Introduction At the touch of a button we can use a modern telephone to talk to another person just about anywhere on Earth We could also use it to send pictures and written messages and even see the face of the person we are talking to All this technology which can fi t into one pocket-sized gadget did not exist 150 years ago Back then communication was a great deal slower A DIFFERENT VIEW MARATHON Today marathons are long-distance running races but the first one was run to send a message In 490 B C the Greeks won a battle at a town called Marathon Pheidippides a messenger ran 26 miles and 385 yards 42,195 m all the way to Athens with the news This has been the distance of every marathon ever since 4 Sealed Letters Until the 1800s most communication was by letter To ensure a letter was not read until it arrived at its destination the sender sealed it with wax He or she pressed down the soft wax with a ring or other personal object to show who it was from
Code Down a Wire The telegraph was invented in 1837 It sent written messages by wire Tapping a key switched an electric current on and off to create coded electrical signals for every letter of the alphabet Waving Flags Brightly colored fl ags are still used to send messages between ships using a code called semaphore A signaler holds two fl ags in specifi c positions that represent a letter or number and spells out words to anyone who can see him from on-board another ship At night the fl ags are replaced with glowing sticks 5
