six positions 45 degrees apart. The two flags then could have six times six, or 36, unique positions. This accommodated the 25-letter alphabet and 10 numbers. The letters i and j became one letter for the 26-letter alphabet. A similar system used in fixed locations, often called signal hills or telegraph hills, was made up of a tower with a movable beam mounted on a post. Each end of a beam had a movable indicator or arm that could assume seven distinct positions, 45 degrees apart. With two beams, there were 49 possibilities, easily accommodating the alphabet, ten digits, and punctuation. The origin of this "telegraph" is credited to the French in the very late eighteenth century. It was used for defense purposes linking Toulon to Paris. There were 120 towers some three to six miles apart. It took 40 minutes to transmit signals across the system, with about three signals per minute. It was called the Chappe semaphore, named after its inventor. Weather and darkness, of course, were major influences. One form of railroad signals using the signal arm is still in use in some areas today. The American Indian used smoke signals by day and fires at night. The use of a drum or drums for distance communication was common in Africa. Electrical telegraph revolutionized distance communications. We accept the date of 1843 for its practical inception. It actually has roots well prior to this date. Many of the famous names in the lore of electricity became involved. For example, Hans Christian Oersted of Denmark proposed the needle telegraph in 1819. Gauss and Weber built a 2.3-km (1.4-mile), two-wire telegraph line using a technique known as the galvanometer- mirror device in 1833 in Germany. Then there was the Cooke and Wheatstone five-needle telegraph, which was placed into operation in 1839 in the United Kingdom. All these names are very familiar to those of us who are well-read in the history of the development and application of electricity. The five-needle telegraph was meant for railroad application and used a code of 2