Conduction

In 1842, Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse Code, performed an experiment by running a cable in New York Harbor to transmit an electric signal between two telegraph stations in Manhattan and Governor's Islands, about a mile apart. Morse was consumed with the idea of a network of wired telegraphs for sending messages across the country. He proposed a nationwide network of cables to carry signals for the telegraph (like a “beta version” of the Internet). One problem he faced was what to do when he reached a large body of water too deep for poles to be erected. Morse's solution was to insulate a cable and run it under the water.

Keep in mind that in 1842 it was extremely difficult to obtain wire and the process of insulating the wire (wrapping it by hand) was extremely labor intensive. On October 19, 1842, the first few characters of Morse's experiment were transmitted. However, the underwater cable was mistaken for a rope by a ship in the harbor and the cable was cut, thereby ending the experiment to the jeers of the crowd.

From this failure, Morse contemplated the creation of a wireless telegraph. In December 1842 Morse created another experiment in a canal near his home in Washington, D.C. This time, he attached the wires to large metal plates that he placed in the water on each side of the canal. It worked! Morse had discovered electric conduction through water. Other inventors now hypothesized that conduction might be possible through other mediums, such as air.