icate of his
instrument at the other end of his wire, but he was unable for a long
time 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 his signals to the remote end of his line and
receive replies in return, and answer signals sent from that terminus.
Having brought it to a successful completion, he exhibited it to large
audiences at the University of New York, in September, 1837. In October,
1837, Professor Morse filed a caveat to secure his invention, but his
patent was not obtained until 1840.

He now entered upon that period of the inventor's life which has proved
so disastrous to many, and so wearying and disheartening to all--the
effort to bring his invention into general use. It was commonly believed
that, although the invention was successful when used for such short
distances as had been tried in the City of New York, it would fail when
tested by longer lines. Morse was confident, however, that this was not
the case, and in December, 1837, he went to Washington to solicit from
the Government an appropriation for the construction of an experimental
line from Washington City to Baltimore--a distance of forty miles. This
line he declared would thoroughly test the practicability and utility of
the telegraph. His petition was laid before Congress, and a committee
appointed to consider it. He stated his plan to this body, and proved
its practicability by actual experiments with his instruments.
Considerable interest in the subject was thus 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. This was especially the case in Congress, and it was
very uncertain whether that body would sustain the report from the
committee in favor of the invention. The session wore away in this
manner, and at length ended without any action being taken in the
matter.

Having failed to secure the assistance of Congress, Professor Morse went
to Europe in the spring of 1838, for the purpose of enlisting the aid of
the governments there in bringing his invention into use. He was
unsuccessful. In England a patent was refused him, and in France he
merely obtained a worthless _brevet d'invention._ He tried several other
countries, but