The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-01-23
The Photographic.

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 ex-
hibited in this city the perfected pho
nograph, upon which Edison has spent
some of the best years of his life, would
have been crowded hourly with an
awe-struck multitude. OF all the Won
ders of invention, this is unquestionably
the greatest. 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 sensitive plate of mica, and are
thence transmitted to vibrating steel
point, pressed close against the surface
of a cylinder of wax; how the tiny
waving spiral thus traced is an abso-
lutely faithful record of the emitted
sound; how the process may be re-
versed, the vibrating point be made to
retraverse its course, and its movements
be again received by sensitive dia-
phragm, and made audible by re-
sonant multiplication of the sound. In
fact, there is nothing more wonderful
or difficult to understand about the
principle of the photograph than about
that of the telephone. But it will APP
pear, none the less, weird and dia-
bolical thing for years to come. The
invention is now really perfected. He
who sets the transmitter at work and
listens at the ear-piece 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 diminuton in the
volume of sound, no loss of any dis
tinguishing characteristic. The quality
and peculiarities of the individual
voice, every infection and accent, every
interruption 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 machine
and the auditor, standing distant 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 SUI
perstition. The practical utility and
commercial value of the machine are
not yet decided. But it will find its
place as speedily as the telephone and
the Typewriter. The owner of the
monograph can hear the finest efforts
of oratory and the divinest effects of
music reproduced in his own 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 pres
ervation through all the ages. More
than this, the practicability of stereo-
tipping these wax cylinders and repro
ducing any number of them discloses
the nature of the library of the future.
An enterprising publisher will employ
skilled elocutionist to read into the
monograph the new novel that is the
sensation of the day. The resulting
cylinders will be stereotyped and
multiplied Instead of buying the
new book, the tired man of bust
ness will purchase the two or three
cylinders that contain it, and have
his monograph read it to him in the
leisure evening hours. The meth
DDS of employment 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 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 pres
ent as the browning marvel of sci
ence.-PiOneer Press.