was denied, and a company was formed at Albany to establish another line of steam passage boats on the Hudson, between that city and New York. Fulton and his partner asked an injunction, which was refused, whereupon the State Legislature passed a special act confirming their monopoly. Years of litigation followed, continuing until after Fulton's death; and, finally, the eloquence of Daniel Webster prevailed against the monopoly, the Supreme Court of the United States deciding, in the famous "steamboat case," that all navigable waters are under the sole jurisdiction of the United States, and free alike to all citizens.

In January, 1815, Fulton was summoned to Trenton, New Jersey, as a wit

ness in one of the numerous suits which grew out of the efforts to break down his monopoly. During his examination he was very much exposed, as the hall of the Legislature was uncommonly cold. In returning home, he crossed the Hudson in an open boat, and was detained on the river several hours. This severe exposure brought on an attack of sickness, which for a short time confined him to his bed. The steam frigate, then almost ready for her engines, occasioned him great anxiety at the time, and before he had fairly recovered his strength he went to the shipyard to give some directions to the workmen employed on her, and thus exposed himself again to the inclemency of the weather. In a few days his indisposition prostrated him again, and, growing rapidly worse, he died on the 24th of February, 1815, at the age of fifty years

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE,

THE INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH.

PROBABLY no other invention of

modern times has done more to change the face of the world than the electric telegraph. The fact that one man in New York can speak to another in Texas or Brazil is charged with stupendous meaning. Through the telegraph the newspaper brings the whole earth before us at the breakfast table. The electric wire is like a nerve in the body, bringing all nations into sympathetic communication, dispelling ignorance and prejudice, and helping to make all men brothers. To the inventor of this great system is due a debt of gratitude that cannot be reckoned.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 27th of April, 1791. He exhibited an early

fondness for art, as well as studies of a scientific character, and while a student at Yale College displayed an especial aptness for chemistry and natural philosophy. Upon leaving college he decided to adopt the profession of an artist, and was sent abroad to study under the tuition of West and Copley and Allston. He was obliged by lack of means to return in about four years. His youth was spent in a struggle for success as an artist. In 1829 he again went abroad for the purpose of completing his art studies. During his absence he was elected "Professor of the Literature of the Fine

Arts" in the University of the City of New York. He set out on his return home to accept this professorship in the autumn of 1832, sailing from Havre on board the packet ship "Sully."

Among his fellow-passengers on the "Sully" were a number of persons of intelligence and cultivation, one of whom had recently witnessed in Paris some interesting experiments with the electro-magnet, the object of which was to prove how readily the electric spark could be obtained from the magnet, and the rapidity with which it could be disseminated. To Mr. Morse the development of this newly-discovered property of electricity was more than interesting. It showed him his true mission in life. He thought long and earnestly upon the subject, pacing the deck under the silent stars. He had long been convinced that electricity was to furnish the means of rapid communication between distant points, of which the world was so much in need; and he at once set to work to discover how this could be done. He succeeded so well that before the "Sully" reached New York he had conceived “not merely the idea of an electric telegraph, but of an electro-magnetic and recording telegraph, substantially and essentially as it now exists," and had invented an alphabet of signs, the same in all important respects as that now in use.

But though invented in 1832, it was not until 1835 that he was enabled to complete his first poor, rude instrument. By its aid he was able to send signals from a given point to the end of a wire half a mile in length, but as yet there was no means of receiving them back again from the other extremity. He continued to experiment on his invention, and made several improvements in it. It was plain from the first that he needed a duplicate of his instrument at the other end of his wire, but for a long time he was unable to have one made. At length he acquired the necessary funds, and in July, 1837, had a duplicate instrument constructed, and thus perfected his plan. His telegraph now worked to his entire satisfaction, and he could easily send signals to the remote end of his line and receive replies in return. Having brought it to a successful completion, he exhibited it to large audiences at the University of New York, in September, 1837.

DARK DAYS.

He now entered upon that period of the inventor's life which has proved to many so wearying and disheartening-the effort to bring his invention into general use. He applied to Congress in vain for aid. Considerable interest in the subject was aroused in Congress and throughout the country, but he derived no benefit from it. If men spoke of his telegraph, it was only to ridicule it, or to express their doubts of its success. He was very poor, and, as one of his friends has since declared, had literally "to coin his mind for bread." His sturdy independence of character would not allow him to accept assistance from any one, although there were friends ready and even anxious to help him.