1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:11,920 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 1: a show that shines the spotlight on the big and 4 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: bizarre moments of history. I'm Gave b. Louzier, and today 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: we're talking about the Black Sheep of the telecommunications family, 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: a device that supposedly sent messages using the telepathic power 7 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: of snails. The day was October two, eighteen fifty one. 8 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: A French occultist named Jacques Benois gave the first and 9 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: last demonstration of his new invention, a snail powered telegraph. 10 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: To be clear, though, the machine wasn't powered by the 11 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: physical activity of snails, but by the psychic abilities they 12 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: supposedly possessed. Little is known about Jacques Benois, the man 13 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: behind the machine, but it's clear that he was an 14 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: admirer of the so called secret sciences such as astrology 15 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: and mesmerism. Like many others in the eighteen hundreds, he 16 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: was fascinated by the paranormal and by the potential intersection 17 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: between science and magic. This was an arrow when even 18 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: respected members of society began to hold seances and attend 19 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: shows where human mummies were unwrapped on stage, but ben 20 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: Wat didn't stop it just being a fan or scholar 21 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: of occultism. As an adult, he decided to put his 22 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: knowledge to practical use as an inventor. Ben Wah's studies 23 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: led him to snails, which he believed to have a 24 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: strange evolutionary ability. He believed that when two snails made it, 25 00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 1: their exchange of fluids forged a telep hathic bond that 26 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: connected them across any distance. So if you poked one snail, 27 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: it's mate would flinch as if it had also been touched. 28 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: It may sound supernatural, but in ben Wah's mind, this 29 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: kind of sympathetic action at a distance was no different 30 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,639 Speaker 1: than that of electricity or magnetism, And if those forces 31 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: could be harnessed for use in telecommunications, as they had 32 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: been in the recent invention of the telegraph, then maybe 33 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,639 Speaker 1: the animal magnetism between snails could serve the same purpose. 34 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,840 Speaker 1: To test this questionable theory, ben wa allegedly partnered with 35 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: an American inventor. I say allegedly because no one else 36 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,799 Speaker 1: involved in this story ever met or communicated with ben 37 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: Law's American partner. Some historians believe ben lab made him 38 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: up entirely as a way to make his own idea 39 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: seem more legitimate to investors. Whatever the truth, ben Wa 40 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: claimed that he and his partner had devised a new 41 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: kind of telegraph that would use the psychic link between 42 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: twenty four pairs of mated snails, so forty eight snails total, 43 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: to send messages from one side of the world to 44 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: the other. If true, the invention would outclass the traditional 45 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,399 Speaker 1: telegraph by a wide margin. Whereas electric telegraphs were restricted 46 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:33,359 Speaker 1: by oceans and atmospheric changes, the psychic snail telegraph would 47 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: work across any distance. Clearly, they had big ideas, but 48 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: neither ben Laugh nor his possibly imaginary partner had the 49 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: money needed to carry out their experiments. However, ben Law 50 00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: was able to smooth talk a wealthy Parisian named Monsieur 51 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: Triat into funding the endeavor. Ben Wa claimed that he 52 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: had already used an early version of the device to 53 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: communicate with his partner overseas, a claim that would never 54 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: be verified, but Triott was intrigued. Not only did he 55 00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: supply Benoit with the materials needed to build a snail telegraph, 56 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:17,559 Speaker 1: he also provided him with lodging and an allowance while 57 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: he worked on the machine. Speaking of which by now 58 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: you're probably wondering how it worked, or at least how 59 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,280 Speaker 1: it was supposed to work. The final build consisted of 60 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 1: two matching sets of twenty four snails each, which were 61 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: glued to circular wooden boards alongside the letters of the 62 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: French alphabet. The idea was that if you pressed one 63 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,559 Speaker 1: snail on a board, that snails mate on the other 64 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: board would stick out its tentacles in response. The device, 65 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: like a regular set of telegraphs, required an operator on 66 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: each end, the person sending the message who would carefully 67 00:04:57,320 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: press the snails to spell it out, and the purse 68 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: and receiving the message, who would monitor the snails movements 69 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: to see which letters had been pressed. Ben Wah's invention 70 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: was meant to require just a few dozen snails, a 71 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:15,560 Speaker 1: bit of lumber, and some hardware, but the device gradually 72 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: ballooned in both complexity and cost. After months of frustration 73 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: and with the project well over budget, Monsieur Triatt demanded 74 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,239 Speaker 1: a demonstration to see just where his money had been going. 75 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: Ben wa not only agreed to this, he even invited 76 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: a journalist named Jules A. Leaks to witness the demonstration 77 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: and write about it in the local paper. As you've 78 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: probably guessed, the inventions big debut was not what you'd 79 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: call successful. Ben Wa had hired assistance to man the 80 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,800 Speaker 1: snails at the twin boards so that he couldn't be 81 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: accused of rigging the test. However, the circular boards or 82 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: compasses were set up in the aim room and ben 83 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: Wa refused to even hang a curtain between them. Then, 84 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:09,840 Speaker 1: when the trial began, he continuously went back and forth 85 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: between the two boards to make sure his assistance were 86 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: pressing and reading the snails correctly. Despite these rather blatant 87 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 1: attempts at cheating, the messages still wound up garbled and 88 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: full of misspellings. Needless to say, Triatt was unimpressed and 89 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 1: demanded that he'd be given a second, more rigorous demonstration. 90 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: Ben Wa agreed once again, but when the day of 91 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:39,160 Speaker 1: the second test arrived, he never showed up. He never 92 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: contacted Treat again, and died penniless just one year later. 93 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: So what was ben Wah's deal? Did he really believe 94 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: in the snail telegraph, as his occultists roots might suggest, 95 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: or was he just a con man with a weird 96 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: thing for snails? The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 97 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: But as far as the journalist who witnessed the test 98 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: was concerned, Ben Wat and his snail telegraph were a 99 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: genuine glimpse of the future. Two weeks after the messy 100 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: demonstration on October two, and before Ben Lah had vanished 101 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: without a trace, Jules Eleaks reported the experiment a success 102 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 1: and speculated that snail telegraphs would soon be used to 103 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: send quote electrical newspapers an electrical mail across the world 104 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: and the blink of an eye. Not only did a 105 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: Leak's account for shadow things like email, the Internet, and texting, 106 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: he even predicted our fascination with ever shrinking technologies. Ben 107 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: Wah's first models were over six ft tall, but A. 108 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: Leaks assured readers that people would soon carry personal snail 109 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: telegraphs that were no larger than a pocket watch. Entirely 110 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: possible because, as he pointed out, there are some species 111 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: of snail as small as a pinhead. I don't need 112 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: to tell you that none of this ended up happening, 113 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: but it's fun to imagine the infrastructure needed for the 114 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: kind of world that A. Leaks and Ben Law imagined. 115 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: Snails can live as long as fifteen years in captivity 116 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: but users would still need to replace them eventually, not 117 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: to mention, feed and clean up after them for all 118 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: the time in between. And then there's the mating to consider. 119 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: Anyone you wanted to communicate with would need to have 120 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: a set of snails that had already copulated with your own. 121 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: Presumably there would be a vast network of facilities devoted 122 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: to mating snails, keeping track of their various partners and 123 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: shipping them to users around the world. And actually, you 124 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: know what, on second thought, maybe it's not so fun 125 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: to imagine. I'm Gave Louzier and hopefully you now know 126 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 127 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the show, consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 128 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I HC Show And if 129 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,199 Speaker 1: you have any comments or suggestions, you can gather fifty 130 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: two mated snails, send half of them to me, and 131 00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: then poke out your message at exactly one pm Eastern 132 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: time next Tuesday, when I'll be watching the movements of 133 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: my receiver snails. Or if you prefer, you can also 134 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,400 Speaker 1: send the show an email at this day at I 135 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: heeart media dot com. Thanks as always to channel or 136 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: Mays for producing the show and thank you for listening. 137 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 138 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: in history class. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, 139 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 140 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.