Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-02-14
Gbs 8aip spp aalorr aaeOnesoap ornng february H. 1879

the most meagre claim to the invention of the
eectrclmaguetc telegraph in the court of hon
est common SENSE and scientific research. The
reader viii remember that il is not enough to
enlile one TO an invention, that he has at some
time, vaguely conceived that something more or
less like it might be desirable: or that he hos TO-
norantlN snecula!ed with tiis on tat tgfi.e and
dabbled with mechanical imposSihilifies in order
TO reach nresumptve end. Millions, probably.
nave wished they could f.. Many hayeaiielnptcd
TO aetuallzc flying machine, and ALL so far have
failed. But we cannot absolutely declare that
such q machine viii not lie Inverted, in the not
distant future, perhaps. Ii Il practical tiving
machine shall be Invented, shall all the dreamers
b accorded credit therefor? DIR will those who
Have heretofore attempted to render Practical
certain mechanical ahSurdities to such end be
thus bonOred? Neither. Prof. Morse, in the
opinion Of the tfltef, Stands III redtiDp to the
electromagnetic telegraph as a dreamer and
SPECTATOR with certain forces, to obtain the de-
Sirable end of q "rIcgrdi1g telegraph" who
never really MteHjed ANYTHING important In its
composition, and who never, in a practical and
nselus sense, "comhn2d' any of IFS paris or
forces. AS the earnest and inefficient dreamer,
he is entitled To all the credit which attaches 10
such a character. He got it into his head that
telegraph constructed in some way with
wires, and oYer Which electricity could he sent,
he knew not how, would be a desirable thing.
Others thought so, too, and they carried out
t1re the aids of Prof Morse developed or ''in-
vented the electromagnetic telegraph" Prof
Morse did not invent the tiyiug-niachine of
electromagnetic biography. lie wished that
he could make such machine, and he went TO
wol k and got together materials of which to
make the wingsi bit lie found he was Unable to
fashion them to any "useluf' purpose. More
over he, in his ignorance Of The then advanced
state of science as to the proper forces, was
unable to conceive Of the ntouTp power for the
proposed wings fer the power that he selected
would only lift single feather of the wings and
not that If it were a sufficiently long one. His
efforts we're in shorba all abdrtitej for he SFoped
about in ignorance of both mechanics; and
according to bis own story, lie had spent four
years in this loose dreaming and speculation,
when one day a man OF brains and scirpce came
along and gave him the first scientific lght which
proved of importance in the realization of the
ol!iect Of his Grcamingi
tits was four years after Prof Morse had in.
vented on board the Suliy Gas he by marked
implication and almost direct statement, de-
clared to the ahdienre Il tile Academy of Music
in June, 1870, the electromagnetic telegraph.
Since 1887 it has been an object wiIh Prof.
Morse to make the public believe that he in
vented the electromagnetic telegraph On board
the Suliy, IN 1882 The Observation-Disclosures OF the
man on this point can best lie understood by
the fact that whereas Prof. Morse not only al
lowed, bnt encouraged, this false assumption to
V,
the Academy Of Music he nevertheless, in his
crossicXamiuation in the case before referred to,
tOl Smith and others VS.. Bowling aud others
made oath that he "never had on board the
ship, or elsewhere, any consultation with DR..
jackson on electro magnetism, in its application
to telegraphing." Now, this is undoubtedly
true, as circumstances subsequent to that time
indicate. Yet Prof. Morse, according to his own
showing, put implicit confidence in Prof, Jack
sons ability to help him TO a means of accom-
pllShng recording telegraph, and in a letter of
December Z, 1881, declares, with some acrmony
that all bis consultations with pr. jackson not
only served 70 retaId his invention, but COM
PEELED him, "aiter five years delay, to consider
the result Of that experiment 1.-THE one proposed
on board the Sully,) cas- a failure, and conse-
quentIy TO devise Il new mode Of applying nv
appararuS,-am mode entirely original VIII me"
(Morse) Prot. Morse in the same letter says,
My invention on board the Snlly is mechanical
and mathematical. IL has no more TO do with
chemical science than with geology or auato-
N.Y. (FhiS letter was written 70 repudiate DR..
Jacksou's claim of having instructed Prof
Morse in chemical matters relative to telegraph
ing.) In the case oil himself ard Others VS.
o Reilly and others, (known as ''the Kentucky
case, } Prof Morse, on the 3lst dav of ADJUST,
1913, declared under oath, substantially, that he
knew nothing, AT the time of his invention, OF
the probability OF propeling electricity
effectively to a great distance Tin oppose
ton TO he opinion of Barlow that 1t was i'm
practOle) He took it for granted that it was
Il fact, aud .f0unded his illgeRtioR upon that be.
itcf;' but at that time he was ignorant of the
fact, and Of the disccverer of the fact! This
shows the professors ignorance, by his own
confession, of the science of electricity at that
time; and as it is clearly demOnstrable that he
made no progress with his invention after four
years more Of drea ming, it is not a violent in
ference to believe that he remained ignorant all
that time. At any rate, We are left in no doubt
"a hot &c Lat t,n f,,l, /,
had no knowledge which could avail him prac-
ticay in the construction of an elecro-maa-
nctic telegraph which would operate over the
distance of forty feet. This is made evident by
the statement Of Prof. Lorenzo u. Gale,
an intimate friend of Prof. Morse, that
he (NIorsc,) then (1s86,) prccesscd great
surprise at the contents of a certain pa
per which Prof Gale showed him, and
| which related to scientific facts, upon which
| Prof. Gale had just made TO Prof Morse the
| very suggestions, without which the telegraph
| called the Morse telegraph" could never have
| existed! To Prof. Gale, then, is the world di-
| recIly indebted for communicating TO Professor
| Morse the contents ofthe paper in question, and
showing him how his speculative and abortive
| machinery could be made effective, and Of value
| Tor communicating intelligence - any desirable
| distance (though necessarily very slowly, such
was the clumsy character ofthe type" arrange
mentS, eIc.)
| This paper was no less han an article bv
| Professor Joseph Henry, then of Princeton col
| le@c, illustrating his experiments in electro
| magnetism, and published in Silliman's jour
| nal, in the year 1881, and of which the limited
| scientific understanding Of Professor Morse had
not permitted him to know anything before
Professor Henry had discovered the power, and
reduced it to actual practice in mechanism
which Professor Morse, in his dreaming longed
for; and thus was Professor Henry the legiti-
male father OF the American electromagnetic
telegraph, in one form. But the child of PROT
MurSe's dreams still needed proper body TO be
of any service to the world; and here Professor
MorSe'S ignorance of mechanism proved another
cloud too dense for his talents TO pierce. He in
vented (with what borrowed aid we know not)
some clumsy aud impractical coutriyances,
which, however, served, with Professor Gales
and, 70 demonstrate the possibility of a success
full machine some time in the future. And now
came another braintul supplement to Professor
Morse'S necessities, in the person of the late Mr.
Alfred Vail, of Morristown, N. J. Prof. Morse
showed to Mr. Vail his plan of telegraphing.
Mr.. Vail comDIehended the mechanical cond-
ton OF things at once and saw that he could de-
wise the right plans of machinery, if it were true
that the gavanic current could be made to gen.
crate the necessary magnetic force at distance
In a few days Mr.. Vail returned, to satisfy him
self as TO this point; and so assuring himself
and believing in the prac!icability Of the affair."
with the right machinery, made Professor Morse
aware of his opinion. Professor Morse soon
entered into articles Of agreement with Mr..
Vail and Professor Gale, whereby he not only
shrewdly secured these gentlemen's aid, but
bought their genius as well, binding them to
give him not only their labor, but all "the i'm
pro7cments, new discoveries" etc scientific and
mechanical, which they should make" Mr..
Vail went forward, and eventually invented The
most important part of the register, the lever
and roller, together with the method OF en-
bossed writing, as they now exist; discovered
that only one circuit of wire was necessary, in
stead OF two, upon which p of. Morse had in
sisted; and other matters, which we will not
stop now to mention. In fact, Mr.. Vail became
the brains Of the mechanical portion of the in
vention, and contributed to the enterprise nu-
mcrous important scientific suggestions, for cx-
pertinent by himself and Prof. Gale; and it is
FIRMLY believed by the writer TINT neither Prnf