CHAPTEK III. 



THE CONVEYANCE OF THOUGHT. 



Speak the word and think the thought, 

 Quick 'tis as with lightning caught 

 Over, under, lands or seas 

 To the far antipodes. 



I sent a message to my dear 

 A thousand leagues and more to Her 



The dumb sea-levels thrilled to hear, 

 And Lost Atlantis bore to Her. 



Kipling. 



THE history of the progress of communication between 

 persons at a distance from each other has gone through 

 three stages which are radically distinct. At first it 

 was dependent on the voice or on gestures, and a message 

 to a friend (or enemy) at a distance could only be sent 

 through a messenger, and was liable to distortion through 

 failure of memory. The heralds and ambassadors of 

 early times thus communicated orders from kings to their 

 subjects, or conveyed messages from one king to another. 

 Then came the invention of writing, and a new era of 

 communication began. Letters were capable of convey- 

 ing secret information and copious details, which could 

 not be safely intrusted to the uncertain memory of an 

 intermediary; and a single messenger could convey a 

 large number of letters to various persons on the way to 

 his ultimate destination. Henceforth the progress of 

 communications was bound up with that of locomotion, 



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