PROFESSOR HENRY AND THE 



" man's mind, who may yet do something useful ; 

 " and what matters it that he scorns me." 



No one can form an adequate estimate of the vast- 

 ness of his mind, of the extent and accuracy of his 

 learning, and of his power to discern the correla- 

 tions of knowledge, who has not carefully read 

 the instructions mapped out by him for the guid- 

 ance of investigators working under the auspices 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. They constitute a 

 set of charts, which, for years to come, will guide 

 the explorer safely and surely in future voyages 

 for the discovery of new truths ; and are a monu- 

 ment, attesting the fidelity with which the great 

 trust was executed, and vindicating the sagacity of 

 those eminent men, who, in 1846, saw, what his 

 innate modesty forbade him to see, that Joseph 

 Henry was, of all living men, the most fit to ad- 

 minister a fund whose object was "the increase 

 "and diffusion of knowledge among men." 



Passing by thus hastily the great achievements 

 illustrating the long and happy life of Henry, 

 let us examine with more particularity his connec- 

 tion with the electro-magnetic telegraph; whose 

 creation has so largely modified the course of mod- 

 ern civilization, and endowed the dull earth with 

 nerves, like those of the living frame, whereby the 

 whole body of mankind instantly feels the joys or 

 sorrows of any of its members. 



How to communicate intelligence instantly, over 



