The Morse telegraph system now in use throughout the civilized world was made possible by the work of Sturgeon and Henry. Sturgeon's electromagnet might have been used for telegraphy through very short distances, but Henry's magnet, with its coils of many turns of insulated wire, was needed for long-distance signalling. In one of the rooms of the Albany Academy, Professor Henry caused an electromagnet to sound a bell when the current was transmitted through more than a mile of wire. This might be called the first electromagnetic telegraph. But the application to actual practice was made by Morse, and the man who first makes the practical application of a principle is the true inventor. In 1832, on board the packet-ship _Sully_, Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist, forty-one years of age, was returning from Europe. In conversation a Doctor Jackson referred to the electrical experiments of Ampère, which he had witnessed while in Europe, and, in reply to a question, said that electricity passes instantaneously over any known length of wire. The thought of transmitting words by means of the electric current at once took possession of the artist's mind. After many days and sleepless nights he showed to friends on board the drawings and notes he had made of a recording telegraph. In New York, in a room provided by his brothers, he gave himself up to the working-out of his idea, sleeping little and eating the simplest food. Receiving an appointment as professor in the University of the City of New York, he moved to one of the buildings of that university and continued his experiments in extreme poverty, and at times facing starvation, as his salary depended on the tuition fees of his pupils. A story told by one of his pupils describes his condition at the time. "I engaged to become one of Morse's pupils. He had three others. I soon found that the professor had little patronage. I paid my fifty dollars; that settled one quarter's tuition. I remember, when the second was due, my remittance from home did not come as expected, and one day the professor came in and said, courteously: "'Well, Strother, my boy, how are we off for money?' "'Why, professor, I am sorry to say I have been disappointed; but I expect a remittance next week.' "'Next week!' he repeated, sadly; 'I shall be dead by that time.' "'Dead, sir?' "'Yes; dead by starvation!' "I was distressed and astonished. I said, hurriedly: 'Would ten dollars be of any service?' "'Ten dollars would save my life; that is all it would do.'" The money was paid, all the student had, and the two dined together. It was Morse's first meal in twenty-four hours.