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would be useless as a check, for dishonest clerks would be 
tempted to manufacture acknowledgments, and to destroy 
messages which they had neglected to deliver. The unbroken 
record prevents any such alterations and erasures. 
Much has been said of the superiority of the American 
telegraphists, because they are able to read the Morse signals 
by the sound made by the electro magnet ; and of the great 
saving in expense effected by dispensing with the paper slip. 
By this plan the advantage of the record is at once lost, and 
the Morse apparatus used as an acoustic instrument is not, in 
our opinion, either as rapid, or as accurate as the bell telegraph 
of the Messrs. Bright. It is not from a want of ability to 
read by sound that the system does not prevail here, for the 
English staff converse among themselves by almost inaudible 
taps upon the table, which has the merit of being a much 
more correct and rapid method than that adopted by the 
spiritual intelligences who favour us with their conversation, 
but who do not seem to have made much progress in this 
particular department of knowledge. Our clerks also talk by 
a slight movement of the forefinger or thumb, imperceptible 
to the uninitiated, which would be a wonderful assistance 
to clairvoyants and conjurers. Indeed, Robert Houdin em- 
ployed some such means in his celebrated second sight ” 
experiments. 
The Americans, however, because of a peculiarity in their 
system, can beat us in one particular. When in the open 
country, they can read what is passing on a wire by cutting 
it and putting its two ends into the mouth, and can 
reply by tapping them together, without any apparatus 
whatsoever. 
In the earlier days of telegraphy, it was impossible to 
obtain legible signals at distances over two hundred miles, 
even in dry weather, and during fog or rain it was necessary 
to transmit messages by reading them off at an intermediate 
station, and forwarding them on afresh ; so that a message 
from London to Glasgow would be repeated twice or even four 
times. Owing to the great improvements in insulation, dis- 
tances of four hundred miles now offer no obstacle to direct 
communication in all weathers. 
The Morse instrument lias the great advantage of being 
capable of acting as an automaton clerk; and transmitting its 
own signals. The movement of the lever which carries the 
armature and style is limited by two screws, between which it 
oscillates with considerable force. It can, therefore, be easily 
made to perform the function of a key, so as to forward the 
message a second stage, where the same process may be again 
repeated. 
