99 
Description oj a Devolving Telegraph . 
cers, who liave for more than twelve months past daily 
had the execution of them under their inspection, have re- 
commended the same in stronger terms, and the advan- 
tages thereof, to the lords commissioners, beyond my state- 
ment. I have enclosed to you a certificate relative to the 
ship Hibernia, which arrived here the l&tli of May last, 
and for which vessel I painted a set of hammock cloths, 
containing thirteen hundred yards of canvass, in June 
1806, after my new method. I am, &c. 
William Anderson. 
Portsmouth, JV*ov. 27, 1807. 
To C. Taylor, M. D. Sec. 
NO. 20 . 
Description of a Devolving Telegraph, for conveying 
Intelligence by Figures, Letters , Words , or Sentences „ 
By John Redman Gone. 
[With an engraving.) 
In the construction of a telegraph, it must be obvious 
that certain principles are to be kept in view. These 
are, 
1. That the signals should be few, plain, and readily 
perceptible. 
2. That the machine itself should be of a nature to 
combine strength, durability, and easy execution. 
3. That it should be susceptible of being worked with 
facility, exactness, and despatch. 
With respect to most of the telegraphs of which we 
have any account, some will be found to possess some of 
these points, whilst they are deficient in others ; and it is 
not too much, perhaps, to assert, that not one is altogether 
possessed of every qualification, which shall render this 
machine extensively useful. 
