70 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



Each despatch was repeated until its arrival 

 had been acknowledged by balloon post ; conse- 

 quently many were sent off from twenty to thirty 

 times — some were sent thirty-eight times, the 

 average number being twenty. M. Dagron, in a 

 brochure, published after the war, says : "If one 

 cared now to multiply the number of despatches 

 by the number of films supplied, he would find 

 the result is more than two million five hundred 

 thousand messages despatched by us during the 

 two worst months of the year." In order to 

 ensure their safety during transit the films were 

 rolled up tightly and put in a small quill which 

 was attached longitudinally to one of the tail 

 feathers of the bird. On their arrival in Paris 

 they were flattened out and thrown by means 

 of an electric lantern on to a screen, copied by 

 clerks, and sent to their destination. This 

 method was afterwards improved on, sensitised 

 paper being substituted for the screen, so that 

 the enlarged letters were photographically printed 

 at once, and then distributed. So perfectly did 

 the system work, that postal orders even were 

 sent by micro-photography, and the recipients 

 were able to draw their money in Paris as in 

 ordinary times. Those fond of figures may be 

 interested to know that, at the rate of 50 centimes, 

 or fivepence, a word, the postage of 200 letters 

 on each folio would be £40, and that of the 

 eighteen films of 16 folios each — the maximum 



