274 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 230. 



Yew-tree at Crowhurst. — Could any of your 

 readers inform me of the age of the yew-tree in 

 Crowhurst Churchyard, Sussex ? C. Bowmer. 



[Decandolle assigns an antiquity of fourteen and a 

 half centuries to this remarkable yew. See a valuable 

 article on the " Age of Trees " in our fourth volume, 

 p. 401.] 



XLejplirf. 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH IN 1753. 



(Vol. viii., p. 364.) 



As no reply has yet been given to the Query of 

 Inquirendo as to who was C. M., who described 

 in the Scots Magazine, vol. xv. p. 73., as long since 

 as 1753, the electric telegraph, and as the article 

 itself is one of great interest in the history of an 

 invention which is justly considered one of the 

 greatest wonders of our own times, I send a tran- 

 script of it, by way of satisfying the natural cu- 

 riosity of many readers who may not have an 

 opportunity of consulting it in the magazine in 

 which it originally appeared, and also because the 

 doing so may stimulate farther inquiry, and lead 

 to the discovery of its ingenious writer, C. M. of 

 Renfrew. 



" Renfrew, February 1, 1753. 

 " Sir, 



" It is well known to all who are conversant in elec- 

 trical experiments, that the electric power may be pro- 

 pagated along a small wire, from one place to another, 

 without being sensibly abated by the length of its 

 progress. Let, then, a set of wires, equal in number 

 to the letters of the alphabet, be extended horizontally 

 between two given places, parallel to one another, and 

 each of them about an inch distant from that next to 

 it. At every twenty yards' end let them be fixed in 

 glass, or jeweller's cement, to some firm body, both to 

 prevent them from touching the earth, or any other 

 non-electric, and from breaking by their own gravity. 

 Let the electric gun-barrel be placed at right angles 

 with the extremities of the wires, and about an inch 

 below them ; also let the wires be fixed in a solid piece 

 of glass at six inches from the end ; and let that part 

 of them which reaches from the glass to the machine 

 have sufficient spring and stiffness to recover its situ- 

 ation after having been brought in contact witli the 

 barrel. Close by the supporting glass let a ball be 

 suspended from every wire, and about a sixth or an 

 eighth of an inch below the ball place the letters of an 

 alphabet, marked on bits of paper, or any other sub- 

 stance that may be light enough to rise to the electri- 

 fied ball, and at the same time let it be so contrived 

 that each of them may reassume its proper place when 

 dropt. All things constructed as above, and the 

 minute previously fixed, I begin the conversation with 

 my distant friend in this manner : — Having set the 

 electrical machine a-going, as in ordinary experiments, 

 suppose I am to pronounce the word sir; with a piece 

 of glass, or any other electric per se, I strike the wire s, 

 so as to bring it in contact with the barrel, then i, 



then r, all in the same way ; and my correspondent, 

 almost in the same instant, observes these several cha- 

 racters rise in order to the electrified balls at his end of 

 the wires. Thus I spell away as long as I think fit, 

 and my correspondent, for the sake of memory, writes 

 the characters as they rise, and may join or read them 

 afterwards as often as he inclines. Upon a signal 

 given, or from desire, I stop the machine, and taking 

 up the pen, in my turn I write down whatever my 

 friend at the other end strikes out. 



"If anybody should think this way tiresome, let 

 him, instead of the balls, suspend a range of bells from 

 the roof, equal in number to the letters of the alphabet, 

 gradually decreasing in size from the bell a to z; and 

 from the horizontal wires let there be another set 

 reaching to the several bells ; one, viz., from the hori- 

 zontal wire a to the bell a, another from the horizontal 

 wire b to the bell b, &c. Then let him who begins 

 the discourse bring the wires in contact with the barrel, 

 as before, and the electric spark, breaking on bells of 

 different size, will inform his correspondent by the 

 sound what wires have been touched. And thus, by 

 some practice, they may come to understand the lan- 

 guage of the chimes in whole words, without being put 

 to the trouble of noting down every letter. 



" The same thing may be otherwise effected. Let 

 the balls be suspended over the characters, as before, 

 but instead of bringing the ends of the horizontal wires 

 in contact with the barrel, let a second set reach from 

 the electrificator, so as to be in contact with the hori- 

 zontal ones ; and let it be so contrived, at the same 

 time, that any of them may be removed from its cor- 

 responding horizontal by the slightest touch, and may 

 bring itself again into contact when left at liberty. 

 This may be done by the help of a small spring and 

 slider, or twenty other methods which the least in- 

 genuity will discover. In this way the characters 

 will always adhere to the balls, excepting when any of 

 the secondaries is removed from contact with its hori- 

 zontal ; and then the letter at the other end of the 

 horizontal will immediately drop from its ball. But 

 I mention this only by way of variety. 



" Some may perhaps think that, although the elec- 

 tric fire has not been observed to diminish sensibly in 

 its progress through any length of wire that has been 

 tried hitherto ; yet, as that has never exceeded some 

 thirty or forty yards, it may be reasonably supposed, 

 that in a far greater length it would be remarkably 

 diminished, and probably would be entirely strained off 

 in a few miles by the surrounding air. To prevent 

 this objection, and save longer argument, lay over the 

 wires, from one end to the other, with a thin coat of 

 jeweller's cement. This may be done for a trifle of 

 additional expense ; and as it is an electric per se, will 

 effectually secure any part of the fire from mixing with 

 the atmosphere. 



" I am, &c, 



" C. M." 



Surely among the numerous readers of " N. & 

 Q." some one will be found to tell us who C. M. 

 was. J- Y. 



