Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer HEROES OF THE TELEGRAPH By J. Munro Author Of 'Electricity And Its Uses,' Pioneers Of Electricity,' 'The Wire And The Wave'; And Joint Author Of 'Munro And Jamieson's Pocket-Book Of Electrical Rules And Tables.' (Note: All accents etc. have been omitted. Italics have been converted to capital letters. The British 'pound' sign has been written as 'L'. Footnotes have been placed in square brackets at the place in the text where a suffix originally indicated their existence.) PREFACE. The present work is in some respects a sequel to the PIONEERS OF ELECTRICITY, and it deals with the lives and principal achievements of those distinguished men to whom we are indebted for the introduction of the electric telegraph and telephone, as well as other marvels of electric science. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPH II. CHARLES WHEATSTONE III. SAMUEL MORSE IV. SIR WILLIAM THOMSON V. SIR WILLIAM SIEMENS VI. FLEEMING JENKIN VII. JOHANN PHILIPP REIS VIII. GRAHAM BELL IX. THOMAS ALVA EDISON X. DAVID EDWIN HUGHES APPENDIX. I. CHARLES FERDINAND GAUSS II. WILLIAM EDWARD WEBER III. SIR WILLIAM FOTHERGILL COOKE IV. ALEXANDER BAIN V. DR. WERNER SIEMENS VI. LATIMER CLARK VII. COUNT DU MONCEL VIII. ELISHA GRAY CHAPTER I. THE ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPH. The history of an invention, whether of science or art, may be compared to the growth of an organism such as a tree. The wind, or the random visit of a bee, unites the pollen in the flower, the green fruit forms and ripens to the perfect seed, which, on being planted in congenial soil, takes root and flourishes. Even so from the chance combination of two facts in the human mind, a crude idea springs, and after maturing into a feasible plan is put in practice under favourable conditions, and so develops. These processes are both subject to a thousand accidents which are inimical to their achievement. Especially is this the case when their object is to produce a novel species, or a new and great invention like the telegraph. It is then a question of raising, not one seedling, but many, and modifying these in the lapse of time.