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Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
175
The
apparatus
was
exhibited
at
the
Centennial
Exhibition,
Philadelphia,
in
1876,
and
at
the
meeting
of
the
British
Association
in
Glasgow,
during
the
autumn
of
that
year,
Sir
William
Thomson
revealed
its
existence
to
the
European
public.
In
describing
his
visit
to
the
Exhibition,
he
went
on
to
say:
'In
the
Canadian
department
I
heard,
"To
be
or
not
to
be...
there's
the
rub,"
through
an
electric
wire;
but,
scorning
monosyllables,
the
electric
articulation
rose
to
higher
flights,
and
gave
me
passages
taken
at
random
from
the
New
York
newspapers:
"s.s.
Cox
has
arrived"
(I
failed
to
make
out
the
s.s.
Cox);
"The
City
of
New
York,"
"Senator
Morton,"
"The
Senate
has
resolved
to
print
a
thousand
extra
copies,"
"The
Americans
in
London
have
resolved
to
celebrate
the
coming
Fourth
of
July!"
All
this
my
own
ears
heard
spoken
to
me
with
unmistakable
distinctness
by
the
then
circular
disc
armature
of
just
such
another
little
electro-magnet
as
this
I
hold
in
my
hand.'
To
hear
the
immortal
words
of
Shakespeare
uttered
by
the
small
inanimate
voice
which
had
been
given
to
the
world
must
indeed
have
been
a
rare
delight
to
the
ardent
soul
of
the
great
electrician.
The
surprise
created
among
the
public
at
large
by
this
unexpected
communication
will
be
readily
remembered.
Except
one
or
two
inventors,
nobody
had
ever
dreamed
of
a
telegraph
that
could
actually
speak,
any
more
than
they
had
ever
fancied
one
that
could
see
or
feel;
and
imagination
grew
busy
in
picturing
the
outcome
of
it.
Since
it
was
practically
equivalent
to
a
limitless
extension
of
the
vocal
powers,
the
ingenious
journalist
soon
conjured
up
an
infinity
of
uses
for
the
telephone,
and
hailed
the
approaching
time
when
ocean-parted
friends
would
be
able
to
whisper
to
one
another
under
the
roaring
billows
of
the
Atlantic.
Curiosity,
however,
was
not
fully
satisfied
until
Professor
Bell,
the
inventor
of
the
instrument,
himself
showed
it
to
British
audiences,
and
received
the
enthusiastic
applause
of
his
admiring
countrymen.
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