e apparatus and the scientific information which made cables
possible, but he attained renown as a physicist and a scientist in
many other fields. In 1892 he was given the title of Lord Kelvin, and
it was by this name that he was known as the leading physicist of his
day. He survived until 1907.

To Cyrus W. Field must be assigned a very large share of the credit
for the establishment of telegraphic communication between the
continents. He gave his fortune and all of his tremendous energy and
ability to the enterprise and kept it alive through failure after
failure. He was a promoter of the highest type, the business man who
recognized a great human need and a great opportunity for service.
Without his efforts the scientific discoveries of Thomson could
scarcely have been put to practical use.

The success of the first cable inspired others. In 1869 a cable from
France to the United States was laid from the _Great Eastern_. In 1875
the Direct United States Cable Company laid another cable to England,
which was followed by another cable to France. One cable after another
was laid until there are now a score. This second great development in
communication served to bring the two continents much closer together
in business and in thought and has proved of untold benefit.

XI

ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, THE YOUTH

The Family's Interest in Speech Improvement--Early Life-Influence of
Sir Charles Wheatstone--He Comes to America--Visible Speech and the
Mohawks--The Boston School for Deaf Mutes--The Personality of Bell.

The men of the Bell family, for three generations, have interested
themselves in human speech. The grandfather, the father, and the
uncle of Alexander Graham Bell were all elocutionists of note. The
grandfather achieved fame in London; the uncle, in Dublin; and the
father, in Edinburgh. The father applied himself particularly to
devising means of instructing the deaf in speech. His book on _Visible
Speech_ explained his method of instructing deaf mutes in speech by
the aid of their sight, and of teaching them to understand the speech
of others by watching their lips as the words are spoken.

Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh in 1847, and received
his early education in the schools of that city. He later studied
at Warzburg, Germany, where he received the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. He followed very naturally in the footsteps of his father,
taking an early interest in the stu