TllK 1N\ i:.\T(»liS OF Tin: lICLIJiKAPH AND TEI.EriloNi:. (141 



ui\('s ;iii i(k';i what wcrr llicii lookc i ii]»(iii as j>(tssil)ilit ics in ina^iK't- 

 ism. and we can haidl\ lu'Ip cumitariiiii' witli these ideas some almost 

 eiiiially ('xtraordiiiai y ones whieii ai<' oeeasionally expressed at tiie 

 present day with icspeet to electricity. 



Tlie discovery of Stephen (ira\. in 172'.>, that the eleetrieal intlnence 

 conld be con\eyed to a distance by means of an insnlated wire, is ])rob- 

 al)I> the first of direct inllnence in connection with teh'iiraphy. As 

 a result of this discovery, and the investij^atioiis which followed it, we 

 find a considerable nnmberof proposals to use electrical for<-es for the 

 transmission of intelli<ieiic('. Tiie tiist of theseof which there is any 

 record was made by ('harles Morrison, of Keiifrew Scotlainl. in a h4 

 ter to The Scots' M((f/((zin(\ Edinburgh, for February 17, ITo.'J, and 

 signed "(J. M."* As many insnlated wires as there were cliaracters 

 to be signaled were to bi^ erected between the two stations. At there 

 ceiving station tlieen<ls of the different wires wen^ to Ix' connected to a 

 series of balls, underneath which the charaeters, printed on light ;)ieces 

 of i)aper. were to be placed. If any one of the wires became electri- 

 li<'d by tlx^ distant end being put in contact with the source of electric 

 it\, t hecharacter umler the ball (Ui the end of it would be attracted 

 and thus indicate the signal. An interesting moditication was sug- 

 gested in the same letter, nanu'ly. to replace the balls by a sei-ies of 

 bells of different pitch, arianged in such a way that when the win^s 

 became electritied the> would discharge into the bells and cause them 

 t(» sound: - •• the electric spark, breaking on bells of different 



size, will inform his c(»rrespondeiit by the sound wliat wir(\s haxc been 

 touched: and thus, by some j)ractice they may conu' to understand the 

 language of tin' chimes in whole words without being ])ut to the trouble 

 of noting down every letter."' A similar telegraph w-as iii\-ented in 17(i7 

 by Joseph Ijo/.oIus, a Jesuit and a lecturer on natural pliilosoi)hy in 

 Iv'onie. (See a Latin i)oem, (Mititled ''Mariani Parthenii I^ilectrocorum.'" 

 in \ 1 Libros, Koma, 17(57, p. 34.) In 1774, a telegraph on the same piin- 

 ciple was established by Le Sage. In this system each wire t<'inii 

 nated in a i>ith-ball ele<'troseo])e, and the .signals were read m accord 

 anee with tin- indications of these electroscopes, of which twenty-four 

 were used. This telegraph was improved upon by Lomond in 17S7, 

 one wire only being used, and a code (»f signals Ibrining the means of 

 interpretatio!!. A similar pioposal was made by Betancourt in the 

 same N'car and again by Caxallo in I7'.)."'). Tln^ latter proposed to use 

 coinl)iiiations of s]>arks as a code of signals. In I 7!M. IJeizen pro])osed 

 to cut letters out of tin foil, leaving a series ui" short interruptions of 

 the tin foil at short distances apart, so that a discharges of electricity 

 around the tin foil would illuminate the letter by a series of sparks. 

 I'his method of producing illuminated ]»atterns is still a comiuon class- 

 room e\]»eriment in pliysi<'al lectures. The next to jiropose the use of 



■'I'Ik! ((iicstinii (if tii< idiuMty of '• ('. M." is discnsstMl m "A History of f.lcctric 

 Tclcsjrnpliy," l)y .1. .1. Faiiii; i Londoii. lss| i, pi.. (JS-TT. 

 IL Mis. LM II 



