On the Invention of the Telegraph. 31$ 



■ st The ftations being found convenient, the next thing to 

 ;i>e confidered, is, what telefcopes will be neceflary for each 

 jlation. One of thefe telefcopes muft be fixed at each ex- 

 treme ftation, and two of them in each intermediate ; fo that 

 a man, for each glafs, fitting and looking through them, may 

 plainly difcover what is done in the next adjoining ftation ; 

 and with his pen write down on paper the characters there 

 expofed, in their due order ; fo that there ought to be two 

 perfons at each extreme ftation, and three at each interme- 

 diate ; that, at the fame time, intelligence may be conveyed 

 forwards and backwards. 



" Next, there muft be certain times agreed on, when the 

 correfpondents are to expect ; or elfe there muft be fet at 

 .the top of the pole, in the morning, the hour appointed by 

 either of the correfpondents for acting that day. 



** Next, there muft be a convenient apparatus of characters, 

 at leaft, as many diftindt characters as there are neceffary 

 letters in the alphabet made ufe of, (as is expreffed in Plate X. 

 fig. 5.) And thofe muft be either day characters, or night 

 characters : if they are to be made ufe of in the day time, 

 they may all be made of deals, and of bignefs convenient 

 for- the feveral diftances. Any one of which characters may 

 iignify any one letter of the alphabet, and the whole alphabet 

 may be varied 10,000 ways; fo that none hut the two ex- 

 treme correfpondents fhall be able to difcover the informa- 

 tion conveyed. If the characters are for the night, then they 

 may be made with links or other lights, difpofed in a certain 

 order, which may be covered and uncovered according to 

 the method agreed on. There will be alfo requifite feveral 

 other characters, which may, for expedition, exprefs a whole 

 fentence ; fucb* as, • I am ready to communicate,' ' I ara 

 r^ady to obferve,' &c. 



" I could inftance a hundred ways of facilitating the method 

 of performing this defign with the more dexterity and quick- 

 nefs, and with little charge ; but that, I think, will be nced- 

 lefs at prefent, fmce, whenfoever fucb a way of correfpondence 



fhaH 



