messages letter by letter, in the ordinary Roman characters, under the direction of an operator stationed at a distant city![1]
The Spirit's education was not yet considered to be complete—he had to acquire another accomplishment. He could communicate intelligence by means of moving needles and revolving dials, by written dots and printed characters, but he could not yet imitate the handwriting of the individual who forwarded the message. An ingenious gentleman now took him in hand, and soon made him an expert copyist. We can now write a letter, have it copied at a remote town in a minute or less, and receive a reply in our correspondent's handwriting, almost as soon as the ink is dry with which it was penned![2]
The philosopher Thales wondered to see certain minute bodies fly towards a piece of amber; but how great would have been his astonishment had some superior intelligence informed him that the invisible being which moved the particles would one day be taught to trace figures upon paper exactly like those just written by some one far away! We will not attempt to explain the action of the Spirit's magic copying-press, as it would lead us too far into the dark domain of chemistry.
A hundred systems of communication might be enumerated in addition to those we have noticed,
