No demand arose for this first apparatus, so Soemmering soon devised one that operated by the aid of a paddle-wheel set in motion by the bubbles of gas. But, a little later on, in August, 1810, he replaced this by another and very ingenious apparatus which is shown in Fig. 6. An inverted spoon, arranged horizontally in the liquid, collected in its bowl the gases that were disengaged from certain rods, and then, rising, caused the inclination at the same time of a rod bent at right angles. This latter thereupon allowed a small copper ball to drop into a glass funnel, from whence it fell upon a cup attached to the end of a lever, and, through its weight, threw into gear a bell operated by a clockwork movement. [Illustration: Fig. 5--SOEMMERING'S FIRST TELEGRAPH.] In 1811, Soemmering simplified his apparatus as regards the number of signs. Instead of having 25 letters (a complete alphabet minus _x_) and 10 figures, he did away with these latter and the letter J, and introduced the _x_, the period, and a sign of repetition. The apparatus was thus reduced to 27 wires. The first experiments in telegraphy made with this system, on the 9th of July, 1809, were over a distance of 38 feet; on the 19th, transmission was effected to 170 feet; and, on the 8th of August, to 1,000 feet; but it was not until he had perfected the insulation of his wires by means of India rubber dissolved in ether, and had devised his paddle-wheel call, that Soemmering decided to present his telegraph to the Academy of Sciences of Bavaria during its session of August 28, 1809. Some time afterward, Baron Larrey, Inspector General of the medical service of the French armies, carried Soemmering's telegraph to Paris and presented it to the Academy of Sciences at its session of December 5, 1809. This presentation gave rise to a series of letters addressed by Soemmering to the Baron. His son, now a member of the Academy, has had the goodness to communicate these to Count du Moncel, through whose kindness we are enabled to cite the most interesting passages from them. Soemmering writes on the 10th of November: "I have the honor to remit to you herewith a memoir which, conjointly with the trifles that you have had the goodness to charge yourself with, will explain my meaning clearly and briefly. I am desirous of learning the reception that His Imperial Majesty deigned to accord to these ideas. The memoir, as you will see, sir, makes mention, aphoristically, of a few quite varied experiments that I have been in a position to perform. I dare to flatter myself that they will please several members of the Institute. Independent of the major interest of which they seem susceptible, that of novelty belongs to them. In my opinion, there is no one who can dispute it...." On the 5th of December, 1809, as we have said, the telegraph was presented to the Institute, but the inventor does not seem to have been at once informed of it; for he writes, under date of July 30, 1810: