Thus the telegraph returned in its
elements to the form of Professor Henry's original bell telegraph.

With his bell telegraph and his relay Henry had the elements of a
successful system. He failed, however, to develop them practically or
to introduce them to the attention of the public. He was the man of
science rather than the practical inventor. Alfred Vail, joining with
Morse after the latter had conceived the telegraph, but before
his apparatus was in practical form, was a tireless and invaluable
mechanical assistant. His inventions of apparatus were of the utmost
practical value, and he played a very large part in bringing the
telegraph to a form where it could serve man effectively. After
success had been won Morse did not extend to Vail the credit which it
seems was his due.

Yet, though Morse made free use of the ideas and assistance of others,
he was richly deserving of a major portion of the fame and the rewards
that came to him as inventor of the telegraph. Morse was the directing
genius; he contributed the idea and the leadership, and bore the brunt
of the burdens when all was most discouraging.

Honors were heaped upon Morse both at home and abroad as his telegraph
established itself in all parts of the world. Orders of knighthood,
medals, and decorations were conferred upon him. Though he had failed
to secure foreign patents, many of the foreign governments recognized
the value of his invention, and France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands,
Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and some smaller nations joined in paying him
a testimonial of four hundred thousand francs. It is to be noticed
that Great Britain did not join in this testimonial, though Morse's
system had been adopted there in preference to the one developed by
Wheatstone.

In 1871 a statue of Morse was erected in Central Park, New York
City. It was in the spring of the next year that another statue was
unveiled, this time one of Benjamin Franklin, and Morse presided at
the ceremonies. The venerable man received a tremendous ovation on
this occasion, but the cold of the day proved too great a strain upon
him. He contracted a cold which eventually resulted in his death on
April 2, 1872.

While extended consideration cannot be given here to the telegraphic
inventions of Thomas A. Edison, no discussion of the telegraph should
close without at least some mention of his work in this field. Edison
started his career as a telegrapher, and his first inventions we