68 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



either by himself or others, and copies of the 

 original notice by the Postmaster-General, relating 

 to the despatch from London of letters for Paris 

 per pigeon post. As the official documents are 

 reprinted, and the main facts connected with the 

 Paris pigeon post are published in Tegetmeier's 

 book, and as they now have a distinct historic 

 interest, — in view of wireless telegraphy one 

 might almost say, a pre-historic interest, — I 

 give a brief resume of them here. 



In August, 1870, before Paris was besieged, 

 Tegetmeier had written in the Field, apropos of 

 the French authorities having forbidden the 

 pigeon-races from the south of France to Belgium, 

 that " the strategic information conveyed by a 

 single pigeon might lose a battle or an empire." 

 In June, 1871, he wrote in the Homing Pigeon : 

 " The battles and the empire were lost, and the 

 French, shut up in Paris, were glad to avail 

 themselves of the services of the comparatively 

 few homing pigeons that were flown in that city. 

 These were sent out in balloons, and when 

 liberated, conveyed to their homes the intelligence 

 attached to their legs or central tail feathers.'' 

 He then quotes at length the regulations issued 

 from the General Post Office, London, which 

 were to the effect that every letter had to be 

 posted " open," and sent by registered post. 

 It was to consist of not more than twenty words, 

 including address and signature, and be written 



