The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-06-19
Sic Ets,s nd Assra:

WEDNkSA sssssssi Z, ~ 2. sAs 90.
Sic Etus nd Astra.
Dear D;spdtch: Since now 1t seems the
scone az orr senses OF sight aud hearing is
SO vastly extended by the artificial contri-
ya,,ces OF microscope, a telescope, and q
system Of writing on the one hand, and .
nlfcrophone, n telephone, and a phone
graph on the other, why doesn't modern
science do as much for our other senses,
and enable them to enjoy a corresp onding
expansion and ampiifeation? Ordinary
computation allows as three senses besides
sight and hearing. Passing by the kai-
tan division into census Ua4Gs and seeSttS
ixas. we commonly recognize sense OF
taste, sense OF smell, and sense OF touch.
Now, why shouldn't re have instruments
adapted In 4 similar way to these also
Why shouldn't we have . teleosphrdn.
whereby the most distant odors--the in
cerise OF Arabia and the perfumes OF the
oriest-may be brought within the range
OF our olfactories? Why not mt
crosphrGn, whereby substances, at present
distinctive oder, may afford us the most ex-
auisite and delicate incense? Why not an
osphranoqraph, corresponding to the pho
Rograph, whereby the smells OF different
substances may be recorded, transmitted to
distant ages, and read off to the nose as
book is read OF to the eye?
Who knows how many mysteries OF ma
ture an eXaltation OF the sense OF smell
might unfold, or how many. great and inn
portant uses it might subserYe? Look at
its manifestations among the lower animals,
and observe how widely they depend upon
this sense for the means OF enjoyment and
for the preservation Of life. Man, from the
lack OF sensitiyeness aud delioacy in his Oh,
factory nerve, is forced 10 call in the aid OF
the dog when he wishes TO follow the chase.
BY providing his nose with microsphran
the Nimrod OF the future may act the part
OF both man and dog, thereby uniting econ
omy with pleasure ADD convenience.
Aud why shouldn't the range OF taste be
in the same way vastly spread out and ex-
tended /: Let science produce 1ntcTo9eaIae,
whereby the sense OF taste may be render
ed, like the sense Of sight and hearing, a
thousand times more sensitive In Iiercep-
ton. Many substances, when brought IN
contact with the nervous pophlae OF the
tongue, occasion no sensation may not the
microgeume dctecti in them qualities OF taste
never suspected before? The epicure o,
the distant future may disdain our greatest
delicacies, and find, on the other hand, IN
some object entirely neglected by us all the
ecstatic pleasures to be derived from am
brosia and Dectar-food for the gods! Lei
another Professor Bell arise and invent us
teleqe,lme, similar to the telescope and
telephone in annihilating distance-annl-
hlating it, however, not In point OF slsht
or sound, but in point Of taste. Finally,
NAV we not have method of writing, ap-
pealing to the tongue for apprehension in
Stead Of to the eye or ear? May we not have
an instrument Of no less name than gcno-
graph?
And then, with regard to the sense OF
touch, the Greek combinations telehapt, ma
crohapt, and haptograph would be sufti-
GENTLY suggestive and descriptive. and rs.
surediy of equal dignity and appearance
with the corresponding terms, telescope,
microscope, and monograph. To increase
by mechanical means the sensltlveness
OF this important sense would be OF lm-
mense advantage to that unfortunate
class of mankind deprived of sight and
hearing. The quality OF cloth could be
easily detected this way. In fine, every de-
partment of human industry and expert
ence in which the sense OF touch holds an
important figure could receive a develop
ment and expansion very much TO be
desired.
What vast field for fancy to reyel in is
afforded by what is already practicable IN
the two inventions called the microphone
and photograph ItisWell known that the
vibrations of sound, whether they proceed
from the soft sigh OF zephyr or the loud
roar of thunder. exist in space forever; and
that they are not heard is due simply to the
coarseness Of our apparatus Of hearing. The
microphone, in increasing the capacity OF
the ear, gives voice to space and makes It
resonant with the triumphs, the joys, and
the sorrows of the past. The telegraph, IN
annihilating distance, may in some sense be
said to annihilate the future and make it
present; for the microphone IS reserved the
glorious priyilege-wben developed ana
perfected by future genius-of annihilating
the past and making it present. BY the aid
of this instrument why should we not hope
to resurrect the voices Of the dead and
make them speak to our living ears? Why
should not the Orphean Tyre that conquered
the grim terrorS Of Pluto and Hades, Ger
berus and Rhadamanthus, once more swell
upon the air and enrapture the sense with
strains OF divine harmony? The notes are
floating somewhere around us IN space.
Then let it be the ambition OF the future
scientist to render the microphone Of sutii-
cient deIicacy to collect them and make
them audible to the ear! Though dead and
buried so many hundred years, may not old
Tlmotheus, who at sAleXanders's Feast J"
raised mortal to the skies, raise us also to
q similar elevation in point OF rapture and
ecstasy: And divine Cecilia, "inyentress
of the vocal Frame" "who drew an angel
downo-may not she, too, to our great ad-
vantage and edification, prove the power OF
music, as she did Of old? Why may
not the orators OF antiquity thunder forth
again the eloquence OF fancy ana reason
Demosthenes may give us again MS Ia
ino,ls Grafton "On the Crown" lntermlXed
with the applause and acclamations OF his
audience, the refined Athenans. Cicero
may startle once more the air with his IN
disnation at the insolence OF the conspira-
tors, and repeat in the ears OF Cataline that
question, so famous and so full OF hre !:
:. QuoSQue tandem abatere, Catalina, patti
entia Y,oStra ~ And coming down to more
recent times, to our own country, and to
that country when freedom was at its
birth-the eloquent voice OF Patrick Henry
NAV come back again in its majesty and
strength, and fire our degenerate hearts, as
it did those OF our ancestors OF old, with
the famous soul-stirring words OF Liberty
or Death !"
And then the photograph! BY the aid
OF this the whole present and future in
sound may be conveniently boxed up and
transmitted, like an embalmed mummy, to-
latest posterity. What prevents the elo-
onence Of our preachers and speakers, the
beloved voice Of father and mother, bro
Their and sister, wife and sweetheart, from
Il n Isrrl,f