Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
33
It
is
not
evident
that
Morse
had
any
distinct
idea
of
the
electric
telegraph
in
these
days;
but
amidst
his
lessons
in
literature
and
philosophy
he
took
a
special
interest
in
the
sciences
of
electricity
and
chemistry.
He
became
acquainted
with
the
voltaic
battery
through
the
lectures
of
his
friend,
Professor
Sieliman;
and
we
are
told
that
during
one
of
his
vacations
at
Yale
he
made
a
series
of
electrical
experiments
with
Dr.
Dwight.
Some
years
later
he
resumed
these
studies
under
his
friend
Professor
James
Freeman
Dana,
of
the
University
of
New
York,
who
exhibited
the
electro-magnet
to
his
class
in
1827,
and
also
under
Professor
Renwick,
of
Columbia
College.
Art
seems
to
have
had
an
equal
if
not
a
greater
charm
than
science
for
Morse
at
this
period.
A
boy
of
fifteen,
he
made
a
water-colour
sketch
of
his
family
sitting
round
the
table;
and
while
a
student
at
Yale
he
relieved
his
father,
who
was
far
from
rich,
of
a
part
of
his
education
by
painting
miniatures
on
ivory,
and
selling
them
to
his
companions
at
five
dollars
a-piece.
Before
he
was
nineteen
he
completed
a
painting
of
the
'Landing
of
the
Pilgrims
at
Plymouth,'
which
formerly
hung
in
the
office
of
the
Mayor,
at
Charlestown,
Massachusetts.
On
graduating
at
Yale,
in
1810,
he
devoted
himself
to
Art,
and
became
a
pupil
of
Washington
Allston,
the
well-known
American
painter.
He
accompanied
Allston
to
Europe
in
1811,
and
entered
the
studio
of
Benjamin
West,
who
was
then
at
the
zenith
of
his
reputation.
The
friendship
of
West,
with
his
own
introductions
and
agreeable
personality,
enabled
him
to
move
in
good
society,
to
which
he
was
always
partial.
William
Wilberforce,
Zachary
Macaulay,
father
of
the
historian,
Coleridge,
and
Copley,
were
among
his
acquaintances.
Leslie,
the
artist,
then
a
struggling
genius
like
himself,
was
his
fellow-lodger.
His
heart
was
evidently
in
the
profession
of
his
choice.
'My
passion
for
my
art,'
he
wrote
to
his
mother,
in
1812,
'is
so
firmly
rooted
that
I
am
confident
no
human
power
could
destroy
it.
The
more
I
study
the
greater
I
think
is
its
claim
to
the
appellation
of
divine.
I
am
now
going
to
begin
a
picture
of
the
death
of
Hercules
the
figure
to
be
as
large
as
life.'
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
