Least of all, perhaps, did that Dr.
Jackson, who afterwards claimed to have given Morse all his ideas, apprehend the tremendous importance of that chance remark.

The fixed idea had, however, taken root in Morse's brain and obsessed him.

He withdrew from the cabin and paced the deck, revolving in his mind the various means by which the object sought could be attained.

Soon his ideas were so far focused that he sought to give them expression on paper, and he drew from his pocket one of the little sketch-books which he always carried with him, and rapidly jotted down in sketches and words the ideas as they rushed from his brain.

This original sketch-book was burned in a mysterious fire which, some years later, during one of the many telegraph suits, destroyed many valuable papers.