This and many other allusions, in the correspondence of those years, to Morse's work in simplifying and perfecting his invention, some of which I have already noted, answer conclusively the claims of those who have said that all improvements were the work of other brains and hands. On September 7, 1840, he writes again to Vail:-- "Your letter of 28th ult. was received several days ago, but I have not had a moment's time to give you a word in return. I am tied hand and foot during the day endeavoring to realize something from the Daguerreotype portraits.... As to the Telegraph, I know not what to say. The delay in finishing the apparatus on the part of Prosch is exceedingly tantalizing and vexatious. He was to have finished them more than six months ago, and I have borne with his procrastination until I utterly despair of their being completed.... I suppose something might be done in Washington next session if I, or some of you, could go on, but I have expended so much time in vain, there and in Europe, that I feel almost discouraged from pressing it any further; only, however, from want of funds. I have none myself, and I dislike to ask it of the rest of you. You are all so scattered that there is no consultation, and I am under the necessity of attending to duties which will give me the means of living. "The reason of its not being in operation is not _the fault of the invention_, nor is it _my neglect_. My faith is not only unshaken in its _eventual adoption throughout the world_, but it is confirmed by every new discovery in the science of electricity." While the future looked dark and the present was darker still, Morse maintained a cheerful exterior, and was still able to write to his friends in a light and airy vein. The following letter, dated September 30, 1840, was to a Mr. Levering in Paris:-- "Some time since (I believe nearly a year ago) I wrote you to procure for me two lenses and some plates for the Daguerreotype process, but have never heard from you nor had any intimation that my letter was ever received. After waiting some months, I procured both lenses and plates here. Now, if I knew how to scold at you, wouldn't I scold.