MORSE
MORSE
painting under Allston, West and Copley. In
1313 he exhibited a colossal painting of the
'• Dying Hercules" at the Royal academy, where
it received honorable mention, and the same year
piesented a model in clay of the same subject
to the Society of Arts in comj)etition, and received
the prize medal for the best original cast of a sin-
gle figure. In July, lbl4, he completed a painting
of " The Judgment of Jupiter in the Case of
Apollo, Marpesa and Idas." and sent it to the
Royal Academy for exhibition. He returned to
America in 1815, and his picture was rejected on
account of his absence. He en;^aged in portrait
painting in Boston, Mass., and in Charleston,
S.C. He was married, Oct. 6, 1818, to Lucretia,
daughter of Cliarles Walker of Concord, N.H.,
by whom he had children. Charles Walker, Susan
and James Edward Finley. In 1819 he painted a
portrait of James Monroe at Washington, D.C.,
which was placetl in the City Hall at Charleston.
He removed to New York city and established a
studio on Broadway, opposite Trinity church,
where he painted portraits of Cliancellor Kent,
Fitz Greene Halleck and a full length portrait of
General Lafayette for the city of New York. He
founded the New York Drawing association and
was elected its first president ; was the first pres-
ident of the newly established National Academy
of Design, 183ft^-43 ; was president of the Sketch
club, and delivered a course of lectures on " The
Fine Arts " before the New York Athenaeum. In
1829 he traveled and studied in London, Paris
and Italy. While in Paris he produced a canvas
on which he depicted in miniature fifty of the
finest pictures in the Louvre. He returned to the
United States in 1832, on the packet-ship Sully,
and on the voyage the subject of electro-magnet-
ism and the affinity of magnetism to electricity
became a frequent topic of discussion, several of
the passengers being well versed in science. Mr.
Morse became impressed with the idea that signs,
representing figures and letters, might be trans-
mitted to any distance by means of an electric
spark over an insulated wire, and on his arrival
in New York city, making use of the electro-
magnet invented by Prof. Joseph Henry (q.v.)
of Princeton, N.J., he began to develop the use
of his pro|K)8ed alphabet. He devised a system
of dots and spaces to represent letters and words,
to be interpreted by a telegraphic dictionary.
He was professor of the literature of the arts of
design in the University of the City of New York,
1832-72, and it was in the University building on
Washington square that he completed his experi-
ments, with the help and advice of Professor
Henry, with whom he was in correspondence.
The models were made of a picture frame, fas-
tened to a table ; the wheels of a wooden clock
moved by a weight carried the paper forward ;
three wooden drums guided and held the paper
in place ; a wooden pendulum containing a pen-
cil at its iK)wer end was suspended from the
top of the frame and vibrated across the paper as
it passed over the center wooden drum. An elec-
tro-magnet was fastened to a shelf across the
frame opiX)site an armature made fast to the
pendulum ; a type rule and type for breaking the
circuit rested on an endless bank which i)assed
over two wooden rollers moved by a crank, this
rule being carried forward by teeth projecting
from its lower edge into the band ; a lever with a
small weight attached, and a tooth projecting
downward at one end was operated on by the
type, and a metallic form projected downward
over two mercury cups. A short circuit of wire
embraced the helices of the electro-magnet and
connected with the poles of the battery, and ter-
minated in the mercury cups. By turning the
wooden crank the type in the rule raised one end
of the lever and by bringing the fork into the mer-
cury it closed the circuit causing the pendulum
to move and the pencil to mark upon the paper.
The circuit was broken when the tooth in the
lever fell into the first two cogs of the types, and
the pendulum swinging back made another mark.
As the spaces between the types caused the pen-
cil to make liorizontal lines long or short, Mr.
Morse was able, with tlie aid of his telegraphic
dictionary, to spell out words and to produce
sounds that could be read. The perfected idea was
heartily endorsed by those to whom he exhibited
it, and after many improvements in the details
he published the results of his exj>eriments in the
New York Observer, April 15, 1837. In the sum-
mer of 1837 Alfred Vail (q.v.) became interested
in the instrument and advanced the means to
enable Morse to manufacture a more perfectly con-
structed apparatus. In September, 1837, Morse
filed an application for a patent and endeavored
to obtain from congress the right to experiment
between Wash-
ington and
Baltimore. He
went to Europe
to obtain aid,
but did not ,
meet with suc-
cess. He re-
turned to the
United States in May, 1839, and it was not until
March 3, 1843, just before the close of the session
that he obtained from the 47th congress an ap-
propriation of $30,000 for experimental purposes,
the first vote standing 90 ayes to 82 nays. He
at once began work on his line from Washing-
ton to Baltimore, which was partially com-
pleted May 1, 1844, and the first message trans-
mitted a part of the way by wire was the an-
«0R5t
TrLECRArH
Receive II
1644
