The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-14 00:00:00

REPORTING BY MACHINERY.

It is not easy to conceive a mechanical operation
which requires a greater exercise of intellect than
that of verbatim reporting by means of short-hand.
Yet even this art seems likely, before long, to be
supplanted. For several years a French savan, M.
L. Scott, has been engaged in experiments on the
fixation of sound upon a prepared tablet, in the same
way as photography fixes luminous images, and has
met with considerable success in this new art, which
he has named " Phonautography." At a recent
sitting of the French Academy of Sciences, a short
communication was made on the subject by the dis-
coverer, a brief outline of which will, perhaps, be
considered of interest. The problem which first re-
quired solution was the artificial construction of an
ear, by means of tubes and diaphragms, so as to
imitate as nearly as possible the human ear in its
power of collecting sounds of every degree of in-
tensity, and transmitting them to a delicate mem-
brane placed at the extremity. After numerous
essays an apparatus was constructed which possessed
the above qualifications ; the membrane was seen to
vibrate visibly, and in a different manner, with each
audible sound or note ; and if a pen or style were
fastened to this membrane its points would trace the
wonderfully beautiful and complicated curves and
circles appertaining to the elements of sound. The
next difficulty consisted in finding a sensitive sur-
face upon which this style could mark the imprint
of its movements, for the vibrations of the terial
pen were so delicate that, if any appreciable
force were required to effect the transcription,
the resistance would at once stop all movement.
This difficulty was at last overcome by employing a
strip of thin paper, upon which was deposited a
film of lampblaok obtained from the smoke of burn-
ing bodies. The phonographs produced by M.
Scott's instrument are marvellously correct ; every
separate source of sound has an individuality of its
own. An oration, delivered with varying rapidity,
and with the pitch of the voice greatly modulated
in different parts, has a very striking appearance in
h. Rapidly spoken parts have the
curves crowded gsecureowrdaepd together, whilst in others they are
widely separated. The loud tones of the voice are
waves
hriilssitn gthteo
lopwerhtoanpesshaarlef
ani shownneh b
ory t
more
ri int t
he
en at v,
not more than the eighth of an inch high; the
modulations of the voice are thus shown very beau-
tifully by the varying height of what may be called
the letters of sound, The problem of the graphic
fixation of sound may thus be considered as accom-
plished ; but now a new difficulty arises, that of
translating these ever varying curves back again
into ordinary language. If each word or syllable,
or even compound sound, of which our spoken lan-
guage is built up, were invariably represented by
the same system of curves, the work of transcrip-
tion would be comparatively easy. This, however,
is far from being the case. Not only does the 1!11,e
-
pression vary with the tone of the voice, the
rapidity or loudness of utterance, but
found that the same words
uttered
by
one person are written down bfrey are when
the
h
instru-
ment very differently from the way ithas
spoken by another; just as the ha
person differs from another. This, however, is a
instrumental overcome
by practice, and,
ndwriting of one
difficulty which will be
enta
l arrangements. The
perhaps, improved
makeum spoken sounds record
fact of being able to
themselves
stonspermanently
on paper is of itself most
is ever developed, as the in-
ventor says it shortly will
perfec-
tion to enable it to take down speeches which may
buti
be , whether it be in respect
written off verbatim, it is difficult to imagine the
importance of the discovery,
to the unimpeachable acccuracy of the process, the
entire absence of trouble and expense in reporting
any articulate sounds, or the great saving of the
time and the exhausting labours of parliamentary
reporters.

The accounts from Venezuela by the mail
yesterdayreach to the 22d of October, and are satisfactory
as regards the progress of the pacifioatien of the country
under CienerallPaez,