Page:Hamel Telegraph history 1859.djvu/9



This event, so vitally important for Bavaria and for Munich, must there have directed special attention to the utility of telegraphs. The Minister Montgelas had been witness of the surprise caused by the French Emperor’s unexpected arrival at Dillingen. The Bavarian Academy of Sciences was in one of his departments of administration, and Dr. Soemmerring, as one of its most celebrated members, was from time to time invited to come to dine with him at Bogenhausen, near Munich, where he lived.

This was the case on the 5th of July, 1809, when the Minister expressed to him the wish to get from the Academy of Sciences proposals for telegraphs, having, as I allow myself to suppose, in view no other but optical (mechanical) telegraphs with improvements.

Soemmerring, referring to this dinner, noted in his diary only: “The Minister wishes to get from the Academy proposals for telegraphs.”

He at once resolved to try whether the visible evolution of gases from the decomposition of water by the action of the galvanic current might not be applied to telegraphic purposes, and three days after this dinner, he noted in his journal: “I could not rest till I realised the idea to make a telegraph by the evolution of gases.”