THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH SUGGESTED 228 YEARS AGO.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2318, 2 January 1890, Page 2

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH SUGGESTED 228 YEARS AGO.

Tho Rev Oaa^n Jackson, of Ljigh Delarnere, Ohippenham, writes aa follows to the Bath " Ch-oniole ": — * Joseph Glanville, sometimes called ' Saddccismus Triucflphatuß GHanvlll,' rector of Bath from 1666 to 1672, wag a lear ed writer upon abstrcae and mystical eubjacts, but to a style of whioh it la not always easy to catch the meaning. Id ode of bia treatises, called •TheVaniyof Dogm»tislng.' printed in 1661, chapter xxl., he Is epoiking of ' supposed impossibilities which may nof; be bo.' In the concluding oentenoe of the following passage he seems to have anticipated the eleotrlo tolegiaph :-—: But yet to advance anotaer imta .ca. lhat men should confer at very distant removes by an extemporary intercourse is a reputed imposdbiliiy; bub yet there are some hints la natural operations httglva as probability th%t 't!i feasible, and may be compassed wltbmt anwirraot able assistance from demojluo oonespondsrea. That a couple of needles equally touched by the aime magnet, being act in two dials, exactly proportioned to cash other, and clrcumaorlbed by the letters of the alphabet, may effect this '' magnale " [i c , important result] hath considerable authorities to evoach it. The unmoor of it is thas represented : Let the f elen-f • that would oommunloato take each adlal; and h»viug appointed a tlmo for tb.-.ir sympathetic conference, let one move hie impregnate needle o any letter In the alphabet, and its affeoted fellow will precisely respect tie same. So that wonld I know what my friend would acquaint me with, 'tis but observing the letters, that are pointed at by my needle, and In their order transcribing them from (heir sympathised Indax as It* motion direots ; and I moy be •«- »nredl that my friend described the lime with bis, a<ad that the words on my paper are of his inditing. Now, though there wM be some ill-contrivance in a oircumstance of this invention, in that the thus impregnate needles will not unve to, bat avert from, each other (as Ingenious Dr browDe hath observed), yet this cannot prejudice the main design of this way^ of aecrat conveyance; since it Is but reading counter to the magnetic informer, aad notice: the letter which is most distant in the Abecedarian circle, from that which the needle turns to, and the case is not alter'd. Now, though this desirable effect possibly may not yet answer the expectations of inquisitive experiment, yet 'tis no despicable i eca, that by Borne other tuch way of magneick fcflfbieocy, it m>y hereafter with tuccesa be attempted, when magical history shall be enlarged oy riper inspections; and 'tis not unlikely bat th*t present di coveries might beinproved to thu'performance."