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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the 22d of March, 1792, his invention. He read his petition him- 

 self, submitting "a discovery which he thought useful to the 

 public welfare," and presenting a facile means of communi- 

 cating rapidly at great distances all that which might be the 

 object of a correspondence. He could from them transmit the 

 recital of a fact at night as well as at day over a space of forty 





Aerial TtLEGUAPHT, 1793. 



miles in less than forty-six minutes, and in a manner almost as 

 rapid at a distance very much greater. 



The Assembly accepted the tender of the machine, sent the 

 petition to the examination of the Committee of Public Instruc- 

 tion, and admitted Chappe to the honors of the sitting. 



Unfortunately for him, the commissioners could not attend 

 any experiment ; the ignorant populace destroyed the machine 

 which he had constructed at Belleville. The unlucky inventor 

 had, therefore, to demand aid and protection, with indemnity for 

 the necessary repairs. 



