Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-06-27
IEae Falling Ofa Pin Heard
q Hundred Miles.


ginning of discoveries In the line of
the telephone and phonograph.-
An entirely new field OF scieuce has
been opened ; the limits cannot
even be Guessed. An instrument
has been devised that bears rela-
ton to our capacity for hearing,
similar to that which the microscope
or the telescope docs for vision.-
The new device magnities sound.
1t is appropriately called the micro
phone. BY Its means sounds SO
faint that they have never before
been heard by hr1nan ears may be
made of any degree of loudness.-
A feathers edge brushed over the
sonnding-board OF this instrument
has been made to crash upon the
ears of the listners. The touch of
the tip of a camel's-hair brush was
the occasion of ga cracking noise,
OF which the intensity was almost
painful to the ears The faintest
whisper of the human voice can be
reproduced in the loudest tones.-
"The ulaiden's sigh may roar like
tie cataract Of Niagara.
Professor d. E. Hughes has giv-
en- tull account of the microphono
to the Royal Society of London, and
described the steps by which he was
led to the invention. He is most
widely known in England rs the
inventor of type-printihg telc--
graph instrument which is in gene
raj use in that country. Although
he is an accomplished electrician,
the apparatus which he has employ
ed tor his new experiments is Of the
simplest character and the most tri-
fling cost. With it he has mado
the footsteps OF a housc-fy distinct
J audible ; and all these sounds,
after being intensified, are trans
mitted to any neediul distance by
the ordinary telephone. At re-
cent exhibition of these experiments
tc a few scientific friends in Lon
don all the astonishing effects that
have been referred to were easily
produced, except the fly perfor-
nance.
The philosophy of the new in
vention is moro difficult to explain
than is the telephone itself. The
discovery has 0ccn made by Pro-
tessor Hughes that the vibrations of
sound are REPRODUCED with the
greatest dclicacy and increased force
10y certain materials intcrposed in
an electric circuit. The reproduced
sounds gain their increase Of pow
er doubtless at the expense of the
current. Alter large number of
experiments lie gives the preference
to carbon for this purpose especial
ly to pieces of charcoal that have
been heated to whitcncss and then
plunged into mercury. These pieces,
IN one ot his experiments, he placed
in a glass tube, and brought press
ure upon them that sqeczed their
ends together. This apparatus was
mace part of a closed electric circuit
of three small cups. A Bell tele-
phone was then introduced into the
cirhif. and the whole thing was
complete. III that was necessary
to DO was to talk to the tube, even
at respectful distance from it, and
the telephone repeated the sound,
at any distance yet tried, with IA
loudless dependent only on the pres
sure III the tube.
This disposcs at once of the fear
that the telephone was nearing the
end OF its usefulness as an instru-
ment for conveying speech. 1t is
only at the beginning. With such
means there will be 30 obstacle to
public speaker or sing
difficulty, in fact, in hearing
whispers inaudible 20 unassistcd cars.
All that has ever been imagined as
among the possibilities of the pho
nograph or the telephone seems
now certain to be outdoue. Since
the falling of a pin can now be
heard at the distance of hundred
miles, little will be needed to real
ze Hoods metaphor that Silence
herself may be making a row.
Times must be hard in Chicago,
if we may judge from the Eie ting
a paper published i'll :hat
;ity, which publishes supplement
Of over 100 pages, or 1852 columns
Of advertisements of delinquent tax
es, divided into four lists. The first
the unpaid taxes of Cook
county, in which the city of Chica-
go is situate. The second, third
and fourth lists embrace the delin-
lnent taxes of the city of Chicago
and its suburban adjuncts, running
back to 1878. The whole lists of
taxes would make up large folio
volume. This is bad sign tor
and proves that Chacigo