108 MORSE TELEGRAPH. 



satisfactorily for a long series of years. They were 

 then gradually replaced by cable conductors, yet lead 

 conductors have remained in excellent condition to the 

 present day. after the lapse of 40 years. Only where 

 the lead has come in contact with decaying matter 

 in the soil, whereby the formation of acetate and 

 carbonate of lead is facilitated, is it liable to rapid 

 destruction. 



The just mentioned police and fire-brigade tele- 

 graph was intended to unite fifty stations in different 

 parts of Berlin with the central office of the police 

 department and the central office of the fire-brigade, 

 so that the report of fire might be simultaneously 

 communicated to all stations, whilst the police reports 

 were only to be received and comprehended at the 

 central police bureau. Our arrangement solved this 

 interesting problem very satisfactorily and worked for 

 over twenty years well and accurately, but then suc- 

 cumbed to the simpler Morse system. 



Morse's writing telegraph first became known in 

 Germany through a Mr. Robinson who, in the year 

 1850, gave exhibitions with it in Hamburg. The 

 simplicity of Morse's apparatus, the relative facility of 

 acquiring the alphabet, and the pride which fills 

 every one, who has learnt to use it, and causes him 

 to become an apostle of the system, have in a 

 short time ousted all dial and older letter -print ing 

 apparatus. 



Halske and I at once perceived this superiority 

 of the Morse telegraph, resting on manual dexterity. 



