122 GEORGE HERBERT STOCKBRIDGE 



but it is not an essential element of the modern telegraph. 

 The ke}^, the telegraphic alphabet, the electromagnet with 

 the spring retracted armature, are due to Alfred Vail ; the im- 

 proved winding of the magnet is the result of Henry's labors; 

 and many needed improvements in the batteries employed, 

 are Professor Gale's; in a word, all the indispensable portions 

 of the so-called Morse telegraph were suggested or invented 

 by others. 



The most important of Vail's contributions, the alphabet 

 and the improved electromagnet, were completed and ready 

 for service in an incredibly short period. He showed them 

 working to his father, January 6, 1838, and a few weeks later 

 he erected a complete working apparatus, including them, 

 at Columbia college. The performance of the improved 

 telegraph there, and afterwards at the Franklin institute in 

 Philadelphia, was highly satisfactory to all concerned. The 

 results of those preceding four months of labor are a tribute, 

 which cannot well be overestimated, to the inventive genius 

 of Alfred Vail. 



It will be a surprise to many to learn that the alphabet 

 code was not the production of Professor Morse. The code 

 which Morse devised was numerical, every word in the Eng- 

 lish language being represented by a distinct number. The 

 number being transmitted, the corresponding word could be 

 found by reference to a laboriously prepared telegraphic dic- 

 tionary. It is needless to say that such a code was a practical 

 absurdity. 



The struggles and disappointments of Morse and his 

 associates between February, 1838, when Vail fulfilled his 

 agreement to exhibit a telegraph to a committee of congress, 

 to March 3, 1843, when, during the last hour of the session, a 

 bill was passed appropriating thirty thousand dollars to aid in 

 establishing the enterprise, are better known to the public 

 than the scientific facts and incidents. Morse was reduced 

 to his last dollar, and the Vails were nearly discouraged. 

 Even after the good fortune came, and the work on the ex- 

 perimental line from Washington to Baltimore was nearly 

 completed, they were once more thrown into despair by find- 

 ing that the insulation was worthless, and that twenty three 



