war, and was cited as an illustration of the impar-
tiality with which American artists were treated
by England. The first portrait that he painted
abroad was of Leslie, who paid him a similar com-
pliment, and later he executed one of Zerah Col-
burn. He then set to work on an historical compo-
sition to be offered in competition for the highest
premium of the Royal academy, but, as he was
obliged to return to the United States in August,
1815, this project was abandoned. Settling in Bos-
ton, he opened a studio in that city, but, while
visitors were glad to admire his " Judgment of Ju-
piter," his patrons were few. Finding no oppor-
tunities for historic painting, he turned his atten-
tion to portraits during 1816-'17, visiting the larger
towns of Vermont and New Hampshire.
Meanwhile he was associated with his brother, .Sidney E. Morse, in the invention of an improved pump. In January, 1818. he went to Charleston, S. C, and there painted many portraits, his orders at one time exceeding 150 in number. On 18 Oct.. 1818, he married Lucretia Walker in Concord, M. H., but in the following winter he returned to Charleston, where he wrote "to his old preceptor, Washington AUston : " I am painting from morn- ing till night, and have continual applications." Among his orders was a commission from the city authorities for a portrait of James Monroe, then president of the United States, which he painted in Washington, and which, on its completion, was placed in the city hall of Charleston. In 1823 he settled in New York city, and after hiring as his studio '• a tine room on Broadway, opposite Trinity churchyard," he continued his painting of portraits, one of the first being that of Chancellor Kent, which was followed soon afterward by a pic- ture of Fitz-Greene Halleck, now in the Astor library, and a full-length portrait of Lafayette for the city of New York. During his residence there he became associated with other artists in found- ing the New York drawing association, of which he was made president. This led in 1826 to the estab- lishment of the National academy of the arts of de- sign, to include representations from the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture, and engraving. Morse was chosen its president, and so remained until 1842. He was likewise president of the Sketch club, an assemblage of artists that met weekly to sketch for an hour, after which the time was de- voted to social entertainment, including a supper of " milk and honey, raisins, apples, and crackers." About this time he delivered a series of lectures on " The Fine Arts " before the New York athenreum, which are said to have been the first on that subject in the United States. Thus he continued until 1829, when he again visited Europe for study, and for three years resided abroad, j^rincipally in Paris and the art centres of Italy.
During 1826-'7 Prof. James F. Dana lectured on electro-magnetism and electricity before the New York athenaeum. Mr. Morse was a regular attendant, and, being a friend of Prof. Dana, had frequent discussions with him on the subject of his lectures. But the first ideas of a practical applica- tion of electricity seem to have come to him while he was in Paris. James Fenimore Cooper refers to the event thus : " Our worthy friend first commu- nicated to us his ideas on the subject of using the electric spark by way of a telegraph. It was in Paris, and during the winter of 1831-'2." On 1 Oct., 1832, he sailed from Havre on the packet-ship " Sully " for New York, and among his fellow-pas- sengers was Charles T. Jackson {q. r.), then lately from the laboratories of the great French physi- cists, where he had made special studies in elec- tricity and magnetism. A conversation in the early part of the voyage turned on the recent experi- ments of Ampere with the electro-magnet. When the question whether the velocity of electricity is re- tarded by the length of the wire was asked. Dr. Jack- son replied, referring to Benjamin Franklin's experi- ments, that " electricity passes instantaneously over any known length of wire." Morse then said : " If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by elec- tricity." The idea took fast hold of him, and thenceforth all his energy was devoted to the devel- opment of the electric telegraph. He said : " If it will go ten miles without stopping, 1 can make it go around the globe." At once, while on board the vessel, he set to work and devised the dot-and-dash alphabet. The electro-magnetic and chemical re- cording telegraph essentially as it now exists was planned and drawn on shipboard, but he did not produce his working model till 1835 nor his relay till later. His brothers placed at his disposal a room on the fifth floor of the building on the cor- ner of Nassau and Beekman streets, which he used as his studio, workshop, bedchamber, and kitchen. In this room, with his own hands, he first cut his models : then from these he made the moulds and castings, and in the lathe, with the graver's tools, he gave them polish and finish. In 1835 he was appointed professor of the literature of the arts of design in the University of the city of New York, and he .occupied front rooms on the third floor in the north wing of the university build- ing, looking out on Washington square. Here he made his apparatus, "made as it was," he says, " and completed before the first of the year 1836. I was enabled to and did mark down telegraphic in- telligible signs, and to make and did make distin- guishable signs for telegraphing ; and. having ar- rived at that point. I exhibited it to some of my friends early in that year, and among others to Prof. Leonard D. Gale." His discovery of the relay in 1835 made it possilile for him to re-enforce the current after it had become feeble owing to its dis- tance from the source, thus making possible trans- mission from one point on a main line, through great distances, by a single act of a single operator. In 1836-'7 he directed his experiments mainly to modifying the marking apparatus, and later in varying the modes of uniting, experimenting with plumbago and various kinds of inks or coloring- matter, substituting a pen for a pencil, and devis- ing a mode of writing on a whole sheet of paper instead of on a strip of ribbon. In September, 1837, the instrument was shown in the cabinet of the university to numei-ous visitors, operating through a circuit of 1.700 feet of wire that ran back and forth in that room. At this time the appara- tus, which is shown in the accompanying illustra- tion, was described by Prof. Leonard I). Gale as consisting of a train of clock-wheels to regulate the motion of a strip of paper about one and a half inches wide ; three cylinders of wood, A, B, and C, over which the paper passed, and which were con- trolled by the clock-work D that was moved by the weight E. A wooden pendulum, F, was suspended over the centre of the cylinder B. In the lower part of the pendulum was fixed a case in which a pencil moved easily and was kept in contact with the paper by a light weight g. At h was an electro- magnet, whose armature was fixed on the pendu- lum. The wire from the helices of the magnet passed to one pole of the battery I, and the other to the cup of mercury at K. The other pole of the battery was connected by a wire to the other cup of
