Page:Hamel Telegraph history England 1859.pdf/88

 of absence from India, was residing at Heidelberg, engaged in studying anatomy, and in modelling his dissections for the museum of his father, who was Professor of Medicine at the University of Durham. This young soldier and amateur anatomist, accidentally heard of the telegraph models in Professor Muncke’s possession, and became “curious to see the telegraphing out of one room into another.” “When Mr. Cooke saw the telegraphing, and was told the instrument could work through great distances, the idea struck him that such a thing might be useful in England, particularly in tunnels along the railroads.” His prompt activity in realizing this idea are then traced by Dr. Hamel down to the date of the first English patent in June 1837.

But how does this make out Dr. Hamel’s claim in favour of Baron Schilling? No part of the Baron’s invention, which is accurately detailed by Dr. Hamel at page 40), has even been in use in England.

It is true that Muncke’s model exhibited to Mr. Cooke Ampère’s long known idea of giving signals by a magnetic needle under the influence of a voltaic current, but this