AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
881 
Boys’ and Girls’ Own Columns. 
Telegraphing' Familiarly Explained.* 
Everybody is now talking aDout tne telegraph, and we 
think our younger readers will be interested in some plain, 
simple explanations of how news is sent along wires, not 
only across the country, but even under the ocean. We 
will therefore endeavor to illustrate this subject in a more 
simple, elementary manner than is usually done in books 
and papers. So come right around us, boys and girls, and 
listen to, and carefully study and understand every sen¬ 
tence as we go along, and we think you will then have a 
pretty clear idea of the matter. 
I. What is Electricity ? We cannot exactly tell, but we 
know that it appears to be an invisible fluid, filling all 
space, and penetrating all substances, like air, for exam¬ 
ple, which is everywhere, but cannot be seen. 
If we take two tight tin cans, or bottles, and connect 
them with a hollow tube, and then collect all the air from 
both the cans into one of them, it would rush back into 
the empty one, if the connecting tube be unstopped. 
Suppose we take two tight cider barrels, half full of 
water, and set them ten feet apart, and run a hollow tube 
from the bottom of one to the bottom of the other. In 
one end of this tube put a force pump. By working this 
pump, all the water would be forced from one barrel into 
the other, so that one would be full of water and the other 
empty. But now take a lead pipe, half a mile in length or 
more, and bend the two ends near enough together to 
have them enter the barrels, one into each. If we con¬ 
tinue to work the pump in the bottom tube, the water will 
be forced into the full barrel and it will also be forced 
through the long lead pipe back into the empty barrel, and so 
long as we keep the pump going, a steady stream of water 
would run through the long pipe. If our lead pipe was a 
thousand or two thousand miles long, the current would 
still run through it if we worked the pump strongly 
enough. 
II. Suppose now we could have these barrels filled with 
the invisible electric fluid, of which we have spoken. 
Since this fluid does not require a hollow tube to pass 
through, but it travels best through a solid metal wire, pass¬ 
ing between the particles, or from particle to particle, we 
could join the bottom of our barrels with a wire," and also 
put a wire in the place of our lead pipe. Then put an 
electric pump (electric battery) on the wire, and it would 
force the electric fluid all into one barrel, but it would go 
back through the long wire. If we cut the long wire in 
two, the current of electric fluid would stop, but go on 
again as soon as we brought the two ends of the wire to¬ 
gether where they had been cut apart. 
depends the communication of thought by a telegraphic 
wire. Remark —These wires, a and b, may be but an inch or 
two in length, or they may be thousands of miles long, 
and still allow the electric fluid to pass through their 
whole length, if the force-pumping (or rusting) atz be pow 
erful enough to drive the current through so long a wire. 
IV. It is a remarkable discovery, that the ground may 
be substituted for one of these wires ; thus 
If the wire a be carried on poles, or in a glass or gutta per- 
chatube to adistant point D; and bb simply carried down 
into the moist ground, and b, a short wire, be taken from 
the ground at D and joined to a at j, then the current of 
electricity will be forced through a, down into the ground 
through b, back through the earth to bb, up through bb to z 
and so on round, in a continuous flow. Remark —The 
current can at any time be stopped and started again by 
opening and closing the break at j, or a similar break any¬ 
where on either of the wires. 
V. A current of electricity flowing through a wire pro¬ 
duces some wonderful effects, but we can only describe 
one which is important to our purpose. If the needle of 
a mariner’s compass be held near the wire while the cur¬ 
rent of electricity is flowing through it, the needle, if 
free to move, will turn round and stand across the wire 
(at right angles to it.) Remark —It is believed that there 
are great currents of electricity constantly flowing round 
the earth’s surface from West to East, and that these 
cause the compass or magnetic needle to stand across 
them and point North and South. 
III. We will now examine an electric pump (battery.) 
Fill a tumbler half or two-thirds with water, and put into 
it some vinegar or other acid (sour) substance. Next set 
in the tumbler upon one side a slip of zinc, and upon the 
other, a similar slip of copper, as seen at z and c in fig. 1. 
Fasten two long wires a and J, to the top of each slip. 
The acid will rust or eat away the zinc, and it has been 
found that this rusting process acts like a force pump, that 
is, it seems to extract electricity from the rusting zinc, 
and drive it through the water to the copper, upon which 
it collects in superabundant quantities. But join the two 
wires a and b, at j, and the electricity will run around 
the wires back to the zinc, just as the water through the 
long pipe, and just as the lightning runs down a lightning 
rod from a cloud to the earth. Sometimes in a strong 
battery (the whole of fig. 1 is called a battery.) so much 
electricity will collect upon the copper, that it will jump 
from a to b before they are brought quite together, and we 
see a little bright spark. This is a miniature shock 
of artificial lightning. So long as the wires a and b are 
joined into one, a constant stream of invisible electricity 
will flow from the zinc z, through the water to the copper 
c, around through a and b back to z, and so on round 
and round. Rememoer that tne instant you separate the 
wires at y, the current is stopped By constantly joining 
and separating these wires at j, or at any other place, you 
can have the current of electricity flow or stop, just when 
you desire. This fact is to be carefully noted, for upon it 
* Entered according to Act of Congress in the year lSIf 
Orange Jem), m tne Clerk’s Office of the District Court of 
United States for the Southern District of New-York. 
Let the wire, a, pass across a piece of hardened steel, a 
knife blade for example, and, strange to say, the current 
of electricity, flowing near but not touching the steel, 
will change it to a magnet, so that it will pull up other 
bits of steel or iron and hold them precisely like a lode- 
stone. If the wire be wound several times around a steel 
bar m, as in fig. 3,it will make a still stronger magnet so 
that it will hold up a heavyweight. And this hard steel 
rod will afterwards remain a permanent magnet. Remark 
—By a process like this 
our steel magnets, and 
magnetic needles are 
now made, instead of 
rubbing them upon a 
lodestone, as was for¬ 
merly done. 
Fig. 4 shows a soft 
iron electro-magnet, 
which may be made to 
hold up a weight many 
hundreds of times great¬ 
er than itself, simply by 
connecting the wire a, 
b, with a battery like 
fig, 1. But the moment 
the wire is cut or dis¬ 
joined, the weight will 
drop off, and the mag¬ 
net will not hold the 
4 • smallest nail. 
VI. Now mark an important point in our explanation. If 
we lay apiece of soft iron upon a lode-stone, it will be¬ 
come a magnet and attract other pieces o/iron, but only so 
long as it is in contact with the lode-stone, for the instant it 
ceases to touch the stone, that instant it ceases to be a 
magnet. Just so in fig. 3. Let m be soft iron, and while 
the current of electricity flows through a and b, so long 
m will be a magnet and hold up the bit of iron, say a 
cut-nail n. But separate a and b, at j, (or at any other 
point,) and that instant m will cease to be a magnet, and 
n will drop off. Join the wires again to allow the elec¬ 
tricity to flow and m will again be a magnet and draw 
up n to itself. If we separate and join a and b a thou, 
sand times in a minute, then m will be a magnet and not 
a magnet a thousand times ; and the nail n will rise 
up and fall down just as often as this change takes place. 
If j (fig-3) be a thousand miles from m, and a person at 
j break and join the wire once, then another person 
at m would see n drop down once and rise up again. If 
the wire be separated at j twice, then n would drop off 
and rise up again twice. This is one way, you see, by 
which signals can be made by one person to another a 
great distance away, that is, he sets in motion or breaks a 
current of electricity coming along a wire from that point, 
and makes or unmakes an iron magnet (called an electro¬ 
magnet.) [Now read over the preceeding sections and 
especially this last one, No. VI. until you perfectly under¬ 
stand it.] 
VII. In fig. 5, we see how the same wire passes around 
several pieces of iron, say at B., N. Y., P., W., and N. O., 
which stand for Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Wash¬ 
ington and New Orleans. (Only one wire goes through 
the air, the current of electricity comes back through ft, 
and the ground.) What we would explain particularly 
is. that the same current of electricity flows instantane¬ 
ously around all the magnets, m, m, m, m, m, affecting them 
all alike. The nails under them will all be drawn up, the 
instant a and ft are joined at j. When the wires are sep¬ 
arated, to stop the current, all the nails will drop off be¬ 
cause all the iron bars m, m,m, _cease to be magnets. 
In this way a person at j can give signals at all the dis¬ 
tant places at the same time. And the same is the case 
of each of a thousand other places along the line, where- 
ever the wire is bent out of its course and wound around 
a bar of soft iron. 
Note still further: If the wires be joined at j, then a 
may be broken and joined at any other point—it mat¬ 
ters not where on the line; the stopping of the 
current at one point, stops its flow through the whole 
length, forward and backward. Thus a person may stand 
at P, (Philadelphia.) and give signals at B, (Boston,) 
and N. O., (New Orleans,) and all intermediate places at 
the same time, by simply opening and closing the current 
on the wire where he stands, that is, alternately joining 
and separating the wire at his point. [In making tele¬ 
graphic signals, convenient springs and keys are arranged 
for opening and closing the currents.] 
We trust you now understand the principle of Morse’s 
Telegraph. Suppose John to be at Boston, and James at 
New Orleans. James unites the wire at his end with the 
ground wire ft. and all the nails jump up to the magnets. 
John separates the wire at his end, and they, all drop off. 
James knows that this means E, in their agreed signal 
alphabet. Then John joins and separates the wire twice 
very quickly. The nails jump up and fall back twice, 
because the iron bars m, m, m .have been made mag- 
netttwice and unmade, in quick succession. This is the 
sign*! for the letter I. Three curients stand for S. Clos¬ 
ing the wire and holding the nails up for an instant, stands 
for T. Closing it for a moment, then breaking it, and 
closing and breaking it suddenly again, stands for N, 
-; and thus by a succession and continuation of sig¬ 
nals, longfand short ones, a'l the letters of the alphabet 
are indicated. You will note I hat it matters not whether 
John or James, or any one else at any other point, opens 
and closes the wire, the same effect is produced at each 
and every station on the whole line. We will here give 
you. *he combination of marks and dots indicating the 
lonft- or short currents, which stand for the letters in 
Morse’s Telegraphic Alphabet. 
LETTERS, NUMERALS AND PUNCUTATION. 
A - — 
0 - - 
1 -- 
B- 
P. 
2 - -- 
C - - - 
Q- 
3 - - -- 
D — - - 
R - - - 
4 - - -- 
E - 
S - - - 
5- 
F - — - 
T — 
6. 
G- 
U - — 
7-- - 
H - - - - 
V - - - — 
8-- - 
I -- 
w- 
9-- — 
J — - — - 
X -- 
0 - 
K- 
Y - - - - 
(.)- 
L - 
Z - - - - 
(?)- 
M- 
& - - - - 
(!)-- 
N — - 
&c - - — 
So far we 
have made no provision 
for writing down 
these signals by machinery. Indeed, this is not strictly 
necessary. If you stood near one of these magnets, and 
