Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-10-24
TALKING ON A WIRE.
A Hint OF tbe Terrible Possibilities
or the Telephone.
II. WHITMORE,
Publisher and Proprietor,

OF the TeItphOne.
Providence Correspondence N. Y. Graphic.I
The telephone is still lingering
in a most precocious babyhood.
Astonishing Improvements have
been made on it since Prof. Bells
discovery, and something new is
being found out every week, but
still its most eager students see and
say that it is chiefly interesting for
its great promise, rather than its
present performance.
There is a telephone club here
which devotas enthusiastic hours
and days to the instrument, and it
has already been able to make i'm
portant developments of Bells pat
ent, and ingenious mechanical ad-
ditioDs which will have to be ac-
knowledged when the history of
telephony is written.
Bell, by the way, has got the
goose that lays the golden eggs.
His patent is a mine Of wealth. He
refuses to sell a machine for any
money, but he rents them for $40 a
year each, and he has already Gn
four months, mind you) rented
5000! When it is added that the
whole contrivance can be made for
a dollar at a profit, it becomes OBJ
vious that Prof. Bell has substantial
reasons to approve of the American
patent laws. Well, he deserves the
good luck. The telephone is the
result Of much hard study; its in
ventiOn was wholly his own, and
there do not seem to be even for
eign contestants; and, unless |
am greatly bewildered, it is des-
tined to create q total revolution
in the methods of social and busi-
ness correspondence. | understand
that there are already five hundred
telephones in the city of New York
alone, and the number will. be ten
times as great in a year.
Telephone parties are the fash
ionable frenzy here now. 1 have
INDUCED in this Intellectual dissi-
patton twice-once at the residence
Of George James Adams and once
at DR.. VIM. f. Channing'S ia son of
the famous Unitarian Clergyman,
VIM. Ellery Charming, and one of
the most persistent students of the
telephone). The machine used
here, great improvement on the
first, is small and extremely simple,
consisting of mahogany mouth
piece, with handle, an inch thick
and four inches long, Within this
is concealed toy magnet (Straight),
a coil of fine wire and a thin, sensi-
tive copper plate to receive the
voice. ltis held in the hand, and
is connected with the other end, at
any distance, by an ordinary solid
iron wire. | heard quite distinctly
the singing Of a quartette in a
house up the street, although some
of the singers were eighteen inches
from the other end of the wire. l
also conyersed with an invisible
creature who spoke in soprano
voice. 1t sounded like a lady talk
ing three or four rooms off, with
the intervening doors closed. There
were evidently obstacles, but the
voice had a characteristic timber Of
its own, and the articulation was
very distinct. When different
mouth was applied at the other end,
the vocal difference was Immediately
noted. Indeed, acquaintance easily
distinguished one another by the
sound of the voice alone, and one
exclaimed to her friend in the
other house, "Wby good evening,
Aunt Martial l didn't know you
were over there"
John Weiss, the Boston heir OF
Theodore Parker's mantle, was
present at DR.. Ohanning's and was
introduced, through the telephone,
to the lady at the other end-a
stranger to him. She said; 81 have
often seen you when l could not
speak to you; now | speak to you
and cannot see you."
He replied appropriately to the
pleasant salutation, and then asked
her to repeat a hymn. She said
- fpwinlrla fuipl Ettla efortu -