Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1871-05-12
S:an,ucI Il. ls. Morse.
BY JAMES PARTON.

DurlhS the voyage or the packet ship ,SHl-
iy from llarvc to New York, IN October
1882, a conversation arose one day in the
cabin upon electricity and magnetism. DR..
Charles 5 Jackson, of Boston, described an
experiment recently made in Paris with an
electro magnet, by means Of which electricity
had been transmitted through great length
OF wire, arranged in circles around the walls
of large apartment. The transmission had
been Instantaneous, and it seemed as though
the flight of electricity was too rapid to be
measured Among the group of passengers
no one listened more attentivcly to DIR. Jack
sons recital than New York artist, named
Samuel Finley Breeze Morse, who was re-
turhing from a three years residence in Eu
rope, whittier lie had gone for Improvement
in his art.
Painter as he was he was nevertheless we'll
versed in science. for which he had inherited
an inclination. His father was that once ia
nous geo.raphcr and doctor of divinity. of
Chnrlcstown. Massachusetts, whose large work
upon geography was to be found, half cen
tury ""n, IN alm"st every considerable cnlcc
tim of books in Amcrica Besides .sSistiny
his father in his studies. Samuel NInrsc had
studied chemistry at Yale College under Pro
teSS"' Sili'nan, aud nr'ural philosophy unrr
Pr"t"s>"r Day After graduating FROM Yale
in 1910. he went with Washington Ailston
t" l."ndol. where he received instruction l.,
painting from Sir B"ninmin W"st. Return
ing t" th" United States IN 1915. he rnr> IL, d
his v"rati"n with so urh su, rrsS that he
was elected til" first president of our Nation:,i
Academy, aud hcld the "licr for sixteen wears.
IN 1872 he went again to Europe for further
improveme, T.; and it was when returning
from this visit that the conversation TO TX
place in the cabin # the SuUY During all
the years Of his artist life he had retained his
early love for scicnte, and usullly kept him
self which he listened to Dr. Johnsun's nara
tive.
'Why,' snid he, "whcn the doctor had fin
ished. "if that is So. d the presence of cleo
triciy could he made visible in any desired
part OF circuit, [ see no reason why inteIi-
gence might not be transmitted nstantanc
ouSly hy electricity"
GLOW convenient it would be-" added one
OF the passengers, "if we could send news in
that manner"
"Why cant VIC 2" asked Morse fascinated
by the idea.
From that hour the subject occupied his
the u shts, and he began forthwith to exercise
site apparatus. Voyages were long in those
and contrvc Before the Sully dropped her
anchor 10 New York harbor he had invented
and put upon paper, in drawings aud explain.
atory words, thcchief features Of the appnra.
tus employed, to this hour, by far the greater
number of the telegraphio lines throughout
the world.
This system Of dots and marks, the narrow
ribbon OF paper upon revolving block, ond
mode of hurying the wires in tho earth uf.
ter inclosing them in tubes all were thought
Of and recorded on board the packet ship =
The invention, in fact. so far as tho theory
and the essential devices were concerned, cx.
eept alone the idea Of suspending the wires
upon posts, was completed on board the YES.
sell A few days after lunding, the plan, now
universally adopted of supporting the wires
was thought of by the inventor, though he
still preferred his original conception of the
buried tubes.
The reader, Of course, is aware that the
mere idea of transmitting intelligence by coc-
tricity was not original with Samuel Morse.
From the time when DR.. Flanklin and his
friends stretched wire across tho Schuylkill
river, and killed a turkey for their dinner by
q shock from an electroal machine on tho
other side Of tho stream, the notion had exist.
ed of using the marvellous fluid for transmit.
ting intelligence; and long before the Silly
was launched some attempts had been made
in this direction which were not wholly un
successful. Science had done her part. 1t
remained for tho inventor to devise an appa.
ratus which would utilize scientific truth,