The artist, indeed, was very ignorant of
what had been done by other electricians; and Professor Gale was able to
enlighten him. When Gale acquainted him with some results in
telegraphing obtained by Mr. Barlow, he said he was not aware that
anyone had even conceived the notion of using the magnet for such a
purpose. The researches of Professor Joseph Henry on the electro-magnet,
in 1830, were equally unknown to Morse, until Professor Gale drew his
attention to them, and in accordance with the results, suggested that
the simple electro-magnet, with a few turns of thick wire which he
employed, should be replaced by one having a coil of long thin wire. By
this change a much feebler current would be able to excite the magnet,
and the recorder would mark through a greater length of line. Henry
himself, in 1832, had devised a telegraph similar to that of Morse, and
signalled through a mile of wire, by causing the armature of his
electro-magnet to strike a bell. This was virtually the first electro-
magnetic acoustic telegraph.[AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.]
The year of the telegraph--1837--was an important one for Morse, as
it was for Cooke and Wheatstone. In the privacy of his rooms he had
constructed, with his own hands, a model of his apparatus, and fortune
began to favour him.
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