, 1877-04-28

The third outburst greeted the Professor,
who stepped forward and made a neat
little preliminary speech. He said that he
proposed to show, not a musical instrument
merely, but something wonderful in cleo
%tricity. The audience would hear music,
not as good as had already been performed
before them, but coming from a much
greater distance. He would ask their
indulgence on account of the weather, as
the rain had a tendency to permit the
electricity to escape from the wires, 80
they must not expect very full sounds.
He did not know what they did expect.
Some, he supposed, lad come to hear q
fall orchestra, and others nothing.
(Laughter.) Both wouId be disappointed.
In the brief time allowed him he would
not be able to give an adequate description
of the principle upon which the instrument
worked, but he would say that it came
under three general heads The transmits
sion Of simple melody /; the transmission Of
composite tones, of which eight or ten
might be sent over the same wire by the
same instrument and analysed into
distant sounds on the receiver, and the
transmission Of the human voice The
latter result was produced on a different
instrument from that on the stage-one
which was the invention of Prof. Bell,
who vas in the audience. In an upper
room Of the Western Union Telegraph
Office, at the corner of Tenth and Chest
nut streets, Philadelphia, was seated Prof.
Boscovitz. the pianist, with q sounding
board before him fitted with keys, each
capable of making an el"ctrO-t0ne
corresponding to that of one of the reeds in
the receiving sounding board. The least
depression of any of the keys, would
cause an electro magnet to vibrate as
many times q second as the sound
produced. This vibration would be sent
through the wire by electricity, and
would be communicated to the air in the
hollow tubes through the magnet on the
bar. A corresponding sound. would be
developed. The tubes were on the prin-
cjpIe of the reeds Of an organ, ana were
capable Of sounding both the upper and
ths lower o%ctayes. The Professor said
that he and his colleague had spent very
little time in developing the telephone as
a musical instrument. In conclusion, he
wished to call the audiences attention to
the fact that the music would pass under
three rivers and through the dOwn-town
Western Union Office before reaching them.
The operator on the stage was then
directed to telegraph to Philadelphia that
all was in readiness, the Professor removed
the sounding-board from one piano to ano-
ther, and a dead stiffness fell over the au-
dieuce. Presently the familiar tones OF
Home Sweet Home" were heard, proceed
ing from nowhere in particular. The gene
raj sound was much subdue1, but, every
individual tone was quite distinct, especial
ly the lower notes. The higher notes
were very faint, yet perfectly audible. Not
q note was missed. The music bore no
resemblance to that of a piano. 1t had
rather the sound ofan organ. The applause
was very hearty, and that fact being tele-
graphed to Philadelphia, Prof. Boscovltz
sent back a message to the effect that he
was much grati6ed. "Come, GentiI," and
you'll remember me- were also success
fully reproduc ID, so far as distinctness was
concerned, the transmission {. the varla-
tons in the latter air being especially
worthy Of mention. Prof. Gray here re-
moved the sounding-board to the aoor' lest
he said, the audience might think the
pianos had som thing to do with it. While
in this position the Last Rose Of Summer"
was given, but in this and the subsequent