The daily gazette., 1878-04-23
Our Washington Letter.
MEETING OF THE NATIONAL
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

INTERvIEw-AN OLD
ZEN sIoNER.
From Our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, April 20.
The events of the week have been the
gathering of the "National Academy of
Sciences" at the Smithsonian Institution,
and the arrival Of Mr.. Edison, the famous
inventor with his Photograph, which he
exhibited yesterday at the Capitol to an
admiring throng of Senators and mem
bers. Mr. Edison received an invitation
by telegraph, to attend the meetings at
the Smithsonian, and brought with him
his marvellous instrument, which is, sure
enough, a wonderful invention. When
he took it up to the Capitol, some of the
more skeptic among our Solons shook
their heads doubtingly and predicted that
if such things, a. claimed for the phono-
graph We're possible, then the world would
certainly not stand long; but others, with
more faith in the possibilities of the nine
teenth century, elbowed the throng to
get near enough to the instrument and
get chance to test it. Mr.. Edison first
explained the principles upon which the
phonograph operates, and then went
through a number of practical tests, such
as whistling, singing, growing, talking
different sentences, &c, all of which the
phonograph repeated with wonderful
accuracy. The only two instances in
which it failed to repeat distinctively the
questions put to it, was when Senator
Howe said something into the mouthpece
to which the only answer came back was
''Bow wowW but then perhaps the Sena-
tor had only been barking. The other
failure was when, in reply to a whisper
by General Butler into the machine, the
single word "Spoons" rang out clear and
with metallic sound in the very uttcrance
that had something significant in it.
As possibly many of my readers now
hear of the phonograph for the first time,
/ will endeavor to describe this wonder
ful machine in a few words 1t is com
posed of cylinder, on which appear
spiral grooves, and which is connected
with crank by which it may be turned
and diaphragm over the cylinder, show
ing on the outer side mouthpiece, and
on the inner side "a fine steel point. The
cylinder is covered with tin-foil and set
i'll motion. If no words had been spoken
the steel point would merely have pressed
the tin foilinto the grooves of the cylin-
der and formed regular indentation.
But the words spoken into the mouth
piece caused vibration, in the steel point,
as 1t indented the tin foil. When the
machine was reversed and the steel point
placed where it commenced its Journey
rs the cylinder again revolved, the same
vibrations were produced in the steel
which originally caused the identations,
and were translated into sound-waves
and spoken from the mouthpiece. When
words were uttered in the mouthpiece,
the sound-waves caused vibration In the
needle or steel point and identations in
the tin-foil.
When the steel point was again passed
over the idented tlnfoil, precisely the or
lginal vibrations were produced which
by reverse process We're converted into
sound waves and issued from the mouth
piece as speech. Thus the process was
entirely mechanical. Into the month piece
Of the instrument Mr.. Edison's assistant
sung and shouted and whistled and crow
ed, and i'll a few minutes the same sounds
fioated out upon the air, faint but dis
tinct. 81 declare," said one who had
heard it bafore, sit sounds more like the
devil every timew There was some
thing weird and uncanny about the little
machine as it expressed itself in articu-
lated language and more than one little
girl in the audience crept up closer to
her protector rs the awful hush that pre-
ceded the monographs remarks was
broken by its far off utterances. Senator
Ransom seemed particularly delighted,
and asked Mr.. Edison whether he could
invent a machine that would pick cotton
automatically. ~ believe 1 could" Mr.
Edison replied; and in answer to ques-
tion by Senator Conkling, he said that
he had taken out 158 patents and 81
caveats on different inventions.
The Ddlty Union newspaper, edited by
MIR. Lynch, was, on Tuesday last, merged
into the Daily Post, a Democratic daily
ably edited by Mr.. A. @. Buell.. The
fore that the "Union" was llnched 1t
was republican paper, supporting the
Hayes administration.
Among the applications received at
the Pension office yesterday was one
one from captain Harry Ward, of
Sacketts Harbor, N. Y, aged 1O1, who
served in the U. S. Navy in the war of
1872, taking prominent part in the bat
tie of Sackett's Harbor, where he was
for good, and he has resided their ever
Since
The reported interview of New York
World reporter with Senator Conkling
created considerable of stir here, and
the Utica Senator has been compelled to
hlre two men armed with shot guns, ,,and
stationed them at his door to keep off
other interviewers and intruders gener-
ally. While he does not explicitly deny
the published statement, in which he ex-
pressed himself with considerable an
imadversion against the administration,
yet ON the other hand, he does not
adnett it, and public hangs suspended be-
tween "yes" and "no," as did Mahomet's
coffin between Heaven and Earth. 1t
Is, however, pretty well settled by this
Tune, that Mr.. Conkling cannot, by any
manner of means, be classed among the
admirers of Mr.. Hayes or his policy; so
That more are inclined to believe his
pungent utterancss about the administra-
ton, as reported by the World man, than
can be found to disbelieve them.
"Dr." Mary Walker, the famous female
Dress-Reformer and advocate OF panta-
looms for. women, (as if ssme married
women wot Of didn't wear the "pants"