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ism, as connected with telegraphic communication, embracing an account 

 of the discoveries of Oersted, Arago, Davy, Ampere ; of the investigations 

 by Barlow and Sturgeon ; of his own researches, commenced in 1828, and 

 continued in 1829, 1830, and subsequently. The details of his experi- 

 ments and their results, though brief, are very precise. There is abundant 

 evidence to show that Professor Henry's experiments and illustrations at 

 Albany, and subsequently at Princeton, proved, and were declared at the 

 time by him to prove, that the electric telegraph was now practicable ; 

 that the electro-magnet might be used to produce mechanical eflFects at a 

 distance adequate to making signals of various kinds, such as ringing bells, 

 which he practically illustrated. In proof of this, we quote a letter to 

 Professor Henry, from Professor James Hall, of Albany, late president 

 of the American Association for the advancement of Science. 



January 19, 1856. 



Dear Sir : While a student of the Rensselaer School, in Troy, New York, in 

 August, 1832, I visited Albany with a friend, having a letter of introduction to 

 you from Professor Eaton. Our principal object was to see your electro-magnetic 

 apparatus, of which we had heard much, and at the same time the library and 

 collections of the Albany Institute. 



You showed us your laboratory in a lower story or basement of the building, 

 and in a larger room in an upper story some electric and galvanic apparatus, with 

 various philosophical instruments. In this room, and extending around the 

 same, was a circuit of wire stretched along the wall, and at one termination of 

 this, in the recess of a window, a bell was fixed, while the other extremity was 

 connected with a galvanic apparatus. 



You showed us the manner in which the bell could be made to ring by a cur- 

 rent of electricity, transmitted through this wire, and you remarked that this 

 method might be adopted for giving signals, by the ringing of a bell at the dis- 

 tance of many miles from the point of its connection with the galvanic apparatus. 



All the circumstances attending this visit to Albany are fresh in my recollec- 

 tion, and during the past years, while so much has been said respecting the 

 invention of electric telegraphs, I have often had occasion to mention the exhibi- 

 tion of your electric 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 liberty 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 something for its 

 promotion, and the reputation which the successful prosecution of scien- 

 tific investigations and discoveries may justly be expected to give. In his 

 public lectures and published writings he has often pointed out incidentally 



