, 1877-12-29
THE TELEPHONE.

Gle, from the Times every line of which is
worth reading:
A great change has come over th cOndi-
tions of humanity. Suddenly and quietly the
whole human race is brought within speaking
and hearing distance. Scarcely anything was
more desired or more impossible. Few, indeed,
can fill a room of any size, or even make
themselves we'll heard anywhere and the ear
itself is the weakest and most treacherous Of
our faculties. The eye enjoyed an invidiOus
superiority over the sister organ. Not to
speak of its celestial achievements over other
worlds, or of the kingdoms of the earth it
could see in a moment of time, it encroached
successfully on the domain of the air, by bea-
cons, and telegraphs, and all kind of signals.
Some OF US may remember the line of tele-
graphs from the Admiralty to Portsmouth,
throwing their arms wildly about, ten minutes
sometimes, while the bewildered clerks were
turning over the leaves of their key or spelling
a word. A storm or a fog, or ~nightfall, would
interrupt the message, and there it slept till
next day, no matter it's importance or its urgen-
cy. The railway seemed to compensate for
this, but with the railway came all the acct
dtnts and delays of personal agency. Then,
about a generation ago, came the electric
telegraph, too great a boon to be lightly
spoken OF, but even more Invested of the
charms that sweeten and assist communication
tina the old letter. writing. The writer might
be known and loved in his letter, which could
not help being characteristic; but the tele.
gram was the dry bones of correspondence.
Gushes, signs, tears, sallies of wit, and traits
of fondness do not stand the ordeal of twenty
words for a shilling, and the frigid medium of
unsympathetic clerks. All at once the tele-
gram is found to be a barbarous makeshilt,
fiji for business purposes, or mere messages, In
which names, figures, places, and dates are all
there is to be transmitted. For any higher or
tenderer purpose the telephone is to take its
place. While we are talking about it. and
hearing of its performances at scientific meet
ings, the Americans are:bringing it rapidly into
use. Already SEQ houses in New York con-
verse with one another 5000 Telephones are
in use 10 the United States; they are used by
Companies and other large concerns wherever
the works are someway from the office, in
waterworks. pits, aud mines. Friends on the
opposite sides of a broad street converse as
if in one room. The known tone and infections
of the speaker, o whisper, a cough, a sigh. a
breath can be heard. The little incidents Of
human u~tterance which it takes a wakeful ear
to detect, aided by the eye and by familiar
acquaintance, are found to pass along miles Of
wire, many of them under the earth or sea.
Silent as the medium may be, and dead as it
seems, the sound comes out true. A hundred
miles OF galVanlc agency becomes only one
imp erceptible LUX between two human
mechanisms.
England takes discoveries, when they are
not her own, very TRANQUILITY. The Telephone
is said to be in use somewhere in this metropo-
lis by two scientific friends, but. while Prince
Ri ,marck has already set it to work on Ger
man State business. it can hardly yet be said
to have emerged for Londoners from the exhi-
bition room or the soiree. Yet it is nov plain
ly nothing more than an affair of mechanism,
and bound as we are to believe in the dominion
Of man over nature, we cannot doubt we
. shall master all the material difficulties of
this new acoustic problem The great diff.
Guilty at present is the tenuity and feebleness
of the result but it is evident that difficulty
has been, surmounted in the United States
more than it has been here. That may be
owing not merely to the density of our atmos.
phere. but partly also to our imperfsctlappara:
tus; possibly. also, to that indistinctness of
G utteranoe, that slurring over. of.important con.
~sonants, and that dropping of the, voice at the
end of a sentence. whica all foreigners observe
in us. The telephone will prove a severe
test Of both our speaking and our listening
powers. Tho household wire. it appears, need
not be- monopolized, orb be at the mercy of one
Inefficient listener. Halfa-dozen Telephones.
with their respective wires. can be attachedto
the same main wire, and as many ears applied