MOESE 849 Revolution" (Hartford, 1824) ; and 25 ser mons and addresses on special occasions. His "ife has been written by the Rev. William B >prague, D. D. (New York, 1874). II, Sam Finley Breese, an American artist and in- ventor, eldest son of the preceding, born in ^harlestown, Mass., April 27, 1791, died in Tew York, April 2, 1872. He graduated at r ale college in 1810, and went to England nth Washington Allston in 1811 to study ainting under his tuition and that of Benja- min West. In 1813 he received the gold med- al of the Adelphi society of arts for an origi- nal model of a "Dying Hercules," his firsl attempt at sculpture. He returned to the Uni- ted States in 1815, practised his profession in Boston and in Charleston, S. C., and removed to New York in 1822. In 1824-'5, in connec- tion with other artists, he organized a drawing association, which resulted in the establish- ment in 1826 of the "National Academy of Design." Morse was chosen its first presi- dent, and was continued in that office for 16 years. In 1829 he visited Europe, a second time to complete his studies in art, residing for more than three years in the principal cities of the continent. During his absence abroad he was elected professor of the literature of the arts of design in the university of the city of New York ; and in 1885 he delivered a course of lectures before that institution on the affinity of those arts. While in college Mr. Morse had paid special attention to chemistry and natural philosophy; and these sciences at length became a dominant pursuit with him. In 1826-'7 Prof. J. Freeman Dana had been a colleague lecturer in the city of New York with Mr. Morse at the Athenaum, the former lecturing upon electro-magnetism and the latter upon the fine arts. They were inti- mate friends, and in their conversations the subject of electro-magnetism was made familiar to the mind of Morse. The electro-magnet on Sturgeon's principle (the first ever shown in the United States) was exhibited and explained in Dana's lectures, and at a later date, by gift of Prof. Torrey, came into Morse's possession. Dana even then suggested by his spiral volute coil the electro-magnet of the present day; this was the magnet in use when Morse re- turned from Europe, and it is now used in every Morse telegraph throughout both hemi- spheres. He embarked in the autumn of 1832 at Havre on board the packet ship Sully ; and in a casual conversation with some of the pas- sengers on the then recent discovery in France of the means of obtaining the electric spark from the magnet, showing the identity or re- lation of electricity and magnetism, Morse's mind conceived not merely the idea of an elec- tric telegraph, but of an electro-magnetic and chemical recording telegraph, substantially and essentially as it now exists. The testimony to the paternity of the idea in Morse's mind and to his acts and drawings on board the ship is ample. His own testimony is corroborated by all the passengers (with a single exception) who testified with him before the courts, and was considered conclusive by the judges and the year 1832 is therefore fixed as the date of Morse's conception, and realization also, so far as drawings could embody the conception, of the telegraph system which now bears his name. (See JACKSON, CHARLES THOMAS.) A part of the apparatus was constructed in New York before the close of 1832, but circumstan- ces prevented its completion before 1835, when he put up a half mile of wire in coils around a room and exhibited a telegraph in operation. In September, 1837, he exhibited the operation of his system in the university of New York. From the greater publicity of this exhibition, the date of Morse's invention has erroneously been fixed in the autumn of 1837, whereas he operated successfully with the first single in- strument in November, 1835. In 1837 he filed his caveat in the patent office in Washington, and asked congress for aid to build an experi- mental line from that city to Baltimore. The house committee on commerce gave a favorable report, but the session closed without action, and Morse went to Europe in hope of interest- ing foreign governments in his invention. The result was a refusal to grant him letters patent in England, and the obtaining of a useless brevet (^invention in France, and no exclusive privi- lege in any other country. He returned home to struggle again with scanty means for four years, during which he continued his appeals at Washington. His hope had expired on the last evening of the session of 1842-'3 ; but in the morning, March 4, he was startled with the announcement that the desired aid of congress had been obtained in the midnight hour of the expiring session, and $30,000 placed at his dis- posal for his experimental essay between Wash- ington and Baltimore. In 1844 the work was completed, and demonstrated to the world the practicability and the utility of the Morse sys- tem of electro-magnetic telegraphs. (See TEL- EGRAPH.) Violations of his patents and the assumption of his rights by rival companies involved him in a long series of lawsuits ; but these were eventually decided in his favor, and he reaped the benefits to which his invention entitled him. It is doubtful if any American ever before received so many marks of distinc- tion. In 1846 Yale college conferred on him the degree of LL. D. ; and in 1848 he received the decoration of the Nishan Iftikar in dia- monds from the sultan of Turkey. Gold med- ils of scientific merit were awarded him by the dng of Prussia, the king of Wiirtemberg, and
- he emperor of Austria. In 1856 he received
! rom the emperor of the French the cross of chevalier of the legion of honor ; in 1857 from
- he king of Denmark the cross of knight com-
mander of the first class of the Danebrog; in 1858 from the queen of Spain the cross of might commander of the order of Isabella the Catholic ; from the king of Italy the cross of the order of SS. Maurice and Lazarus, and from
