The weekly Panola star. [volume] (Panola, Miss.) 1857-1881, 1881-04-30

iipnHl boHdHmy ~ Seishtea he
held gis n "a semi.mnnnl sss.
si0hs IN Wellington, and Ne pin.
dpal rvsnt has been 4 lecture By
The distinguished disc0vsfef. Prof
Dell, iho inventor N ihe speaking
telephone and pllgloplone lie
feciied The wonderful facts discoy.
cred ny him while engaged In en-.
pefimenis ior the Improvement ~
the phoiophohe, and tiiat a vast
number n substances, solid, liquid
and gaseous, possess the proper
Ity Of emitting sounds upon the
falling thereon Of Intermittent rays
of sunlight. and that his expert
fnents, 10 measure the emitted
sound, bad resulted in the inven-
ton Of an instrument styled by
him The speetfophonc, that the
scientists say will prove Of incstim-
able value IN the field Of molecular
physics.
The aeadcmicians went wild
over the paper. AT It's conclusion
Prot. Rogers, in the chair, said
that, in consideration OF the vast
ness Of the discoveries and their
enormous amplitudes. he could not
refrain from an expression Of his
great JOY, as a scientist, thereupon.
lie little anticipated such glorious
results. In view of this mapnif-
cent contribution to the academy
by its honored guest, PORT. Bell,
he suggested that a vote of thanks
be returned to the great inventor,
and it was ordered by a unani-
nous vote.
Prof. Bell read his paper, recit-
ing the great facts recently discov-
cred by him with the cooperation
of his associate, Prof. Tainer. He
illustrated his remarks with dia-
grams. The following extract
from his paper gives the essential
facts:
He had previously ascertained
that their disks, OF very many dif-
ierent substances, emitted sounds
when exposed to a rapidly Interrupt
ted beam Of sunlight. He then
ascertained that sonorousness was,
under the influences ofintermi,tenr
light, a property common to al
matter. The satisfactory result,
were communicated TO the French
academy. During his absence il
Europe, Mr.. Tainer, at his sug.
gestion, examined, in the Wash.
ington laboratory, the sonorou.
5 properties ofa vast number of sub.
stances, and discovered that cot
ton-wood, worsted, silk and fbroui
materials generally, produced
, much longer sounds than rigi,
4, bodies like crystals. He mex
found that the darkest shades pro
duced the best efiect-black worst
ed, especially. Then he trieC
: l%amp-black. a teaspoonful o
: lamp-black was placed in a ties
. tube and exposed to an intermit
tent beam of sunlight, and tn
sound produced was much loude
than any produced before. Tn,
extremely loud sounds produce,
from lamp-black demonstrated tn
> feasibility Of using this substanc,
\ in an calculating photophone. Ii
regard 10 the sensitive material
in the case of solids, the physica
y condition and the color are tvs,
conditions that remarkably influ
enees the intensity of the sonorou
$ effects. The loudest sounds ar
r produced from substances in
loose, porous, spongy condition
q and from those that have the dark
est or most absorbent colors. II
had not as yet found one solid bod.
that failed to become sonorous I'm
der proper conditions Of expert
mcnt.
The deduction from these exper
ments is that sonorousness is, un
der THE direct action Of intermii
tent sunlight, a universal properi
of matter.
Prot. Bell made the gratifying
: statement that his experiment.
examinations were still in their in
fancy, and that there was no tell
n Ing what great results might b
r developed in the future.
CttnruAtt