MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH. 39 



" it was on the first of March, 1837, that Mr. 

 " Cooke introduced himself to me. He told me 

 " he had applied to Dr. Faraday,* and Dr. Roget, 

 " for some information relative to a subject on 

 " which he was engaged, and they had referred 

 " him to me as having the means of answering 

 " his inquiries. * Relying upon my 



" former experience, I at once told Mr. Cooke that 

 " it would not, and could not, act as a telegraph, 

 " because sufficient attractive power could not be 

 " imparted to an electro -magnet interposed in a 

 " long circuit; and to convince him of the truth of 

 " this assertion I invited him to King's College to 

 " see the repetition of the experiments on which 

 " my conclusion was founded. He came, and 

 " after seeing a variety of voltaic magnets which, 

 " even with powerful batteries, exhibited but slight 

 " adhesive attraction, he expressed his disap- 

 " pointment."-[ 



Cooke confirms this statement by saying : "It 

 " was my inability to make the electro-magnet act 

 " at long distances which first led me to Mr. 

 " Wheatstone."i 



Let the difficulty of making the discovery 

 which overcame this impossibility be judged by 

 the fact, that for so many years, such men as 

 these were unable to do it when it was needed; 



* See Appendix, Note N. f See Appendix, Note O. 



J See Appendix, Note P. 



