' Nevertheless he was not
very sanguine of making it a commercial success. 'The electro-magnetic
telegraph shall not ruin me,' he wrote to his mother, 'but will hardly
make my fortune.' He was desirous of taking a partner in the work, and
went to Liverpool in order to meet some gentleman likely to forward his
views, and endeavoured to get his instrument adopted on the incline of
the tunnel at Liverpool; but it gave sixty signals, and was deemed too
complicated by the directors. Soon after his return to London, by the
end of April, he had two simpler instruments in working order. All
these preparations had already cost him nearly four hundred pounds.
On February 27, Cooke, being dissatisfied with an experiment on a mile
of wire, consulted Faraday and Dr. Roget as to the action of a current
on an electro-magnet in circuit with a long wire. Dr. Roget sent him to
Wheatstone, where to his dismay he learned that Wheatstone had been
employed for months on the construction of a telegraph for practical
purposes. The end of their conferences was that a partnership in the
undertaking was proposed by Cooke, and ultimately accepted by
Wheatstone. The latter had given Cooke fresh hopes of success when he
was worn and discouraged.
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