The automatic transmitter brought knighthood to its inventor,
Wheatstone receiving this honor in 1868. Wheatstone took an active
part in the development of the telegraph and the submarine cable up to
the time of his death in 1875.

Wheatstone's telegraph would have served the purposes of humanity
and probably have been universally adopted, had not a better one been
invented almost before it was established. And it is because Morse,
taking up the work where others had left off, was able to invent an
instrument which so fully satisfied the requirements of man for so
long a period that he is known to all of us as the inventor of the
telegraph. And yet, without belittling the part played by Morse,
we must recognize the important work accomplished by Sir Charles
Wheatstone.




V

THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MORSE

Morse's Early Life--Artistic Aspirations--Studies in Paris--His
Paintings--Beginnings of His Invention--The First Instrument--The
Morse Code--The First Written Message.


When we consider the youth and immaturity of America in the first half
of the nineteenth century, it seems the more remarkable that the honor
of making the first great practical application of electricity should