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Page 23
Of course, my first visit the next morning was to Mr. McLane to make
my report. By this time I had become almost as enthusiastic as Mr.
Morse himself, and repeated what had passed between us. I soon saw
that Mr. McLane was becoming as eager for the construction of the line
to Washington as Mr. Morse could desire. He entered warmly into the
spirit of the thing, and laughed heartily, if not incredulously, when
I told him that although he had been Minister to England, Secretary of
State, and Secretary of the Treasury, his name would be forgotten,
while that of Morse would never cease to be remembered with gratitude
and praise. We then considered the question as to the right of the
company to permit the line to be laid in the bed of the road--the plan
of construction at that time being to bury in a trench some eight or
ten inches deep a half inch leaden tube containing the wrapped wire
that was to form the electric circuit. About this there was, in my
opinion, no doubt, and it was not long after that the work of
construction commenced. I met Mr. Morse from time to time while he
lived, and often recurred to the evening's discussion at my house in
Baltimore.
The above is the substance of what I have more than once related to
other persons. I hope you will persist in your design of putting on
paper your own very interesting recollections in this connection, and
if what I have contributed of mine is of service to you, I shall be
much pleased.
Most truly yours,
JOHN H.B. LATROBE.
March 3, 1881.
* * * * *
THE KRAVOGL ELECTRIC MOTOR.
At the origin of every science, of whatever nature it may be, there is
always a fruitless period, of greater or less length, characterized by
the warfare of a few superior minds against general apathy. The finest
discoveries pass unperceived, so to speak, since they cannot cross the
limits of a narrow circle; and it often happens that they fall into
oblivion before they have been seriously judged. Meanwhile, a slow
progress is imperceptibly made, and, in measure as theoretical
principles more clearly disengage themselves, a few industrial
applications spring up and have the effect of awakening curiosity. An
impulse is thus given, and from this moment a movement in advance goes
on increasing at a headlong pace from day to day.
With electricity this period has been of comparatively short duration,
since scarcely a century and a half separate us from the first
experiments made in this line of research. Now that it has truly taken
its place in a rank with the other sciences, we like to go back to the
hesitations of the first hour, and trace, step by step, the history of
the progress made, so as to assign to each one that portion of the
merit that belongs to him in the common work. When we thus cast a
retrospective glance we find ourselves in the presence of one strange
fact, and that is the simultaneousness of discoveries. That an
absolutely original idea, fertile in practical consequences, should
rise at a given moment in a fine brain is well; we admire the
discovery, and, in spite of us, a little surprise mingles with our
admiration. But is it not a truly curious thing that _several_
individuals should have had at nearly the same time that idea that was
so astonishing in one? This, however, is a fact that the history of
electrical inventions offers more than one example of. No one ignores
the fact that the invention of the telephone gave rise to a notorious
lawsuit, two inventors having had this ingenious apparatus patented on
the same day and at nearly the same hour. This is one example among a
thousand. In the history of dynamo-electric machines it is an equally
delicate matter to fix upon the one to whom belongs the honor of
having first clearly conceived the possibility of engendering
continuous currents.
We do not wish to take up this debate nor to go over the history of
the question again. Every one knows that the first continuous current
electric generator whose form was practical is due to Zenobius Gramme,
and dates back to July, 1871, an epoch at which appeared a memoir
(entitled "Note upon a magneto-electric machine that produces
continuous currents") that was read to the Academy of Sciences by Mr.
Jamin. Ten years previous, Pacinotti had had a glimpse of the
phenomenon, and of its practical realization, but was unfortunately
unable to appreciate the importance of his discovery and the benefit
that might be reaped from it. It is of slight consequence whether
Gramme knew of this experiment or not, for the glory that attaches to
his name could not be diminished for all that. But an interesting fact
that we propose to dwell upon now has recently been brought to light
in an electrical review published at Vienna.[1] It results from
documents whose authenticity cannot be doubted that, as far back as
1867, Mr. L. Pfaundler, a professor at Innsbruck, very clearly
announced the reversibility of a magneto-electric motor constructed by
Kravogl, a mechanician of the same place, and that he succeeded some
time before Gramme in obtaining continuous currents.
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