The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1872-06-29
Who Suggested the Idea OF
TeIegTaphy
There is ne new thing under the sun.-soI

lel0STuply
There is no new thing under the sun.-SoL-
| ONION.
! In the Weekly Reporter, published
in Rogersville, East Tennessee, we
find Il communication from Hon. ID.
Alexander, of that place, on the origin
of the idea of telegrsphy, in which he
quotes the following curious passage
from one of Addison's essays, published
in No. PAL of the first volume of the
| Spectator:
Strada, in one of his Prelusions,
gives an account of q chimerical cor
respondence between two friends by
the help of certain loadstOne, which
had such virtue in it, that if it touched
two sewing needles, when one of the
needles so touched began to move,
the other, though at ever so great u
distance moved at the same time, and
in the same manner. He tells us, that
the two friends being each of them
possessed of enc OF these needles,
made a kind of dial plate, inscribed
with the four and twenty letters, in
the same manner as the hours of the
day are marked upon the ordinary
dial-plate. They then fixed one of
the needles on each of these plates
in such manner that it could move
around without impeachment so as to
touch any of the four and twenty let
tiers. Upon their separating from one
another into distant countries, they
agreed to withdraw themselves punct-
llally into their closets at certain
hour Of the day, and to converse with
one another, by this, their invention.
Accordingly when they were some
hundred miles asunder, each of them
shut himself up in his closet at the
time appointed, and Immediately
each cast his eye upon his dial plate.
If he had il mind to write anything to
his friend, he directed his needle to
every letter that formed the words
which he had occasion for, making a
little pause at the end of every word
or sentence to avoid confusion. The
friend, i'll the meanwhile, saw his own
sympathetic needle moving of itself
to every letter which that of his cor
respondent pointed at. BY this means,
they talked together across a whole
continent and conveyed thoughts to
one another in an instant over cities,
or mountains, seas or deserts. as
"In the meanwhile, if ever this in
vention should be revived or put III
practice, / would propose that, upon
the lovers dial-plate, there should be
written not only the four and-twenty
letters, but several entire words which
have always a place in passionate
epistlcs; as flames, dart, die, languish,
absence, Cupid, heart, eyes, hang,
down, and the like. This would very
much abridge the lovers pains in this
way of writing letter, as it would
enable him to express the most useful
and significant words with a single
touch of the needle"
The above was written on the 9th
of December, 1881, upward of one
hundred years ago), which, of course,
was long before modern telegraphy
was thought of; and the writer above
named inquiries whether this passage
may not have suggested to Prof.
Morse the grand idea which he turned
to such excellent practical account.
Even If his were true, however, ii
would not detract from the impor-
lance of the modern invention, the
essence of which consisted in finding
way to produce, as a reality, that
correspondence between the motions
of two distant instruments which Adj
Olson only refers to as a pleasing
chimera. Yet there isa very striking
similarity between the device of the
authors fancy and that which the
mechanician gave to the realm of So
Der fact-so striking that it might not
only have suggested the end to be ac-
complished, but might also have indi-
Gated, in q general way, the means
for it's accomplishment. 1t would be
curious to know how many of the
great inventions, which in recent
times have almost turned the world
upside down, have first been Swallowed
forth in the dreams of poets or phil
osophers. The poetical or philosoph-
zeal imagination is, after all, the true
pioneer of progress, furnishing hui
mainly with the ideals which cOnsti-
tute its incentive and its inspiration.
Washington Sunday Gasette.