14 



It further appears, that principally for the information thus communi- 

 cated, Mr. Morse assigned to Dr. Gale an interest in the telegraph, which 

 he after\\'ards purchased back for §15,000, as appears from the following 

 letter of Dr. Gale : 



Patent Office, Augmt 5, 1857. 

 Dear ^m : In reply to yours of this date, reepecting the interest I once pos- 

 sessed in Morse's telegraph patent, secured to me by the said Morse, as alluded 

 to by him in his statement to the Commissioner of PaieDts?, I would simply state 

 that the part I owned when I entered the service of the government in this office 

 ■was originally given me by the said Morse, for services rendered him in making 

 his invention practically effective in sending currents through long distances, &c., 

 and tbat the said interest was retrausferred to the said Morse for the sum of fifteen 

 thousand dollars. 



Respectfully, 



L. D. GALE. 

 Professor Henry, 



iSecretary ISmithsonian Institution. 



It thus appears, both from Mr. Morse's own admission down to 1848, 

 and from the testimony of others most familiar with the facts, that Prof. 

 Henry discovered the law, or " principle," as Mr. Morse designates it, 

 which was necessary to make the practical working of the electro-magnetic 

 telegraph at considerable distances possible ; that Mr. Morse was first 

 informed of this discovery by Dr. Gale ; that he availed himself of it at 

 once, and that it never occurred to Mr. Morse to deny this fact until after 

 1848. He had steadily and fully acknowledged the merits and genius of 

 Mr. Henry, as the discoverer of facts and laws in science of the highest 

 importance in the success of his long-cherished invention of a magnetic 

 telegraph. Mr. Henry was the discoverer of a principle, Mr. Morse was 

 the inventor of a machine, the object of which was to record characters at 

 a distance, to convey intelligence, in other words, to carry into execution 

 the idea of an electric telegraph. But there were obstacles in the way 

 which he could not overcome until he learned the discoveries of Professor 

 Henry, and applied them to his machine. These facts are undeniable. 

 They constitute a part of the history of science and invention. They 

 were true in 1848, they were equally true in 1855, when Professor Morse's 

 article was published. We give a passage here from the deposition of 

 Seaks C. Walker, in the case of French vs. Rogers, Respondent's Evi- 

 dence, page 199, bearing upon this whole subject : 



" In consequence of some statements made by me in my official reports relative 

 to the invention of the receiving magnet, a question arose between Mr. Morse 

 and myself as to the origin of this invention. It was amicably- discussed by Mr. 

 Morse, Professor Henry, Dr. Gale, and myself, with Professor Henry's article, 

 alluded to in answer to the second question before us. The result of the inter- 

 view was conclusive to my mind that Professor Henry was the sole discoverer of 



