JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 149 



electric telegraphs, I have often had occasion to mention the exhibition of your elec- 

 tric telegraph in the Albany Academy, in 1832. 



If at any time or under any circumstances this statement can be of service to you 

 in substantiating your claim to such a discovery at the period named, you are at lib- 

 erty to use it in any manner you please, and I shall be ready at all times to repeat 

 and sustain what I have here stated, with many other attendant circumstances, should 

 they prove of any importance. 



I remain very sincerely and respectfully yours, 



JAMES HALL. 

 Professor Joseph Henry. 



In his deposition, Professor Henry's statements are within what 

 he might fairly have claimed. But he is a man of science, looking 

 for no other reward than the consciousness of having done some- 

 thing for its promotion, and the reputation which ; the successful 

 prosecution of scientific investigations and discoveries may justly 

 be expected to give. In his public lectures and published writings 

 he has often pointed out incidentally the possibility of applying the 

 facts and laws of nature discovered by him to practical purposes; 

 he has freely communicated information to those who have sought 

 it from him, among whom has been Mr. Morse himself, as appears 

 by his own acknowledgments. But he has never applied his 

 scientific discoveries to practical ends for his own pecuniary benefit. 

 It was natural, therefore, that he should feel a repugnance to taking 

 any part in the litigation between rival inventors, and it was inevi- 

 table that, when forced to give his testimony, he should distinctly 

 point out what was so clear in his own mind and is so fundamental 

 a fact in the history of human progress, the distinctive functions of 

 the discoverer and the inventor who applies discoveries to practical 

 purposes in the business of life. 



Mr. Henry lias always done full justice to the invention of Mr. 

 Morse. While he could not sanction the claim of Mr. Morse to the 

 exclusive use of the electro-magnet, he has given him full credit for 

 the mechanical contrivances adapted to the application of his inven- 

 tion. In proof of this we refer to his deposition, and present also 

 the following statement of lion. Charles Mason, Commissioner of 

 Patents, taken from a letter addressed by him to Professor Henry, 

 dated March 31, 1856 : 



U. S. Patent Office, March 31, 1856. 



SiFv : Agreeably to your request I now make the following statement : 



Some two* years since, when an application was made for an extension of Professor 

 Morse's patent, I was for some time in doubt as to the propriety of making that 

 extension. Under these circumstances I consulted with several persons, and among 

 others with yourself, with a view particularly to ascertain the amount of invention 

 fairly due to Professor Morse. 



The result of my inquiries was such as to induce me to grant the extension. I will 

 further say that this was in accordance with your express recommendation, and that 

 I was probably more influenced by this recommendation, and the information I ob- 

 tained from you, than by any other circumstance, in coming to that conclusion. 

 I am, sir, yours very respectfully, 



CHAKLES MASON. 



Professor J. Henry. 



