■u'cre communicated to Mr. Morse, by his scientific assistant, Dr. Gale, as 

 will be shown on the evidence of the latter ; and the facts which I had 

 discovered were promptly applied in rendering effective the operation of 

 his machine. 



In the latter part of 1837 I became personally acquainted with Mr. 

 Morse, and at that time, an(^fterwards, freely gave him information in 

 regard to the scientific principles which had been the subject of my in- 

 vestigations. After his return from Europe, in 1839, our intercourse was 

 renewed, and continued uninterrupted till 1845. In that year, Mr. Vail, 

 a partner and assistant of Mr. Morse, published a work purporting to be 

 a history of the Telegraph, in which I conceived manifest injustice was 

 done me. I complained of this to a mutual friend, and subsequently re- 

 ceived an assurance from Mr. Morse that if another edition were published, 

 all just ground of complaint should be removed. A new emission of the 

 work, however, shortly afterwards appeared, without change in this re- 

 spect, or further reference to my labors. Still I made no public complaint, 

 and set up no claims on account of the telegraph. I was content that my 

 published researches should remain as material for the history of science, 

 and be pronounced upon, according to their true value, by the scientific 

 world. 



After this, a series of controversies and lawsuits havinoc arisen between 

 rival claimants for telegraphic patents, I was repeatedly appealed to, to act 

 as expert and witness in such cases. This I uniformly declined to do, not 

 wishing to be in any manner involved in these litigations, but was finally 

 compelled, under legal process, to return to Boston from Maine, whither 

 I had gone on a visit, and to give evidence on the subject. My testimony 

 was given with the statement that I was not a willing witness, and that 

 I labored under the disadvantage of not having access to my notes and 

 papers, which were in Washington. That testimony, however, I now 

 reaffirm to be true in every essential particular. It was unimpeached be- 

 fore the court, and exercised an influence on the final decision of the 

 question at issue. 



I was called upon on that occasion to state, not only what I had pub- 

 lished, but what I had done, and what I had shown to others in regard to 

 the telegraph. It was my wish, in every statement, to render Mr. Morse 

 full and scrupulous justice. While I was constrained, therefore, to state 

 that he had made no discoveries in science, I distinctly declared that he 

 was entitled to the merit of combining and applying the discoveries of 

 others, in the invention of the best practical form of the magnetic telegraph. 

 My testimony tended to establish the fact that, though not entitled to the 

 exclusive use of the electro-magnet for telegraphic purposes, he was en- 

 titled to his particular machine, register, alphabet, &c. As this, however, 



