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circuit, or it may be employed without reference to the continuation of 

 the line, as a short local circuit to work a local magnet. In the first 

 case, there must be in the secondary circuit an intensity battery and 

 intensity magnet ; in the last case, a quantity magnet and quantity 

 battery are required. 



I heard nothing of the secondary circuit as a part of Mr. Morse's plan 

 until after his return from Europe, whither he went in 1838. It was not 

 till long after this that Mr. Morse used the earth as a part of the circuit 

 in accordance with the discovery of Steinheil. 



I am not aware that Mr. Morse ever made a single original discovery, 

 in electricity, magnetism, or electro-magnetism,- applicable to the inven- 

 tion of the telegraph. I have always considered his merit to consist in 

 combining and applying the discoveries of others in the invention of a 

 particular instrument and process for telegraphic purposes. I have no 

 means of determining how far this invention is original with himself, or 

 how much is due to those associated with him. 



4. Please state when you first became acquainted with Mr. Morse, and 

 what knowledge he possessed of electricity, magnetism, and electro-mag- 

 netism, and what information you or others communicated to him relating 

 to the telegraph. State, also, all you know of the attempts of himself, 

 and others associated with him, to construct an electro-magnetic telegraph, 

 either from your own observation or from statements made by himself or 

 by others in your presence. State particularly any conversation, if any, 

 you may have had with him in reference to your own discoveries applied 

 to the telegraph. 



Answer. — Shortly after my return from Europe, in the autumn of 1837, 

 I learned that Mr. Morse was about to petition Congress for assistance 

 in constructing the electro-magnetic telegraph. Some of my friends in 

 Princeton, knowing what I had done in developing the principles of the 

 telegraph, urged me to make the representations to Congress, which I 

 expressed some thought of doing, namely : that the principles of the 

 electro-magnetic telegraph belonged to the science of the world, and that 

 any appropriation which might be made by Congress should be a premium 

 for the best plan, and the means of testing the same, which the ingenuity 

 of the country might offer. Shortly after this I visited New York, and 

 there accidentally made the personal acquaintance of Mr. Morse ;* he 

 appeared to be an unassuming and prepossessing gentleman, with very little 

 knowledge of the general principles of electricity, magnetism, or electro- 



* This meeting took place in the chemical store of Mr. Chilton, Broadway, New York, 

 and the place and time are both indelibly impressed upon my mind. 



