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`1
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`DISH 1016
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`1
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`DISH 1016
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`

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`John Joseph Fahie
`
`A history of electric
`telegraphy, to the year 1837
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`ENGINEGRING
`LIBRARY
`TIT
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`
`A HISTORY
`
`ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY,
`
`TO THE YEAR 1837.
`
`6
`
`

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`

`A HISTORY
`
`OF
`
`ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY,
`
`TO THE YEAR 1837.
`
`CHIEFLY COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES, AND
`HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS.
`
`BY
`
`\
`J° Js"FAHIE,
`
`MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF TELEGRAPH-ENGINEERS AND ELECTRICIANS, LONDON ;
`AND OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ELECTRICIANS, PARIS.
`
`** Their line is gone out through all the earth,
`And their words to the end of the world.”
`Pralms xix. 4.
`
`LONDON:
`E. & F. N. SPON, 16, CHARING CROSS.
`
`NEW YORK: 35, MURRAY STREET.
`
`1884.
`
`All rights reserved.
`Digitized by Google
`
`10
`
`10
`
`

`

`Digitized by Google
`
`11
`
`11
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`

`

`Dedicated
`
`To
`
`LATIMER CLARK, ESQUIRE,
`
`M.1.C.Ruy FeRGS, FMS, PAST PRES. ST.E. AND BE.
`
`IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MANY KINDNESSES,
`
`BY HIS OBLIGED FRIEND,
`
`THE AUTHOR.
`
`Lonvon, February 1884.
`
`12
`
`

`

`13
`
`

`

`: bow
`
`=
`
`PREFACE.
`
`—
`
`)
`
`PLUTARCH, in the opening sentences of his Life of
`Demosthenes, says : — “ Whosoever shall design to
`write a history, consisting of materials which must be
`gathered from observation, and the reading of authors
`not easy to be had norwrit in his own native language,
`but many of them foreign and dispersed in other hands:
`for him it is in the first place and aboveall things
`most necessary to reside in somecity of good note and
`fame, addicted to the liberal arts, and populous, where
`he may have plenty of all sorts of books, and, upon
`inquiry, may hear and inform himself of such parti-
`_ culars as, having escaped the pens of writers, are yet
`faithfully preserved in the memories of men;
`lest
`otherwise he publish a work deficient in many things,
`and those such as are necessary to its perfection.”
`the
`Had weseen this passage a few years ago,
`following pages had, probably, never been written, and
`there would be no need for this preface. The work
`was begun andbroughtto a very forwardstate,notin
`some city of good note and fame, where plenty of
`books were to be had, but in what has been rightly
`
`14
`
`

`

`Vili
`
`Preface.
`
`called “the confines of the earth—the hot regions of
`Persia,” and undercircumstances which, we think, will
`bearrelating.
`In our youthful days we contracted two habits,
`which have been ever since the baneor the solace (we
`hardly know which to call them) of our existence,
`viz.,a taste for writing, and a taste for scraps. The
`Cacoéthes Scribendi first attacked us, and we canrecall
`letters in the local papers on various topics of local
`interest, all of which were written early in our teens.
`When about sixteen years of age we commenced a
`history of the old castles and churches which abound
`(in ruins) in and about ournative place, the said history
`being intended to serve also as a guide for tourists who
`were constantly visiting the neighbourhood. With great
`industry we got together, in time, some two hundred
`pages (foolscap) of writing; but the work was never
`completed.
`For years we hawked the MS. about,
`latterly never looking at it, having cometo regard it
`as a standing reproach for time and money misspent;
`and at last, ina fit of remorse, we gave the papers to
`the flames in 1875.
`Soon after joining the telegraph service, in 1865, our
`archeological bent
`took another turn, and we now
`began to collect books and scraps on electricity,
`magnetism, and their applications—particularly to
`telegraphy, and with the same industrious ardour as
`before.
`In December 1867, we entered the Persian
`Gulf Telegraph Department under the Governmentof
`
`15
`
`

`

`Preface.
`
`ix
`
`India, where, having a good deal of spare time on our
`hands, we indulged our habits to the full.
`In 1871,
`having amassed a large numberof notes, scraps, &c.,
`on submarine telegraphy, we began a work on the
`history and working of the Persian Gulf cables, of
`which we -had then had over three years’ practical
`experience.
`Gradually this developed itself into an ambitious
`treatise, which we styled “Submarine Telegraphs,
`their Construction, Submersion, and Maintenance,
`including their Testing and Practical Working.” Of
`this some three hundred pages (foolscap) are now
`lying “ submerged ”in the depths of our trunk,to be,
`perhaps, “recovered” at some future day—if, haply,
`they do not share the fate of our History of Ruins!
`Unfortunately for us, at least from a book-selling
`point of view, our old taste for archzology,after lying
`dormant for years,
`reasserted itself, and, about six
`years ago, we found ourselves in the design of writing
`a history of telegraphy from the time of Adam down
`to our own! For this we had a pile of notes and
`paper cuttings—the accumulation of a dozen years,
`but few books (booksare heavy and awkward baggage
`for one of our necessarily semi-nomadic life). How-
`ever, with our materials we built up a tolerably fleshy
`skeleton (if we may so speak), which, on our arrival
`in England at the close of 1882, after nearly fifteen
`years’ absence, we showedto somefriends.
`They advised us to fill up the gaps and bring out
`
`16
`
`

`

`x
`
`Preface.
`
`our book immediately. The first was easy of accom-
`plishment, with the use of the splendid technical
`libraries of Mr. Latimer Clark and of the Society of
`Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians, and with an
`occasional reference to the British Museum; but to
`find a publisher, s#at was not so easy. Publishers,
`now as always, fight shy of Dryasdust, and the two
`or three whom we tried asked us to bring them
`something new,for, owing to the machinations of us,
`Electrical Engineers, the world was going at lightning
`speed, and had notimeto look back.
`Ultimately we paid a visit to the Editor of Zhe
`Electrician, told him of our discomfiture, showed him
`our MSS., and repeated an offer that we had made him
`' years before, from Persia, but which he then declined,
`vig., to publish our articles from week to week in his
`paper. The Editor did not take long to decide; he
`would only, however, accept the electrical portion, the
`non-electric part which deals with fire-, flag-, and
`semaphore- signalling, acoustic, pneumatic, and hy-
`draulic telegraphs, &c., &c., being, he said, unsuited
`for his journal. - On the principle that half a loaf is
`better than no bread, we concluded arrangements
`there and then, and parted with our new-found friend
`with feelings which time has butintensified.
`The present volume is a collection, with very few
`alterations, of the articles which have regularly ap-
`peared in The Electrician for the last twelve months.
`Of these alterations the only ones worth mentioning
`
`17
`
`

`

`Preface.
`
`xi
`
`will be found in our chapters on Mr. Edward Davy ;
`we have madeouraccount of his electro-chemicalre-
`cording telegraph a little fuller, and have added some
`new matter lately acquired (1) from recent letters of
`Mr. Davy himself, (2) from an examination of the
`private papers of the late Sir William Fothergill
`Cooke—a privilege for which we are indebted to our
`kind friend, Mr. Latimer Clark, and (3)
`from Mr.
`W. H. Thornthwaite, of London, an old pupil of
`Edward Davy, whose very interesting reminiscences,
`we feel sure, will be scanned with pleasure by all our
`readers.
`Nowas to the plan of the work. We have divided
`the history of electricity into three parts, (1) static, or
`frictional, electricity, (2) dynamic, or galvanic, electri-
`city, and (3)electro-magnetism and magneto-electricity.
`We have brought our account of each part down to
`the year 1837, confining ourselves to a notice of such
`facts and principles only as are employed in the
`various telegraphic proposals that follow. These, in
`their turn, are divided into three classes, electrical,
`galvanic (chemical), and electro-magnetic ; and each
`class, treated chronologically, follows naturally the
`corresponding part of the history of electricity. The
`whole is preceded by a full account of what we have
`called a foreshadowing of the electric telegraph, and 1s
`followed by an appendix, containing (A) a clear and
`correct statement of Professor Joseph Henry’slittle-
`known connection with electric telegraphty, whichis
`
`18
`
`

`

`xii
`
`Preface.
`
`for which we
`to be omitted, but
`too important
`could not conveniently find room in the body of the
`work, and (B) a few pages supplementary of our
`chapters on Edward Davy.
`In limiting ourselves to the year 1837, we have done
`so advisedly, for, to attempt even the barest outline
`of what has been accomplished since then would
`occupy volumes, Our object has been,as it were, to
`make a special survey of a river from its rise away in
`some tiny spring to its mouth in the mighty ocean,
`marking down, as we camealong,thoseof the tributary
`streams and such other circumstances as specially
`interested us. Arrived at the mouth, the traveller who
`wishes for further exploration has only to chose his
`pilot ; for, fortunately, there is no lack of these. We
`have Highton, Lardner,Sabine, and Culley in England;
`Shaffner, Prescott, and Reid in America; Moigno,
`Blavier, and du Moncel
`in France; Schellen, and
`Zetzsche in Germany ; Saavedra in Spain, and many
`- others in various parts of the world whose names need
`not be specially mentioned.
`As we have in the body of the work given full refer-
`ences for every important statement, it will not be
`necessary to acknowledge here the sources of our in-
`formation ; indeed it would be simply impossible to
`do so within the limits of a preface which we feel
`is
`already too long. Like Moliére, we have taken our
`materials wherever we could find them, andit is no
`exaggeration to say that in pursuit of our subject we
`
`19
`
`

`

`Preface.
`
`xiii
`
`have laid many hundreds of volumes undertribute;
`some have given us clues, some have been mines of
`wealth, others have yielded nothing at all, while,
`what was worse, a goodly numberwere of the ignes
`fatuus kind—false accounts, false dates, false refer-
`ences, false everything—which worried us consider-
`ably, and over which we lost much precious time.
`Wegladly, however, take this opportunity of thank-
`ing Messrs.
`Ispolatoff (Russia), D’Amico (Italy),
`Aylmer(France), Sémmerring (Germany), and Collette
`(Holland), for their assistance, of which,as they will
`see, we have made good use in the text. To our
`friend, Mr. Latimer Clark, our debt is too heavy for
`liquidation and must remain.
`Hehas notonly given
`us the free use of his magnificent library, but has aided
`and encouraged. us with his advice and sympathy,
`and, in the most generous manner, has placed at our
`disposalall his private notes. These, we need hardly
`say, have been of great use to us, and would have
`been of greater still had we seen them atan earlier
`stage of our researches,
`As we have to return almost immediately to “the
`confines of the earth,” the preparation of the index
`has been kindly undertaken by ourfriend, Mr. A.J.
`Frost, Librarian of the Society of Telegraph-Engineers
`and Electricians, whose name will be a sufficient
`guarantee for the accuracy and completeness of the
`work.
`In tendering him our cordial thanks for this
`assistance, we have much pleasure in recording our
`
`20
`
`20
`
`

`

`XIV
`
`Preface.
`
`appreciation ofthe zeal, ability, and unvarying courtesy
`with which he performs the duties of his office. His
`bibliographical knowledge is great and sfecial, and
`has atall times been freely placed at our disposal.
`Our book, we hope, will give the coup de gréce to
`many popular errors. Thus, we show that Watson,
`Franklin, Cavendish, and Volta did not suggest elec-
`tric telegraphs (pp. 60, 66, and 82); that Galvani was
`not thefirst to observe the fundamental phenomenon
`of what we nowcall galvanism (pp. 175-9); that his
`experiments in this field were not suggested by a
`preparation of frog-broth (pp. 180-3); that not Daniell
`but Dobereiner and Becquerelfirst employed two-fluid
`cells with membranous or porouspartitions (p. 215);
`that not Sommerring but Salva first proposed a gal-
`vanic (chemical) telegraph (p. 220) ; that not Schilling
`but Salva first suggested a submarine cable (p. 105) ;
`that Romagnosi did not discover electro-magnetism
`(p. 257); that not Ritter but Gautherotfirst described
`the secondary battery (p. 267) ; that not Cumming nor
`Nobili but Ampére first invented the astatic needle
`(p. 280); that not Seebeck but Dessaignes first dis-
`covered thermo-electricity (p. 297) ; that not Thomson
`but Gauss and Weberfirst constructed the mirror
`galvanometer (p. 319);
`that
`the use of the earth
`circuit
`in telegraphy was clearly and intelligently
`suggested by an Englishman long before Steinheil
`made his accidental discovery of it
`(p. 345);. and
`that not Cooke and Wheatstone, nor Morse, but
`
`21
`
`21
`
`

`

`Preface.
`
`XV
`
`Henry in America and Edward Davy in England
`first applied the principle of the relay—a principle
`of the utmost importance in telegraphy (pp. 359, 511,
`and 515).
`There may be some amongstour readers whowill
`not thank us for upsetting their belief on these and
`many other points of lesser importance, and who may
`even call us bad names, as did Professor Leslie on a
`former occasion, and @ propos of somebody’s quoting
`Swammerdam’s and Sulzer’s experiments (pp. 175
`and 178) as suggestive of galvanism. Leslie says :—
`“Such facts are curious and deserve attention, but
`every honourable mind must pity or scorn that invi-
`dious spirit with which some unhappy jackals hunt
`after imperfect and neglected anticipations with a view
`of detracting from the merit of full discovery”
`(Ency. Brit., 8th edition,vol. i. p. 739). For our part
`we can honestly say that in drawing up our history
`we have not been influenced by any such views;
`our sole object has been to tell the truth, the whole
`truth, to
`
`* nothing extenuate,
`Norset down aughtin malice.”
`
`It is possible, however, that with the best intentions
`we may, either by omission or commission, be guilty
`of some unfairness ; and if our readers will only show
`us wherein we have transgressed, we will be ready to
`make the amende if they will kindly afford us an
`opportunity—in a second edition.
`
`22
`
`22
`
`

`

`Xvi
`
`Preface.
`
`We began our preface with an apology, we will
`end it with an appeal. We borrowed the one from
`Plutarch, Newton shall supply the other. At the
`close of the preface to his immortal Principia he
`says :—“I earnestly entreat that all may be read
`with candour, and that my labours may be examined
`not so much with a view to censure as to supply their
`defects.”
`
`THE AUTHOR.
`
`Lonpon, February 1884.
`
`23
`
`23
`
`

`

`CONTENTS.
`
`FORESHADOWING OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
`
`CHAPTERI.
`
`PAGE
`
`CHAPTERII.
`
`STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL, ELECTRICITY—HISTORY IN
`RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY..
`
`26
`
`CHAPTERIII.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL,
`ELECTRICITY
`ry
`=O
`
`CHAPTERIV.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR FRICTIONAL,
`ELECTRICITY (continued)
`=... ue
`
`109
`
`CHAPTERV.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON STATIC, OR oie
`ELECTRICITY (continued)
`oo uke
`
`146
`
`CHAPTERVI.
`
`DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY—HISTORY IN RELATION TO
`TELEGRAPHY
`oe
`oe
`oe
`oe
`ee
`ee
`ee
`ee
`es
`
`169
`
`b
`
`24
`
`24
`
`

`

`XVili
`
`Contents.
`
`CHAPTERVII.
`
`PAGE
`
`DYNAMIC ELECTRICITY—HISTORY IN RELATION TO
`TELEGRAPHY(continued)
`eo
`oe eet
`
`CHAPTERVIII.
`
`TELEGRAPHS (CHEMICAL) BASED ON DYNAMIC ELEC-
`TRICITY
`
`220
`
`CHAPTER IX.
`
`ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY—
`HISTORY IN RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY..
`
`250
`
`CHAPTER X.
`
`ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY—
`HISTORY IN RELATION TO TELEGRAPHY(continued)
`
`275
`
`CHAPTER XI.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
`MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY..
`a -
`
`302
`
`CHAPTER XII.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
`MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY (continued)
`
`326
`
`CHAPTER XIII.
`
`EDWARD Davy AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
`1836-1839
`‘
`uC
`
`349
`
`25 Sasee
`
`25
`
`

`

`Contents.
`
`CHAPTER XIV.
`
`EDWARD Davy AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
`1836-1839 (continued)
`
`X1X
`
`PAGE
`
`379
`
`CHAPTER XV.
`
`EDWARD DAVY AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH,
`1836-1839 (continued)
`..
` «
`
`414
`
`CHAPTER XVI.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
`MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY (continued)
`
`448
`
`CHAPTER XVII.
`
`TELEGRAPHS BASED ON ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND
`MAGNETO-ELECTRICITY (continued)
`
`477
`
`APPENDIX A.—Re PROFESSOR JOSEPH HENRY
`
`APPENDIX B.—e Mr. EDWARD DAVY..
`
`BIBLIOGRAPHY
`
`INDEX
`
`495
`
`516
`
`531
`
`537
`
`26
`
`26
`
`

`

`27
`
`27
`
`

`

`A
`
`HISTORY
`
`OF
`
`ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHY
`
`TO THE YEAR 1837.
`
`que
`
`CHAPTER I.
`
`FORESHADOWING OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
`
`‘¢ Whatever draws me on,
`Or sympathy, or some connatural force,
`Powerful at greatest distance to unite,
`With secret amity, things of like kind,
`By secretest conveyance.”
`Milton, Paradise Lost, x. 246.
`
`1667.
`
`AMONGSTthe manyflights of imagination, by which
`genius has often anticipated the achievements of her
`more deliberate and cautious sister, earth-walking
`reason, none, perhaps, is more striking than the story
`of the sympathetic needles, which wasso prevalent in
`the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries,
`and which so beautifully foreshadowed the invention
`of the electric telegraph.* This romantic tale had
`
`* ‘6In the dream of the Elector Frederick of Saxony, in 1517, the
`curious reader may like to discern another dim glimmering, a more
`shadowy foreshadowing, of the electric telegraph, whose hosts of iron
`B
`
`28
`
`28
`
`

`

`2
`A History of Electric Telegraphy
`reference to a sort of magnetic telegraph, based on f
`the sympathy which was supposed to exist between|
`needles that had been touched by the same magnet,
`or loadstone, whereby an intercourse could be main-
`tained between distant friends, since every movement*
`imparted to one needle would immediately induce, by
`sympathy, similar movements in the other. As a
`history of telegraphy would be manifestly incom-
`plete without a reference to this fabulous contrivance,
`we propose to deal with it at some length in the
`present chapter.
`For the first suggestions of the sympathetic needle
`telegraph we must go back a very long way, probably
`to the date of the discovery of the magnet’s attraction
`for iron. At any rate, we believe that we have found
`traces of it in the working of the oracles of pagan
`Greece and Rome. Thus, we read in Maimbourg’s
`Histoire de [Arianisme(Paris, 1686)* :—
`
`In
`and copper ‘pens’ reach to-day the farthest ends of the earth.
`this strange dream Martin Luther appeared writing upon the doorof
`the Palace Chapel at Wittemburg. The pen with which he wrote
`seemed so long that its feather end reached to Rome, and ranfull tilt
`against the Pope's tiara, which his holiness was at the moment wearing.
`Onseeing the danger, the cardinals and princes of the State ran up to
`support the tottering crown, and, one after another, tried to break the
`pen, but tried in vain.
`It crackled, as if made of iron, and could not
`be broken. While all were wonderingat its strength a loud cry arose,
`and from the monk’s long pen issued a host of others.”—L£iecfricily
`and the Electric Telegraph, by Dr. George Wilson, London, 1852,
`ps §9; or D’Aubigne’s History ofthe Reformation, chap.iv. book iii,
`* English translation of 1728, by the Rev. W. Webster, chap.vi.
`
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`to the Year 1837.
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`“Whilst Valens [the Roman Emperor] was at
`Antioch in his third. consulship,
`in the year 370,
`several pagans of distinction, with the philosophers
`who were in so great reputation under Julian, not
`being able to bear that the empire should continue
`in the hands of the Christians, consulted privately the
`demons, by the means of conjurations, in order to
`know the destiny of the emperor, and who should be
`his successor, persuading themselves that the oracle
`would namea person who shouldrestore the worship
`of the gods. For this purpose they made a three-
`footed stool of laurel
`in imitation of the tripos at
`Delphos, upon which having laid a basin of divers
`metals they placed the twenty-four letters of the
`alphabet round it; then one of these philosophers, who
`was a magician, being wrapped up in a large mantle,
`and his head covered, holding in one hand vervain,
`and in the other a ring, which hung at the end of a
`smali thread, pronounced some execrable conjurations
`in order to invoke the devils; at which the three-
`footed stool
`turning round, and the ring moving of
`itself, and turning from one side to the other over the
`letters, it caused them to fall upon the table, and place
`themselves near each other, whilst the persons who
`were present set down thelike letters in their table-
`books,till their answer was delivered in heroic verse,
`which foretold them that their criminal inquiry would
`cost them their lives, and that the Furies were waiting
`for the emperor at Mimas, where he was to die of a
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`A History of Electric Telegraphy
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`horrid kind of death [he was subsequently burntalive
`by the Goths]; after which the enchanted ring turning
`about again over the letters, in order to express the
`name of him whoshould succeed the emperor, formed
`first of all
`these three characters, TH EO; then
`having added a D to form THEODthering stopped,
`and was not seen to move any more; at which one of
`the assistants cried out in a transport of joy, ‘We must
`not doubt any longer of it ; Theodorusis the person
`whom the gods appoint for our emperor.’ ”
`If, as it must be admitted, the modus operand:is not
`here very clear, we canstill carry back our subject to
`the sameearly date, in citing an experiment on mag-
`netic attractions which was certainly popular in the
`days of St. Augustine, 354-430.
`In his De Civitate Dei, which was written about
`413, he tells us that, being one day onavisit to a
`bishop named Severus, he saw him take a magnetic
`stone and hold it undera silver plate, on which he had
`thrown a piece of iron, which followed exactly all the
`movements of the hand in which the loadstone was
`held.
`Headdsthat, at the time of his writing, he had
`under his eyes a vessel filled with water, placed on a
`table six inches thick, and containing a needle floating
`on cork, which he could move from sideto side accord-
`ing to the movements of a magnetic stone held under
`the table.*®
`Leonardus (Camillus), in his Speculum Lapidum,
`* Basiles, 1522, pp. 718-19.
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`to the Year 1837.
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`&c., 1502, verbo MAGNES,refers to this experiment as
`one familiar to mariners, and Blasius de Vigenere, in
`his annotations of Livy, says that a letter might be
`read through a stone wall three feet thick, by guiding,
`by means of a loadstone or magnet, the needle of a
`compass overthe letters of the alphabet written in the
`circumference.*
`From such experiments as these the sympathetic
`telegraph was but a step, involving only the supposi-
`tion that the same effects might be possible at a
`greater distance, but when, or by whom,this step was
`first taken it
`is now difficult
`to say.
`It has been
`traced back to Baptista Porta, the celebrated Neapo-
`litan philosopher, and in all probability originated
`with him ; for in the same book in which he announces
`the conceit he describes the above experiment of
`St. Augustine, and other “wonders of the magnet”;
`adding that the impostors of his time abused by these
`means the credulity of the people, by arranging around
`a basin of water, on which a magnetfloated, certain
`words to serve as answers to the questions which
`superstitious persons might put to them onthe future.f
`
`* Les Cing Premiers Livres de Tite Live, Paris, 1576, vol.
`i. col.
`ile it is generally admitted that magnetism has conferred incal-
`
`culable benefits on mankind (witness only the mariner’s compass), we
`have never yet seen it stated that it has at the same time contributed
`more to our bamboozlement than any other, we might almost sayall, of
`the physical sciences, With the charlatans in all ages and nations, its
`mysterious powers have ever been fruitful sources of imposture, some-
`times harmless, sometimes not. Thus, from the iron crook of the
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`A fistory of Electric Telegraphy
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`Hethen concludes the 21st chapter with the following
`words, which, so far as yet discovered, contain thefirst
`clear enunciation of the sympathetic needle telegraph:
`—“ Lastly, owing to the convenience afforded by the
`magnet, persons can converse together through long
`distances.” *
`In the edition of 1589 he is even more
`explicit, and says in the preface to the seventh book:
`“I do not fear that with a long absent friend, even
`though he be confined by prison walls, we can com-
`municate what we wish by means of two compass
`needles circumscribed with an alphabet.”
`.
`The next person who mentions this curious notion
`was Daniel Schwenter, who wrote under the assumed
`name of Johannes Hercules de Sunde.
`In his Stega-
`nologia et Steganographia, published at Niirnberg in
`1600, he says, p. 127:— “Inasmuch as this is a
`wonderful secret I have hitherto hesitated about
`divulging it, and for this reason disguised my remarks
`in the first edition of my book so as only to be under-
`
`Greek shepherd Magnes, and the magnetic mountains of the geo-
`grapher Ptolemy, to the magnetic trains of early railway enthusiasts ;
`from the magnetically protected coffin of Confucius to the magnetically
`suspended one of Mahomed ; from the magnetic powders and potions
`of the ancients, and the metal discs, rods, and unguents of the old
`magnetisers,
`to the magnetic belts of the new—the modern panacea
`for all theills that flesh is heir to; from the magnetic telegraphs of the
`sixteenth century to the Gary and Hosmer perpetual motors of the
`nineteenth, ef Aoc genus omne; all these impostures are, or were, based
`entirely on the (supposed) force of magnetic attraction, to which must
`be added an unconscionable amountofignorance or credulity,
`* Magie Naturalis, p. 88,'Naples, 1558.
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`to the Year 1837.
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`7
`
`I will
`stood by learned chemists and physicians.
`now, however, communicate it for the benefit of the
`lovers of science generally.” He then goes on to
`describe, in true cabalistic fashion, the preparation of
`
`Fic, 1.
`
`
`
`De Sunde’s dial as given in Schott’s Schola Steganographica.
`
`the two compasses, the needles of which were to be
`made diamond-shaped from the same piece of steel
`and magnetised by the same magnet, or rather,
`magnets,
`for
`there were four:
`1, Almagrito; 2,
`Theamedes ; 3, Almaslargont ; 4, Calamitro ; which
`
`Digitized by Google
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`A History of Electric Telegraphy
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`imparted south, north, east, and west-turning pro-
`perties respectively to the needles. The compass-
`cards were divided off into compartments, each con-
`taining four letters of the alphabet, and each letter
`was indicated by the needle pointing, from one to
`four times, to the division in which it stood. Thus,
`the letter C would be indicated by three movements
`of the needle to the first division of the card. The
`needles were actuated by bar magnets, or chadids,
`and attention was called by the ringing of a tiny
`bell, which was so placed in the way of the needle
`that at each deflection of the latter it was struck,
`and so continued to ring until
`removed by the
`correspondent.
`The next and most widely known relation of
`the story occurs in the Prolusiones Academtce,* of
`Famianus Strada, a learned Italian Jesuit,
`first
`published at Rome in 1617, and often reprinted
`since. Although the idea did not originate with
`Strada (for he seems to attribute it
`to Cardinal
`Bembo, who died about 1547), he was certainly, as
`Sir Thomas Browne quaintly says, “The q@olus
`that blew it about,” for his Prolustones had long
`been a favourite classic, while the passage referring
`to the loadstone has, if we may say so, been con-
`tinually going the rounds of the newspapers.
`It
`is quoted more or less fully in many authors of
`the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
`famous
`* Lib.ii, prol. 6.
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`to the Year 1837.
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`amongst whom are Hakewill,* Addison,t Akenside,f
`and “ Misographos.” §
`in the present century are
`The references to it
`simply too numerous to mention. The following is
`the latest English version, which, with the original
`Latin, appeared in the Telegraphic Journal,
`for
`November 15, 1875 :—
`“ There is a wonderful kind of magnetic stone to
`which if you bring in contact several bodies of iron or
`dial-pins, from thence theywill not only derive a force
`and motion by which they will always try to turn
`themselves to the bear which shines nearthe pole, but,
`also, by a strange method and fashion between each
`other, as many dial-pins as have touched that stone,
`you will see them all agree in the same position and
`motion, so that if, by chance, one of these be observed
`at Rome,another, although it may be removed a long
`way off, turns itself in the same direction by a secret
`law of its nature. Therefore try the experiment, if
`you desire a friend who is at a distance to know any-
`thing to whom noletter could get, take a flat smooth
`disc, describe round the outside edges of the disc stops,
`and the first letters of the alphabet, in the order in
`which boys learn them, and place in the centre, lying
`horizontally, a dial-pin that has touched the magnet,
`
`* An Apologie or Declaration of the Power and Providence of God in
`the Government of the World, 1630.
`+ Spectator, No. 241, 1711, and Guardian, No, 119, 1713.
`$ Zhe Pleasures of Imagination, 1744.
`§ The Student ; or, the Oxford and Cambridge Miscellany, 1750.
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`A History of Electric Telegraphy
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`so that, turned easily from thence, it can touch each
`separate letter that you desire.
`“ After the pattern of this one, construct another
`disc, described with a similar margin, and furnished
`with a pointer of iron—of iron that has received a
`motion from the same magnet. Let yourfriend about
`to depart carry this disc with him, and let it be agreed
`' beforehand at what time, or on what days, he shall
`observe whetherthe dial-pin trembles, or what it marks
`with the indicator. These things being thus arranged,
`if you desire t