Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-10
A SCIENTIFIC WONDER.

liarities and Possibilities.
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 this city the perfect
ed monograph, upon which Edison
has spent some of the best years of his
with an awe-struck multitude. OF all
the wonders of invention, this is I'M
questionably the greatest.
With the mere principle of the ma
chine We were acquainted years ago;
how the sound waves created by the
voice in speaking or singing act upon
a sensitive plate of mica, and are thence
transmitted to a vibrating steel point,
pressed close against the surface of q
cylinder of wax; how the tiny waving
spiral thus traced is an absolutely
faithful record of the emitted sound;>
how the process may be reversed. the
vibrating point be made to retraverse
its course, and its movements be again
received by sensitive diaphragm, and
made audible by a resonant multiple
cation of the sound. In fact, there is
nothing more wonderful or difficult to
understand about the principle of the
monograph than about that of the tel
ephone. But it will appear, none the
less, q weird and diabolical thing for
years to come.
The invention is now really per-
fected. He who sets the transmitter
at work and listen at the ear-piece can
hear the words originally spoken repro
duced with the famous accuracy of ma
chine work, and with human quality
of which it might seem that no ma
chine is capable. There is no diminu-
ton in the volume of sound, no loss of
any distinguishing characteristic. Tho
quality and peculiarities of the individ-
ual voice. every infection and accent,
every interruption and imperfection is
there with the same fidelity with
which a plate-glass mirror returns the
features of one gazing into it. And
then, wonder of wonders. the funnel of
the speaking tube is applied to the ma
chine, and the auditor, standing distant
by the space of large room, hears a
speech delivered or a song repeated as
distinctly as if he were in the presence
of the performer. 1t is the talking ma
chine, with which the public will re-
quire long cOnversarce to rid them
selves of the creepiness of superstition.
The practical utility and CONNER.
cial value of the machine are not yet
decided. But it will find its place as
speedily as the telephone and the
typewriter. The wner of the phono-
graph can hear the finest efforts of
oratory and the divinest effects of
music reproduced in his owl library
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 discloses the nature
of the library of the future. An enter
prising publisher will employ q
skilled elocutionist to read into the
photograph the new novel that is the
sensation of the day.
The resulting cylinders will be Ste
reotyped 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 meth
DDS of employm ent are many already. |
and new applications can be made. In
one respect the photograph is not in
accord with the spirit of the age. 1t
is, for most purposes, not a time
saver; and the economy of time is.
above all other things, 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 GROWING
marvel of science. st. Paul Pioneer
Press.
Judge Prisoner at the bar, have
you any thing to say why sentence of
death should not be passed upon your"