by means of ropes controlled by I " winohes " or '" crankhandles." A machine of this sort was oalled » ! "semaphore," or a " aamaphorlo tele» graph"; for the word telegraph had t been in common nse since the preceding [ century. The movable arms of the semaphore 3 were not used to represent letters of the j alphabet, nor were the messages sent by. them spelled out word by word. The f different positions of the arms indicated ) only numbers, and the numbers referred to messages or parte of messages which. were printed in a book. Of course, ! both the sender and the receiver of the. despatch had a copy of this telegraphic ; dictionary, in which the messages were i arranged alpbabetioally for convenience r of the sender, with a numerloal Index [ for the use of the reoeiver. ' Elford's I Book ' was tho standard in 1834, and J. R. Parker's " Appendix ' waß blbo used. : A copy of ' Parker's Book ' may be seen , in the Boston Atbenajum ; and doubtless - in other large publio libraries both that and 'Elford's' may he found, as well as 'The Boston Harbour Book,' whloh supplemented the two. Valuable as this method of rapid communication was, however, lti nse was confined almost entirely to the coast, and limited to reporting to the merchants of Boston the neWB of arriv ing vessels. Five watchmen were constantly on duty from sunrise to sunset In the signal towers, and dnring the ten years 1834 to 1844 the arrival of no fewer than 14,235 vessels was thus telegraphed to tho°e most interested. In France the semaphorio system had been introduced much earlier, and bad been extended over the oonntry_in lines that stretohed away like onr modern lines. It was said that three thousand messages could be sent in a day from Paris to any part of Franoe. Readers of ' Monte Christo ' do not need to be reminded that when Na poleoD, escaping from Elba, landed on the shores of France on the Ist of Maroh, 1815, his approach was presently announced to Louis XVIII. by his Minister of Police. " flow many men had he with him P" asked the King. 