(;is 'iiii, i.vviixrojis ()V riiE lELixaiAPJi axd tklephone. 



liowevcr. w lien giving' JMorsc due credit lor his oiigiiuility, to ignore the 

 fiict that, althougli unknown to him, the seientitic part of the invention 

 liad already been worked out by Henry, and besides that, through Dr. 

 Gale, Morse actually made use of Henry's discoveries before he suc- 

 cee<led in making his scheme practicable. Morse afterwards objected 

 to Henry's claims, which were brought before the public by enforced 

 testimony in the law courts, and not by any individual motion on 

 Henry's part. The jtublic have lauded Morse aud have paid him liber- 

 ally for the little he actually did, while it was with great difficulty that 

 Congiess could be persuaded to inake a petty allowance to Henry's 

 family, althougli he had been for man\' years a public servant, and 

 besides had i)robably added more than any other man to the scientific 

 reputation of the United States. Many people think that scientific 

 men ought not to patent their discoveries. Which is the better known 

 name, Henry or Morse? Would not Henry have gained both in popu- 

 larity and in scientific reputation if he had patented and made the 

 public pay liberally for his discoveries ? 



From the brief sketch Just given it will be seen that in looking over 

 the history of the early endeavors to produce a telegraph many ideas 

 have been brought forward as to codes of signals, alphabets, telegraphic 

 dictionaries, methods of calling attention by alarm apparatus, methods 

 of arranging and operating the circuits, and so <m, that only required 

 an etficient motive force to render them ])ractical and reliable systems. 

 In reviewing tlie subject, therefore, we are forced to the conclusion that 

 the telegraph was not the invention of any man. but the result of a 

 gradual growth toward which many minds, sonu^ of them the ablest 

 tlie scientific world has known, have contributed. 



We have now reached a stage in the history of this subject when in 

 ventors may be said to have had the fundamental i)rincii>]es of the sub- 

 ject, as it now stands, before them and we have simply to look for de- 

 velo])meuts. These developments have been great and of a very varied 

 character. It is impossible in this address to do more than sketch a 

 few of their leading features. 



As already stated, the telegraph of Schilling, through a model 

 e\hibite<l by Prof. Muncke, of Heidelberg, gave the ideas of an elec- 

 tric telegraph to Cooke in the year 1836. It appears, also, that Wheat- 

 stone was aware of these early experiments, and had himself i)aid 

 some attention to the subject. His experiments on the ^^elocity ot elec- 

 tricity, made in 1834, are sufficient to show that he was at that time 

 aware that signals could be produced at the end of long circuits of 

 wir(^ by electrical means. The joint work of Cooke and AVheatstone 

 led, within a few years, to considerable improvements in the needle 

 telegraphs. The Aarious fi)rms of needle telegraph used l)y them, 

 resulting in the final adoption of the single-needle system, for a 

 long time extensively' used in P^ngland, were passed over in a few 

 years. Various modifications of the needle telegraph were, somewhat 



