The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-12-15
A Scientific Wonder.

IL AOAoAp4AV w S4Wo4S
IF the achievements of science had
not already familiarized the people
with the age of fable in which they
live, the rooms in which there was
lately exhibited IN the city the per-
fected photograph. upon which Edi.
son has spent some of the best years
of his life, would haye been crowded
hourly with an awestruck multitude.
Of all the wonders of invention, this
is unquestionably the greatect.
With the mere principle of the
machine, we were acquainted years
ago; how the sound waves created
by the voice in speaking or singing
act upon o sensitive plate of mica,
and are thence transmitted to a VII
brating steel point. pressed close
against the surface of cylinder of
wax how the tiny waxing spiral
thus traced is an absolutely faithful
record of the emitted sound; how
the process may be reversed, the
vibrating point he made to retrayerse
its course, and its movements be
again received by a sensitive dia-
phragm, and made audible by a re-
SOnant MULTIPLICATION of the sound.
In fact, there is nothing more Won
derful or difficult to understand about
the principal of the photograph than
about that of the telephone. But it
will appear, none the less, weird
and diabolical thing for years to
come.
The invention is now really per-
fected. He who sets the transnitter
at work and listens at the earpiece
can hear the words originally spoken
reproduced with the famous accuracy
of machine work, and with human
quality of which it might seem that
no machine is capable. There is no
diminution in the volumn of sound.
no loss of any distinguishing charac-
teristic. The quality and peculiari-
ties of the individual voice, every
infection and accent. every Interrupt
ton and imperfection is there with
the same fidelity with which plate
glass mirror returns the features of
one gazing into it. And then, won
! der of wonders, the funnel of the
speaking tube is applied to the ma
chine and the auditor. standing dis
tant by the space of large room
hears a speech delivered or song
repeated as distinctly as if he were
in the presence of the performer. 1t Is
the talking machine, with which the
public will require long conversance
to rid themselves of the creepiness of
superstition.
The practical utility and CONNER
cial value of the machine are not yet
decided. But will 1t find its place as
| speedily as the telephone and the
typewriter. The owner of the phon-
ograph can hear the finest efforts of
oratory and the divinest effects of
III Ills O"tl
at pleasure. Members of families
divided by thousands of miles can
hold actual converse in place of the
unsatisfactory records of the pen.
The human voice and manner are
made capable of preservation through
all the ages. More than this, the
practicability of stereOtyping these
wax cylinders and reproducing any
number of them GiscIOseS the nature
of the library of the future. An en-
terprisng publisher will employ a
skilled elocutionist to read into the
photograph the new novel that is
the sensation of the dav.
The resulting cylinders will be
stereotyped and multiplied. Instead
of buying the new book, the tired
man of business will purchase the
two or three cylinders that contain
it, and have his photograph read it
to him in the leisure evening hours.
The methods of employment are
many already, and new applications
can be made. In one respect the
monograph is not in accord with the
spirit of the age. 1t is. for most pur-
poses, not a time-saver; and the
economy of time is, above all other
things, a demand of the practical
generation. But it will find its varied
uses, soon to become indispensable,
and in itself it must stand for the
present as the browning marvel of
science.-MimneapoHs Pioneer.