198 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Jan. C, 1882. 



THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 



Bt \V. Lynd. 



" Go<] 1ms hri'ii hounlirul to llio liuman mco in thi« ago. Ho has 

 ^ivon us t'> SCO 1'iUiiiN niHlurcil !>y niiin ; stoam harnoHH«?<l to our 

 nirrinRps and sliips ; pnlvanism tanu!(l into an aphabi't — a gamut 

 and jti mi'tal liarp-Btriugs gtrotohod acrou the partli, >nalyr4 

 ninuntaiiii) and the «on, and so mon's minds defying the twin 

 monsters Time and Space." — Chakles Eeade. 



HAIjF-.\-CENTTTRY af»o railways were in their in- 

 fiiuy, Oporgo Stephenson was bravely fighting 

 against ignorance and prejuclice, and founding his gigantic 

 scheme wliicli has revolntionised the world and proved one 

 of the greatest hles.sings ever bestowed upon mankind. 



Half-a-oentury ago there was not a single mile of tele- 

 graph wir(> in the unirersc. 



Stt'phenson's name and fame have been trumpeted far 

 and wide. Biogi-aphies without number of the great 

 engineer have been written ; only recently Dr. Smiles has 

 given to the -world liis admirable " Lives " of the pioneers 

 of railways, George and Robert Stephenson. 



But, wlio has heard of that other Titan of the nineteenth 

 lentury, ^\■iIliam Fothergill Cooke 1 



The name of the man wlio introduced the first practical 

 electric telegraph to this country is almost unknown outside 

 scientific circles ; yet, what a debt of gratitude we owe to 

 the inventor of the instruments, by meaiis of which that 

 potent but mysterious agent we call electricity %yas first 

 made to record int(!lligil)le signs which could be translated 

 into human language ! The first electro-magnetic telegraph 

 was pro<hiced between 1820 and 1832 by Baron Schilling, 

 of Lanstadt. Mr. Cooke was, in 1836, occupied in the 

 Anatomical Museum at Heidelberg, preparing wax models 

 for his father, who had been recently appointed Professor 

 of Anatomy in the University of Durham. 



It is a remarkable fact that he had no knowledge, or 

 very little knowledge, of either physics or electricit)'. 

 When Baron Schilling exhibited and explained his primi- 

 tive telegraph, Mr. Cooke was so struck with the vast 

 importance of an electric telegraph to the railways then 

 I>rogressing with such marvellous rapidity in the United 

 Kingdom, that he immediately gave up modelling, and 

 devoted all his time and energies to the realisation of his 

 hopes. To be the means of establishing instantaneous 

 communication liy electricity between towns, particularly 

 the great centres of commerce, was to become a lienefactor 

 of the human race. And Mr. Cooke -was so sanguine of 

 succes.s, that he left Germany and came to Endand in 

 April, 1836. 



On Feb. 27, 1837, while engaged in perfecting a set of 

 instruments to be tried on the Liverpool and Manchester 

 Railway, he was introduced by Dr. Rogel to Professor 

 Wheatstone, who had been devoting much of his time to 

 the subject of electrical communication. The meeting was 

 a happy one. The two electricians entered into paijner- 

 .ship, and in a marvellously brief space of time the first 

 really practicable electric telegraph was ready for trial. 



There w('re, however, other chumants for the honour of 

 having iuvont«id tlie electric telegraph as a practical reality, 

 but there can be no question of Cooke and Wheatstone's 

 priority in date over the other inventors, Alexander and 

 Morse. 



The first line of electric telegraph was constructed upon 

 the Black wall Railway in 1838. A sight of Cooke and 

 Wlieatfltone's instrument, witli its five needles, would sur- 

 prise the telegraphista of tlie present day, who are used to 

 duplex and (juadruplex working ! 



The five needle iiLstrument required live wires ; now four 

 e.i can }>o .'ihot along one wire ! 



The double-needle instrument, which will be described 

 lat*-r on, was the next improvement nece.s-sitating the em- 

 plojTTient of two wires only, and that form of apparatus can 

 .still be seen at work upon one or two of the railways in the 

 United Kingdom. 



Although Professor Wlieatstone assisted Mr. Cooke, and, 

 no dou))t, contributed in no small degree to the perfection 

 of the instruments, we are in duty bound to regard the 

 latter as the fatlier of practical telegraphy. 



THE MAGIC WHEEL. 



WE are able this week to give the series of \-iew8 of a 

 trotting-horse to which we referred last week ; and 

 to explain how the picture is to be arranged to produce a 

 life-like effect, we repeat Fig. 1, as the two have to be con- 

 sidered togetli' r. 



Cut out the series of views (following the outer circle) 

 with the scissors, or carefully copy it on a separate piece 

 of paper : and paste the circular disc thus obtained on 

 a circular piece of cardlward. Cut out the oblong 

 space under each figure, so as to make a series 

 of oblong slits through the cardboard. Then fasten 

 the wheel to a stick or handle, Viy means of a pin 

 through the centre, on which it can freely turn. If now 

 you stand opjwsite a mirror in the way shown in Fig. 1, 

 and twirl i-ound the disc before the eyes, looking through 

 the upper slots, the hoi-ses will be seen to move as in life. 

 The views have not l>een made by guess-work, as in most 

 of the series used for zoetropes, 1>ut are from a series of 

 actual photographs taken instantaneously at e<]ual succes- 

 sive interv.ils of time during the trotting past of the cele- 

 bi-ated racer, Abe Edgington. They were obtained by 



