Invention of the Electric Telegraph

Ancient Methods of Communication

Before the application of electricity to methods of conveying news from place to place there were many crude inventions for that purpose, which, while they answered the requirements demanded of them, performed their work so imperfectly that they were constantly liable to error.

Important news, in France, a century or two ago, was shouted from the top of a high hill ; a person at a distance hearing it answered the sender, and shouted it to a third party, who in turn cried the message, and news traveled in this manner long distances quickly. This method was employed in the time of Caesar in calling the people to arms. Fires lighted upon elevations gave signs in their arrangement which could be readily understood. A signal fire upon Hero's tower lighted Leander across the Hellespont. In the Middle Ages a fiery cross shone along the British coast, announcing the approach of the Normans. Signal posts were organized systematically in France by Louis XI., and for a long time this method was sufficient for all purposes of transmission.

The aerial telegraph came next, consisting of great towers erected on rising ground in the country. These towers were surmounted by movable turrets which could be turned to any point to which it was desired to send a message. Above the tower were two long black arms connected by an immovable bar. The arms, moving in various ways, made signs which represented words and even complete phrases. This worked well enough in clear weather, but in rainy or foggy atmospheres its operation was ineffectual.

Invention of the Electric Telegraph

For a time the electric telegraph was considered a mere curiosity. The system invented by Professor Samuel Morse in 1831 was looked upon as chimerical, and he was obliged to wait eight years before he succeeded in getting his invention before the public, although its machinery was almost as perfect as it is at the present day. Many savants in ancient times astonished the world with experiments, the chief motor of which was electricity. Among these may be mentioned the Abbe Noblet, Dafay, Mesmer, and Cagliostro. In 1790, Galvani discovered a singular fact which has been followed by the most splendid results, and later Volta brought to light the voltaic pile. Many persons claim that the true inventor of the electric telegraph was Wheatstone, who set up the first telegraph line in England and afterwards one in France ; but the Morse system was the simplest, and was eventually adopted in nearly all countries.