Back to Europe went Morse in 1829 to pursue his profession and
perfect himself in it by three years' further study. Then came
the crisis. Homeward bound on the ship Sully in the autumn of
1832, Morse fell into conversation with some scientific men who
were on board. One of the passengers asked this question: "Is the
velocity of electricity reduced by the length of its conducting
wire?" To which his neighbor replied that electricity passes
instantly over any known length of wire and referred to
Franklin's experiments with several miles of wire, in which no
appreciable time elapsed between a touch at one end and a spark
at the other.
Here was a fact already well known. Morse must have known it
himself. But the tremendous significance of that fact had never
before occurred to him nor, so far as he knew, to any man. A
recording telegraph! Why not? Intelligence delivered at one end
of a wire instantly recorded at the other end, no matter how long
the wire! It might reach across the continent or even round the
earth. The idea set his mind on fire.
Home again in November, 1832, Morse found himself on the horns of
a dilemma. To give up his profession meant that he would have no
income; on the other hand, how could he continue wholeheartedly
painting pictures while consumed with the idea of the telegraph?
The idea would not down; yet he must live; and there were his
three motherless children in New Haven.
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