300 Of Telegraphic Communication . 
may know by one of them the right, and by the other the 
left of him who is to answer. The board must be set up 
near to this instrument ; and to the right and left a solid 
must be raised ten feet broad, and about the height of a 
man ; in order that the torches which shall be lifted up 
over it, may spread a strong clear light ; and that when 
they are to be lowered, they may be entirely hid behind 
them. 
All things being thus disposed on each side, I will sup- 
pose, for instance, that advice is to be given that “ An 
hundred Cretans, or Kretans, are gone over to the ene- 
my.” First, he must make choice of such words as will 
express what is here said in the fewest letters possible, 
as u Cretans, or Kretans,* an hundred have deserted 
which expresses the very same idea in much fewer let-, 
ters. 
The first letter is K, which is in the second column. 
Two torches must therefore be lifted to the left, to inform 
the person who receives the signal, that he must look into 
the second eolumn. He then must lift up five torches to 
the right, to denote that the letter sought for is the fifth 
of the second column, that is K. 
Afterwards, four torches must be held up to the left, 
to point out the P,f which is in the fourth column ; then 
two to the right, to denote that this letter is the second 
of the fourth column, The same must be observed with 
respect to the rest of the letters. 
By this method, every event that comes to pass may be 
denoted in a fixed and determinate manner. The reason 
why two sets of lights are used, is because every letter 
must be pointed out twice $ the first to denote the column 
to which it belongs, and the second to show its place in 
order in the columns pointed out. If the persons employ- 
* The words are disposed in this manner in the Greek, 
f This is the capital letter R in the Greek tongue. 
