登陆注册
15401500000032

第32章

AGENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is one of man's primal needs.There was indeed a time when no formula of language existed, when men communicated with each other by means of gestures, grimaces, guttural sounds, or rude images of things seen; but it is impossible to conceive of a time when men had no means of communication at all.And at last, after long ages, men evolved in sound the names of the things they knew and the forms of speech; ages later, the alphabet and the art of writing; ages later still, those wonderful instruments of extension for the written and spoken word: the telegraph, the telephone, the modern printing press, the phonograph, the typewriter, and the camera.

The word "telegraph" is derived from Greek and means "to write far"; so it is a very exact word, for to write far is precisely what we do when we send a telegram.The word today, used as a noun, denotes the system of wires with stations and operators and messengers, girdling the earth and reaching into every civilized community, whereby news is carried swiftly by electricity.But the word was coined long before it was discovered that intelligence could be communicated by electricity.It denoted at first a system of semaphores, or tall poles with movable arms, and other signaling apparatus, set within sight of one another.

There was such a telegraph line between Dover and London at the time of Waterloo; and this telegraph began relating the news of the battle, which had come to Dover by ship, to anxious London, when a fog set in and the Londoners had to wait until a courier on horseback arrived.And, in the very years when the real telegraph was coming into being, the United States Government, without a thought of electricity, was considering the advisability of setting up such a system of telegraphs in the United States.

The telegraph is one of America's gifts to the world.The honor for this invention falls to Samuel Finley Breese Morse, a New Englander of old Puritan stock.Nor is the glory that belongs to Morse in any way dimmed by the fact that he made use of the discoveries of other men who had been trying to unlock the secrets of electricity ever since Franklin's experiments.If Morse discovered no new principle, he is nevertheless the man of all the workers in electricity between his own day and Franklin's whom the world most delights to honor; and rightly so, for it is to such as Morse that the world is most indebted.Others knew;Morse saw and acted.Others had found out the facts, but Morse was the first to perceive the practical significance of those facts; the first to take steps to make them of service to his fellows; the first man of them all with the pluck and persistence to remain steadfast to his great design, through twelve long years of toil and privation, until his countrymen accepted his work and found it well done.

Morse was happy in his birth and early training.He was born in 1791, at Charlestown, Massachusetts.His father was a Congregational minister and a scholar of high standing, who, by careful management, was able to send his three sons to Yale College.Thither went young Samuel (or Finley, as he was called by his family) at the age of fourteen and came under the influence of Benjamin Silliman, Professor of Chemistry, and of Jeremiah Day, Professor of Natural Philosophy, afterwards President of Yale College, whose teaching gave him impulses which in later years led to the invention of the telegraph."Mr.Day's lectures are very interesting," the young student wrote home in 1809; "they are upon electricity; he has given us some very fine experiments, the whole class taking hold of hands form the circuit of communication and we all receive the shock apparently at the same moment." Electricity, however, was only an alluring study.It afforded no means of livelihood, and Morse had gifts as an artist; in fact, he earned a part of his college expenses painting miniatures at five dollars apiece.He decided, therefore, that art should be his vocation.

A letter written years afterwards by Joseph M.Dulles of Philadelphia, who was at New Haven preparing for Yale when Morse was in his senior year, is worth reading here:

"I first became acquainted with him at New Haven, when about to graduate with the class of 1810, and had such an association as a boy preparing for college might have with a senior who was just finishing his course.Having come to New Haven under the care of Rev.Jedidiah Morse, the venerable father of the three Morses, all distinguished men, I was commended to the protection of Finley, as he was then commonly designated, and therefore saw him frequently during the brief period we were together.The father Iregard as the gravest man I ever knew.He was a fine exemplar of the gentler type of the Puritan, courteous in manner, but stern in conduct and in aspect.He was a man of conflict, and a leader in the theological contests in New England in the early part of this century.Finley, on the contrary, bore the expression of gentleness entirely.In person rather above the ordinary height, well formed, graceful in demeanor, with a complexion, if Iremember right, slightly ruddy, features duly proportioned, and often lightened with a genial and expressive smile.He was, altogether, a handsome young man, with manners unusually bland.

It is needless to add that with intelligence, high culture, and general information, and with a strong bent to the fine arts, Mr.

Morse was in 1810 an attractive young man.During the last year of his college life he occupied his leisure hours, with a view to his self-support, in taking the likenesses of his fellow-students on ivory, and no doubt with success, as he obtained afterward a very respectable rank as a portrait-painter.Many pieces of his skill were afterward executed in Charleston, South Carolina."** Prime, "The Life of Samuel F.B.Morse, LL.D.", p.26.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 那年我们所未知的风的颜色

    那年我们所未知的风的颜色

    孟飞扬,大四学霸一枚,爱脑补,爱自得其乐。外表温良,性格倔强,血液里暗涌着女汉子的野性。在考研之路上艰苦卓绝,但同样渴望刻骨铭心的爱情。认识凤同学之前,飞扬的朋友只有比她优秀百倍的表弟明正扬,和身为学生会主席的好哥们蒋渊。凤同学身边有一位叫Canon的帅哥,混血贵公子,号称“无差别千人斩”,两人之间却有着令人震惊的秘密。大四这一年,大家都怀揣梦想,演绎了多段复杂的感情,但故事远没有这么简单,演员在一个个登台,真相在一帧帧展开,错综关系在一幕幕揭晓……小说涉及大学毕业生的各种心理探讨,有你想过的高尚与卑劣、正常与变态、百合与11……总之,是一部很严肃的小说,可不仅仅只是噱头哦。(笑)
  • 夏纪年

    夏纪年

    同样的,又是一个宁静且安详的下午,阳光透过纱幔缓缓地披在地板上,空气中还透着丝丝凉意,但一站在阳光下就没了,这就是春天的美好。还记得春天刚刚到来的时候,天气还没有完全放晴,整个世界就像是笼罩在巨大的灰色幕布之下,然后就是一连几个星期的阴雨绵绵,若有若无的会让人有着沉甸感,头会昏昏的,眨几下眼睛,世界又变化了那么千万分之一。我们这样的年纪,感时伤秋的是不是有些早了?可是心中的那股落寞又该怎样去处理。我记得那年夏天,还有那场秋雨。
  • 白沙语录

    白沙语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 虚无大帝

    虚无大帝

    身怀神秘宫殿,修炼至高武学,坐拥美人。但不甘寂寞,返回上古英雄并起的年代,一手宫殿镇压四方,一杆万灵笔点化虚空,上古诸神颤抖吧!
  • 我爱你李小凡

    我爱你李小凡

    前六章的小说不要看了,我要写新书。15年前的那一天她的爸爸妈妈吵架了,她想尽办法让自己的爸爸妈妈和好,她劝了爸爸很久让他向妈妈道歉。爸爸依旧是不理不睬专注地画着他的画画,后来她又想去找妈妈让妈妈原谅他,那一天下的大雨。却看见妈妈急匆匆的要开车出去,他于是也跟上了偷悄悄的躲在车子里面的后面爬着不敢让自己出声。不知不觉已经睡着了。却发生了意想不到的事…………………(具体是什么会写在小说里)
  • 乱世小相

    乱世小相

    我叫田明,田地的田,明天的明。这是个兵荒马乱的年代,田要被人踩,也要被马啃,为了活下去,我唯有奋起。后唐很短,契丹很坏,西域很狂,蜀地很美,后晋很乱。我来自布衣,却也昌盛布衣。我不是相爷,却胜过相爷。
  • 卧底学校

    卧底学校

    一个从出生就被父母遗弃的男孩,被一个孤儿的院长收养并取名为萧宁,萧宁在孤儿院渐渐长大。一天一个陌生人的到来打破了这份平静,他利用孤儿院的危机带走了萧宁去了一个陌生的地方,从此改变了萧宁的一生,他将萧宁训练成一个武功高强的卧底,参加扫除一个黑社会组织的行动,在卧底生活中发生惊险刺激的事件也让萧宁遇上了他愿意陪伴一生的女人。
  • 总裁专属,老婆超可人!

    总裁专属,老婆超可人!

    叶紫衣八岁的时候见到了比自己大三岁的向炀,那时候她就觉得他很讨厌,不是揪她辫子,就是抓昆虫吓唬她,却没想到,十年后,他还是一样讨厌,天天欺负她!当向橙告诉她他喜欢她的时候,她觉得她疯了!要是他对她十年来那些恶劣的所作所为是因为喜欢的话,那她还是求求他,别再喜欢她了吧!她故意在他面前装丑,他讨厌吃的她就做给他吃,他不喜欢别人碰他的东西她就是乱碰,就连他半夜看成人动作片的事情,她都给他好好宣传了一遍,她都破罐子破摔了,他应该不喜欢她了吧?…………弄巧成拙篇:“你说我喜欢你?”“嗯哼!”“所以你最近的所作所为是为了让我不喜欢你?”“嗯哼!”“很好,你赢了,我从现在这一刻开始喜欢你了!”“嗯哼……等等!你刚刚说什么?!”…………奴隶女友篇:“宝贝,给我捶一下肩膀,酸。”“好咧!”“宝贝,给我拿双拖鞋。”“好咧!”“宝贝,有点闷,给我跳支舞吧!”“好……咧!”“宝贝,我饿了,过来给我亲亲!”“姓向的你别太过分,我也是有尊严的,不是你说要干嘛我就得干嘛!”“那你现在给不给亲?”“好,马上来!”…………怀孕篇:“老公,我想吃蛋挞,你给我买好不好?”“好!”“老公,我想吃炸鸡,你给我买好不好?”“好!”“老公,我想吃你,你给我吃好不好?”“老婆,别忘了你肚子里还有三个宝宝!”“那你现在给不给吃了?”“给,必须给!”说完,长臂往她嘴边一伸,她张开嘴,大咬一口!…………完结推荐:《老婆,咱不签字!》http://novel.hongxiu.com/a/572678/《老婆,宠宠我吧》http://novel.hongxiu.com/a/293612/
  • 何氏虚劳心传

    何氏虚劳心传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 末世追美记

    末世追美记

    穿越了,孔圣很不解。为什么别人都是穿到古代,坐拥娇妻美妾,笑看江山如画,而他却穿到了鸟不生蛋的未来世界?这个世界,与其说是末世,不如说是很特别的都市。物竞天择,适者生存,是这个世界的基本规则。当然,至少有一点孔圣感到很高兴,在这个世界,初中毕业的他,完全称得上文武双全了。不管怎么说,这一世,他要为自己而活,要活的精彩,要活的疯狂。有人挡住他前进道路,杀!有人阻挡他追求梦想,杀!二十一世纪强悍的灵魂,绝不可能甘心做别人眼中的弱者,更不可能成为所谓的低等人类!无论谁敢这么说,那就让他去死!