SOUND-TELEGRAPHY.
[TO THE EDITOR. OF THII "SPECTATOR"] Sra,—I have read with much interest your article of Saturday last on the mine accident at Pontypridd, and more particularly that portion of it in which you urge the importance of a means of communication in such cases. You observe that "the first need in all such cases is a means of communication, and wherever artificial sounds are audible, the means of communica- tion, if only a conventional system is once adopted and taught to -all, as they are taught the primary rules of their trade, are always ready to our hands."
As a practical telegraphist of more than twenty years' standing, 1 can fully endorse this opinion. The " Morse " code is the best "conventional system" that can be adopted, its long and short beats—called " dots " and "dashes," in ordinary telegraphic parlance—being particularly suited to the " knockings " carried on from time to time in the Troedyrhiw coal-pit, which, however, meant nothing more than that there was a human being (it might be only one) at the other side. But if, instead of a series of unintelligible and meaningless sounds, something of this sort had been possible—two short, one long, and one short knocks ; two short knocks ; three short, and one long knock ; and one short knock—that would have denoted the word "five," being the number of persons confined in the inner chamber of the mine.
For years I have lived next door to a very old friend—a practical telegraphist, like myself,—and I have regularly wished him a "merry Christmas" and a "happy new year" simply by knocking through the wall. Similarly, he, too, signalled back, "The same to you, and many o' them ;" and many a time and oft we have congratulated each other on the "blithe blink o' our sin fireside "when all was cold and dreary without. With equal ease, I could have " signalled " to him, or he to me, that some- thing was wrong and assistance was wanted ; and as you explain, the greater distance in a coal-pit would be no bar to instantaneous communication, because of the ease and rapidity with which coal, like wood, transmits sound from point to point.
There are numerous devices for teaching or learning the " Morse " code, but perhaps one of the simplest, as being adaptable in harmony with the " constructive" ideas of childhood, is by means of short and long blocks of wood, something like the " bricks " of one's childish days. A short block—say, half an inch square—resembles the " dot " of the Morse alphabet, and one twice as long does very well for the "dash," while the two together make the letter "A."
Oftener than once it has been proposed to teach the " Morse " alphabet in schools, and the sooner the better.—I am, Sir, &c., Bk W. J.
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