Like the "philosopher's stone," the "elixir of youth," and "perpetual motion," the telegraph was long a dream of the imagination. In the sixteenth century, if not before, it was believed that two magnetic needles could be made sympathetic, so that when one was moved the other would likewise move, however far apart they were, and thus enable two distant friends to communicate their minds to one another. The idea was prophetic, although the means of giving effect to it were mistaken. It became practicable, however, when Oersted discovered that a magnetic needle could be swung to one side or the other by an electric current passing near it. The illustrious Laplace was the first to suggest a telegraph on this principle. A wire connecting the two poles of a battery is traversed, as we know, by an electric current, which makes the round of the circuit, and only flows when that circuit is complete. However long the wire may be, however far it may run between the poles, the current will follow all its windings, and finish its course from pole to pole of the battery. You may lead the wire across the ocean and back, or round the world if you will, and the current will travel through it. The moment you break the wire or circuit, however, the current will stop. By its electromotive force it can overcome the resistance of the many miles of conductor; but unless it be unusually strong it cannot leap across even a minute gap of air, which is one of the best insulators. If, then, we have a simple device easily manipulated by which we can interrupt the circuit of the battery, in accordance with a given code, we shall be able to send a series of currents through the wire and make sensible signals wherever we choose. These signs can be produced by the deviation of a magnetic needle, as Laplace pointed out, or by causing an electro-magnet to attract soft iron, or by chemical decomposition, or any other sensible effect of the current.