Whenever the man at the sending station wanted to telegraph a letter, all he had to do was to bring the corresponding wire into contact with the bottom of the pile, and to bring any other wire into contact with the top of the pile. The wire at the top was usually the wire which came next in the message, so that the two letters could be telegraphed at the same time, the second letter being that which gave off a very small quantity of oxygen gas. The instrument so constructed was only capable of sending five different letters. In order to send a complete message, it was necessary to have as many wires as there are letters in the alphabet. Twenty-six wires were therefore twisted together in a strand, after being covered with varnish and silk thread. The ends of the wires at the sending station were nailed to a frame by means of nails with perforated heads. A wire was kept touching the top of the Volta pile, and another was kept in contact with the lower end of the pile. These wires ended in small plugs which could be inserted into the perforations of the nails, so that the sender could pick out any two letters he wished to telegraph. At the other end the wires were laid through the bottom of a vessel containing water, and were marked with appropriate letters. The telegraph was then worked on the same principle as the smaller one made for five letters. In addition to these letters, the inventor devised a mechanism by which a bell could be sounded in order to attract the attention of the man at the receiving end. This apparatus was extremely ingenious. It consisted of a lever to which a spoon was attached. [Illustration: Fig. 54.--Soemmering’s Telegraph.] The spoon lay in the water, just above two of the wires, with its open surface down. When the current was sent through these two wires, the hydrogen and oxygen collected in the spoon, and raised it. This set a little ball rolling down into a funnel. Through the funnel it dropped into a small pan, and removed the catch of an alarm clock. This set the alarm going and attracted the attention of the man at the receiving station. When the message was finished, the man had to put back the ball to its original place, and wind up and set the alarm clock as before. It was not long before the Emperor Napoleon heard of the Bavarian invention. One of his officials told him about it and asked leave to explain it to him. The Emperor listened to the explanation, but then swept it aside as worthless. “It’s only a German idea,” he said. He considered it impossible to lay a strand of wire across country and to preserve it from damage. He preferred to rely on his optical telegraph which had done him such good service.