his good +nature; but though he lent them money, he remained abstemious, working +hard, and spending his leisure upon books and experiments. To them he +appeared an extraordinary fellow; and so far from sympathising with his +inventions, they dubbed him 'Luny,' and regarded him as daft. + +What with the money he had lent, or spent on books or apparatus, when +the Memphis lines were transferred from the Government to a private +company and Edison was discharged, he found himself without a dollar. +Transported to Decatur, he walked to Nashville, where he found another +operator, William Foley, in the like straits, and they went in company +to Louisville. Foley's reputation as an operator was none of the best; +but on his recommendation Edison obtained a situation, and supported +Foley until he too got employment. + +The squalid office was infested with rats, and its discipline was lax, +in all save speed and quality of work, and some of his companions were +of a dissipated stamp. To add to his discomforts, the line he worked was +old and defective; but he improved the signals by adjusting three sets +of instruments, and utilising them for three different states of +the line. During nearly two years of drudgery under these depressing +circumstances, Edison's prospects of becoming an inventor seemed further +off than ever. Perhaps he began to fear that stern necessity would +grind him down, and keep him struggling for a livelihood. None of his +improvements had brought him any advantage. His efforts to invent had +been ridiculed and discountenanced. Nobody had recognised his talent, +at least as a thing of value and worthy of encouragement, let alone +support. All his promotion had come from trying to excel in his routine +work. Perhaps he lost faith in himself, or it may be that the glowing +accounts he received of South America induced him to seek his fortune +there. At all events he caught the 'craze' for emigration that swept +the Southern States on the conclusion of the Civil War, and resolved to +emigrate with two companions, Keen and Warren. + +But on their arriving at New Orleans the vessel had sailed. In this +predicament Edison fell in with a travelled Spaniard, who depicted the +inferiority of other countries, and especially of South America, in +such vivid colours, that he changed his intention and returned home +to Michigan. After a pleasant holiday with his friends he resumed his +occupation in the Louisville office. + +Contact with home seems to have charged him with fresh courage. He wrote +a work on electricity, which for lack of means was never published, and +improved his penmanship until he could write a fair round backhand at +the rate of forty-five words a minute--that is to say, the utmost that +an operator can send by the Morse code. The style was chosen for its +clearness, each letter being distinctly formed, with little or no +shading. + +His comrades were no better than before. On returning from his work in +the small hours, Edison would sometimes find two or three of them asleep +in his bed with their boots on, and have to shift them to the floor in +order that he might 'turn in.' + +A new office was opened, but strict orders were issued that nobody was +to interfere with the instruments and their connections. He could +not resist the infringement of this rule, however, and continued his +experiments. + +In drawing some vitriol one night, he upset the carboy, and the acid +eating its way through the floor, played havoc with the furniture of a +luxurious bank in the flat below. He was discharged for this, but soon +obtained another engagement as a press operator in Cincinnati. He spent +his leisure in the Mechanics' Library, studying works on electricity and +general science. He also developed his ideas on the duplex system; +and if they were not carried out, they at least directed him to the +quadruplex system with which his name was afterwards associated. + +These attempts to improve his time seem to have made him unpopular, for +after a short term in Cincinnati, he returned to Port Huron. A friend, +Mr. F. Adams, operator in the Boston office of the Western Union +Telegraph Company, recommended Edison to his manager, Mr. G. F. +Milliken, as a good man to work the New York wire, and the berth was +offered to Edison by telegraph. He accepted, and left at once for Boston +by the Grand Trunk Railway, but the train was snowed up for two days +near the bluffs of the St. Lawrence. The consequence might have been +serious had provisions not been found by a party of foragers. + +Mr. Milliken was the first of Edison's masters, and perhaps his fellows, +who appreciated him. Mediocrity had only seen the gawky stripling, with +his moonstruck air, and pestilent habit of trying some new crotchet. +Himself an inventor, Milliken recognised in his deep-set eye and musing +brow the fire of a suppressed genius. He was then just twenty-one. The +friendship of Mr. Milliken, and the opportunity for experiment, rendered +the Boston office a congenial one. + +His by-hours were spent in a little workshop he had opened. Among his +inventions at this period were a dial telegraph, and a 'printer' for +use on private lines, and an electro-chemical vote recorder, which the +Legislature of Massachusetts declined to adopt. With the assistance of +Mr. F. L. Pope, patent adviser to the Western Union Telegraph Company, +his duplex system was tried, with encouraging results. + +The ready ingenuity of Edison is shown by his device for killing the +cockroaches which overran the Boston office. He arranged some strips of +tinfoil on the wall, and connected these to the poles of a battery +in such a way that when the insects ran towards the bait which he had +provided, they stepped from one foil to the other, and completed the +circuit of the current, thus receiving a smart shock, which dislodged +them into a pail of water, standing below. + +In 1870, after two years in Boston, where he had spent all his earnings, +chiefly on his books and workshop, he found himself in New York, +tramping the streets on the outlook for a job, and all but destitute. +After repeated failures he chanced to enter the office of the Laws Gold +Reporting Telegraph Company while the instrument which Mr. Laws had +invented to report the fluctuations of the money market had broken down. +No one could set it right; there was a fever in the market, and Mr. +Laws, we are told, was in despair. Edison volunteered to set it right, +and though his appearance was unpromising, he was allowed to try. + +The insight of the born mechanic, the sleight of hand which marks the +true experimenter, have in them something magical to the ignorant. In +Edison's hands the instrument seemed to rectify itself. This was his +golden opportunity. He was engaged by the company, and henceforth his +career as an inventor was secure. The Gold Indicator Company afterwards +gave him a responsible position. He improved their indicator, and +invented the Gold and Stock Quotation Printer, an apparatus for a +similar purpose. He entered into partnership with Mr. Pope and Mr. +Ashley, and introduced the Pope and Edison Printer. A private line which +he established was taken over by the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company, +and soon their system was worked almost exclusively with Edison's +invention. + +He was retained in their service, and that of the Western Union +Telegraph Company, as a salaried inventor, they having the option of +buying all his telegraphic inventions at a price to be agreed upon. + +At their expense a large electrical factory was established under his +direction at Newark, New Jersey, where he was free to work out his +ideas and manufacture his apparatus. Now that he was emancipated from +drudgery, and fairly started on the walk which Nature had intended for +him, he rejoiced in the prolific freedom of his mind, which literally +teemed with projects. His brain was no longer a prey to itself from +the 'local action,' or waste energy of restrained ideas and revolving +thoughts. [The term 'local action' is applied by electricians to the +waste which goes on in a voltaic battery, although its current is not +flowing in the outer circuit and doing useful work.] If anything, he +attempted too much. Patents were taken out by the score, and at one time +there were no less than forty-five distinct inventions in progress. The +Commissioner of Patents described him as 'the young man who kept the +path to the Patent Office hot with his footsteps.' + +His capacity for labouring without rest is very remarkable. On one +occasion, after improving his Gold and Stock Quotation Printer, an order +for the new instruments, to the extent of 30,000 dollars, arrived at the +factory. The model had acted well, but the first instruments made after +it proved a failure. Edison thereupon retired to the upper floor of the +factory with some of his best workmen, and intimated that they must +all remain there until the defect was put right. After sixty hours of +continuous toil, the fault was remedied, and Edison went to bed, where +he slept for thirty-six hours. + +Mr. Johnson, one of his assistants, informs us that for ten years he +worked on an average eighteen hours a day, and that he has been known +to continue an experiment for three months day and night, with the +exception of a nap from six o'clock to nine of the morning. In the +throes of invention, and under the inspiration of his ideas, he is apt +to make no distinction between day and night, until he arrives at a +result which he considers to be satisfactory one way or the other. His +meals are brought to him in the laboratory, and hastily eaten, although +his dwelling is quite near. Long watchfulness and labour seem to +heighten the activity of his mind, which under its 'second wind,' so +to speak, becomes preternaturally keen and suggestive. He likes best +to work at night in the silence and solitude of his laboratory when the +noise of the benches or the rumble of the engines is stilled, and all +the world about him is asleep. + +Fortunately, he can work without stimulants, and, when the strain is +over, rest without narcotics; otherwise his exhausted constitution, +sound as it is, would probably break down. Still, he appears to be +ageing before his time, and some of his assistants, not so well endowed +with vitality, have, we believe, overtaxed their strength in trying to +keep up with him. + +At this period he devised his electric pen, an ingenious device for +making copies of a document. It consists essentially of a needle, +rapidly jogged up and down by means of an electro-magnet actuated by +an intermittent current of electricity. The writing is traced with the +needle, which perforates another sheet of paper underneath, thus forming +a stencil-plate, which when placed on a clean paper, and evenly inked +with a rolling brush, reproduces the original writing. + +In 1873 Edison was married to Miss Mary Stillwell, of Newark, one of his +employees. His eldest child, Mary Estelle, was playfully surnamed 'Dot,' +and his second, Thomas Alva, jun., 'Dash,' after the signals of the +Morse code. Mrs. Edison died several years ago. + +While seeking to improve the method of duplex working introduced by +Mr. Steams, Edison invented the quadruplex, by which four messages are +simultaneously sent through one wire, two from each end. Brought out +in association with Mr. Prescott, it was adopted by the Western Union +Telegraph Company, and, later, by the British Post Office. The President +of the Western Union reported that it had saved the Company 500,000 +dollars a year in the construction of new lines. Edison also improved +the Bain chemical telegraph, until it attained an incredible speed. Bain +had left it capable of recording 200 words a minute; but Edison, by dint +of searching a pile of books ordered from New York, Paris, and London, +making copious notes, and trying innumerable experiments, while eating +at his desk and sleeping in his chair, ultimately prepared a solution +which enabled it to register over 1000 words a minute. It was exhibited +at the Philadelphia Centenial Exhibition in 1876, where it astonished +Sir William Thomson. + +In 1876, Edison sold his factory at Newark, and retired to Menlo Park, a +sequestered spot near Metuchin, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and about +twenty-four miles from New York. Here on some rising ground he built a +wooden tenement, two stories high, and furnished it as a workshop and +laboratory. His own residence and the cottages of his servants completed +the little colony. + +The basement of the main building was occupied by his office, a choice +library, a cabinet replete with instruments of precision, and a large +airy workshop, provided with lathes and steam power, where his workmen +shaped his ideas into wood and metal. + +The books lying about, the designs and placards on the walls, the +draught-board on the table, gave it the appearance of a mechanics' +club-room. The free and lightsome behaviour of the men, the humming at +the benches, recalled some school of handicraft. There were no rigid +hours, no grinding toil under the jealous eye of the overseer. The +spirit of competition and commercial rivalry was absent. It was not +a question of wringing as much work as possible out of the men in the +shortest time and at the lowest price. Moreover, they were not mere +mechanical drudges--they were interested in their jobs, which demanded +thought as well as skill. + +Upstairs was the laboratory proper--a long room containing an array of +chemicals; for Edison likes to have a sample of every kind, in case it +might suddenly be requisite. On the tables and in the cupboards were +lying all manner of telegraphic apparatus, lenses, crucibles, and pieces +of his own inventions. A perfect tangle of telegraph wires coming +from all parts of the Union were focussed at one end of the room. An +ash-covered forge, a cabinet organ, a rusty stove with an old pivot +chair, a bench well stained with oils and acids, completed the equipment +of this curious den, into which the sunlight filtered through the +chemical jars and fell in coloured patches along the dusty floor. + +The moving spirit of this haunt by day and night is well described as an +overgrown school-boy. He is a man of a slim, but wiry figure, about +five feet ten inches in height. His face at this period was juvenile and +beardless. The nose and chin were shapely and prominent, the mouth firm, +the forehead wide and full above, but not very high. It was shaded +by dark chestnut hair, just silvered with grey. His most remarkable +features were his eyes, which are blue-grey and deeply set, with an +intense and piercing expression. When his attention was not aroused, he +seemed to retire into himself, as though his mind had drifted far away, +and came back slowly to the present. He was pale with nightwork, and his +thoughtful eyes had an old look in serious moments. But his smile was +boyish and pleasant, and his manner a trifle shy. + +There was nothing of the dandy about Edison, He boasted no jewelled +fingers or superfine raiment. An easy coat soiled with chemicals, a +battered wide-awake, and boots guiltless of polish, were good enough +for this inspired workman. An old silver watch, sophisticated with +magnetism, and keeping an eccentric time peculiar to it, was his only +ornament. On social occasions, of course, he adopted a more +conventional costume. Visitors to the laboratory often found him in his +shirt-sleeves, with dishevelled hair and grimy hands. + +The writer of 'A Night with Edison' has described him as bending like +a wizard over the smoky fumes of some lurid lamps arranged on a brick +furnace, as if he were summoning the powers of darkness. + +'It is much after midnight now,' says this author. 'The machinery below +has ceased to rumble, and the tired hands have gone to their homes. +A hasty lunch has been sent up. We are at the thermoscope. Suddenly a +telegraph instrument begins to click. The inventor strikes a grotesque +attitude, a herring in one hand and a biscuit in the other, and with +a voice a little muffled with a mouthful of both, translates aloud, +slowly, the sound intelligible to him alone: "London.--News of death +of Lord John Russell premature." "John Blanchard, whose failure was +announced yesterday, has suicided (no, that was a bad one) SUCCEEDED! in +adjusting his affairs, and will continue in business."' + +His tastes are simple and his habits are plain. On one occasion, when +invited to a dinner at Delmonico's restaurant, he contented himself +with a slice of pie and a cup of tea. Another time he is said to have +declined a public dinner with the remark that 100,000 dollars would +not tempt him to sit through two hours of 'personal glorification.' He +dislikes notoriety, thinking that a man is to be 'measured by what he +does, not by what is said about him.' But he likes to talk about his +inventions and show them to visitors at Menlo Park. In disposition he +is sociable, affectionate, and generous, giving himself no airs, and +treating all alike. His humour is native, and peculiar to himself, so +there is some excuse for the newspaper reporters who take his jokes +about the capabilities of Nature AU SERIEUX; and publish them for +gospel. + +His assistants are selected for their skill and physical endurance. The +chief at Menlo Park was Mr. Charles Batchelor, a Scotchman, who had +a certain interest in the inventions, but the others, including +mathematicians, chemists, electricians, secretary, bookkeeper, and +mechanics, were paid a salary. They were devoted to Edison, who, though +he worked them hard at times, was an indulgent master, and sometimes +joined them in a general holiday. All of them spoke in the highest terms +of the inventor and the man. + +The Menlo establishment was unique in the world. It was founded for the +sole purpose of applying the properties of matter to the production +of new inventions. For love of science or the hope of gain, men had +experimented before, and worked out their inventions in the laboratories +of colleges and manufactories. But Edison seems to have been the first +to organise a staff of trained assistants to hunt up useful facts in +books, old and modern, and discover fresh ones by experiment, in order +to develop his ideas or suggest new ones, together with skilled workmen +to embody them in the fittest manner; and all with the avowed object of +taking out patents, and introducing the novel apparatus as a commercial +speculation. He did not manufacture his machines for sale; he simply +created the models, and left their multiplication to other people. There +are different ways of looking at Nature: + + 'To some she is the goddess great; + To some the milch-cow of the field; + Their business is to calculate + The butter she will yield.' + +The institution has proved a remarkable success. From it has emanated +a series of marvellous inventions which have carried the name of Edison +throughout the whole civilised world. Expense was disregarded in making +the laboratory as efficient as possible; the very best equipment was +provided, the ablest assistants employed, and the profit has been +immense. Edison is a millionaire; the royalties from his patents alone +are said to equal the salary of a Prime Minister. + +Although Edison was the master spirit of the band, it must not be +forgotten that his assistants were sometimes co-inventors with himself. +No doubt he often supplied the germinal ideas, while his assistants only +carried them out. But occasionally the suggestion was nothing more than +this: 'I want something that will do so-and-so. I believe it will be +a good thing, and can be done.' The assistant was on his mettle, +and either failed or triumphed. The results of the experiments and +researches were all chronicled in a book, for the new facts, if not then +required, might become serviceable at a future time. If a rare material +was wanted, it was procured at any cost. + +With such facilities, an invention is rapidly matured. Sometimes the +idea was conceived in the morning, and a working model was constructed +by the evening. One day, we are told, a discovery was made at 4 P.M., +and Edison telegraphed it to his patent agent, who immediately drew up +the specification, and at nine o'clock next morning cabled it to London. +Before the inventor was out of bed, he received an intimation that +his patent had been already deposited in the British Patent Office. Of +course, the difference of time was in his favour. + +When Edison arrived at the laboratory in the morning, he read his +letters, and then overlooked his employees, witnessing their results and +offering his suggestions; but it often happened that he became totally +engrossed with one experiment or invention. His work was frequently +interrupted by curious visitors, who wished to see the laboratory and +the man. Although he had chosen that out-of-the-way place to avoid +disturbance, they were never denied: and he often took a pleasure in +showing his models, or explaining the work on which he was engaged. +There was no affectation of mystery, no attempt at keeping his +experiments a secret. Even the laboratory notes were open to inspection. +Menlo Park became a kind of Mecca to the scientific pilgrim; the +newspapers and magazines despatched reporters to the scene; excursion +parties came by rail, and country farmers in their buggies; till at last +an enterprising Yankee even opened a refreshment room. + +The first of Edison's greater inventions in Menlo Park was the +'loud-speaking telephone.' Professor Graham Bell had introduced his +magneto-electric telephone, but its effect was feeble. It is, we +believe, a maxim in biology that a similarity between the extremities +of a creature is an infallible sign of its inferiority, and that in +proportion as it rises in the scale of being, its head is found to +differ from its tail. Now, in the Bell apparatus, the transmitter and +the receiver were alike, and hence Clerk Maxwell hinted that it would +never be good for much until they became differentiated from each other. +Consciously or unconsciously Edison accomplished the feat. With the +hardihood of genius, he attempted to devise a telephone which would +speak out loud enough to be heard in any corner of a large hall. + +In the telephone of Bell, the voice of the speaker is the motive power +which generates the current in the line. The vibrations of the sound may +be said to transform themselves into electrical undulations. Hence the +current is very weak, and the reproduction of the voice is relatively +faint. Edison adopted the principle of making the vibrations of the +voice control the intensity of a current which was independently +supplied to the line by a voltaic battery. The plan of Bell, in short, +may be compared to a man who employs his strength to pump a quantity +of water into a pipe, and that of Edison to one who uses his to open a +sluice, through which a stream of water flows from a capacious dam into +the pipe. Edison was acquainted with two experimental facts on which to +base the invention. + +In 1873, or thereabout, he claimed to have observed, while constructing +rheostats, or electrical resistances for making an artificial telegraph +line, that powdered plumbago and carbon has the property of varying in +its resistance to the passage of the current when under pressure. The +variation seemed in a manner proportional to the pressure. As a matter +of fact, powdered carbon and plumbago had been used in making small +adjustable rheostats by M. Clerac, in France, and probably also in +Germany, as early as 1865 or 1866. Clerac's device consisted of a small +wooden tube containing the material, and fitted with contacts for the +current, which appear to have adjusted the pressure. Moreover, the +Count Du Moncel, as far back as 1856, had clearly discovered that when +powdered carbon was subjected to pressure, its electrical resistance +altered, and had made a number of experiments on the phenomenon. Edison +may have independently observed the fact, but it is certain he was not +the first, and his claim to priority has fallen to the ground. + +Still he deserves the full credit of utilising it in ways which were +highly ingenious and bold. The 'pressure-relay,' produced in 1877, was +the first relay in which the strength of the local current working +the local telegraph instrument was caused to vary in proportion to +the variation; of the current in the main line. It consisted of an +electro-magnet with double poles and an armature which pressed upon a +disc or discs of plumbago, through which the local current Passed. The +electro-magnet was excited by the main line current and the armature +attracted to its poles at every signal, thus pressing on the plumbago, +and by reducing its resistance varying the current in the local circuit. +According as the main line current was strong or weak, the pressure +on the plumbago was more or less, and the current in the local circuit +strong or weak. Hence the signals of the local receiver were in +accordance with the currents in the main line. + +Edison found that the same property might be applied to regulate the +strength of a current in conformity with the vibrations of the +voice, and after a great number of experiments produced his 'carbon +transmitter.' Plumbago in powder, in sticks, or rubbed on fibres and +sheets of silk, were tried as the sensitive material, but finally +abandoned in favour of a small cake or wafer of compressed lamp-black, +obtained from the smoke of burning oil, such as benzolene or rigolene. +This was the celebrated 'carbon button,' which on being placed between +two platinum discs by way of contact, and traversed by the electric +current, was found to vary in resistance under the pressure of the sound +waves. The voice was concentrated upon it by means of a mouthpiece and a +diaphragm. + +The property on which the receiver was based had been observed and +applied by him some time before. When a current is passed from a +metal contact through certain chemical salts, a lubricating effect was +noticeable. Thus if a metal stylus were rubbed or drawn over a prepared +surface, the point of the stylus was found to slip or 'skid' every time +a current passed between them, as though it had been oiled. If your pen +were the stylus, and the paper on which you write the surface, each +wave of electricity passing from the nib to the paper would make the +pen start, and jerk your fingers with it. He applied the property to the +recording of telegraph signals without the help of an electro-magnet, +by causing the currents to alter the friction between the two rubbing +surfaces, and so actuate a marker, which registered the message as in +the Morse system. + +This instrument was called the 'electromotograph,' and it occurred to +Edison that in a similar way the undulatory currents from his carbon +transmitter might, by varying the friction between a metal stylus and +the prepared surface, put a tympanum in vibration, and reproduce the +original sounds. Wonderful as it may appear, he succeeded in doing so +by the aid of a piece of chalk, a brass pin, and a thin sheet or disc +of mica. He attached the pin or stylus to the centre of the mica, and +brought its point to bear on a cylindrical surface of prepared chalk. +The undulatory current from the line was passed through the stylus and +the chalk, while the latter was moved by turning a handle; and at every +pulse of the electricity the friction between the pin and chalk was +diminished, so that the stylus slipped upon its surface. The consequence +was a vibration of the mica diaphragm to which the stylus was attached. +Thus the undulatory current was able to establish vibrations of the +disc, which communicated themselves to the air and reproduced the +original sounds. The replica was loud enough to be heard by a large +audience, and by reducing the strength of the current it could be +lowered to a feeble murmur. The combined transmitter and receiver took +the form of a small case with a mouthpiece to speak into, an car-piece +on a hinged bracket for listening to it, press-keys for manipulating the +call-bell and battery, and a small handle by which to revolve the +little chalk cylinder. This last feature was a practical drawback to the +system, which was patented in 1877. + +The Edison telephone, when at its best, could transmit all kinds of +noises, gentle or harsh; it could lift up its voice and cry aloud, or +sink it to a confidential whisper. There was a slight Punchinellian +twang about its utterances, which, if it did not altogether disguise the +individuality of the distant speaker, gave it the comicality of a clever +parody, and to hear it singing a song, and quavering jauntily on the +high notes, was irresistibly funny. Instrumental notes were given in all +their purity, and, after the phonograph, there was nothing more magical +in the whole range of science than to hear that fragment of common chalk +distilling to the air the liquid melody of sweet bells jingling in tune. +It brought to mind that wonderful stone of Memnon, which responded +to the rays of sunrise. It seemed to the listener that if the age of +miracles was past that of marvels had arrived, and considering the +simplicity of the materials, and the obscurity of its action, the +loud-speaking telephone was one of the most astonishing of recent +inventions. + +After Professor Hughes had published his discovery of the microphone, +Edison, recognising, perhaps, that it and the carbon transmitter were +based on the same principle, and having learnt his knowledge of the +world in the hard school of adversity, hastily claimed the microphone as +a variety of his invention, but imprudently charged Professor Hughes and +his friend, Mr. W. H. Preece, who had visited Edison at Menlo Park, with +having 'stolen his thunder.' The imputation was indignantly denied, and +it was obvious to all impartial electricians that Professor Hughes +had arrived at his results by a path quite independent of the carbon +transmitter, and discovered a great deal more than Edison had done. For +one thing, Edison believed the action of his transmitter as due to a +property of certain poor or 'semi-conductors,' whereby their electric +resistance varied under pressure. Hughes taught us to understand that +it was owing to a property of loose electrical contact between any two +conductors. + +The soft and springy button of lamp-black became no longer necessary, +since it was not so much the resistance of the material which varied as +the resistance at the contacts of its parts and the platinum electrodes. +Two metals, or two pieces of hard carbon, or a piece of metal and a +piece of hard carbon, were found to regulate the current in accordance +with the vibrations of the voice. Edison therefore discarded the soft +and fragile button, replacing it by contacts of hard carbon and +metal, in short, by a form of microphone. The carbon, or microphone +transmitter, was found superior to the magneto-electric transmitter of +Bell; but the latter was preferable as a receiver to the louder but +less convenient chemical receiver of Edison, and the most successful +telephonic system of the day is a combination of the microphone, or new +carbon transmitter, with the Bell receiver. + +The 'micro-tasimeter,' a delicate thermoscope, was constructed in 1878, +and is the outcome of Edison's experiments with the carbon button. +Knowing the latter to be extremely sensitive to minute changes of +pressure, for example, those of sonorous vibrations, he conceived the +idea of measuring radiant heat by causing it to elongate a thin bar +or strip of metal or vulcanite, bearing at one end on the button. To +indicate the effect, he included a galvanometer in the circuit of the +battery and the button. The apparatus consisted of a telephone button +placed between two discs of platinum and connected in circuit with the +battery and a sensitive galvanometer. The strip was supported so that +one end bore upon the button with a pressure which could be regulated by +an adjustable screw at the other. The strip expanded or contracted when +exposed to heat or cold, and thrust itself upon the button more or less, +thereby varying the electric current and deflecting the needle of +the galvanometer to one side or the other. The instrument was said to +indicate a change of temperature equivalent to one-millionth of a degree +Fahrenheit. It was tested by Edison on the sun's corona during the +eclipse observations of July 29, 1875, at Rawlings, in the territory of +Wyoming. The trial was not satisfactory, however, for the apparatus was +mounted on a hen-house, which trembled to the gale, and before he could +get it properly adjusted the eclipse was over. + +It is reported that on another trial the light from the star Arcturus, +when focussed on the vulcanite, was capable of deflecting the needle +of the galvanometer. When gelatine is substituted for vulcanite, the +humidity of the atmosphere can also be measured in the same way. + +Edison's crowning discovery at Menlo Park was the celebrated +'phonograph,' or talking machine. It was first announced by one of +his assistants in the pages of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN for 1878. The +startling news created a general feeling of astonishment, mingled with +incredulity or faith. People had indeed heard of the talking heads of +antiquity, and seen the articulating machines of De Kempelen and Faber, +with their artificial vocal organs and complicated levers, manipulated +by an operator. But the phonograph was automatic, and returned the +words which had been spoken into it by a purely mechanical mimicry. It +captured and imprisoned the sounds as the photograph retained the images +of light. The colours of Nature were lost in the photograph, but the +phonograph was said to preserve the qualities even of the human voice. +Yet this wonderful appliance had neither tongue nor teeth, larynx nor +pharynx. It appeared as simple as a coffee-mill. A vibrating diaphragm +to collect the sounds, and a stylus to impress them on a sheet of +tinfoil, were its essential parts. Looking on the record of the sound, +one could see only the scoring of the stylus on the yielding surface of +the metal, like the track of an Alpine traveller across the virgin snow. +These puzzling scratches were the foot-prints of the voice. + +Speech is the most perfect utterance of man; but its powers are limited +both in time and space. The sounds of the voice are fleeting, and do not +carry far; hence the invention of letters to record them, and of signals +to extend their range. These twin lines of invention, continued through +the ages, have in our own day reached their consummation. The smoke +of the savage, the semaphore, and the telegraph have ended in the +telephone, by which the actual voice can speak to a distance; and now +at length the clay tablet of the Assyrian, the wax of the ancient +Greek, the papyrus of the Egyptian, and the modern printing-press have +culminated in the phonograph, by which the living words can be preserved +into the future. In the light of a new discovery, we are apt to wonder +why our fathers were so blind as not to see it. When a new invention +has been made, we ask ourselves, Why was it not thought of before? The +discovery seems obvious, and the invention simple, after we know them. +Now that speech itself can be sent a thousand miles away, or heard a +thousand years after, we discern in these achievements two goals toward +which we have been making, and at which we should arrive some day. We +marvel that we had no prescience of these, and that we did not attain +to them sooner. Why has it taken so many generations to reach a foregone +conclusion? Alas! they neither knew the conclusion nor the means of +attaining to it. Man works from ignorance towards greater knowledge with +very limited powers. His little circle of light is surrounded by a wall +of darkness, which he strives to penetrate and lighten, now groping +blindly on its verge, now advancing his taper light and peering forward; +yet unable to go far, and even afraid to venture, in case he should be +lost. + +To the Infinite Intelligence which knows all that is hidden in that +darkness, and all that man will discover therein, how poor a thing +is the telephone or phonograph, how insignificant are all his 'great +discoveries'! This thought should imbue a man of science with humility +rather than with pride. Seen from another standpoint than his own, from +without the circle of his labours, not from within, in looking back, not +forward, even his most remarkable discovery is but the testimony of his +own littleness. The veil of darkness only serves to keep these little +powers at work. Men have sometimes a foreshadowing of what will come to +pass without distinctly seeing it. In mechanical affairs, the notion of +a telegraph is very old, and probably immemorial. Centuries ago the poet +and philosopher entertained the idea of two persons far apart being able +to correspond through the sympathetic property of the lodestone. The +string or lovers' telephone was known to the Chinese, and even the +electric telephone was thought about some years before it was invented. +Bourseul, Reis, and others preceded Graham Bell. + +The phonograph was more of a surprise; but still it was no exception to +the rule. Naturally, men and women had desired to preserve the accents +as well as the lineaments of some beloved friend who had passed away. +The Chinese have a legend of a mother whose voice was so beautiful that +her children tried to store it in a bamboo cane, which was carefully +sealed up. Long after she was dead the cane was opened, and her voice +came out in all its sweetness, but was never heard again. A similar +idea (which reminds us of Munchausen's trumpet) is found in the NATURAL +MAGICK of John Baptista Porta, the celebrated Neapolitan philosopher, +and published at London in 1658. He proposes to confine the sound of +the voice in leaden pipes, such as are used for speaking through; and he +goes on to say that 'if any man, as the words are spoken, shall stop the +end of the pipe, and he that is at the other end shall do the like, the +voice may be intercepted in the middle, and be shut up as in a prison, +and when the mouth is opened, the voice will come forth as out of his +mouth that spake it.... I am now upon trial of it. If before my book +be printed the business take effect, I will set it down; if not, if +God please, I shall write of it elsewhere.' Porta also refers to the +speaking head of Albertus Magnus, whom, however, he discredits. He +likewise mentions a colossal trumpeter of brass, stated to have been +erected in some ancient cities, and describes a plan for making a kind +of megaphone, 'wherewith we may hear many miles.' + +In the VOYAGE A LA LUNE of De Cyrano Bergerac, published at Paris in +1650, and subsequently translated into English, there is a long account +of a 'mechanical book' which spoke its contents to the listener. 'It was +a book, indeed,' says Cyrano, 'but a strange and wonderful book, which +had neither leaves nor letters,' and which instructed the Youth in their +walks, so that they knew more than the Greybeards of Cyrano's country, +and need never lack the company of all the great men living or dead to +entertain them with living voices. Sir David Brewster surmised that a +talking machine mould be invented before the end of the century. Mary +Somerville, in her CONNECTION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES, wrote some +fifty years ago: 'It may be presumed that ultimately the utterances or +pronunciation of modern languages will be conveyed, not only to the eye, +but also to the ear of posterity. Had the ancients possessed the means +of transmitting such definite sounds, the civilised world must have +responded in sympathetic notes at the distance of many ages.' In the +MEMOIRES DU GEANT of M. Nadar, published in 1864, the author says: +'These last fifteen years I have amused myself in thinking there is +nothing to prevent a man one of these days from finding a way to give us +a daguerreotype of sound--the phonograph--something like a box in +which melodies will be fixed and kept, as images are fixed in the dark +chamber.' It is also on record that, before Edison had published his +discovery to the world, M. Charles Cros deposited a sealed packet at the +Academie des Sciences, Paris, giving an account of an invention similar +to the phonograph. + +Ignorance of the true nature of sound had prevented the introduction of +such an instrument. But modern science, and in particular the invention +of the telephone with its vibrating plate, had paved the way for it. The +time was ripe, and Edison was the first to do it. + +In spite of the unbridled fancies of the poets and the hints of +ingenious writers, the announcement that a means of hoarding speech had +been devised burst like a thunderclap upon the world. + +[In seeing his mother's picture Byron wished that he might hear her +voice. Tennyson exclaims, 'Oh for the touch of a vanished hand, and the +sound of a voice that is still!' Shelley, in the WITCH OF ATLAS, wrote: + + 'The deep recesses of her odorous dwelling + Were stored with magic treasures--sounds of air, + Which had the power all spirits of compelling, + Folded in cells of crystal silence there; + Such as we hear in youth, and think the feeling + Will never die--yet ere we are aware, + The feeling and the sound are fled and gone, + And the regret they leave remains alone.' + Again, in his SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE, we find: + 'The fire of those soft orbs has ceased to burn, + And silence too enamoured of that voice + Locks its mute music in her rugged cell,'] + +The phonograph lay under the very eyes of Science, and yet she did not +see it. The logograph had traced all the curves of speech with ink on +paper; and it only remained to impress them on a solid surface in such a +manner as to regulate the vibrations of an artificial tympanum or +drum. Yet no professor of acoustics thought of this, and it was left +to Edison, a telegraphic inventor, to show them what was lying at their +feet. + +Mere knowledge, uncombined in the imagination, does not bear fruit in +new inventions. It is from the union of different facts that a new +idea springs. A scholar is apt to be content with the acquisition of +knowledge, which remains passive in his mind. An inventor seizes upon +fresh facts, and combines them with the old, which thereby become +nascent. Through accident or premeditation he is able by uniting +scattered thoughts to add a novel instrument to a domain of science with +which he has little acquaintance. Nay, the lessons of experience and the +scruples of intimate knowledge sometimes deter a master from attempting +what the tyro, with the audacity of genius and the hardihood of +ignorance, achieves. Theorists have been known to pronounce against a +promising invention which has afterwards been carried to success, and it +is not improbable that if Edison had been an authority in acoustics +he would never have invented the phonograph. It happened in this wise. +During the spring of 1877, he was trying a device for making a telegraph +message, received on one line, automatically repeat itself along another +line. This he did by embossing the Morse signals on the travelling paper +instead of merely inking them, and then causing the paper to pass under +the point of a stylus, which, by rising and falling in the indentations, +opened and closed a sending key included in the circuit of the second +line. In this way the received message transmitted itself further, +without the aid of a telegraphist. Edison was running the cylinder which +carried the embossed paper at a high speed one day, partly, as we are +told, for amusement, and partly to test the rate at which a clerk could +read a message. As the speed was raised, the paper gave out a humming +rhythmic sound in passing under the stylus. The separate signals of the +message could no longer be distinguished by the ear, and the instrument +seemed to be speaking in a language of its own, resembling 'human talk +heard indistinctly.' Immediately it flashed on the inventor that if +he could emboss the waves of speech upon the paper the words would be +returned to him. To conceive was to execute, and it was but the work +of an hour to provide a vibrating diaphragm or tympanum fitted with an +indenting stylus, and adapt it to the apparatus. Paraffined paper was +selected to receive the indentations, and substituted for the Morse +paper on the cylinder of the machine. On speaking to the tympanum, as +the cylinder was revolved, a record of the vibrations was indented on +the paper, and by re-passing this under the indenting point an imperfect +reproduction of the sounds was heard. Edison 'saw at once that the +problem of registering human speech, so that it could be repeated by +mechanical means as often as might he desired, was solved.' [T. A. +Edison, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, June, 1888; New York ELECTRICAL REVIEW, +1888,] + +The experiment shows that it was partly by accident, and not by +reasoning on theoretical knowledge, that the phonograph was discovered. +The sound resembling 'human talk heard indistinctly' seems to have +suggested it to his mind. This was the germ which fell upon the soil +prepared for it. Edison's thoughts had been dwelling on the telephone; +he knew that a metal tympanum was capable of vibrating with all the +delicacies of speech, and it occurred to him that if these vibrations +could be impressed on a yielding material, as the Morse signals were +embossed upon the paper, the indentations would reproduce the speech, +just as the furrows of the paper reproduced the Morse signals. The +tympanum vibrating in the curves of speech was instantly united in +his imagination with the embossing stylus and the long and short +indentations on the Morse paper; the idea of the phonograph flashed upon +him. Many a one versed in acoustics would probably have been restrained +by the practical difficulty of impressing the vibrations on a yielding +material, and making them react upon the reproducing tympanum. But +Edison, with that daring mastery over matter which is a characteristic +of his mechanical genius, put it confidently to the test. + +Soon after this experiment, a phonograph was constructed, in which a +sheet of tinfoil was wrapped round a revolving barrel having a spiral +groove cut in its surface to allow the point of the indenting stylus +to sink into the yielding foil as it was thrust up and down by the +vibrating tympanum. This apparatus--the first phonograph--was published +to the world in 1878, and created a universal sensation. [SCIENTIFIC +AMERICAN, March 30, 1878] It is now in the South Kensington Museum, to +which it was presented by the inventor. + +The phonograph was first publicly exhibited in England at a meeting of +the Society of Telegraph Engineers, where its performances filled the +audience with astonishment and delight. A greeting from Edison to +his electrical brethren across the Atlantic had been impressed on the +tinfoil, and was spoken by the machine. Needless to say, the voice of +the inventor, however imperfectly reproduced, was hailed with great +enthusiasm, which those who witnessed will long remember. In this +machine, the barrel was fitted with a crank, and rotated by handle. A +heavy flywheel was attached to give it uniformity of motion. A sheet of +tinfoil formed the record, and the delivery could be heard by a roomful +of people. But articulation was sacrificed at the expense of loudness. +It was as though a parrot or a punchinello spoke, and sentences which +were unexpected could not be understood. Clearly, if the phonograph +were to become a practical instrument, it required to be much improved. +Nevertheless this apparatus sufficiently demonstrated the feasibility of +storing up and reproducing speech, music, and other sounds. Numbers of +them were made, and exhibited to admiring audiences, by license, and +never failed to elicit both amusement and applause. To show how striking +were its effects, and how surprising, even to scientific men, it may be +mentioned that a certain learned SAVANT, on hearing it at a SEANCE of +the Academie des Sciences, Paris, protested that it was a fraud, a piece +of trickery or ventriloquism, and would not be convinced. + +After 1878 Edison became too much engaged with the development of the +electric light to give much attention to the phonograph, which, however, +was not entirely overlooked. His laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, +where the original experiments were made, was turned into a factory for +making electric light machinery, and Edison removed to New York until +his new laboratory at Orange, New Jersey, was completed. Of late he has +occupied the latter premises, and improved the phonograph so far that it +is now a serviceable instrument. In one of his 1878 patents, the use +of wax to take the records in place of tinfoil is indicated, and it +is chiefly to the adoption of this material that the success of the +'perfected phonograph' is due. Wax is also employed in the 'graphophone' +of Mr. Tainter and Professor Bell, which is merely a phonograph under +another name. Numerous experiments have been made by Edison to find +the bees-wax which is best adapted to receive the record, and he has +recently discovered a new material or mixture which is stated to yield +better results than white wax. + +The wax is moulded into the form of a tube or hollow cylinder, usually 4 +1/4 inches long by 2 inches in diameter, and 1/8 inch thick. Such a size +is capable of taking a thousand words on its surface along a delicate +spiral trace; and by paring off one record after another can be used +fifteen times. There are a hundred or more lines of the trace in the +width of an inch, and they are hardly visible to the naked eye. Only +with a magnifying glass can the undulations caused by the vibrating +stylus be distinguished. This tube of wax is filed upon a metal barrel +like a sleeve, and the barrel, which forms part of a horizontal spindle, +is rotated by means of a silent electro-motor, controlled by a very +sensitive governor. A motion of translation is also given to the barrel +as it revolves, so that the marking stylus held over it describes +a spiral path upon its surface. In front of the wax two small metal +tympanums are supported, each carrying a fine needle point or stylus on +its under centre. One of these is the recording diaphragm, which prints +the sounds in the first place; the other is the reproducing diaphragm, +which emits the sounds recorded on the wax. They are used, one at a +time, as the machine is required, to take down or to render back a +phonographic message. + +The recording tympanum, which is about the size of a crown-piece, is +fitted with a mouthpiece, and when it is desired to record a sentence +the spindle is started, and you speak into the mouthpiece. The tympanum +vibrates under your voice, and the stylus, partaking of its motion, digs +into the yielding surface of the wax which moves beneath, and leaves a +tiny furrow to mark its passage. This is the sonorous record which, on +being passed under the stylus of the reproducing tympanum, will cause +it to give out a faithful copy of the original speech. A flexible +india-rubber tube, branching into two ear-pieces, conveys the sound +emitted by the reproducing diaphragm to the ears. This trumpet is used +for privacy and loudness; but it may be replaced by a conical funnel +inserted by its small end over the diaphragm, which thereby utters its +message aloud. It is on this plan that Edison has now constructed a +phonograph which delivers its reproduction to a roomful of people. +Keys and pedals are provided with which to stop the apparatus either in +recording or receiving, and in the latter case to hark back and repeat a +word or sentence if required. This is a convenient arrangement in using +the phonograph for correspondence or dictation. Each instrument, as we +have seen, can be employed for receiving as well as recording; and as +all are made to one pattern, a phonogram coming from any one, in any art +of the world, can be reproduced in any other instrument. A little box +with double walls has been introduced for transmitting the phonograms by +post. A knife or cutter is attached to the instrument for the purpose of +paring off an old message, and preparing a fresh surface of the wax for +the reception of a new one. This can be done in advance while the new +record is being made, so that no time is lost in the operation. A small +voltaic battery, placed under the machine, serves to work the electric +motor, and has to be replenished from time to time. A process has +also been devised for making copies of the phonograms in metal by +electro-deposition, so as to produce permanent records. But even the wax +phonogram may be used over and over again, hundreds of times, without +diminishing the fidelity of the reproduction. + +The entire phonograph is shown in our figure. [The figure is omitted +from this e-text] It consists of a box, B, containing the silent +electro-motor which drives the machine, and supporting the works for +printing and reproducing the sounds. Apart from the motive power, which +might, as in the graphophone, be supplied by foot, the apparatus is +purely mechanical, the parts acting with smoothness and precision. These +are, chiefly, the barrel or cylinder, C, on which the hollow wax is +placed; the spindle, S, which revolves the cylinder and wax; and the two +tympana, T, T', which receive the sounds and impress them on the +soft surface of the wax. A governor, G, regulates the movement of the +spindle; and there are other ingenious devices for starting and stopping +the apparatus. The tympanum T is that which is used for recording +the sounds, and M is a mouthpiece, which is fixed to it for speaking +purposes. The other tympanum, T', reproduces the sounds; and E E is a +branched ear-piece, conveying them to the two ears of the listener. The +separate wax tube, P, is a phonogram with the spiral trace of the sounds +already printed on its surface, and ready for posting. + +The box below the table contains the voltaic battery which actuates the +electro-motor. A machine which aims at recording and reproducing actual +speech or music is, of course, capable of infinite refinement, and +Edison is still at work improving the instrument, but even now it is +substantially perfected. + +Phonographs have arrived in London, and through the kindness of Mr. +Edison and his English representative, Colonel G. E. Gouraud, we have +had an opportunity of testing one. A number of phonograms, taken in +Edison's laboratory, were sent over with the instruments, and several of +them were caused to deliver in our hearing the sounds which were + + 'sealed in crystal silence there.' + +The first was a piece which had been played on the piano, quick time, +and the fidelity and loudness with which it was delivered by the hearing +tube was fairly astonishing, especially when one considered the frail +and hair-like trace upon the wax which had excited it. There seemed to +be something magical in the effect, which issued, as it were, from the +machine itself. Then followed a cornet solo, concert piece of cornet, +violin, and piano, and a very beautiful duet of cornet and piano. The +tones and cadences were admirably rendered, and the ear could also +faintly distinguish the noises of the laboratory. Speaking was +represented by a phonogram containing a dialogue between Mr. Edison +and Colonel Gouraud which had been imprinted some three weeks before in +America. With this we could hear the inventor addressing his old friend, +and telling him to correspond entirely with the phonograph. Colonel +Gouraud answers that he will be delighted to do so, and be spared the +trouble of writing; while Edison rejoins that he also will be glad to +escape the pains of reading the gallant colonel's letters. The sally is +greeted with a laugh, which is also faithfully rendered. + +One day a workman in Edison's laboratory caught up a crying child and +held it over the phonograph. Here is the phonogram it made, and here +in England we can listen to its wailing, for the phonograph reproduces +every kind of sound, high or low, whistling, coughing, sneezing, or +groaning. It gives the accent, the expression, and the modulation, so +that one has to be careful how one speaks, and probably its use will +help us to improve our utterance. + +By speaking into the phonograph and reproducing the words, we are +enabled for the first time to hear ourselves speak as others hear us; +for the vibrations of the head are understood to mask the voice a little +to our own ears. Moreover, by altering the speed of the barrel the voice +can be altered, music can be executed in slow or quick time, however it +is played, inaudible notes can be raised or lowered, as the case may +be, to audibility. The phonograph will register notes as low as ten +vibrations a second, whereas it is well known the lowest note audible to +the human ear is sixteen vibrations a second. The instrument is equally +capable of service and entertainment. It can be used as a stenograph, or +shorthand-writer. A business man, for instance, can dictate his letters +or instructions into it, and they can be copied out by his secretary. +Callers can leave a verbal message in the phonograph instead of a note. +An editor or journalist can dictate articles, which may be written out +or composed by the printer, word by word, as they are spoken by the +reproducer in his ears. + +Correspondence can be carried on by phonograms, distant friends and +lovers being able thus to hear each other's accents as though they +were together, a result more conducive to harmony and good feeling than +letter-writing. In matters of business and diplomacy the phonogram will +teach its users to be brief, accurate, and honest in their speech; for +the phonograph is a mechanical memory more faithful than the living one. +Its evidence may even be taken in a court of law in place of documents, +and it is conceivable that some important action might be settled by +the voice of this DEUS EX MACHINA. Will it therefore add a new terror +to modern life? Shall a visitor have to be careful what he says in a +neighbour's house, in case his words are stored up in some concealed +phonograph, just as his appearance may be registered by a detective +camera? In ordinary life--no; for the phonograph has its limitations, +like every other machine, and it is not sufficiently sensitive to record +a conversation unless it is spoken close at hand. But there is here a +chance for the sensational novelist to hang a tale upon. + +The 'interviewer' may make use of it to supply him with 'copy,' but this +remains to be seen. There are practical difficulties in the way which +need not be told over. Perhaps in railway trains, steamers, and other +unsteady vehicles, it will be-used for communications. The telephone may +yet be adapted to work in conjunction with it, so that a phonogram can +be telephoned, or a telephone message recorded in the phonograph. Such +a 'telephonograph' is, however, a thing of the future. Wills and other +private deeds may of course be executed by phonograph. Moreover, the +loud-speaking instrument which Edison is engaged upon will probably be +applied to advertising and communicating purposes. The hours of the +day, for example, can be called out by a clock, the starting of a train +announced, and the merits of a particular commodity descanted on. +All these uses are possible; but it is in a literary sense that the +phonograph is more interesting. Books can now be spoken by their +authors, or a good elocutionist, and published in phonograms, which +will appeal to the ear of the 'reader' instead of to his eye. 'On, four +cylinders 8 inches long, with a diameter of 5,' says Edison, 'I can put +the whole of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY.' To the invalid, especially, this use +would come as a boon; and if the instrument were a loud speaker, a +circle of listeners could be entertained. How interesting it would be +to have NICHOLAS NICKLEBY read to us in the voice of Dickens, or TAM O' +SHANTER in that of Burns! If the idea is developed, we may perhaps have +circulating libraries which issue phonograms, and there is already some +talk of a phonographic newspaper which will prattle politics and scandal +at the breakfast-table. Addresses, sermons, and political speeches +may be delivered by the phonograph; languages taught, and dialects +preserved; while the study of words cannot fail to benefit by its +performance. + +Musicians will now be able to record their improvisations by a +phonograph placed near the instrument they are playing. There need +in fact be no more 'lost chords.' Lovers of music, like the inventor +himself, will be able to purchase songs and pieces, sung and played by +eminent performers, and reproduce them in their own homes. Music-sellers +will perhaps let them out, like books, and customers can choose their +piece in the shop by having it rehearsed to them. + +In preserving for us the words of friends who have passed away, the +sound of voices which are stilled, the phonograph assumes its most +beautiful and sacred character. The Egyptians treasured in their homes +the mummies of their dead. We are able to cherish the very accents of +ours, and, as it were, defeat the course of time and break the silence +of the grave. The voices of illustrious persons, heroes and statesmen, +orators, actors, and singers, will go down to posterity and visit us in +our homes. A new pleasure will be added to life. How pleasant it would +be if we could listen to the cheery voice of Gordon, the playing of +Liszt, or the singing of Jenny Lind! + +Doubtless the rendering of the phonograph will be still further improved +as time goes on; but even now it is remarkable; and the inventor must +be considered to have redeemed his promises with regard to it. +Notwithstanding his deafness, the development of the instrument has been +a labour of love to him; and those who knew his rare inventive skill +believed that he would some time achieve success. It is his favourite, +his most original, and novel work. For many triumphs of mind over matter +Edison has been called the 'Napoleon of Invention,' and the aptness +of the title is enhanced by his personal resemblance to the great +conqueror. But the phonograph is his victory of Austerlitz; and, like +the printing-press of Gutenberg, it will assuredly immortalise his name. + +'The phonograph,' said Edison of his favourite, 'is my baby, and I +expect it to grow up a big fellow and support me in my old age.' Some +people are still in doubt whether it will prove more than a curious +plaything; but even now it seems to be coming into practical use in +America, if not in Europe. + +After the publication of the phonograph, Edison, owing, it is stated, +to an erroneous description of the instrument by a reporter, received +letters from deaf people inquiring whether it would enable them to hear +well. This, coupled with the fact that he is deaf himself, turned his +thoughts to the invention of the 'megaphone,' a combination of one large +speaking and two ear-trumpets, intended for carrying on a conversation +beyond the ordinary range of the voice--in short, a mile or two. It is +said to render a whisper audible at a distance of 1000 yards; but its +very sensitiveness is a drawback, since it gathers up extraneous sounds. + +To the same category belongs the 'aerophone,' which may be described +as a gigantic tympanum, vibrated by a piston working in a cylinder of +compressed air, which is regulated by the vibrations of the sound to be +magnified. It was designed to call out fog or other warnings in a loud +and penetrating tone, but it has not been successful. + +The 'magnetic ore separator' is an application of magnetism to the +extraction of iron particles from powdered ores and unmagnetic matter. +The ground material is poured through a funnel or 'hopper,' and falls in +a shower between the poles of a powerful electro-magnet, which draws the +metal aside, thus removing it from the dress. + +Among Edison's toys and minor inventions may be mentioned a 'voice +mill,' or wheel driven by the vibrations of the air set up in speaking. +It consists of a tympanum or drum, having a stylus attached as in the +phonograph. When the tympanum vibrates under the influence of the voice, +the stylus acts as a pawl and turns a ratchet-wheel. An ingenious smith +might apply it to the construction of a lock which would operate at the +command of 'Open, Sesame!' Another trifle perhaps worthy of note is his +ink, which rises on the paper and solidifies, so that a blind person can +read the writing by passing his fingers over the letters. + +Edison's next important work was the adaptation of the electric light +for domestic illumination. At the beginning of the century the Cornish +philosopher, Humphrey Davy, had discovered that the electric current +produced a brilliant arch or 'arc' of light when passed between two +charcoal points drawn a little apart, and that it heated a fine rod of +charcoal or a metal wire to incandescence--that is to say, a glowing +condition. A great variety of arc lamps were afterwards introduced; and +Mr. Staite, on or about the year 1844-5, invented an incandescent lamp +in which the current passed through a slender stick of carbon, enclosed +in a vacuum bulb of glass. Faraday discovered that electricity could +be generated by the relative motion of a magnet and a coil of wire, and +hence the dynamo-electric generator, or 'dynamo,' was ere long invented +and improved. + +In 1878 the boulevards of Paris were lit by the arc lamps of Jablochkoff +during the season of the Exhibition, and the display excited a +widespread interest in the new mode of illumination. It was too +brilliant for domestic use, however, and, as the lamps were connected +one after another in the same circuit like pearls upon a string, the +breakage of one would interrupt the current and extinguish them all +but for special precautions. In short, the electric light was not yet +'subdivided.' + +Edison, in common with others, turned his attention to the subject, and +took up the neglected incandescent lamp. He improved it by reducing the +rod of carbon to a mere filament of charcoal, having a comparatively +high resistance and resembling a wire in its elasticity, without being +so liable to fuse under the intense heat of the current. This he moulded +into a loop, and mounted inside a pear-shaped bulb of glass. The bulb +was then exhausted of its air to prevent the oxidation of the carbon, +and the whole hermetically sealed. When a sufficient current was passed +through the filament, it glowed with a dazzling lustre. It was not too +bright or powerful for a room; it produced little heat, and absolutely +no fumes. Moreover, it could be connected not in but across the main +circuit of the current, and hence, if one should break, the others would +continue glowing. Edison, in short, had 'subdivided' the electric light. + +In October, 1878, he telegraphed the news to London and Paris, where, +owing to his great reputation, it caused an immediate panic in the +gas market. As time passed, and the new illuminant was backward in +appearing, the shares recovered their old value. Edison was severely +blamed for causing the disturbance; but, nevertheless, his announcement +had been verified in all but the question of cost. The introduction of a +practical system of electric lighting employed his resources for several +years. Dynamos, types of lamps and conductors, electric meters, safety +fuses, and other appliances had to be invented. In 1882 he returned to +New York, to superintend the installation of his system in that city. + +His researches on the dynamo caused him to devise what he calls an +'harmonic engine.' It consists of a tuning-fork, kept in vibration by +two small electro-magnets, excited with three or four battery cells. It +is capable of working a small pump, but is little more than a scientific +curiosity. With the object of transforming heat direct from the furnace +into electricity, he also devised a 'pyro-electric generator,' but it +never passed beyond the experimental stage. + +The same may be said for his pyro-electric motor. His dynamo-electric +motors and system of electric railways are, however, a more promising +invention. His method of telegraphing to and from a railway train in +motion, by induction through the air to a telegraph wire running along +the line, is very ingenious, and has been tried with a fair amount of +success. + +At present he is working at the 'Kinetograph,' a combination of +the phonograph and the instantaneous photograph as exhibited in +the zoetrope, by which he expects to produce an animated picture or +simulacrum of a scene in real life or the drama, with its appropriate +words and sounds. + +Edison now resides at Llewellyn Park, Orange, a picturesque suburb of +New York. His laboratory there is a glorified edition of Menlo Park, and +realises the inventor's dream. The main building is of brick, in three +stories; but there are several annexes. Each workshop and testing room +is devoted to a particular purpose. The machine shops and dynamo rooms +are equipped with the best engines and tools, the laboratories with +the finest instruments that money can procure. There are drawing, +photographic, and photometric chambers, physical, chemical, and +metallurgical laboratories. There is a fine lecture-hall, and a splendid +library and reading-room. He employs several hundred workmen and +assistants, all chosen for their intelligence and skill. In this retreat +Edison is surrounded with everything that his heart desires. In the +words of a reporter, the place is equally capable of turning out a +'chronometer or a Cunard steamer.' It is probably the finest laboratory +in the world. + +In 1889, Edison, accompanied by his second wife, paid a holiday visit +to Europe and the Paris Exhibition. He was received everywhere with the +greatest enthusiasm, and the King of Italy created him a Grand Officer +of the Crown of Italy, with the title of Count. But the phonograph +speaks more for his genius than the voice of the multitude, the electric +light is a better illustration of his energy than the ribbon of an +order, and the finest monument to his pluck, sagacity, and perseverance +is the magnificent laboratory which has been built through his own +efforts at Llewellyn Park. [One of his characteristic sayings may be +quoted here: 'Genius is an exhaustless capacity for work in detail, +which, combined with grit and gumption and love of right, ensures to +every man success and happiness in this world and the next.'] + + + +CHAPTER X. DAVID EDWIN HUGHES. + +There are some leading electricians who enjoy a reputation based partly +on their own efforts and partly on those of their paid assistants. +Edison, for example, has a large following, who not only work out his +ideas, but suggest, improve, and invent of themselves. The master in +such a case is able to avail himself of their abilities and magnify +his own genius, so to speak. He is not one mind, but the chief of many +minds, and absorbs into himself the glory and the work of a hundred +willing subjects. + +Professor Hughes is not one of these. His fame is entirely self-earned. +All that he has accomplished, and he has done great things, has been the +labour of his own hand and brain. He is an artist in invention; working +out his own conceptions in silence and retirement, with the artist's +love and self-absorption. This is but saying that he is a true inventor; +for a mere manufacturer of inventions, who employs others to assist him +in the work, is not an inventor in the old and truest sense. + +Genius, they say, makes its own tools, and the adage is strikingly +verified in the case of Professor Hughes, who actually discovered the +microphone in his own drawing-room, and constructed it of toy boxes and +sealing wax. He required neither lathe, laboratory, nor assistant to +give the world this remarkable and priceless instrument. + +Having first become known to fame in America, Professor Hughes is +usually claimed by the Americans as a countryman, and through some +error, the very date and place of his birth there are often given in +American publications; but we have the best authority for the accuracy +of the following facts, namely that of the inventor himself. + +David Edwin Hughes was born in London in 1831. His parents came from +Bala, at the foot of Snowdon, in North Wales, and in 1838, when David +was seven years old, his father, taking with him his family, emigrated +to the United States, and became a planter in Virginia. The elder Mr. +Hughes and his children seem to have inherited the Welsh musical gift, +for they were all accomplished musicians. While a mere child, David +could improvise tunes in a remarkable manner, and when he grew up this +talent attracted the notice of Herr Hast, an eminent German pianist in +America, who procured for him the professorship of music in the College +of Bardstown, Kentucky. Mr. Hughes entered upon his academical career at +Bardstown in 1850, when he was nineteen years of age. Although very +fond of music and endowered by Nature with exceptional powers for its +cultivation, Professor Hughes had, in addition, an inborn liking and +fitness for physical science and mechanical invention. This duality of +taste and genius may seem at first sight strange; but experience shows +that there are many men of science and inventors who are also votaries +of music and art. The source of this apparent anomaly is to be found in +the imagination, which is the fountain-head of all kinds of creation. + +Professor Hughes now taught music by day for his livelihood, and studied +science at night for his recreation, thus reversing the usual order of +things. The college authorities, knowing his proficiency in the subject, +also offered him the Chair of Natural Philosophy, which became vacant; +and he united the two seemingly incongruous professorships of music and +physics in himself. He had long cherished the idea of inventing a new +telegraph, and especially one which should print the message in Roman +characters as it is received. So it happened that one evening while he +was under the excitement of a musical improvisation, a solution of the +problem flashed into his ken. His music and his science had met at this +nodal point. + +All his spare time was thenceforth devoted to the development of his +design and the construction of a practical type-printer. As the work +grew on his hands, the pale young student, beardless but careworn, +became more and more engrossed with it, until his nights were almost +entirely given to experiment. He begrudged the time which had to be +spent in teaching his classes and the fatigue was telling upon his +health, so in 1853 he removed to Bowlingreen, in Warren Co., Kentucky, +where he acquired more freedom by taking pupils. + +The main principle of his type-printer was the printing of each letter +by a single current; the Morse instrument, then the principal receiver +in America, required, on the other hand, an average of three currents +for each signal. In order to carry out this principle it was necessary +that the sending and receiving apparatus should keep in strict time +with each other, or be synchronous in action; and to effect this was the +prime difficulty which Professor Hughes had to overcome in his work. In +estimating the Hughes' type-printer as an invention we must not forget +the state of science at that early period. He had to devise his own +governors for the synchronous mechanism, and here his knowledge of +acoustics helped him. Centrifugal governors and pendulums would not do, +and he tried vibrators, such as piano-strings and tuning-forks. He at +last found what he wanted in two darning needles, borrowed from an old +lady in the house where he lived. These steel rods fixed at one end +vibrated with equal periods, and could be utilised in such a way that +the printing wheel could be corrected into absolute synchronism by each +signal current. + +In 1854, Professor Hughes went to Louisville to superintend the making +of his first instrument; but it was unprotected by a patent in the +United States until 1855. In that form straight vibrators were used +as governors, and a separate train of wheel-work was employed in +correcting: but in later forms the spiral governor was adopted, and the +printing and correcting is now done by the same action. In 1855, the +invention may be said to have become fit for employment, and no sooner +was this the case, than Professor Hughes received a telegram from the +editors of the New York Associated Press, summoning him to that city. +The American Telegraph Company, then a leading one, was in possession +of the Morse instrument, and levied rates for transmission of news which +the editors found oppressive. They took up the Hughes' instrument in +opposition to the Morse, and introduced it on the lines of several +companies. After a time, however, the separate companies amalgamated +into one large corporation, the Western Union Telegraph Company of +to-day. With the Morse, Hughes, and other apparatus in its power, the +editors were again left in the lurch. + +In 1857, Professor Hughes leaving his instrument in the hands of +the Western Union Telegraph Company, came to England to effect its +introduction here. He endeavoured to get the old Electric Telegraph +Company to adopt it, but after two years of indecision on their part, +he went over to France in 1860, where he met with a more encouraging +reception. The French Government Telegraph Administration became at +once interested in the new receiver, and a commission of eminent +electricians, consisting of Du Moncel, Blavier, Froment, Gaugain, and +other practical and theoretical specialists, was appointed to decide on +its merits. The first trial of the type-printer took place on the Paris +to Lyons circuit, and there is a little anecdote connected with it which +is worthy of being told. The instrument was started, and for a while +worked as well as could be desired; but suddenly it came to a stop, and +to the utter discomfiture of the inventor he could neither find out +what was wrong nor get the printer to go again. In the midst of his +confusion, it seemed like satire to him to hear the commissioners +say, as they smiled all round, and bowed themselves gracefully off, +'TRES-BIEN, MONSIEUR HUGHES--TRES-BIEN, JE VOUS FELICITE.' But the +matter was explained next morning, when Professor Hughes learned that +the transmitting clerk at Lyons had been purposely instructed to earth +the line at the time in question, to test whether there was no deception +in the trial, a proceeding which would have seemed strange, had not the +occurrence of a sham trial some months previous rendered it a prudent +course. The result of this trial was that the French Government agreed +to give the printer a year of practical work on the French lines, and +if found satisfactory, it was to be finally adopted. Daily reports were +furnished of its behaviour during that time, and at the expiration +of the term it was adopted, and Professor Hughes was constituted by +Napoleon III. a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. + +The patronage of France paved the way of the type-printer into almost +all other European countries; and the French agreement as to its use +became the model of those made by the other nations. On settling with +France in 1862, Professor Hughes went to Italy. Here a commission was +likewise appointed, and a period of probation--only six months--was +settled, before the instrument was taken over. From Italy, Professor +Hughes received the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazare. In 1863, the +United Kingdom Telegraph Co., England, introduced the type-printer in +their system. In 1865, Professor Hughes proceeded to Russia, and in that +country his invention was adopted after six months' trial on the St. +Petersburg to Moscow circuit. At St. Petersburg he had the honour of +being a guest of the Emperor in the summer palace, Czarskoizelo, the +Versailles of Russia, where he was requested to explain his invention, +and also to give a lecture on electricity to the Czar and his court. He +was there created a Commander of the Order of St. Anne. + +In 1865, Professor Hughes also went to Berlin, and introduced his +apparatus on the Prussian lines. In 1867, he went on a similar mission +to Austria, where he received the Order of the Iron Crown; and to +Turkey, where the reigning Sultan bestowed on him the Grand Cross of the +Medjidie. In this year, too he was awarded at the Paris Exhibition, a +grand HORS LIGNE gold medal, one out of ten supreme honours designed +to mark the very highest achievements. On the same occasion another of +these special medals was bestowed on Cyrus Field and the Anglo-American +Telegraph Company. In 1868, he introduced it into Holland; and in 1869, +into Bavaria and Wurtemburg, where he obtained the Noble Order of St. +Michael. In 1870, he also installed it in Switzerland and Belgium. + +Coming back to England, the Submarine Telegraph Company adopted the +type-printer in 1872, when they had only two instruments at work. In +1878 they had twenty of them in constant use, of which number nine were +working direct between London and Paris, one between London and Berlin, +one between London and Cologne, one between London and Antwerp, and one +between London and Brussels. All the continental news for the TIMES and +the DAILY TELEGRAPH is received by the Hughes' type-printer, and is +set in type by a type-setting machine as it arrives. Further, by +the International Telegraph Congress it was settled that for all +international telegrams only the Hughes' instrument and the Morse +were to be employed. Since the Post Office acquired the cables to the +Continent in 1889, a room in St. Martin's-le-Grand has been provided for +the printers working to Paris, Berlin, and Rome. + +In 1875, Professor Hughes introduced the type-printer into Spain, where +he was made a Commander of the Royal and Distinguished Order of +Carlos III. In every country to which it was taken, the merits of the +instrument were recognised, and Professor Hughes has none but pleasant +souvenirs of his visits abroad. + +During all these years the inventor was not idle. He was constantly +improving his invention; and in addition to that, he had to act as an +instructor where-ever he went, and give courses of lectures explaining +the principles and practice of his apparatus to the various employees +into whose hands it was to be consigned. + +The years 1876-8 will be distinguished in the history of our time for a +triad of great inventions which, so to speak, were hanging together. We +have already seen how the telephone and phonograph have originated; and +to these two marvellous contrivances we have now to add a third, the +microphone, which is even more marvellous, because, although in form it +is the simplest of them all, in its action it is still a mystery. The +telephone enables us to speak to distances far beyond the reach of eye +or ear, 'to waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole; 'the phonograph enables +us to seal the living speech on brazen tablets, and store it up for any +length of time; while it is the peculiar function of the microphone +to let us hear those minute sounds which are below the range of our +unassisted powers of hearing. By these three instruments we have thus +received a remarkable extension of the capacity of the human ear, and a +growth of dominion over the sounds of Nature. We have now a command over +sound such as we have over light. For the telephone is to the ear +what the telescope is to the eye, the phonograph is for sound what the +photograph is for light, and the microphone finds its analogue in the +microscope. As the microscope reveals to our wondering sight the rich +meshes of creation, so the microphone can interpret to our ears the jarr +of molecular vibrations for ever going on around us, perchance the clash +of atoms as they shape themselves into crystals, the murmurous ripple of +the sap in trees, which Humboldt fancied to make a continuous music in +the ears of the tiniest insects, the fall of pollen dust on flowers and +grasses, the stealthy creeping of a spider upon his silken web, and even +the piping of a pair of love-sick butterflies, or the trumpeting of a +bellicose gnat, like the 'horns of elf-land faintly blowing.' + +The success of the Hughes type-printer may be said to have covered its +author with titles and scientific honours, and placed him above the +necessity of regular employment. He left America, and travelled from +place to place. For many years past, however, he has resided privately +in London, an eminent example of that modesty and simplicity which is +generally said to accompany true genius. + +Mechanical invention is influenced to a very high degree by external +circumstances. It may sound sensational, but it is nevertheless true, +that we owe the microphone to an attack of bronchitis. During the thick +foggy weather of November 1877, Professor Hughes was confined to his +home by a severe cold, and in order to divert his thoughts he began to +amuse himself with a speaking telephone. Then it occurred to him that +there might be some means found of making the wire of the telephone +circuit speak of itself without the need of telephones at all, or +at least without the need of one telephone, namely, that used in +transmitting the sounds. The distinguished physicist Sir William +Thomson, had lately discovered the peculiar fact that when a current of +electricity is passed through a wire, the current augments when the wire +is extended, and diminishes when the wire is compressed, because in the +former case the resistance of the material of the wire to the passage of +the current is lessened, and in the latter case it becomes greater. + +Now it occurred to Professor Hughes that, if this were so, it might +be possible to cause the air-vibrations of sound to so act upon a wire +conveying a current as to stretch and contract it in sympathy with +themselves, so that the sound-waves would create corresponding electric +waves in the current, and these electric waves, passed through a +telephone connected to the wire, would cause the telephone to give forth +the original sounds. He first set about trying the effect of vibrating a +wire in which a current flowed, to see if the stretching and compressing +thereby produced would affect the current so as to cause sounds in a +telephone connected up in circuit with the wire--but without effect. +He could hear no sound whatever in the telephone. Then he stretched +the wire till it broke altogether, and as the metal began to rupture he +heard a distinct grating in the telephone, followed by a sharp 'click,' +when the wire sundered, which indicated a 'rush' of electricity through +the telephone. This pointed out to him that the wire might be sensitive +to sound when in a state of fracture. Acting on the hint, he placed +the two broken ends of the wire together again, and kept them so by +the application of a definite pressure. To his joy he found that he had +discovered what he had been in search of. The imperfect contact between +the broken ends of the wire proved itself to be a means of transmitting +sounds, and in addition it was found to possess a faculty which he had +not anticipated--it proved to be sensitive to very minute sounds, and +was in fact a rude microphone. Continuing his researches, he soon found +that he had discovered a principle of wide application, and that it was +not necessary to confine his experiments to wires, since any substance +which conducted an electric current would answer the purpose. All that +was necessary was that the materials employed should be in contact +with each other under a slight but definite pressure, and, for the +continuance of the effects, that the materials should not oxidise in air +so as to foul the contact. For different materials a different degree +of pressure gives the best results, and for different sounds to be +transmitted a different degree of pressure is required. Any loose, +crazy unstable structure, of conducting bodies, inserted in a telephone +circuit, will act as a microphone. Such, for example, as a glass tube +filled with lead-shot or black oxide of iron, or 'white bronze' powder +under pressure; a metal watch-chain piled in a heap. Surfaces of +platinum, gold, or even iron, pressed lightly together give excellent +results. Three French nails, two parallel beneath and one laid across +them, or better still a log-hut of French nails, make a perfect +transmitter of audible sounds, and a good microphone. Because of its +cheapness, its conducting power, and its non-oxidisability, carbon is +the most select material. A piece of charcoal no bigger than a pin's +head is quite sufficient to produce articulate speech. Gas-carbon +operates admirably, but the best carbon is that known as +willow-charcoal, used by artists in sketching, and when this is +impregnated with minute globules of mercury by heating it white-hot and +quenching it in liquid mercury, it is in a highly sensitive microphonic +condition. The same kind of charcoal permeated by platinum, tin, +zinc, or other unoxidisable metal is also very suitable; and it is a +significant fact that the most resonant woods, such as pine, poplar, and +willow, yield the charcoals best adapted for the microphone. Professor +Hughes' experimental apparatus is of an amusingly simple description. +He has no laboratory at home, and all his experiments were made in the +drawing-room. His first microphones were formed of bits of carbon +and scraps of metal, mounted on slips of match-boxes by means of +sealing-wax; and the resonance pipes on which they were placed to +reinforce the effect of minute sounds, were nothing more than children's +toy money boxes, price one halfpenny, having one of the ends knocked +out. With such childish and worthless materials he has conquered Nature +in her strongholds, and shown how great discoveries can be made. The +microphone is a striking illustration of the truth that in science +any phenomenon whatever may be rendered useful. The trouble of one +generation of scientists may be turned to the honour and service of +the next. Electricians have long had sore reasons for regarding a 'bad +contact' as an unmitigated nuisance, the instrument of the evil one, +with no conceivable good in it, and no conceivable purpose except to +annoy and tempt them into wickedness and an expression of hearty but +ignominious emotion. Professor Hughes, however, has with a wizard's +power transformed this electrician's bane into a professional glory and +a public boon. Verily there is a soul of virtue in things evil. + +The commonest and at the same time one of the most sensitive forms of +the instrument is called the 'pencil microphone,' from the pencil or +crayon of carbon which forms the principal part of it. This pencil +may be of mercurialised charcoal, but the ordinary gas-carbon, which +incrusts the interior of the retorts in gas-works, is usually employed. +The crayon is supported in an upright position by two little brackets of +carbon, hollowed out so as to receive the pointed ends in shallow cups. +The weight of the crayon suffices to give the required pressure on the +contacts, both upper and lower, for the upper end of the Pencil should +lean against the inner wall of the cup in the upper bracket. The +brackets are fixed to an upright board of light, dry, resonant +pine-wood, let into a solid base of the same timber. The baseboard is +with advantage borne by four rounded india-rubber feet, which insulate +it from the table on which it may be placed. To connect the microphone +up for use, a small voltaic battery, say three cells (though a single +cell will give surprising results), and a Bell speaking telephone are +necessary. A wire is led from one of the carbon brackets to one pole +of the battery, and another wire is led from the other bracket to one +terminal screw of the telephone, and the circuit is completed by a +wire from the other terminal of the telephone to the other pole of the +battery. If now the slightest mechanical jar be given to the wooden +frame of the microphone, to the table, or even to the walls of the room +in which the experiment takes place, a corresponding noise will be +heard in the microphone. By this delicate arrangement we can play the +eavesdropper on those insensible vibrations in the midst of which +we exist. If a feather or a camel-hair pencil be stroked along the +base-board, we hear a harsh grating sound; if a pin be laid upon it, we +hear a blow like a blacksmith's hammer; and, more astonishing than all, +if a fly walk across it we hear it tramping like a charger, and even +its peculiar cry, which has been likened, with some allowance for +imagination, to the snorting of an elephant. Moreover it should not be +forgotten that the wires connecting up the telephone may be lengthened +to any desired extent, so that, in the words of Professor Hughes, 'the +beating of a pulse, the tick of a watch, the tramp of a fly can then be +heard at least a hundred miles from the source of sound.' If we whisper +or speak distinctly in a monotone to the pencil, our words will be heard +in the telephone; but with this defect, that the TIMBRE or quality is, +in this particular form of the instrument, apt to be lost, making it +difficult to recognise the speaker's voice. But although a single pencil +microphone will under favourable circumstances transmit these varied +sounds, the best effect for each kind of sound is obtained by one +specially adjusted. There is one pressure best adapted for minute +sounds, another for speech, and a third for louder sounds. A simple +spring arrangement for adjusting the pressure of the contacts is +therefore an advantage, and it can easily be applied to a microphone +formed of a small rod of carbon pivoted at its middle, with one end +resting on a block or anvil of carbon underneath. The contact between +the rod and the block in this 'hammer-and-anvil' form is, of course, the +portion which is sensitive to sound. + +The microphone is a discovery as well as an invention, and the true +explanation of its action is as yet merely an hypothesis. It is supposed +that the vibrations put the carbons in a tremor and cause them to +approach more or less nearly, thus closing or opening the breach between +them, which is, as it were, the floodgate of the current. + +The applications of the microphone were soon of great importance. Dr. B. +W. Richardson succeeded in fitting it for auscultation of the heart +and lungs; while Sir Henry Thompson has effectively used it in those +surgical operations, such as probing wounds for bullets or fragments of +bone, in which the surgeon has hitherto relied entirely on his delicacy +of touch for detecting the jar of the probe on the foreign body. +There can be no doubt that in the science of physiology, in the art of +surgery, and in many other walks of life, the microphone has proved a +valuable aid. + +Professor Hughes communicated his results to the Royal Society in the +early part of 1878, and generously gave the microphone to the world. For +his own sake it would perhaps have been better had he patented and +thus protected it, for Mr. Edison, recognising it as a rival to +his carbon-transmitter, then a valuable property, claimed it as an +infringement of his patents and charged him with plagiarism. A spirited +controversy arose, and several bitter lawsuits were the consequence, in +none of which, however, Professor Hughes took part, as they were only +commercial trials. It was clearly shown that Clerac, and not Edison, had +been the first to utilise the variable resistance of powdered carbon or +plumbage under pressure, a property on which the Edison transmitter was +founded, and that Hughes had discovered a much wider principle, which +embraced not only the so-called 'semi-conducting' bodies, such as +carbon; but even the best conductors, such as gold, silver, and +other metals. This principle was not a mere variation of electrical +conductivity in a mass of material brought about by compression, but a +mysterious variation in some unknown way of the strength of an electric +current in traversing a loose joint or contact between two conductors. +This discovery of Hughes really shed a light on the behaviour of +Edison's own transmitter, whose action he had until then misunderstood. +It was now seen that the particles of carbon dust in contact which +formed the button were a congeries of minute micro-phones. Again it was +proved that the diaphragm or tympanum to receive the impression of +the sound and convey it to the carbon button, on which Edison had laid +considerable stress, was non-essential; for the microphone, pure and +simple, was operated by the direct impact of the sonorous waves, and +required no tympanum. Moreover, the microphone, as its name implies, +could magnify a feeble sound, and render audible the vibrations which +would otherwise escape the ear. The discovery of these remarkable and +subtle properties of a delicate contact had indeed confronted Edison; +he had held them in his grasp, they had stared him in the face, but +not-withstanding all his matchless ingenuity and acumen, he, blinded +perhaps by a false hypothesis, entirely failed to discern them. The +significant proof of it lies in the fact that after the researches of +Professor Hughes were published the carbon transmitter was promptly +modified, and finally abandoned for practical work as a telephone, in +favour of a variety of new transmitters, such as the Blake, now +employed in the United Kingdom, in all of which the essential part is +a microphone of hard carbon and metal. The button of soot has vanished +into the limbo of superseded inventions. + +Science appears to show that every physical process is reciprocal, +and may be reversed. With this principle in our minds, we need not be +surprised that the microphone should not only act as a TRANSMITTER of +sounds, but that it should also act as a RECEIVER. Mr. James Blyth, of +Edinburgh, was the first to announce that he had heard sounds and +even speech given out by a microphone itself when substituted for the +telephone. His transmitting microphone and his receiving one were simply +jelly-cans filled with cinders from the grate. It then transpired that +Professor Hughes had previously obtained the same remarkable effects +from his ordinary 'pencil' microphones. The sounds were extremely +feeble, however, but the transmitting microphones proved the best +articulating ones. Professor Hughes at length constructed an adjustable +hammer-and-anvil microphone of gas-carbon, fixed to the top of a +resonating drum, which articulated fairly well, although not so +perfectly as a Bell telephone. Perhaps a means of improving both the +volume and distinctness of the articulation will yet be forthcoming +and we may be able to speak solely by the microphone, if it is found +desirable. The marvellous fact that a little piece of charcoal can, as +it were, both listen and speak, that a person may talk to it so that +his friend can hear him at a similar piece a hundred miles away, is a +miracle of nineteenth century science which far transcends the oracles +of antiquity. + +The articulating telephone was the forerunner of the phonograph and +microphone, and led to their discovery. They in turn will doubtless lead +to other new inventions, which it is now impossible to foresee. We ask +in vain for an answer to the question which is upon the lips of every +one-What next? The microphone has proved itself highly useful in +strengthening the sounds given out by the telephone, and it is probable +that we shall soon see those three inventions working unitedly; for the +microphone might make the telephone sounds so powerful as to enable them +to be printed by phonograph as they are received, and thus a durable +record of telephonic messages would be obtained. We can now transmit +sound by wire, but it may yet be possible to transmit light, and see by +telegraph. We are apparently on the eve of other wonderful inventions, +and there are symptoms that before many years a great fundamental +discovery will be made, which will elucidate the connection of all the +physical forces, and will illumine the very frame-work of Nature. + +In 1879, Professor Hughes endowed the scientific world with another +beautiful apparatus, his 'induction balance.' Briefly described, it +is an arrangement of coils whereby the currents inducted by a primary +circuit in the secondary are opposed to each other until they balance, +so that a telephone connected in the secondary circuit is quite silent. +Any disturbance of this delicate balance, however, say by the movement +of a coil or a metallic body in the neighbourhood of the apparatus, will +be at once reported by the induction currents in the telephone. Being +sensitive to the presence of minute masses of metal, the apparatus was +applied by Professor Graham Bell to indicate the whereabouts of the +missing bullet in the frame of President Garfield, as already mentioned, +and also by Captain McEvoy to detect the position of submerged torpedoes +or lost anchors. Professor Roberts-Austen, the Chemist to the Mint, +has also employed it with success in analysing the purity and temper +of coins; for, strange to say, the induction is affected as well by the +molecular quality as the quantity of the disturbing metal. Professor +Hughes himself has modified it for the purpose of sonometry, and the +measurement of the hearing powers. + +To the same year, 1879, belong his laborious investigations on current +induction, and some ingenious plans for eliminating its effects on +telegraph and telephone circuits. + +Soon after his discovery of the microphone he was invited to become a +Fellow of the Royal Society, and a few years later, in 1885 he received +the Royal Medal of the Society for his experiments, and especially +those of the microphone. In 1881 he represented the United Kingdom as a +Commissioner at the Paris International Exhibition of Electricity, +and was elected President of one of the sections of the International +Congress of Electricians. In 1886 he filled the office of President of +the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians. + +The Hughes type-printer was a great mechanical invention, one of the +greatest in telegraphic science, for every organ of it was new, and had +to be fashioned out of chaos; an invention which stamped its author's +name indelibly into the history of telegraphy, and procured for him a +special fame; while the microphone is a discovery which places it on the +roll of investigators, and at the same time brings it to the knowledge +of the people. Two such achievements might well satisfy any scientific +ambition. Professor Hughes has enjoyed a most successful career. +Probably no inventor ever before received so many honours, or bore them +with greater modesty. + + +***** + +APPENDIX. + + + + +I. CHARLES FERDINAND GAUSS. + +CHARLES FERDINAND GAUSS was born at Braunschweig on April 30, 1777. His +father, George Dietrich, was a mason, who employed himself otherwise in +the hard winter months, and finally became cashier to a TODTENCASSE, or +burial fund. His mother Dorothy was the daughter of Christian Benze +of the village of Velpke, near Braunschweig, and a woman of talent, +industry, and wit, which her son appears to have inherited. The father +died in 1808 after his son had become distinguished. The mother lived to +the age of ninety-seven, but became totally blind. She preserved her low +Saxon dialect, her blue linen dress and simple country manners, to +the last, while living beside her son at the Observatory of Gottingen. +Frederic, her younger brother, was a damask weaver, but a man with a +natural turn for mathematics and mechanics. + +When Gauss was a boy, his parents lived in a small house in the +Wendengrahen, on a canal which joined the Ocker, a stream flowing +through Braunschweig. The canal is now covered, and is the site of the +Wilhelmstrasse, but a tablet marks the house. When a child, Gauss used +to play on the bank of the canal, and falling in one day he was nearly +drowned. He learned to read by asking the letters from his friends, and +also by studying an old calendar which hung on a wall of his father's +house, and when four years old he knew all the numbers on it, in spite +of a shortness of sight which afflicted him to the end. On Saturday +nights his father paid his workmen their wages, and once the boy, who +had been listening to his calculations, jumped up and told him that he +was wrong. Revision showed that his son was right. + +At the age of seven, Gauss went to the Catherine Parish School at +Braunschweig, and remained at it for several years. The master's name +was Buttner, and from a raised seat in the middle of the room, he kept +order by means of a whip suspended at his side. A bigger boy, Bartels +by name, used to cut quill pens, and assist the smaller boys in their +lessons. He became a friend of Gauss, and would procure mathematical +books, which they read together. Bartels subsequently rose to be a +professor in the University of Dorpat, where he died. At the parish +school the boys of fourteen to fifteen years were being examined in +arithmetic one day, when Gauss stepped forward and, to the astonishment +of Buttner, requested to be examined at the same time. Buttner, thinking +to punish him for his audacity, put a 'poser' to him, and awaited the +result. Gauss solved the problem on his slate, and laid it face downward +on the table, crying 'Here it is,' according to the custom. At the end +of an hour, during which the master paced up and down with an air of +dignity, the slates were turned over, and the answer of Gauss was found +to be correct while many of the rest were erroneous. Buttner praised +him, and ordered a special book on arithmetic for him all the way from +Hamburg. + +From the parish school Gauss went to the Catherine Gymnasium, although +his father doubted whether he could afford the money. Bartels had gone +there before him, and they read the higher mathematics. Gauss also +devoted much of his time to acquiring the ancient and modern languages. +From there he passed to the Carolinean College in the spring of 1792. +Shortly before this the Duke Charles William Ferdinand of Braunschweig +among others had noticed his talents, and promised to further his +career. + +In 1793 he published his first papers; and in the autumn of 1795 he +entered the University of Gottingen. At this time he was hesitating +between the pursuit of philology or mathematics; but his studies became +more and more of the latter order. He discovered the division of the +circle, a problem published in his DISQUISITIONES ARITHMETICAE, and +henceforth elected for mathematics. The method of least squares, +was also discovered during his first term. On arriving home the +duke received him in the friendliest manner, and he was promoted to +Helmstedt, where with the assistance of his patron he published his +DISQUISITIONES. + +On January 1, 1801, Piazzi, the astronomer of Palermo, discovered a +small planet, which he named CERES FERDINANDIA, and communicated the +news by post to Bode of Berlin, and Oriani of Milan. The letter was +seventy-two days in going, and the planet by that time was lost in the +glory of the sun, By a method of his own, published in his THEORIA MOTUS +CORPORUM COELESTIUM, Gauss calculated the orbit of this planet, and +showed that it moved between Mars and Jupiter. The planet, after eluding +the search of several astronomers, was ultimately found again by Zach on +December 7, 1801, and on January 1, 1802. The ellipse of Gauss was found +to coincide with its orbit. + +This feat drew the attention of the Hanoverian Government, and of +Dr. Olbers, the astronomer, to the young mathematician. But some time +elapsed before he was fitted with a suitable appointment. The battle +of Austerlitz had brought the country into danger, and the Duke of +Braunschweig was entrusted with a mission from Berlin to the Court of +St. Petersburg. The fame of Gauss had travelled there, but the duke +resisted all attempts to bring or entice him to the university of that +place. On his return home, however, he raised the salary of Gauss. + +At the beginning of October 1806, the armies of Napoleon were moving +towards the Saale, and ere the middle of the month the battles of +Auerstadt and Jena were fought and lost. Duke Charles Ferdinand was +mortally wounded, and taken back to Braunschweig. A deputation waited on +the offended Emperor at Halle, and begged him to allow the aged duke +to die in his own house. They were brutally denied by the Emperor, +and returned to Braunschweig to try and save the unhappy duke from +imprisonment. One evening in the late autumn, Gauss, who lived in the +Steinweg (or Causeway), saw an invalid carriage drive slowly out of the +castle garden towards the Wendenthor. It contained the wounded duke on +his way to Altona, where he died on November 10, 1806, in a small house +at Ottensen, 'You will take care,' wrote Zach to Gauss, in 1803, 'that +his great name shall also be written on the firmament.' + +For a year and a half after the death of the duke Gauss continued in +Braunschweig, but his small allowance, and the absence of scientific +company made a change desirable. Through Olbers and Heeren he received +a call to the directorate of Gottingen University in 1807, and at once +accepted it. He took a house near the chemical laboratory, to which he +brought his wife and family. The building of the observatory, delayed +for want of funds, was finished in 1816, and a year or two later it was +fully equipped with instruments. + +In 1819, Gauss measured a degree of latitude between Gottingen and +Altona. In geodesy he invented the heliotrope, by which the sunlight +reflected from a mirror is used as a "sight" for the theodolite at a +great distance. Through Professor William Weber he was introduced to +the science of electro-magnetism, and they devised an experimental +telegraph, chiefly for sending time signals, between the Observatory and +the Physical Cabinet of the University. The mirror receiving instrument +employed was the heavy prototype of the delicate reflecting galvanometer +of Sir William Thomson. In 1834 messages were transmitted through the +line in presence of H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge; but it was hardly +fitted for general use. In 1883 (?) he published an absolute system of +magnetic measurements. + +On July 16, 1849, the jubilee of Gauss was celebrated at the University; +the famous Jacobi, Miller of Cambridge, and others, taking part in it. +After this he completed several works already begun, read a great deal +of German and foreign literature, and visited the Museum daily between +eleven and one o'clock. + +In the winters of 1854-5 Gauss complained of his declining health, +and on the morning of February 23, 1855, about five minutes past one +o'clock, he breathed his last. He was laid on a bed of laurels, and +buried by his friends. A granite pillar marks his resting-place at +Gottingen. + + + + +II. WILLIAM EDWARD WEBER. + +WILLIAM EDWARD WEBER was born on October 24, 1804, at Wittenberg, where +his father, Michael Weber, was professor of theology. William was the +second of three brothers, all of whom were distinguished by an aptitude +for the study of science. After the dissolution of the University of +Wittenberg his father was transferred to Halle in 1815. William had +received his first lessons from his father, but was now sent to the +Orphan Asylum and Grammar School at Halle. After that he entered the +University, and devoted himself to natural philosophy. He distinguished +himself so much in his classes, and by original work, that after taking +his degree of Doctor and becoming a Privat-Docent he was appointed +Professor Extraordinary of natural philosophy at Halle. + +In 1831, on the recommendation of Gauss, he was called to Gottingen +as professor of physics, although but twenty-seven years of age. His +lectures were interesting, instructive, and suggestive. Weber thought +that, in order to thoroughly understand physics and apply it to +daily life, mere lectures, though illustrated by experiments, were +insufficient, and he encouraged his students to experiment themselves, +free of charge, in the college laboratory. As a student of twenty +years he, with his brother, Ernest Henry Weber, Professor of Anatomy +at Leipsic, had written a book on the 'Wave Theory and Fluidity,' which +brought its authors a considerable reputation. Acoustics was a +favourite science of his, and he published numerous papers upon it in +Poggendorff's ANNALEN, Schweigger's JAHRBUCHER FUR CHEMIE UND PHYSIC, +and the musical journal CAECILIA. The 'mechanism of walking in mankind' +was another study, undertaken in conjunction with his younger brother, +Edward Weber. These important investigations were published between the +years 1825 and 1838. + +Displaced by the Hanoverian Government for his liberal opinions in +politics Weber travelled for a time, visiting England, among other +countries, and became professor of physics in Leipsic from 1843 to 1849, +when he was reinstalled at Gottingen. One of his most important works +was the ATLAS DES ERDMAGNETISMUS, a series of magnetic maps, and it was +chiefly through his efforts that magnetic observatories were +instituted. He studied magnetism with Gauss, and in 1864 published his +'Electrodynamic Proportional Measures' containing a system of absolute +measurements for electric currents, which forms the basis of those in +use. Weber died at Gottingen on June 23, 1891. + + + + +III. SIR WILLIAM FOTHERGILL COOKE. + +WILLIAM Fothergill Cooke was born near Ealing on May 4, 1806, and was a +son of Dr. William Cooke, a doctor of medicine, and professor of anatomy +at the University of Durham. The boy was educated at a school in Durham, +and at the University of Edinburgh. In 1826 he joined the East India +Army, and held several staff appointments. While in the Madras Native +Infantry, he returned home on furlough, owing to ill-health, and +afterwards relinquished this connection. In 1833-4 he studied anatomy +and physiology in Paris, acquiring great skill at modelling dissections +in coloured wax. + +In the summer of 1835, while touring in Switzerland with his parents, he +visited Heidelberg, and was induced by Professor Tiedeman, director +of the Anatomical Institute, to return there and continue his wax +modelling. He lodged at 97, Stockstrasse, in the house of a brewer, +and modelled in a room nearly opposite. Some of his models have been +preserved in the Anatomical Museum at Heidelberg. In March 1836, hearing +accidentally from Mr. J. W. R. Hoppner, a son of Lord Byron's friend, +that the Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University, Geheime +Hofrath Moncke had a model of Baron Schilling's telegraph, Cooke went +to see it on March 6, in the Professor's lecture room, an upper storey +of an old convent of Dominicans, where he also lived. Struck by what he +witnessed, he abandoned his medical studies, and resolved to apply all +his energies to the introduction of the telegraph. Within three weeks +he had made, partly at Heidelberg, and partly at Frankfort, his first +galvanometer, or needle telegraph. It consisted of three magnetic +needles surrounded by multiplying coils, and actuated by three separate +circuits of six wires. The movements of the needles under the action of +the currents produced twenty-six different signals corresponding to the +letters of the alphabet. + +'Whilst completing the model of my original plan,' he wrote to +his mother on April 5, 'others on entirely fresh systems suggested +themselves, and I have at length succeeded in combining the UTILE of +each, but the mechanism requires a more delicate hand than mine to +execute, or rather instruments which I do not possess. These I can +readily have made for me in London, and by the aid of a lathe I shall +be able to adapt the several parts, which I shall have made by different +mechanicians for secrecy's sake. Should I succeed, it may be the means +of putting some hundreds of pounds in my pocket. As it is a subject +on which I was profoundly ignorant, until my attention was casually +attracted to it the other day, I do not know what others may have done +in the same way; this can best be learned in London.' + +The 'fresh systems' referred to was his 'mechanical' telegraph, +consisting of two letter dials, working synchronously, and on which +particular letters of the message were indicated by means of an +electro-magnet and detent. Before the end of March he invented the +clock-work alarm, in which an electro-magnet attracted an armature of +soft iron, and thus withdrew a detent, allowing the works to strike the +alarm. This idea was suggested to him on March 17, 1836, while reading +Mrs. Mary Somerville's 'Connexion of the Physical Sciences,' in +travelling from Heidelberg to Frankfort. + +Cooke arrived in London on April 22, and wrote a pamphlet setting forth +his plans for the establishment of an electric telegraph; but it was +never published. According to his own account he also gave considerable +attention to the escapement principle, or step by step movement, +afterwards perfected by Wheatstone. While busy in preparing his +apparatus for exhibition, part of which was made by a clock-maker +in Clerkenwell, he consulted Faraday about the construction of +electro-magnets, The philosopher saw his apparatus and expressed +his opinion that the 'principle was perfectly correct,' and that +the 'instrument appears perfectly adapted to its intended uses.' +Nevertheless he was not very sanguine of making it a commercial success. +'The electro-magnetic telegraph shall not ruin me,' he wrote to his +mother, 'but will hardly make my fortune.' He was desirous of taking +a partner in the work, and went to Liverpool in order to meet some +gentleman likely to forward his views, and endeavoured to get his +instrument adopted on the incline of the tunnel at Liverpool; but it +gave sixty signals, and was deemed too complicated by the directors. +Soon after his return to London, by the end of April, he had two simpler +instruments in working order. All these preparations had already cost +him nearly four hundred pounds. + +On February 27, Cooke, being dissatisfied with an experiment on a mile +of wire, consulted Faraday and Dr. Roget as to the action of a current +on an electro-magnet in circuit with a long wire. Dr. Roget sent him +to Wheatstone, where to his dismay he learned that Wheatstone had been +employed for months on the construction of a telegraph for practical +purposes. The end of their conferences was that a partnership in +the undertaking was proposed by Cooke, and ultimately accepted by +Wheatstone. The latter had given Cooke fresh hopes of success when he +was worn and discouraged. 'In truth,' he wrote in a letter, after his +first interview with the Professor, 'I had given the telegraph up since +Thursday evening, and only sought proofs of my being right to do so ere +announcing it to you. This day's enquiries partly revives my hopes, +but I am far from sanguine. The scientific men know little or nothing +absolute on the subject: Wheatstone is the only man near the mark.' + +It would appear that the current, reduced in strength by its passage +through a long wire, had failed to excite his electro-magnet, and he was +ignorant of the reason. Wheatstone by his knowledge of Ohm's law and +the electro-magnet was probably able to enlighten him. It is clear that +Cooke had made considerable progress with his inventions before he met +Wheatstone; he possessed a needle telegraph like Wheatstone, an alarm, +and a chronometric dial telegraph, which at all events are a proof that +he himself was an inventor, and that he doubtless bore a part in +the production of the Cooke and Wheatstone apparatus. Contrary to a +statement of Wheatstone, it appears from a letter of Cooke dated March +4, 1837, that Wheatstone 'handsomely acknowledged the advantage' of +Cooke's apparatus had it worked;' his (Wheatstone's) are ingenious, but +not practicable.' But these conflicting accounts are reconciled by +the fact that Cooke's electro-magnetic telegraph would not work, and +Wheatstone told him so, because he knew the magnet was not strong enough +when the current had to traverse a long circuit. + +Wheatstone subsequently investigated the conditions necessary to obtain +electro-magnetic effects at a long distance. Had he studied the paper +of Professor Henry in SILLIMAN'S JOURNAL for January 1831, he would have +learned that in a long circuit the electro-magnet had to be wound with a +long and fine wire in order to be effective. + +As the Cooke and Wheatstone apparatus became perfected, Cooke was busy +with schemes for its introduction. Their joint patent is dated June 12, +1837, and before the end of the month Cooke was introduced to Mr. Robert +Stephenson, and by his address and energy got leave to try the invention +from Euston to Camden Town along the line of the London and Birmingham +Railway. Cooke suspended some thirteen miles of copper, in a shed at the +Euston terminus, and exhibited his needle and his chronometric telegraph +in action to the directors one morning. But the official trial took +place as we have already described in the life of Wheatstone. + +The telegraph was soon adopted on the Great Western Railway, and also +on the Blackwall Railway in 1841. Three years later it was tried on +a Government line from London to Portsmouth. In 1845, the Electric +Telegraph Company, the pioneer association of its kind, was started, and +Mr. Cooke became a director. Wheatstone and he obtained a considerable +sum for the use of their apparatus. In 1866, Her Majesty conferred the +honour of knighthood on the co-inventors; and in 1871, Cooke was granted +a Civil List pension of L100 a year. His latter years were spent +in seclusion, and he died at Farnham on June 25th, 1879. Outside of +telegraphic circles his name had become well-nigh forgotten. + + + + +IV. ALEXANDER BAIN. + +Alexander Bain was born of humble parents in the little town of Thurso, +at the extreme north of Scotland, in the year 1811. At the age of twelve +he went to hear a penny lecture on science which, according to his own +account, set him thinking and influenced his whole future. Learning the +art of clockmaking, he went to Edinburgh, and subsequently removed to +London, where he obtained work in Clerkenwell, then famed for its clocks +and watches. His first patent is dated January 11th, 1841, and is in the +name of John Barwise, chronometer maker, and Alexander Bain, mechanist, +Wigmore Street. It describes his electric clock in which there is an +electro-magnetic pendulum, and the electric current is employed to keep +it going instead of springs or weights. He improved on this idea in +following patents, and also proposed to derive the motive electricity +from an 'earth battery,' by burying plates of zinc and copper in the +ground. Gauss and Steinheil had priority in this device which, owing +to 'polarisation' of the plates and to drought, is not reliable. Long +afterwards Mr. Jones of Chester succeeded in regulating timepieces from +a standard astronomical clock by an improvement on the method of Bain. +On December 21, 1841, Bain, in conjunction with Lieut. Thomas Wright, +R.N., of Percival Street, Clerkenwell, patented means of applying +electricity to control railway engines by turning off the steam, marking +time, giving signals, and printing intelligence at different places. He +also proposed to utilise 'natural bodies of water' for a return wire, +but the earlier experimenters had done so, particularly Steinheil in +1838. The most important idea in the patent is, perhaps, his plan for +inverting the needle telegraph of Ampere, Wheatstone and others, and +instead of making the signals by the movements of a pivoted magnetic +needle under the influence of an electrified coil, obtaining them by +suspending a movable coil traversed by the current, between the poles of +a fixed magnet, as in the later siphon recorder of Sir William Thomson. +Bain also proposed to make the coil record the message by printing it in +type; and he developed the idea in a subsequent patent. + +Next year, on December 31st, 1844, he projected a mode of measuring +the speed of ships by vanes revolving in the water and indicating their +speed on deck by means of the current. In the same specification he +described a way of sounding the sea by an electric circuit of wires, +and of giving an alarm when the temperature of a ship's hold reached a +certain degree. The last device is the well-known fire-alarm in which +the mercury of a thermometer completes an electric circuit, when it +rises to a particular point of the tube, and thus actuates an electric +bell or other alarm. + +On December 12, 1846, Bain, who was staying in Edinburgh at that time, +patented his greatest invention, the chemical telegraph, which bears his +name. He recognised that the Morse and other telegraph instruments in +use were comparatively slow in speed, owing to the mechanical inertia +of the parts; and he saw that if the signal currents were made to pass +through a band of travelling paper soaked in a solution which would +decompose under their action, and leave a legible mark, a very high +speed could be obtained. The chemical he employed to saturate the paper +was a solution of nitrate of ammonia and prussiate of potash, which left +a blue stain on being decomposed by the current from an iron contact or +stylus. The signals were the short and long, or 'dots' and 'dashes' of +the Morse code. The speed of marking was so great that hand signalling +could not keep up with it, and Bain devised a plan of automatic +signalling by means of a running band of paper on which the signals of +the message were represented by holes punched through it. Obviously +if this tape were passed between the contact of a signalling key the +current would merely flow when the perforations allowed the contacts of +the key to touch. This principle was afterwards applied by Wheatstone in +the construction of his automatic sender. + +The chemical telegraph was tried between Paris and Lille before a +committee of the Institute and the Legislative Assembly. The speed of +signalling attained was 282 words in fifty-two seconds, a marvellous +advance on the Morse electro-magnetic instrument, which only gave about +forty words a minute. In the hands of Edison the neglected method of +Bain was seen by Sir William Thomson in the Centennial Exhibition, +Philadelphia, recording at the rate of 1057 words in fifty-seven +seconds. In England the telegraph of Bain was used on the lines of the +old Electric Telegraph Company to a limited extent, and in America about +the year 1850 it was taken up by the energetic Mr. Henry O'Reilly, and +widely introduced. But it incurred the hostility of Morse, who obtained +an injunction against it on the slender ground that the running paper +and alphabet used were covered by his patent. By 1859, as Mr. Shaffner +tells us, there was only one line in America on which the Bain system +was in use, namely, that from Boston to Montreal. Since those days of +rivalry the apparatus has never become general, and it is not easy to +understand why, considering its very high speed, the chemical telegraph +has not become a greater favourite. + +In 1847 Bain devised an automatic method of playing on wind instruments +by moving a band of perforated paper which controlled the supply of +air to the pipes; and likewise proposed to play a number of keyed +instruments at a distance by means of the electric current. Both of +these plans are still in operation. + +These and other inventions in the space of six years are a striking +testimony to the fertility of Bain's imagination at this period. But +after this extraordinary outburst he seems to have relapsed into sloth +and the dissipation of his powers. We have been told, and indeed it +is plain that he received a considerable sum for one or other of his +inventions, probably the chemical telegraph. But while he could rise +from the ranks, and brave adversity by dint of ingenuity and labour, it +would seem that his sanguine temperament was ill-fitted for prosperity. +He went to America, and what with litigation, unfortunate investment, +and perhaps extravagance, the fortune he had made was rapidly +diminished. + +Whether his inventive genius was exhausted, or he became disheartened, +it would be difficult to say, but he never flourished again. The rise +in his condition may be inferred from the preamble to his patent for +electric telegraphs and clocks, dated May 29, 1852, wherein he describes +himself as 'Gentleman,' and living at Beevor Lodge, Hammersmith. +After an ephemeral appearance in this character he sank once more into +poverty, if not even wretchedness. Moved by his unhappy circumstances, +Sir William Thomson, the late Sir William Siemens, Mr. Latimer Clark +and others, obtained from Mr. Gladstone, in the early part of 1873, a +pension for him under the Civil List of L80 a year; but the beneficiary +lived in such obscurity that it was a considerable time before his +lodging could be discovered, and his better fortune take effect. The +Royal Society had previously made him a gift of L150. + +In his latter years, while he resided in Glasgow, his health failed, +and he was struck with paralysis in the legs. The massive forehead once +pregnant with the fire of genius, grew dull and slow of thought, while +the sturdy frame of iron hardihood became a tottering wreck. He was +removed to the Home for Incurables at Broomhill, Kirkintilloch, where he +died on January 2, 1877, and was interred in the Old Aisle Cemetery. He +was a widower, and had two children, but they were said to be abroad at +the time, the son in America and the daughter on the Continent. + +Several of Bain's earlier patents are taken out in two names, but this +was perhaps owing to his poverty compelling him to take a partner. If +these and other inventions were substantially his own, and we have no +reason to suppose that he received more help from others than is usual +with inventors, we must allow that Bain was a mechanical genius of +the first order--a born inventor. Considering the early date of his +achievements, and his lack of education or pecuniary resource, we cannot +but wonder at the strength, fecundity, and prescience of his creative +faculty. It has been said that he came before his time; but had he been +more fortunate in other respects, there is little doubt that he would +have worked out and introduced all or nearly all his inventions, and +probably some others. His misfortunes and sorrows are so typical of the +'disappointed inventor' that we would fain learn more about his life; +but beyond a few facts in a little pamphlet (published by himself, we +believe), there is little to be gathered; a veil of silence has fallen +alike upon his triumphs, his errors and his miseries. + + + + +V. DR. WERNER SIEMENS. + +THE leading electrician of Germany is Dr. Ernst Werner Siemens, eldest +brother of the same distinguished family of which our own Sir William +Siemens was a member. Ernst, like his brother William, was born at +Lenthe, near Hanover, on December 13, 1816. He was educated at the +College of Lubeck in Maine, and entered the Prussian Artillery service +as a volunteer. He pursued his scientific studies at the Artillery +and Engineers' School in Berlin, and in 1838 obtained an officer's +commission. + +Physics and chemistry were his favourite studies; and his original +researches in electro-gilding resulted in a Prussian patent in 1841. +The following year he, in conjunction with his brother William, took out +another patent for a differential regulator. In 1844 he was appointed +to a post in the artillery workshops in Berlin, where he learned +telegraphy, and in 1845 patented a dial and printing telegraph, which is +still in use in Germany. + +In 1846, he was made a member of a commission organised in Berlin to +introduce electric telegraphs in place of the optical ones hitherto +employed in Prussia, and he succeeded in getting the commission to +adopt underground telegraph lines. For the insulation of the wires he +recommended gutta-percha, which was then becoming known as an insulator. +In the following year he constructed a machine for covering copper +wire with the melted gum by means of pressure; and this machine is +substantially the same as that now used for the purpose in cable +factories. + +In 1848, when the war broke out with Denmark, he was sent to Kiel where, +together with his brother-in-law, Professor C. Himly, he laid the first +submarine mines, fired by electricity and thus protected the town of +Kiel from the advance of the enemies' fleet. + +Of late years the German Government has laid a great network of +underground lines between the various towns and fortresses of the +empire; preferring them to overhead lines as being less liable to +interruption from mischief, accident, hostile soldiers, or stress of +weather. The first of such lines was, however, laid as long ago as +1848, by Werner Siemens, who, in the autumn of that year, deposited a +subterranean cable between Berlin and Frankfort-on-the-Main. Next year a +second cable was laid from the Capital to Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, and +Verviers. + +In 1847 the subject of our memoir had, along with Mr. Halske, founded +a telegraph factory, and he now left the army to give himself up to +scientific work and the development of his business. This factory +prospered well, and is still the chief continental works of the kind. +The new departure made by Werner Siemens was fortunate for electrical +science; and from then till now a number of remarkable inventions have +proceeded from his laboratory. + +The following are the more notable advances made:--In October 1845, a +machine for the measurement of small intervals of time, and the speed of +electricity by means of electric sparks, and its application in 1875 for +measuring the speed of the electric current in overland lines. + +In January 1850, a paper on telegraph lines and apparatus, in which +the theory of the electro-static charge in insulated wires, as well as +methods and formula: for the localising of faults in underground wires +were first established. In 1851, the firm erected the first automatic +fire telegraphs in Berlin, and in the same year, Werner Siemens wrote +a treatise on the experience gained with the underground lines of the +Prussian telegraph system. The difficulty of communicating through long +underground lines led him to the invention of automatic translation, +which was afterwards improved upon by Steinheil, and, in 1852, he +furnished the Warsaw-Petersburg line with automatic fast-speed writers. +The messages were punched in a paper band by means of the well-known +Siemens' lever punching apparatus, and then automatically transmitted in +a clockwork instrument. + +In 1854 the discovery (contemporaneous with that of Frischen) of +simultaneous transmission of messages in opposite directions, and +multiplex transmission of messages by means of electro-magnetic +apparatus. The 'duplex' system which is now employed both on land lines +and submarine cables had been suggested however, before this by Dr. +Zetsche, Gintl, and others. + +In 1856 he invented the Siemens' magneto-electric dial instrument +giving alternate currents. From this apparatus originated the well-known +Siemens' armature, and from the receiver was developed the Siemens' +polarised relay, with which the working of submarine and other lines +could be effected with alternate currents; and in the same year, during +the laying of the Cagliari to Bona cable, he constructed and first +applied the dynamometer, which has become of such importance in the +operations of cable laying. + +In 1857, he investigated the electro-static induction and retardation of +currents in insulated wires, a phenomenon which he had observed in 1850, +and communicated an account of it to the French Academy of Sciences. + +'In these researches he developed mathematically Faraday's theory of +molecular induction, and thereby paved the way in great measure for +its general acceptance.' His ozone apparatus, his telegraph instrument +working with alternate currents, and his instrument for translating on +and automatically discharging submarine cables also belong to the year +1857. The latter instruments were applied to the Sardinia, Malta, and +Corfu cable. + +In 1859, he constructed an electric log; he discovered that a dielectric +is heated by induction; he introduced the well known Siemens' mercury +unit, and many improvements in the manufacture of resistance coils. He +also investigated the law of change of resistance in wires by heating; +and published several formulae and methods for testing resistances +and determining 'faults' by measuring resistances. These methods were +adopted by the electricians of the Government service in Prussia, and by +Messrs. Siemens Brothers in London, during the manufacture of the +Malta to Alexandria cable, which, was, we believe, the first long cable +subjected to a system of continuous tests. + +'In 1861, he showed that the electrical resistance of molten alloys is +equal to the sum of the resistances of the separate metals, and that +latent heat increases the specific resistance of metals in a greater +degree than free heat.' In 1864 he made researches on the heating of the +sides of a Leyden jar by the electrical discharge. In 1866 he published +the general theory of dynamo-electric machines, and the principle of +accumulating the magnetic effect, a principle which, however, had been +contemporaneously discovered by Mr. S. A. Varley, and described in +a patent some years before by Mr. Soren Hjorth, a Danish inventor. +Hjorth's patent is to be found in the British Patent Office Library, and +until lately it was thought that he was the first and true inventor of +the 'dynamo' proper, but we understand there is a prior inventor still, +though we have not seen the evidence in support of the statement. + +The reversibility of the dynamo was enunciated by Werner Siemens in +1867; but it was not experimentally demonstrated on any practical scale +until 1870, when M. Hippolite Fontaine succeeded in pumping water at the +Vienna international exhibition by the aid of two dynamos connected in +circuit; one, the generator, deriving motion from a hydraulic engine, +and in turn setting in motion the receiving dynamo which worked the +pump. Professor Clerk Maxwell thought this discovery the greatest of the +century; and the remark has been repeated more than once. But it is a +remark which derives its chief importance from the man who made it, and +its credentials from the paradoxical surprise it causes. The discovery +in question is certainly fraught with very great consequences to the +mechanical world; but in itself it is no discovery of importance, and +naturally follows from Faraday's far greater and more original discovery +of magneto-electric generation. + +In 1874, Dr. Siemens published a treatise on the laying and testing of +submarine cables. In 1875, 1876 and 1877, he investigated the action of +light on crystalline selenium, and in 1878 he studied the action of the +telephone. + +The recent work of Dr. Siemens has been to improve the pneumatic +railway, railway signalling, electric lamps, dynamos, electro-plating +and electric railways. The electric railway at Berlin in 1880, and Paris +in 1881, was the beginning of electric locomotion, a subject of great +importance and destined in all probability, to very wide extension in +the immediate future. Dr. Siemens has received many honours from learned +societies at home and abroad; and a title equivalent to knighthood from +the German Government. + + + + +VI. LATIMER CLARK. + +MR. Clark was born at Great Marlow in 1822, and probably acquired his +scientific bent while engaged at a manufacturing chemist's business +in Dublin. On the outbreak of the railway mania in 1845 he took to +surveying, and through his brother, Mr. Edwin Clark, became assistant +engineer to the late Robert Stephenson on the Britannia Bridge. While +thus employed, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Ricardo, founder of the +Electric Telegraph Company, and joined that Company as an engineer in +1850. He rose to be chief engineer in 1854, and held the post till 1861, +when he entered into a partnership with Mr. Charles T. Bright. Prior to +this, he had made several original researches; in 1853, he found that +the retardation of current on insulated wires was independent of the +strength of current, and his experiments formed the subject of a Friday +evening lecture by Faraday at the Royal Institution--a sufficient mark +of their importance. + +In 1854 he introduced the pneumatic dispatch into London, and, in 1856, +he patented his well-known double-cup insulator. In 1858, he and Mr. +Bright produced the material known as 'Clark's Compound,' which is so +valuable for protecting submarine cables from rusting in the sea-water. +In 1859, Mr. Clark was appointed engineer to the Atlantic Telegraph +Company which tried to lay an Anglo-American cable in 1865. in +partnership with Sir C. T. Bright, who had taken part in the first +Atlantic cable expedition, Mr. Clark laid a cable for the Indian +Government in the Red Sea, in order to establish a telegraph to India. +In 1886, the partnership ceased; but, in 1869, Mr Clark went out to the +Persian Gulf to lay a second cable there. Here he was nearly lost in the +shipwreck of the Carnatic on the Island of Shadwan in the Red Sea. + +Subsequently Mr. Clark became the head of a firm of consulting +electricians, well known under the title of Clark, Forde and Company, +and latterly including the late Mr. C. Hockin and Mr. Herbert Taylor. + +The Mediterranean cable to India, the East Indian Archipelago cable +to Australia, the Brazilian Atlantic cables were all laid under the +supervision of this firm. Mr. Clark is now in partnership with Mr. +Stanfield, and is the joint-inventor of Clark and Stanfield's circular +floating dock. He is also head of the well-known firm of electrical +manufacturers, Messrs. Latimer Clark, Muirhead and Co., of Regency +Street, Westminster. + +The foregoing sketch is but an imperfect outline of a very successful +life. `But enough has been given to show that we have here an engineer +of various and even brilliant gifts. Mr. Clark has applied himself in +divers directions, and never applied himself in vain. There is always +some practical result to show which will be useful to others. In +technical literature he published a description of the Conway and +Britannia Tubular Bridges as long ago as 1849. There is a valuable +communication of his in the Board of Trade Blue Rook on Submarine +Cables. In 1868, he issued a useful work on ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS, +and in 1871 joined with Mr. Robert Sabine in producing the well-known +ELECTRICAL TABLES AND FORMULAE, a work which was for a long time the +electrician's VADE-MECUM. In 1873, he communicated a lengthy paper on +the NEW STANDARD OF ELECTROMOTIVE POWER now known as CLARK'S STANDARD +CELL; and quite recently he published a treatise on the USE OF THE +TRANSIT INSTRUMENT. + +Mr. Clark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, as well as a +member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Royal Astronomical +Society, the Physical Society, etc., and was elected fourth President +of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Electricians, now the +Institution of Electrical Engineers. + +He is a great lover of books and gardening--two antithetical +hobbies--which are charming in themselves, and healthily counteractive. +The rich and splendid library of electrical works which he is forming, +has been munificently presented to the Institution of Electrical +Engineers. + + + + +VII. COUNT DU MONCEL. + +Theodose-Achille-Louis, Comte du Moncel, was born at Paris on March 6, +1821. His father was a peer of France, one of the old nobility, and a +General of Engineers. He possessed a model farm near Cherbourg, and +had set his heart on training his son to carry on this pet project; but +young Du Moncel, under the combined influence of a desire for travel, a +love of archaeology, and a rare talent for drawing, went off to Greece, +and filled his portfolio with views of the Parthenon and many other +pictures of that classic region. His father avenged himself by declining +to send him any money; but the artist sold his sketches and relied +solely on his pencil. On returning to Paris he supported himself by +his art, but at the same time gratified his taste for science in a +discursive manner. A beautiful and accomplished lady of the Court, +Mademoiselle Camille Clementine Adelaide Bachasson de Montalivet, +belonging to a noble and distinguished family, had plighted her +troth with him, and, as we have been told, descended one day from her +carriage, and wedded the man of her heart, in the humble room of a flat +not far from the Grand Opera House. They were a devoted pair, and Madame +du Moncel played the double part of a faithful help-meet, and inspiring +genius. Heart and soul she encouraged her husband to distinguish himself +by his talents and energy, and even assisted him in his labours. + +About 1852 he began to occupy himself almost exclusively with electrical +science. His most conspicuous discovery is that pressure diminishes the +resistance of contact between two conductors, a fact which Clerac in +1866 utilised in the construction of a variable resistance from carbon, +such as plumbage, by compressing it with an adjustable screw. It is +also the foundation of the carbon transmitter of Edison, and the more +delicate microphone of Professor Hughes. But Du Moncel is best known as +an author and journalist. His 'Expose des applications de l'electricite' +published in 1856 ET SEQ., and his 'Traite pratique de Telegraphie,' +not to mention his later books on recent marvels, such as the telephone, +microphone, phonograph, and electric light, are standard works of +reference. In the compilation of these his admirable wife assisted him +as a literary amanuensis, for she had acquired a considerable knowledge +of electricity. + +In 1866 he was created an officer of the Legion of Honour, and he became +a member of numerous learned societies. For some time he was an adviser +of the French telegraph administration, but resigned the post in 1873. +The following year he was elected a Member of the Academy of Sciences, +Paris. In 1879, he became editor of a new electrical journal established +at Paris under the title of 'La Lumiere Electrique,' and held the +position until his death, which happened at Paris after a few days' +illness on February 16, 1884. His devoted wife was recovering from a +long illness which had caused her affectionate husband much anxiety, and +probably affected his health. She did not long survive him, but died on +February 4, 1887, at Mentone in her fifty-fifth year. Count du Moncel +was an indefatigable worker, who, instead of abandoning himself to +idleness and pleasure like many of his order, believed it his duty to be +active and useful in his own day, as his ancestors had been in the past. + + + + +VIII. ELISHA GRAY. + +THIS distinguished American electrician was born at Barnesville in +Belmont county, Ohio, on August 2, 1835. His family were Quakers, and +in early life he was apprenticed to a carpenter, but showed a taste +for chemistry, and at the age of twenty-one he went to Oberlin College, +where he studied for five years. At the age of thirty he turned his +attention to electricity, and invented a relay which adapted itself to +the varying insulation of the telegraph line. He was then led to devise +several forms of automatic repeaters, but they are not much employed. In +1870-2, he brought out a needle annunciator for hotels, and another for +elevators, which had a large sale. His 'Private Telegraph Line Printer' +was also a success. From 1873-5 he was engaged in perfecting his +'Electro-harmonic telegraph.' His speaking telegraph was likewise the +outcome of these researches. The 'Telautograph,' or telegraph which +writes the messages as a fac-simile of the sender's penmanship by an +ingenious application of intermittent currents, is the latest of his +more important works. Mr. Gray is a member of the firm of Messrs. +Gray and Barton, and electrician to the Western Electric Manufacturing +Company of Chicago. His home is at Highland Park near that city. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Heroes of the Telegraph, by J. Munro + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HEROES OF THE TELEGRAPH *** + +***** This file should be named 979.txt or 979.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/979/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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