Parallel to the introduction of the telegraph, people were eager to find alternatives that overcame the obstacles of time and tide and one such device was found in the
pasilalinic (all prattling) sympathetic compass, build to test the hypothesis in the 1850s that snails formed a psychic bond after mating (see also
here and
here) by Jacques-Toussaint Benoît de l’Hérault. It was hoped that this supposed telekinetic connection could be used to send messages instantaneously.
