rs is at least not sensibly diminished by
passing through a long wire,' and he incidentally noted the bearing of
this fact upon the project of an electro-magnetic telegraph [semaphore?].

"In more recent papers, first published in 1857, it appears that
Professor Henry demonstrated before his pupils the practicability of
ringing a bell, by means of electro-magnetism, at a distance."

Whether Professor Blake was satisfied with this change from the original
manuscript is not recorded. Morse evidently thought that he had made the
_amende honorable_, but Henry, coldly proud man that he was, still held
aloof from a reconciliation, for I have been informed that he even
refused to be present at the memorial services held in Washington after
the death of Morse.

In a letter of May 10, 1869, to Dr. Leonard Gale, some interesting facts
concerning the reading by sound are given:--

"The fact that the lever action of the earliest instrument of 1835 by its
click gave the sound of the numerals, as embodied in the original type,
is well known, nor is there anything so remarkable in that result....
When you first saw the instrument in 1836 this was so obvious that it
scarcely excited more than a passing remark, but, after the adaptation of
the dot and space, with the addition of the line or dash, in forming the
alphabetic signs (which, as well as I can remember, was about the same
date, late in 1835 or early in 1836) then I noticed that the different
letters had each their own individual sounds, and could also be
distinguished from each other by the sound. The fact did not then appear
to me to be of any great importance, seeming to be more curious than
useful, yet, in reflecting upon it, it seemed desirable to secure this
result by specifying it in my letters patent, lest it might be used as an
_evasion_ in indicating my novel alphabet without recording it. Hence the
_sounds_ as well as the imprinted signs were specified in my letters
patent.

"As to the time when these sounds were _practically_ used, I am unable to
give a precise date. I have a distinct recollection of one case, and
proximately the date of it. The time of the incident was soon after the
line was extended from Philadelphia to Washington, having a way station
at Wilmington, Delaware. The Washington office was in the old
post-office, in the room above it. I was in the operating room. The
instruments were for a moment silent. I was standing at some distance
near the f