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Interesting Particulars Concerning the Magnet: Morse

One form of electric telegraph in which the oscillations of a magnetised needle are translated into letters has been already alluded to, but there are various other forms in which the telegraph has come into use. One of these much resembles the short and long method of the heliograph. It is known as the Morse system, its signals being given by a series of dots and dashes. The pressure of a key at one station sends the electric current through a coil surrounding a soft iron core. This is of course immediately rendered magnetic, and attracts a steel armature. The armature is in connection with a tiny wheel covered with printer's ink, which is placed just above a slip of paper travelling by clockwork. When the armature is attracted to the magnet, the little wheel touches the paper, and, according to the duration of the contact, it records a dot or a dash. Another instrument, which is coming into general use, is called the Morse sounder, where the dots and dashes, instead of being recorded in ink, are heard as a series of single and double clicks. A practised operator can with this instrument translate these clicks into ordinary words as readily as we can understand common speech. There are many other kinds of electric telegraph which I need not describe. There seems to be good ground for surmising that the day is not far distant when all systems must be surperseded by the telephone.