308 HENRY AND THE TELEGRAPH. 



conditions, first, that to prevent forfeiture the patented invention must 

 be carried into successfal operation in France within two years; and 

 secondly, that all private persons, companies, or corporations, were pro- 

 hibited from putting a telegraph into operation in France. Disappointed 

 in various promising expectations, and discouraged by repeated failures, 

 Professor Morse returned to Kew York, April 15, 1839. 



In May, 1839, he visited Princeton, for the purpose of seeing Professor 

 Henry and obtaining from him the solution of certain doubts; — his col- 

 league. Dr. Gale, being then absent on business. During this his first 

 interview with Henry, occui^ying an afternoon and evening, he received 

 from the fall and frank expositions of his host every satisfaction he de- 

 sired; and he had the great encouragement of hearing from the lips of 

 that cautious investigator, that he foresaw no difficulty in magnetizing 

 soft iron through a wire " at the distance of a hundred miles or more."* 



The application filed by Professor Morse in the United States Patent 

 Office, before he visited Europe, was allowed, and issued as a patent 

 June 20, 1840. (N^o. 1647.) This patent comprised nine claims : 1, the 

 combination of type, rule, lever, &c. ; 2, the recording cylinder, &c. ; 3, 

 the types, signs, &c. ; 4, the making and breaking of the circuit by 

 mechanism, &c. ; 5, the combination of successive circuits ; 6, the appli- 

 cation of electro-magnets to several levers, &c. ; 7, the mode and process 

 of recording by the use of electro-magnetism; 8, the combination and 

 arrangement of electro-magnets in one or more circuits, with armatures 

 for transmitting signs ; and 9, the combination of the mechanism de- 

 scribed, with a dictionary of numbered words. 



The appropriation asked for from Congress, though earnestly pressed 

 at successive sessions, failed to obtain the sanction of the House of 

 Eepresentatives ; until after a wearisome delay of five years, a bill was 

 finally carried through Congress, March 3, 1843, autborizing an expendi- 

 ture of " the sum of thirty thousand dollars, ... for testing the 

 capacity and usefulness of the system of electro-magnetic telegraphs 

 invented by Samuel F, B. Morse, of ISTew York." 



The stations selected for connection by the new telegraph were Wash- 

 ington and Baltimore, about forty miles apart. In order to form two 

 complete circuits for this distance, one hundred and sixty miles of cop- 

 per wire, covered with cotton, were ordered and delivered at New York 

 City. Before inclosing the four lines in pipes, as contemplated, Professor 

 Morse i)rudently determined to experiment on the magnetizing effect 

 through this continuous length of insulated wire. The result of this 

 experiment, which fully justified the expectation of Henry expressed to 

 him four years before, is thus stated in a letter addressed to the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury, August 10, 1843 : 



* Prime's Life of Morse, chap, x, pp. 421, 422. Dr. Prime says of this visit, " A few- 

 days after receivaug Professor Heury's kind invitation, Professor Morse went to Prince- 

 ton, and passing tlie afternoon and' evening with the great philosopher, returned the 

 next morniug to New York." 



