BEGINNINGS OF THE TELEPHONE 173 



in electricity led me to study the various systems of teleg- 

 raphy in use in this country and in America. I was much 

 struck with the simplicity of the Morse alphabet, and with the 

 fact that it could be read by sound. Instead of having the 

 dots and dashes recorded on paper, the operators were in the 

 habit of observing the duration of the click of the instruments, 

 and in this way were enabled to distinguish by ear the various 

 signals. 



It struck me that in a similar manner the duration of a 

 musical note might be made to represent the dot or dash of 

 the telegraph code, so that a person might operate one of the 

 keys of the tuning fork piano referred to above, and the dura- 

 tion of the sound proceeding from the corresponding string of 

 the distant piano be observed by an operator stationed there. 

 It seemed to me that in this way a number of distinct telegraph 

 messages might be sent simultaneously from the tuning fork 

 piano to the other end of the circuit by operators, each manipu- 

 lating a different key of the instrument. These messages 

 would be read by operators stationed at the distant piano, 

 each receiving operator listening for signals for a certain 

 definite pitch, and ignoring all others. In this way could be 

 accomplished the simultaneous transmission of a number of 

 telegraphic messages along a single wire, the number being 

 limited only by the delicacy of the listener's ear. The idea 

 of increasing the carrying power of a telegraph wire in this 

 way took complete possession of my mind, and it was this 

 practical end that I had in view when I commenced my re- 

 searches in electric telephony. 



In the progress of science it is universally found that com- 

 plexity leads to simplicity, and in narrating the history of 

 scientific research it is often advisable to begin at the end. 



In glancing back over my own researches, I find it nec- 

 essary to designate, by distinct names, a variety of electrical 

 currents by means of which sounds can be produced, and I 

 shall direct your attention to several distinct species of what 

 may be termed telephonic currents of electricity. 



The graphical method of representing electrical currents 

 thus shown is the best means I have been able to devise of 

 studying, in an accurate manner, the effects produced by 



