The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century. by Edward W. Byrn

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. THE VOLTAIC PILE--DANIELL’S BATTERY--USE OF CONDUCTING WIRE BY WEBER--STEINHEIL EMPLOYS EARTH AS RETURN CIRCUIT--PROF. HENRY’S ELECTRO MAGNET, AND FIRST TELEGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT--PROF. MORSE’S TELEGRAPHIC CODE AND REGISTER--FIRST LINE BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE--BAIN’S CHEMICAL TELEGRAPH--GINTL’S DUPLEX TELEGRAPH--EDISON’S QUADRUPLEX--HOUSE’S PRINTING TELEGRAPH--FAC SIMILE TELEGRAPHS--CHANNING AND FARMER FIRE ALARM--TELEGRAPHING BY INDUCTION--WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY BY MARCONI--STATISTICS. In the effort to lengthen out the limited span of life into a greater record of results, time becomes an object of economy. To save time is to live long, and this in a pre-eminent degree is accomplished by the telegraph. Of all the inventions which man has called into existence to aid him in the fulfillment of his destiny, none so closely resembles man himself in his dual quality of body and soul as the telegraph. It too has a body and soul. We see the wire and the electro-magnet, but not the vital principle which animates it. Without its subtile, pulsating, intangible spirit, it is but dead matter. But vitalized with its immortal soul it assumes the quality of animated existence, and through its agency thought is extended beyond the limitations of time and space, and flashes through air and sea around the world. Its moving principle flows more silently than a summer’s zephyr, and yet it rises at times to an angry and deadly crash in the lightning stroke. At once powerful and elusive, it remained for Professor Morse to capture this wild steed, and, taming it, place it in the permanent service of man. On May 24, 1844, there went over the wires between Washington and Baltimore the first message--“What hath God wrought?” This was both prayer and praise, and no more lofty recognition of the divine power and beneficence could have been made. It was indeed the work of God made manifest in the hands of His children. Popular estimation has always credited Prof. Morse with the invention of the telegraph, but to ascribe to him all the praise would do great injustice to many other worthy workers in this field, some of whom are regarded by the best judges to be entitled to equal praise. The practical telegraph as originally used is resolvable into four essential elements, viz., the battery, the conducting wire, the electro-magnet, and the receiving and transmitting instruments. The development of the battery began with Galvani in 1790, and Volta in