Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1878-04-23
TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL %, 1878
The Photograph.

The Pail Msll Gaz,tte says ths phonograph
must have already reminded many persons OF
those frtz n notes in Baron Munchausen' 8 horn
that became audible music when the thaw set TO-.
This comparison is apt, but it is by no means
the h.. piest that might have been chosen.
One of Addison's humorous papers n the Tat
tier is altogether moro illustrative. 10 tho
amusing fiction alluded to Addison professed to
have como 10 possession of an unpublished
ournal Of Sir John Mandeville, from which he
published an extract. Mandevillc's EogIsh
ship, together with Dutch and French ship,
being caught 10 the Polar regions and ompelled
| to winter 10 Nova Z,mbls the crews built huts
! Of turf aud amused themselves as best they
| could. A period of intense cold coming on they
| found themselves unable to be heard, although
each sailor seemed to himself to talk as well az
ever. This term Of utter silence had continued
for several weeks, when with turn ofthe wind
there came tbaw and the frozen words began
to melt. First cracking of consonants over
their heads. then breczo OF whispers, alter.
ward syllabIes and short words, aud at luugth
as the thaw progressed entire sentences and
whole conversations were let loose, uutil all the
CONCEALED words were heard precisely as they
would have been at the proper time if they had
not been froz,n by the air the moment they
passed the lips of the speakers. Addison. or
rather the fictitious Journal Of Sir John Man.
dsve, repeats many ludicrou5 and divcrliDg
specimens, among them the oahs and curses of
the boatswaio, who took the opportunity of ST.
lenoe to free his mind respecting the captain
and got slrappadoed when his curses thawed
out, with equally amusing scenes among the
crews Of the Dutch and French ships1
Now the phonOgraph surnasseS this Wild
freak of hum )rnus invention. 1t catches aud
impriSoos words and whole conversations and
songs, as the cir OF the irIgid zone was supposed
to do, holds them fer aGy !eogIh o! lu'e, AMI
gives them bick as faithfully as the frozen air
diu tho E. leu atiopS of Sir Vaudeville j sailors
10 nomcry Of their distant sweetheartsin 10 Wap.
ping, as faithfully as the grams Of the Polar
bear we're mlde audible three weeks after its
fish had been packed 10 the meat balrcl.-
Instead Of cougealiog s0ueds in the air the
photograph sodf,s then in q thin plate o.!
metal where they are securely Imprisoned for
mouths or years or centuries, or Unit! it peascs
the holder Of the metallic plate to let them
loose. Tue vcry words, infonai0ns, elupha>ls
aud paus,s are as securely kept as tho words
CONCEALED 10 northern air.. drinking sGnc
sung by Sir Johns sailors would not have
been more exactly rendered 10 the air over
their heads after the thaw than is any kind Of
singing by the phonoeraph. Had the instrC-
mont been Invented when Jenny Lind We
singing in this cCualry her clIccrts Of that pc
riod might be exactly reproduced 10 any New
York parIor this evening, or IN any part OF tie
world thousand years hence.
That familiar natural phenomenon, tho echo,
bears some resemblance to ths phonograph.
Men will sometimes 60 quiet out OF their way to
listen to good echo. There is ono on q small
lake near the Profile House in the White Noun.
tains which gives back sound with wOundeful
distinctness, the notes Of bugle being tinoIy
returned tf.er an intervsl OF several sccold' Lin
some p.rts of the world there arc echoes which
will repeat the same sounds twenty tlnle; In suc-
cession. There is one IN 1tsy which, wnon
visited by Gsssendi, returned the hfst line OF
Virgil six times. But the echo is as different
! from the phonograph as the reasctlon OF the
human face in water is from its fixed retention
| in q photograph The echo returns words only
| while you are present TO speak them; the phono-
graph is an echo wach will retain the very tonos
| Ofyour voice for hundreds Of years and enAblo
your great grandchildren. and eVon their greit
| grandchdren, to know how youspoke as a pho
| nogrSph will tell them how you looked. We
think we render the photograph intellgibo to
those who have not witnessed II by describing 1t
as an i'm nprisonad echo, which can be released a.
| pleasure Add;eon's pleasant f ,tion may, per.
hape, uid III cOnceptlon.-N. I. HeTdh'
| ASINCERE MoURNER FOR TWEED.-As the
body was borue through the crowl there was
a general murmur Of grief, and several persons
who probably had known the dead shed tears.
There was one striking fisure-that of an ngcd
negro with grizzly wool and beard as white as
snow, leaning against tree and weeping like
child. His name is William Dove, and he was
10 the scr vice OF Mr. Tweed father, Of Rich
ard NJ, and indeed. had boen in the employ
| mebt of every member of the family. When
he became 100 old to work he was furnished
the meabs Of livelihood, and has long been q
I pensioner of tn, family. The old mans grief
! Was eltaue5t and won the respect Of the some
what rough crowd by which he was surround
ed,--,&G,D York. World.
i THE EASIEST WAY TO DKowN.- death by
droRuiug be iocvitablc, as in shpwreck, the
easiest way to G;, would be to suck water lntc
the lxoes by paserful inspiration as soon al
| one went beneath the surface. person VT
had the courage to do|HMs would probably bt
come almost Immediately unconscious and new
rise to the suffice. AS soon as the fluid hlltt
5 his lungs sill feelings Of chiucssa a2d pain wOu
1 ,o,so Tho irdoscribable srmi dclirHlm that ac