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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
12
CHAPTER
II.
CHARLES
WHEATSTONE.
The
electric
telegraph,
like
the
steam-engine
and
the
railway,
was
a
gradual
development
due
to
the
experiments
and
devices
of
a
long
train
of
thinkers.
In
such
a
case
he
who
crowns
the
work,
making
it
serviceable
to
his
fellow-men,
not
only
wins
the
pecuniary
prize,
but
is
likely
to
be
hailed
and
celebrated
as
the
chief,
if
not
the
sole
inventor,
although
in
a
scientific
sense
the
improvement
he
has
made
is
perhaps
less
than
that
of
some
ingenious
and
forgotten
forerunner.
He
who
advances
the
work
from
the
phase
of
a
promising
idea,
to
that
of
a
common
boon,
is
entitled
to
our
gratitude.
But
in
honouring
the
keystone
of
the
arch,
as
it
were,
let
us
acknowledge
the
substructure
on
which
it
rests,
and
keep
in
mind
the
entire
bridge.
Justice
at
least
is
due
to
those
who
have
laboured
without
reward.
Sir
William
Fothergill
Cooke
and
Sir
Charles
Wheatstone
were
the
first
to
bring
the
electric
telegraph
into
daily
use.
But
we
have
selected
Wheatstone
as
our
hero,
because
he
was
eminent
as
a
man
of
science,
and
chiefly
instrumental
in
perfecting
the
apparatus.
As
James
Watt
is
identified
with
the
steam-engine,
and
George
Stephenson
with
the
railway,
so
is
Wheatstone
with
the
telegraph.
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