1825.] Biographical Sketch of Baron Edelcrantx. 325 



Counsellor of State was bestowed on hira. On the 9th Nov. 

 1794, he obtained a seat and a voice in the Court of Chancery ; 

 and on the 24th of the same month, he was made Keeper of the 

 Records of the Royal Order of Gustavus. 



It is a distinguishing characteristic of the life of Edelcrantz, 

 that his biographer's direction needs only to be directed in a 

 peculiar manner to the careful exposition of its earlier and 

 initiatory history ; for his merits soon develope themselves to an 

 extent, and assume an importance, by which the actions of the 

 individual pervade, and are inseparably blended with, the pro- 

 gress of his country, and the advancement of his age. 



In whatever quarter of the world a discovery of magnitude or 

 utility was made, it was the care of Edelcrantz immediately to 

 transfer it to Sweden ; and so felicitous were his exertions in 

 this useful career, that he was often able to introduce the inven- 

 tion to his countrymen coupled with a signal improvement of his 

 own. Thus it happened with the mechanical system of the 

 telegraph ; a system which, from the method of Chappe, was 

 developed by the Swede into a perfect language of signs. In 

 the year 1794, his investigation on this subject was commenced; 

 and by the month of November, he was aide to promul- 

 gate his improvements on a method so peculiar, that his tele- 

 graph immediately received the name of Edelcrantz's or the 

 Swedish. By the help of ten moveable tables, he succeeded in 

 producing 2024 varieties of figure, each of which could be dis- 

 cerned at the distance of S^- Swedish miles.* His treatise on 

 the Telegraph, which was pubhshed in 1796, has been translated 

 into many languages, and his invention received a prize medal 

 from the Society of Arts, Agriculture, and Commerce, in London. 

 In the Russian war of 1808, this Telegraph was employed in a 

 long chain of observations, consisting of 43 different stations, 

 between Landsort and Gefle ; and a particular corps was placed 

 luider his own superintendence, and disciplined by himself in the 

 new system of telegraphic tactics. 



In 1797 the scientific merits of Edelcrantz, now sufficiently 

 well known and appreciated, procured for him a seat in the 

 Royal Academy, and in the year immediately following, he was 

 raised to the honour of Preses of that body. When he retired 

 from the situation of Preses, which he did on the same year of 

 his election, he ciiose fur the subject of his discourse, the uncev- 

 taintij of our knowledge reapectifig eleclriciti/, and, in particular, 

 respecting its j)Oicer of penetrating the substance itself of bodies; 

 an instructive essay, which, we regret to say, he never published. 

 The Essays submitted by him to the criticisms of the Academy 

 were ail of them such as had for their main object the applica- 

 tion of scientific principle to some purpose of practical utility. 



* A Swtdiiih mile in equivalent to about 6ij English mileii'. 



