HENRY AND THE TELEGRAPH. 319 



graph ; and I presume that Morse never did fully appreciate the benefit 

 which his machine derived from Henry's discovery."* 



Professor Morse's real merit (and his real contribution to telegraphy) 

 consists, first, in the adaptation of the armature of a Henry electro-mag- 

 net to the purpose of a recording instrument, and secondly, in connec- 

 tion therewith, the improvement on the Gauss and Steinheil dual-sigu 

 aljihabets, (made either by himself, or his assistant, Mr. Vail,) of employ- 

 ing, instead of alternating or vibratory markings, the simple "dot-and- 

 dash" alphabet in a single line. Whatever may liaA^e been the indebt- 

 edness of Professor Morse to Dr. Jackson for the suggestion of the first 

 idea of an " electric" telegraph, it is quite clear from the incoherent 

 claims of Dr. Jackson himself, that these two really important improve- 

 ments were original with Morse, and were in no sense derived from 

 Jackson, t 



Claims so moderate, though so meritorious, (as might be supposed) 

 would scarcely satisfy the ambition of the patentee and his supporters, 

 conscious of the equally meritorious exertion and enterprise by which 

 through tedious ordeals of obstruction and difiiculty a great practical 

 success had been achieved, and before whom — in just reward — ^i)rophetic 

 visions of a grand commercial monopoly loomed in large perspective. 

 And thus by ignoring and undervaluing the results accomplished by 

 those earlier in the field, tbe owners of the patent exerted themselves to 

 repress competing systems, and to arrogate entire invention and propri- 

 etorshii) of the electro-magnetic telegraph. 



To the vast majority — suddenly dazzled by so magnificent a culmina- 

 tion of invention, such claims appeared entirely legitimate ; to the studi- 

 ous few — prepared to discriminate, they appeared as entirely inadmissible. 

 Tbe judicial tribunals — disposed to sustain a vested right with largest and 

 most liberal interpretation, yet j)ronounced in final appeal such claims 

 untenable and overstated. I 



To so eminent a pioneer in telegraphy as Henry, perhaps more than 

 to any other, must the overweening pretensions of the " Morse Tele- 

 graph " have been obvious and untenable ; and yet with that impar- 

 tialitj' of judgment — that rare independency of personal bias which so 

 marvelously distinguished him, he never permitted himself to under- 

 estimate Morse's true merits, nor did he abstain from defending them 

 with a heartiness probitbly greater than was accorded by any of his sci- 

 entific comi)eers. For Professor IMorse personally he felt a sympathetic 

 regard ; which continued uninterrupted and unabated till the unfortu- 

 nate epoch when he was so ungratefully assailed and so wantonly tra- 

 duced. § 



* Memorial of Samuel F. B. Morse. (Meeting iu Faneuil Hall.) Boston, 1872, p. 37. 



+ These two features so impressed the candid Steiulieil, the foremost of telegraphers, 

 as to lead him at once to accept them as great improvements ou his own ingenious 

 method of recording, ai\d to urge at once their substitution. 



tSee "Supplement," Note I. § See "Supplement," Note J. 



