bition before the faculty of the New York University, which was an
occasion of much interest among the scientists of the metropolis.

Shortly thereafter the apparatus was taken to Philadelphia and exhibited
at the Franklin Institute, where he received the highest commendation
from the committee of science and arts, with a strong expression in
favor of government aid for the purpose of demonstrating the practical
usefulness of the system.

From Philadelphia, Morse removed his apparatus to Washington, where he
was permitted to demonstrate its operation before President Van Buren
and his Cabinet. Foreign ministers and members of both Houses of
Congress, as well, also, as prominent citizens, were invited to attend
the exhibition, and manifested much interest in the novelty of the
invention. A bill was introduced in Congress making an appropriation of
thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of providing for the erection of
an experimental line of telegraph between Washington and Baltimore, to
illustrate, by practical use, its general utility. The bill was in good
time favorably reported from the committee on commerce, but made no
further progress in that Congress. Similar bills were subsequently
introduced and diligently supported in each succeeding Congress, but it
was not until the very closing hour of the expiring session of 1843 that
the necessary enactment was effected and the appropriation secured.

The plan of construction devised by Professor Morse for the experimental
line of telegraph to be erected between Washington and Baltimore, under
the Congressional appropriation, provided for placing insulated wires in
a lead pipe underground. This was to be accomplished by the use of a
specially devised plough of peculiar construction, to be drawn by a
powerful team, by which means the pipe containing the electric
conductors was to be automatically deposited in the earth. This
apparatus was entirely successful in operation, and the pipe was thus
buried to the complete satisfaction of all concerned, at a cost very
much lower than the work could have been accomplished in any other
manner. Two wires were to be used to form a complete metallic circuit,
for at that time it was not known, as was shortly afterward discovered,
that the earth could be used to form one-half of the circuit. For
purposes of insulation the wires were neatly covered with cotton-yarn
and then saturated in a bath of hot gum-shellac, but this treatment
pr