()!')() THE INVEM'(.>KS uF THE JELEUKAHI AXJJ TELEi'llU.NE. 



or<l«»('uiu<-nt;ir7 cvidciKM' Ix'jiriiiy on (1m' (Icvclojuncul <»r tlie ti'lcginpli 

 exists in tlie ])Oss<'ssi()n of Mv. A^jiiTs I'ajuily, and in tU<' yatioiial Mu- 

 seum at \N'asliiiniton. I'roni tliis e\ ideiiee there seems uo doubt but 

 that Moise assumed and has been a<;eoi(led xcvy much more than liis 

 share of the credit of the inveution of the teh'.i;ra]»h asit is uow kuown. 

 The pateuts taken out in Morse's name included many important iiu- 

 provenu^uts Avhicli were entirely due to Vail, and for whicji Morse 

 ])romis(^d to jiive him credit, a ]U'omise which Mas never publicly re- 

 deemed. The al)jhabet now nsed was. as i liave alieady said. Avorked 

 out l)y Vail, who. it a]»iM'ars. jirst bejian its formation 1>> au attempt 

 to classify the letters of the ali)habct ac<'ordinii to fre(|nency of occnr- 

 rence, with the \iew of .liivinii' these letters to sini])lest si,i;iis. Atter 

 workiu,i;du this for some time, it occuncd to liim that valuaole lufor- 

 mation mi.^ht be obtain<'d in a }>rintinii' oftice, and a visit to an adja- 

 cent newspaper otiice showeii him the whole i)robIem sohed in the 

 priuters' type tray. The alpindx't which 1h' afterwards ibrmed is still 

 used in this country and also, w itli some sim})Iitications, as a Eui'opeaii 

 and internatioual code. The modihcatiou of the recoidiug- apparatus 

 from the Aertical peiululuui and recordiu,ii pencil to the comi)act instru- 

 ment with a horizontal lever and metallic stylus, nuirking' by indenta- 

 tion, used on tlie tirst telegraphic line between Washington and I>alti- 

 more, Avas also due to Vail. Many othei' thingsmight be nuMitioned to 

 show that in the early stages of this invention, which has nnirlved so 

 wide a steji in our nu»dern civilization, the name of Vail deserves a 

 jn'omineut jdace. It is wvy unfortunate that his oavd modesty, to- 

 gether with his conhdem-e in Morse's promises to do him justice, ]>re 

 vented the matt«M- tVom being y)ubliel_v ventilated during the lifetime 

 of the inventors. 



After se\'eral unsuccessful attempts to induce Congress to assume 

 the exi)ense of building a line of sufticient length to practically test the 

 ])roposals of Morse, an appropriation of -t^O.OOh was made in March, 



1843. for the ])uri)ose of building a line from Washington to Baltimore. 

 This line was com])h^ted and successfully (n»ened on the 24th of May, 



1844. The system practically introduced with the opening of this line, 

 modified in some of its mechanical details, has continued to be the 

 ])rinci])al one nsed, and is the basis of umst of the recording telegraphs 

 in all coTiutries. One important modification should however be men- 

 tioned, that is the wide use of the click of the arinature for reading the 

 message in preference to the recorder. This is a return to the electro- 

 magnetic acoustic telegraph of Henry. It gives one of the simplest 

 possible receiving instruments, and as was long ago pointed out by 

 Steinheil, possesses the great advantage that it leaves the eyes of the 

 o^ierator disengaged. Of other forms of telegrai)hic aj^paratus, the 

 most important are the type printing telegraph. Among the early 

 inventors of these we find Vail, who invented a type-printing' telegraph 

 as early as 18.")7, and Wheatstone: but the fii'st instrTinient practically 



