Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty | Page 3

would
then shout or pass the message to the next runner, who would speed it
away in turn. Such was the method employed by our own pony-express
riders.
An ancient Persian king thought of having the messages shouted from
sentinel to sentinel, instead of being carried more slowly by relays of
couriers. So he established sentinels at regular intervals within hearing
of one another, and messages were shouted from one to the other. Just

fancy the number of sentinels required to establish a line between
distant cities, and the opportunities for misunderstanding and mistake!
The ancient Gauls also employed this method of communication.
Cæsar records that the news of the massacre of the Romans at Orleans
was sent to Auvergne, a distance of nearly one hundred and fifty miles,
by the same evening.
Though signaling by flashes of light occurred to the ancients, we have
no knowledge that they devised a way of using the light-flashes for any
but the simplest prearranged messages. The mirrors of the Pharaohs
were probably used to flash light for signal purposes. We know that the
Persians applied them to signaling in time of war. It is reported that
flashes from the shields were used to convey news at the battle of
Marathon. These seem to be the forerunners of the heliograph. But the
heliograph using the dot-and-dash system of the Morse code can be
used to transmit any message whatever. The ancients had evolved
systems by which any word could be spelled, but they did not seem to
be able to apply them practically to their primitive heliographs.
An application of sound-signaling was worked out for Alexander the
Great, which was considered one of the scientific wonders of antiquity.
This was called a stentorophonic tube, and seems to have been a sort of
gigantic megaphone or speaking-trumpet. It is recorded that it sent the
voice for a dozen miles. A drawing of this strange instrument is
preserved in the Vatican.
Another queer signaling device, built and operated upon a novel
principle, was an even greater wonder among the early peoples. This
was known as a clepsydra. Fancy a tall glass tube with an opening at
the bottom in which a sort of faucet was fixed. At varying heights
sentences were inscribed about the tube. The tube, being filled with
water, with, a float at the top, all was ready for signaling any of the
messages inscribed on the tube to a station within sight and similarly
equipped. The other station could be located as far away as a light
could be seen. The station desiring to send a message to another
exhibited its light. When the receiving station showed its light in
answer, the tap was opened at the bottom of the tube in each station.
When the float dropped until it was opposite the sentence which it was
desired to transmit, the sending station withdrew its light and closed the
tap. This was a signal for the receiving station to stop the flow of water

from its tube. As the tubes were just alike, and the water had flowed out
during the same period at equal speed, the float at the receiving station
then rested opposite the message to be conveyed.
Many crude systems of using lights for signaling were employed. Lines
of watch-towers were arranged which served as signal-stations. The
ruins of the old Roman and Gallic towers may still be found In France.
Hannibal erected them in Africa and Spain. Colored tunics and spears
were also used for military signals in the daytime. For instance, a red
tunic displayed meant prepare for battle; while a red spear conveyed the
order to sack and devastate.
An ancient system of camp signals from columns is especially
interesting as showing a development away from the prearranged
signals of limited application. For these camp signals the alphabet was
divided into five or six parts, and a like number of columns erected at
each signal-station. Each column represented one group of letters.
Suppose that we should agree to get along without the Q and the Z and
reduce our own alphabet to twenty-four letters for use in such a system.
With six columns we would then have four letters for each column. The
first column would be used to signal A, B, C, and D. One light or flag
shown from column one would represent A, two flags or lights B, and
so on. Thus any word could be spelled out and any message sent.
Without doubt the system was slow and cumbersome, but it was a step
in the right direction.
The American Indians developed methods of transmitting news which
compare very favorably with the means employed by the ancients.
Smoke-rings and puffs for the daytime, and fire-arrows at night, were
used by them for the sending