JF Ptak Science Books

"Report on Prof. Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph", in Journal of the Franklin Institute, pp 106-108, Philadelphia, 1838; volume 21 (new series) and volume 25 overall, with text illustrations and one folding plate, 442 pp. Half-calf, with raised bands. Ex-library, with some scuffing on the spine and with the ghost remnants of a call number label at spine bottom; also a few stamps on the title page. As a whole the book is fresh and tight. Good/Very Good condition. $750
This may well be the one of the two earliest journal appearances of the successful demonstration of the Morse/Vail electromagnetic recording telegraph (it was not the first demonstration of an electric telegraph nor an electromagnetic telegraph, priority of which belong to Gauss and Wheatstone and others), and is perhaps the very first appearance of the "dot" part of what would become known as the Morse Code.
This was a significant report. As it turns out Morse makes the first public demonstration of his and Alfred Vail's recording electromagnetic telegraph on January 6 1838 at Speedwell Ironworks near Morristown, New Jersey, just weeks before this JFI appearance. On this success, Morse went south to Philadelphia and demonstrated his invention to the Franklin Institute on February 8, 1838 (summarized in the present report), appearing two weeks later on February 21 1838 midway between Phila and home in Washington D.C., demonstrating the apparatus to President Van Buren and members of the Congressional Committee on Commerce.
This may well be the one of the two earliest journal appearances of the successful demonstration of the Morse/Vail electromagnetic recording telegraph, and is perhaps the very first appearance of the "dot" end of the Morse Code.
The narrative identifies two systems of signals ("...one representing numbers, the other letters") that were displayed in the demonstration. The first "representing numbers" were a series of dots. This is perhaps the first publication in a journal of the dot method of transcribed signals of a recording electromagnetic telegraph. The dots are pictured "... .. ....." on page 107, representing the number "325" or as explained could also mean the word represented by the number "325" in Morse's code book ("indicate...a word in a dictionary, prepared for this purpose..."). The second, "alphabetical signals are made up by a combination of dots and lines of different lengths"), an example of which is not shown.
I have only been able top locate a symbolic system of the code in published journal reports (and a newspaper article) showing a "V" system, as in the American Journal of Science and the Arts (vol 33 #1, 1838), which prints an image of the register, and shows a "specimen of telegraphic writing" using this "V": so, "V VV VVV" governed by spaces of long and short intervals, would stand for 1,2,3 or 123, or to some word designated "123" in a code book. (I should point out that this article is about half the length of the JFI article.)
What is surprising is to see what Morse himself had to say on this issue. Here are his notes on the system of notation, from the SFB Morse papers at the Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division, bound volume 28 November 1835-18 April 1838, page 154 ("Drawings to Accompany Copy of Caveat of Oct 6 1837"). The penciled note states "this is old mode of sign and is the only specimen ever published. See the Mechanics Magazine". It was also evidently published in the American Journal of Science and Arts at about the same time. There is no reference to the JFI report or the "dots" (or "1st Mode"). It may simply be the case that at the time of his writing this that Morse was simply unaware of the JFI report, as the three appearances were all published at about the same time (within weeks of one another).

Source: LOC.gov, Manuscripts Division, Samuel F.B. Morse papers.
The famous "first" telegraph "What Hath..."1 transmission (at least seven years after the true "first") was made of a series of raised symbols corresponding to Morse's dictionary.
Also bound with:
Charles Goodyear, “Specification of a Patent for divesting Caoutchouc, or India Rubber, of its adhesive properties...” in the March issue, reporting on patent of June 17, 1837, pp 186-188. (Goodyear gets closer to his great and happenstance discovery and innovation the following year, 1839, in which he finally figures out how to prevent rubber from melting in the summer and cracking in the winter.)
“Of Sand, and Hydraulic Sand”, pp 89-94;
Thomas Elliot Harrison, “Specification of a Patent for an Improvement in Locomotive Engines...”, pp 122-123; Hall, “Abstract of the Specification of Mr. Samuel Hall's Patent Paddle Wheel”, pp 124-5;
J. Reade, “Method of producing a Permanent Soap Bubble, illustrating the colors of thin plates”, pp 65-66;
“On Concrete, Circumstances in which it is advantageous to use it”, pp 145-153;
“Alexander's Electric Telegraph”.
Notes:
- The full quote, suggested by a young girl, was from Numbers xxiii, 23:
"22...Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!
24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain."