^1* -t)/; the Art of conveying Secret and Swift Intelligent. 



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<lie biifinefs may proceed. It (hould be obferved in generd, that every fignal flionld T>e 

 •wnfwered. 



It requires fome fteadinefs to abide by thefe iignals; but if they are patiently adhered to, 

 the fuccefs that they enfure will foon convince the operator of their utility. Without them 

 every thing would be in confufion ; by their. interpoCtion, perfpicuity and order are 

 perfedlly enfured. 



In my firfl experiments the impatience of friends who Were prefent, was forcetimes fo 

 great as to make it very difficult to adhere to previous arrangements ; but a very little 

 practice (I mean the praftice of five or fix days) reduced the routine of communication to 

 as much facility as could be defired, fo that a word (or a fcntence, if contained in the vo- 

 tabulary) could be fent in twenty feconds. 



Any perfon who has the flighted tafte for fcience or literature mud be druck when he 

 fees inflantaneous interpretation of fignals which arc made at the diflance x)f fifteen or 

 •twenty miles, and when he perceives the power which is obtained of tranfmitting thought 

 •w ith fuch aftonifliing rapidity. 



I fhall not enter into a detail of the fignals which are necefiiiry for intermediate 

 ftations -,, it would take up fome time to explain them, and they will readily occur froiB 

 •what has been faid already. 



Wha: I have hitherto defcribed relates to a large and permanent eftablifliment * ; for 

 •the management of which one man is required at each pointer, one at the tekfcope, 

 •and another at the vocabulary ; but, foT ordinary purpofes, a fingle pointer, with one man 

 to work it, and another at the telefcope, with a fmaller vocabulary, are fufficient. With 

 this reduced apparatus we can with cafe fpcak at the rate of one *ord per minute to a 

 great diftance, as the time loft, by intermediate ftations Is but fmall. 



The vocabulary corrcfponding with the numbers denoted by this machinery, is com- 

 pofed of a large book with mahogany covers framed, to prevent them from warping. Its 

 fize is forty-feven inches by twenty-one ; it confifts of forty-nine double pages, that is to 

 fay, each fheet is folded in the middle, where it opens from one page. 



The book is divided into feven parts, confiding each of feven pages, by thin flips of ma- 

 hogany, which ferve to open it eafily at each of thefe divifions. Every one of thefe feven 

 divifions contains feven pag-es, and each page contains forty- nine words. 



No more than forty-nine words are contained in a page, becaufe the numbers of 8 and 

 0, and Zero, are omitted. This omiffion arifes from the ftrudure of the machinery, 

 which points only to feven numbers, referving O for a point of reft, at which point th« 

 Hands indicate nothing. In every hundred, therefore, only forty-nine numbers are ufed; 

 and in every thoufand only feven hundred is counted. Each divifion of the book feparated 

 by the mahogany rulers, contains all the efficient numbers in feven hundred. Each of 

 thefe rulers projefts (Plate xili. fig. 3.) beyond the fides of the pages, and each is num- 

 bered in fucceffion from one to fev-en ; and they are fo placed below one another, as to 

 permit the numbers on all fides of them to be feen at once, as in plate xiii. 



When any number of thoufands is pointed out, it can by means of thefe rulers be im- 



• The houfe belonging to this eftablifoment might be made tenable againft a mob, or mufquetry, at a fma|l 

 (xpence, by port flankers of elm or aih adapted occafionally to the windows. See plate xiii. fig. 4. 



mediately 



