Of Telegraphic Communication . 
M. Chappe, towards the end of 1793, invented an in- 
strument of a similar nature., and applied to it the name 
of telegraph : whether or not he knew any thing of the 
inventions of Dr. Hooke and Amontons it is impossible 
to say. The first chain of telegraphs formed a communi- 
cation between the Louvre at Paris, and Lisle, a dis- 
tance of about thirty-five leagues, near which town the 
French army then was. The first description of this in- 
strument is said to have been brought from Paris to 
Frankfort on the Maine by a former member of the par- 
liament of Bourdeaux,. who had seen that which was 
erected at the mountain of Belville, near Paris. Two 
working models of it were made at Frankfort, and sent 
by Mr. W. Playfair to the Duke of York : and hence 
the plan and alphabet of the machine came into England. 
M. Chapped contrivance consisted chiefly of an upright 
post bearing a transverse bar about 10 or 12 feet in 
length, and 9 inches broad, moveable about a pivot in 
its centre ; to each extremity of this bar an arm of 
about 3 feet long wa§ attached by a moveable joint : by 
means of these three the combination of movement was 
very extensive, simple, , and easy to be performed. A 
number of arbitrary positions were fixed to denote the 
letters of the alphabet ; and these being always made 
precisely in the same manner by means of the mechanism 
employed to work the arms, intelligence was conveyed 
with astonishing accuracy and rapidity. 
In consequence of this information various experiments 
were made in this country,* and a communication by 
means of a chain of signals was soon established from 
the Admiralty- office to the sea-coast. The telegraph 
adopted for this purpose consisted of six octagonal 
boards, each moveable about an axis, and capable of be- 
ing placed either vertically or horizontally, so as to he 
either visible or invisible at the nearest station at plea- 
¥ Great Britain. 
