In such a case he who crowns the work, making it
serviceable to his fellow-men, not only wins the pecuniary prize, but is
likely to be hailed and celebrated as the chief, if not the sole
inventor, although in a scientific sense the improvement he has made is
perhaps less than that of some ingenious and forgotten forerunner. He
who advances the work from the phase of a promising idea, to that of a
common boon, is entitled to our gratitude. But in honouring the
keystone of the arch, as it were, let us acknowledge the substructure on
which it rests, and keep in mind the entire bridge. Justice at least is
due to those who have laboured without reward.
Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Sir Charles Wheatstone were the first
to bring the electric telegraph into daily use. But we have selected
Wheatstone as our hero, because he was eminent as a man of science, and
chiefly instrumental in perfecting the apparatus. As James Watt is
identified with the steam-engine, and George Stephenson with the
railway, so is Wheatstone with the telegraph.
Charles Wheatstone was born near Gloucester, in February, 1802. His
father was a music-seller in the town, who, four years later, removed to
128, Pall Mall, London, and became a teacher of the flute.
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