Twenty years have elapsed since this decision was rendered; the Morse patent has expired by limitation of time, but it is still without a rival in any part of the world." This was written in 1873, but I think that I am safe in saying that the same is true now after the lapse of forty more years.

While, of course, there have been both elaboration and simplification, the basic principle of the universal telegraph of to-day is embodied in the drawings of the sketch-book of 1832, and it was the invention of Morse, and was entirely different from any form of telegraph devised by others.
I shall make but one quotation from the long opinion handed down by the Supreme Court and delivered by Chief Justice Taney:-- "Neither can the inquiries he made, nor the information or advice he received from men of science, in the course of his researches, impair his right to the character of an inventor.

No invention can possibly be made, consisting of a combination of different elements of power, without a thorough knowledge of the properties of each of them, and the mode in which they operate on each other.

And it can make no difference in this respect whether he derives his information from books, or from men skilled in the science.

If it were otherwise, no patent in which a combination of different elements is used could ever be obtained.