. The New England magazine . ich he so ably occupied, and we mayfairly claim for him a prominent place inthe gallery of Americas historic worthies. THE LATER HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY IN AMERICA. By George Herbert Stoekbridge. E have considered theearly history of elec-tricity in America fromthe time of Franklin,including the work ofHenry, Morse,Vail, Page,and Farmer. The workof Edison and Thom-son and their followersbelongs entirely to thislatest time. In considering thecomparatively recent his-tory of electrical progres-sion, therefore, one is atonce attracted to thecommercial telegraph,which m
. The New England magazine . ich he so ably occupied, and we mayfairly claim for him a prominent place inthe gallery of Americas historic worthies. THE LATER HISTORY OF ELECTRICITY IN AMERICA. By George Herbert Stoekbridge. E have considered theearly history of elec-tricity in America fromthe time of Franklin,including the work ofHenry, Morse,Vail, Page,and Farmer. The workof Edison and Thom-son and their followersbelongs entirely to thislatest time. In considering thecomparatively recent his-tory of electrical progres-sion, therefore, one is atonce attracted to thecommercial telegraph,which marks an epoch inthe history of the military and strictlygovernmental uses, somesort of signalling andtelegraphic service havebeen known from theearliest times; but the conception of atelegraph which should furnish the meansfor private and business correspondence,and for informing the public press, be-longs to the nineteenth century. Itnaturally follows from this, that the tele-graph as a medium for the quick trans-. The First Atlanti(Cable. mission and delivery of messages, and asan investment, is of very recent origin. Itdates, in fact, from the time when elec-tricity was trained to be the carrier. The ancient telegraph was a part ofthe military armament, an incident to theneed of being constantly prepared foroffensive and defensive warfare. Andvery clumsy apparatus they had, even atthe end of the last century. But, such asit was, it served tolerably well, so long asno more was expected of it. It was notsuited to supply the service of a commer-cial telegraph, but the majority of mendid not realize then that a commercialtelegraph was a thing greatly to be de-sired. In this view, it is not so much tobe wondered at, that in 1816 the BritishAdmiralty should have declared the ex-isting system of telegraphy to be quitegood enough. No human being, at thattime, could have foreseen the immensedemands for a commercial telegraphicservice which would arise as soon asthere was a
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