The Portland daily press., 1888-07-21
THE THING THATlTALKs.
Edlson's Phonograph a Surprising
success-A Sample Phonogram.

The report published that the Umbria had
brought from England phonograms contain
ing the voices Of Gladstone. Balfour and
other British celebrities, is incorrect, and
was made without the authority Of Mr.. Edi-
fon. Up to the present the only phonOgrams
that have been received at the inventors
laboratory from Europe are those bearing
the voice Of Col. GOuraud, his London asso-
ciate, although It appears from cable ad-
vices that numerous othersl have been for
warded, but have evidently been detained
en- route by the postal authorities.
The object sought by the inventor in these
transatlantic transmissions Is TO determine
upon the best form Of mailing device. II Is
obvious that in general practice phonograph-
ie cylinders travelling through the mails
would receive their share Of the rough usage
that delights the heart Of the average bag
gage-handler, and cylinder that will not
hold its pent-up voice intact despite the
tossing and crushing Of an ocean voyage viii
scarcely be in happy condition for singing
or speech-making ON arriving at its destina-
tion.
As at present constructed, the cylinders
are made Of wax, one-eighth Of an inch thick,
They are inclosed In pasteb0ard cOmpart-
ments, which in turn are eneased In wooden
boxes.
Mr. Edisen naturally selected ocean yoy-
ages for the little messengers of thought, as
the kind Of trav0l best calculated to put
them to the seYerest test Thus far the tests
Indicate that the present method Of mailing
will not be suitable for general nse, as sever
al of the cylinders have been injured In their
passage from London TO New York. In
every case the postal authorities have opened
the Enclosures, and with pardonable curiosity
peered at and handled the strange imple-
ment. Notwithstanding the rough hand
ling, however a number of the cylinders
passed the ordeal safe and sound, and on be-
ing put on the phonograph IN EdisOn's labor
atOry, cheerily gave out strong. vigorous
English. with slight London accent. One
Of the first cylinders listened to spoke the
| following message from Col. GOurOud, OF
London, so readily, clearly and accurately
that it is difficult to realize that the gentle
man himself was not speaking Instead OF the
| inanimate wax that carried his voice across
| the water:
LITTLE MENLo, UPPER NoRwoOD, England.
Friend Edison: cabled you the due receipt ot
| your first phonoWams. IL was an lndeseIlDa99i,o
| sensation 10 us 70 hear perfectly ana qistlhetY
1000 miles away from where you nad spoken
them ten days afterward ~ Is not tVo inuSn e 70
sav thaf the event marks a new era IN eiviliza-
i sicyr siy Every one present who was familiar with
vonr a voice recognized it perfectly. The entire
/ nreqa has chfOucled the latest triumph OF your
| Genius / am literally bombarded with letters
| and besieged BY visitors. everybody who sees or
| hears the photograph Is Of course delighted and
| enchanted. predict for the phOnograph sue
cess beyond ali precedent. What a blessing Il Is
10 be able 20 say all this 20 you without the trouble
OF Writing, TO say nothing OF the trouble OF reading
my writing. | congratulate you with all my
heart. GOUROUD.
In addition TO experimenting for suitable
mailing devices, Mr.. Edison continues inces-
sanity at work upon other details of the In
yentien. As a test Of its accuracy he fire.
quently reads with great rapidity long pas
sages from a book or paper backward into
the phonograph and then turns II over to an
ordinary typewriter, and invariably the re-
production Is so minutely perfect that the
transcription is absolutely correct to the
smallest detail.