ct in 1871. He was badly scalded, and for
a time his life was despaired of. After he recovered he found that his
wife, in their poverty, had sold all his instruments to John Fleming, a
dealer in second-hand articles, and from whom parts of the instruments
have recently been recovered.

[Illustration: FIG. 7.--1858-60.]

With the view of introducing his invention, Meucci now determined to
protect it by a patent; and having lost his instrument, he had a drawing
made according to his sketches by an artist, Mr. Nestori. This drawing he
showed to several friends, and took them to Mr. A. Bertolino, who went
with him to a patent attorney, Mr. T.D. Stetson, in this city. Mr.
Stetson advised Meucci to apply for a patent, but Meucci, without funds,
had to content himself with a caveat. To obtain money for the latter he
formed a partnership with A.Z. Grandi, S.G.P. Buguglio, and Ango
Tremeschin. The articles of agreement between them, made Dec. 12, 1871,
credit Meucci as the inventor of a speaking telegraph, and the parties
agree to furnish him with means to procure patents in this and other
countries, and to organize companies, etc. The name of the company was
"Teletrofono." They gave him $20 with which to procure his caveat, and
that was all the money he ever received from this source.

The caveat which Meucci filed contained the drawing made by Nestori, and
as shown in the cut, which is a facsimile, represents two persons with
telephones connected by wires and batteries in circuit. The caveat,
however, does not describe the invention very clearly; it describes the
two persons as being insulated, but Meucci claims that he never made any
mention of insulating persons, but only of insulating the wires. To
explain this seeming incongruity, it must be stated that Meucci
communicated with his attorney through an interpreter, as he was not
master of the English language; and even at the present time he
understands and speaks the language very poorly, so much so that we found
it necessary to communicate with him in French during the conversation in
which these facts were elicited.

[Illustration: FIG. 8.--1864-65.]

In the summer of 1872, after obtaining his caveat, Meucci, accompanied by
Mr. Bertolino, went to see Mr. Grant, at that time the Vice President of
the New York District Telegraph Company, and he told the latter that he
had an invention of sound telegraphs. He explained his inventions and
submitted drawings and plans to