GENERAL PAPERS 119 
gram addressed to him, which he had received, written and 
turned over to the general office, was returned to him. In 
such cases the operator is not the receiver of the message. He 
is part of the unconscious machinery through which the mes- 
sage is transmitted. 
In all of the modern systems now in use, the terminal sta- 
tions are precisely those of the olden time. The older form of 
communication by means of air waves has been so modified, 
that long distance transmission is possible. An intermediate 
link has been added. It is called the telephone system. The 
thoughts are still impressed upon air waves at the sending sta- 
tion, and the air waves are reproduced at the receiving station. 
To the later system, in which the message written by the send- 
er, is delivered to the receiver by the postman an intermediate 
link has also been added. It is the telegraph, or the later 
wireless system in which ether waves are used. The message 
written by the sender is still delivered to the receiver as a writ- 
ten message, but it is written upon another sheet of paper. The 
advantage gained is in the decrease in the time of transmis- 
sion. The child of to-day has the assistance of its parents in 
gradually acquiring the capacity to think, and to express its 
thoughts in words. The human race has gone through the 
same process of evolution, and it has had no instructor. 
By far the most wonderful parts of modern systems of trans- 
nutting messages are those parts which were in common use 
in the olden time. 
