Excerpt from A Resume of the Earlier Days of Electric Telegraphy

When it was finally settled that we should hold an Extraordinary General Meeting in Paris on the occasion of the Exposition Internationale d'Electricite, it occurred to me that it would be a fitting time, whilst in the midst of such a wonderful collection of electrical appliances gathered under one roof, for us to pause, look back, and contemplate, for the mutual instruction of all who chose to avail themselves of the opportunity, the way in which such great and successful results have been achieved. Consequently my purpose in this necessarily short paper is to pass in brief review some of the most important incidents, many of which have come under my own personal experience, in connection with the earlier days of Electric Telegraphy. Of all the modern applications of electricity, one of the most important is its adaptation to telegraphic purposes.

No account of a practical electric telegraph had been published prior to the date of Messrs. Cook and Wheatstone's patent of June, 1837. I say practical because Ronalds, as early as 1823, published a description of an electrical telegraph of originality and merit, but as he proposed to use static electricity in connection with a wire enclosed in a glass tube, his telegraph was not adapted for practical use.

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