The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1858-06-03

Aud KEEP, my own secret for my bcn,at in the future,
In few DAYS it was patented 10y another,
Whom us'cr had seen nor heard t. thousand miles
away.
| shall conclude this paper with an extract !
from Allsou's writings, Spectators No. 2ll, |
which shows, pretty couclusively that Morse did
not originate the ilea of tht Telegraph, The
tho't WASH thing new; Tor according 10 the prop
ositjon aul theory already stated. thought is
etc,udl and though susceptible OF infinite com
buations, yet in its simple forms cannot b.
originated by man. His mind either possively
received the thought as it siltred itself or else
borrowed it from reading what follows, or some
thing similar; the writer of which also borrow
ed 1t, aud those who put the thought in prac-
Iical operation probably received it into their
minds paSsively us il wandered from thoisht.
realm; having possibly eutcrad aud been entcr
tanned By many minds before. Now for the ex
| ract:
! estrada, in one of his rrolusions, gives an ac.
count of chimcrical correspondence between
two friends by the hlp OF a certain loAd.stonc.
which had Snch virtue In IL, that i 1t touched
two scvcrol nee lies s,whcu one of the needles 3cGau
TO move, the other, though at never 50 Er'ut u
distance, moved at the same time aud in Tia,
same manner lie tells us that the two
friends, being each of them possessed of one OF
,hcso needles made a Kind OF dial-platr ia
scdbiug it with lour-uud-tventy letters, in the
same manner as the hours of the day are mark.
ed upon tn ordinary dtu,-p.ote. They chen iN-
ed one OF the needles on each Of these plates, il
such manner that ii could move round with.
out impedimrnt, SO as to touch any Of HI four.
Ond-twenty letters. Upon their separating from
one anothtriato distant counties, they agrced
to withdraw themselves punctutily into them
closcts,at certain hour ol the day ,unl to con.
verse With one another by the means oi this
their invention. Accordingly, when they wcr
: some hundred miles asund,E each Of them shut
himself up in his closet at the time appointed
i aud Immediately cast his eye upon his di
l ul-plate. If he had u mind to write anything t,
. his friend, he directed his needle to every lcttc
e that formed the words which he had occasion
for, making lilte pause at the end of ever,
: word or sentence, to avoid cOnIusOn Th
+ friend in the meantime saw his own sympath,i
; needle moving OF itself to every letter which hi
Il correspondent pointed at By this means the,
: talked together across "a whole continent, AM
conveyed tn If thoughts to one another in an in
y slant over cities or mountains, seas or deserts.
:; y \ q
elm the meanwhile says Addison, (ll7 year
); ago) "ir ever this invention should be revi, e
or put in pract,e, would propose that upo
the lovers didl-plate there should be written, no
only the four.cnd-lwcuty letters, but sevcra
entire words which have always place in pas
sionatc epistles as flames, darts, die, language
absence, Cupid, heart eyes, hang, drown, am
> the like. This would very much abrdge tn
y lovers pains in this way of writing letter
) as it would enable him to express the mos
: useful and significant words with u singl
J touch of the needle
Z And now, kind reader, what do You think O
tt Professor Morse's claim as an original inventor
And what do you think ofouy ones pretcntion
d 10 the originality Of a single thoNght? An
u what OF plagiarism Il. S. $. ROUSE.
IS Noun! Vernon, Nay l7th. 1883.
.