MORSE 



3957 



MORTALITY 



to the large markets. Among a number of fine 

 public structures are the public library and 

 lyceum building, the Federal building, erected 

 in 1915 at a cost of $125,000, a Y. M. C. A. 

 building, Vail Museum, constructed in 1916, 

 at a cost of $150,000, Memorial and All Souls' 

 hospitals and Randolph Military Academy. 

 The site of old Fort Nonsense, constructed by 

 Washington on a hill near the center of the 

 town, is marked by a memorial monument. A 

 soldiers' monument stands in the public square. 



Morristown was settled in 1760 by Puritans, 

 and in 1740 received its name in honor of Lewis 

 Morris, then governor of New Jersey. During 

 the War of Independence it was twice the head- 

 quarters of the American army under the com- 

 mand of Washington. The house which he oc- 

 cupied is still standing, and in it is a collection 

 of relics owned by the State Historical Society. 

 A part of the Savannah, the first steamboat to 

 cross the Atlantic, was made at the old Speed- 

 \v t 11 ironworks, which in 1909 were nearly de- 

 stroyed by fire. 



MORSE, SAMUEL I IM.KY BREESE (1791-1872), 

 an American who acquired fame through vari- 

 ous notable achievements, but who will always 

 be best known as the inventor of the electric 

 telegraph. He laid the first submarine tele- 

 graph line in New 

 York harbor, and 

 he took the first 

 daguerreot \ p. 

 made in t he 

 d States. 

 His distinction as 

 an artist was, per- 

 haps, only a little 

 leas than tint is 

 an inventor. He 

 was one of the 

 best of the nh. r 

 rican portrait 



SAMl'KL I" I! 



of the founders '"" invention f tin- elec- 

 trl<- tPleKraph places his nann- 



and the first presi- t,i KM in tin- list <.r tin- \\- 

 dent of the Na- benefactors, 

 tional Academy of Design, and for a time pro- 

 fessor of tin hM.iry of art at the University of 



' 'ity of N. 



It was durum tin- time he was giving his at- 

 ion to art th.it l,,- conceived the idea of 

 ipli. Whm his instruments were per- 

 npplied to his own government for 

 financial :ul to put them to a test, but his in- 

 vention w.i- mlimliMl. Th-n IIP tne<l to i 



foreign governments, but without success. 



He again applied to the United States for as- 

 sistance and finally, in 1843, Congress appro- 

 priated $30,000 for the construction of a tele- 

 graph line from 

 Washington to 

 Baltimore. After 

 many hardships, 

 the line was com- 

 pleted on May 

 24, 1844, and the 

 now historic 

 words, " W hat 

 hath God 

 wrought?" 

 sent over the line 

 as the first public 

 message. Credit 

 should be given 

 Professor Leon- 

 ard Gale and Al- 



THE FIRST MORSE 

 TELEGRAPH 



fred Vail, who 

 were associated 

 with Morse in his work, and to others who 

 furnished material assistance in bringing the 

 telegraph to success, but Morse was the inven- 

 tor in the true sense of the word. No other 

 American inventor has received greater honors 

 than those later conferred on him by his own 

 country and by foreign nations. 



MORTALITY, mortal' Hi, LAW OF, a princi- 

 ple which determines what average proportion 

 of the persons who enter upon a given period 

 of life will die before they complete that period. 

 The law has been obtained from a study of the 

 records of mortality and an analysis of the 



rience of insurance companies. The 

 suiting statistics have been formulated as tables 

 oj mortality. A table for the United States is 

 n below, the number of individuals of each 

 class considered being one hundred: 



The following table shows the death i 

 each of the Canadian provinces except New 

 Brunswick, returns from that province not be- 

 ing available. ID Canada the registration of 

 births, marriages and deaths is under provin- 

 cial control, and the rate for the Dominion as 

 ole has not been estimated: 



