For no man ever made such an invention without having first obtained this information, unless it was discovered by some fortunate accident.

And it is evident that such an invention as the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph could never have been brought into action without it.

For a very high degree of scientific knowledge, and the nicest skill in the mechanic arts, are combined in it, and were both necessary to bring it into successful operation.

_And the fact that Morse sought and, obtained the necessary information and counsel from the best sources, and acted upon it, neither impairs his rights as an inventor, nor detracts from his merits._" The italics are mine, for it has over and over been claimed for everybody who had a part in the early history of the telegraph, either by hint, help, or discovery, that more credit should be given to him than to Morse himself--to Henry, to Gale, to Vail, to Doctor Page, and even to F.O.J.
Smith.

In fact Morse used often to say that some people thought he had no right to claim his invention because he had not discovered electricity, nor the copper from which his wires were made, nor the brass of his instruments, nor the glass of his insulators.
I shall make one other quotation from the opinion of Judge Kane and Judge Grier at one of the earlier trials, in Philadelphia, in 1851:-- "That he, Mr.Morse, was the first to devise and practise the art of recording language, at telegraphic distances, by the dynamic force of the electro-magnet, or, indeed, by any agency whatever, is, to our minds, plain upon all the evidence.