The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-26
A DEAD MAYS EAR
Suggested TO Prof Bell the COnstFue-
ton of the Telephone.

uOn OF the IeiephOhes
From the Pittsburg Dispatch.
AS we looked at the original telephone
I asked Mr.. Bell if he could remember
the time when he first realized that he
had inventive power. and if he had
model Of the very first invention he had
ever made.
LAS to the first question I can't answer,
but here is a part of what 1 suppose TO
be my first invention" as he took down
from a hook a kind Of a cross between a
rat trap and a human jaw made in the
shape Of a mouth of what appeared 70
be shOemaker's wax and rubber, or soft
leather. 1t had rubber lips which open
ed and shut, and the jaws were hinged
Ike those OF a man. This, continued
Mr.. Bell, lis my first attempt at a speak
ing machine When l was a little boy
my father took myself and brothers 10
see an automatOn which uttered some
fered prize to the one OF us who could
invent machine that could speak. 1
made the instrument of which this is a
part and I succeeded in making IL say
some words. We were living in Edin-
burgh at that time in one of those Scotch
fats in which each family has a moor,
with common hall. When i had COM
pleted the machine we took 1t out into
the hall one day and made it cry mann
ma II made a noise much like that of
a baby, and the other families IN the
was that was crying. / remember this de-
lighted us very much.
II had a friend at school who was in
terested in electricity, and We worked to-
gether. Later on, while teaching school
near London, / had among my pupils one
young man whom / was trying to cure OF
stammering. / gave him one of the in
strumentS and practiced my telegraphy
on him. All this time / was studying and
teaching the physiology of the voice. -,
As / carried on my experiments with
the telegraph the idea came to me of null
upleX telephony. / thought that signals
of different pitch might be used in tele-
graphing, and in these the sounds in one
pitch could be arranged so that they
would not conflict with those on another
pitch, and thus number OF messages
same time. / worked upon this for years,
and the telephone was the outgrowth of
this idea and of my studies in connection
with the deaf and the effort to produce
some kind of an instrument by which
sound could be made Ineligible to them.
1t was while / was teaching in Boston
that l succeeded. 1 had discovered Inat
could transmit musical sounds by wire,
and from that 1t was only step to the
conception of the telephone or the trans
slowly, and / had all sorts of difficulties,
both imaginary and real, to contend with.
/ had first a number of reeds as sounding
instruments at each end Of a wire, with
permanent magnets attached to them,
these reeds being of different pitches. 1
then found could produce the same re
suit with a battery and one steel rod.
worked for months after / had the idea
that speech coud be transmitted under the
impression that the power of the voice
would be so lost in its transmission that
though 1 knew all the sounds could be
transmitted, did not believe they would
be loud enough to be audible to the human
II made all sorts of experiments at
this time in testing such matters, and
in my Investigations l wanted a dia-
phragm as near like the human ear as
possible. One day in talking about this
to DR. Torrance Blake of Boston re re-
marked: "Why not use the ear itself?'
/ said that that would suit me exactly,
but asked him where / could get a man
who would give me the ear and how l
could possibly keep it in good condition
after had gotten 1t. He replied that he
would give me one, and shortly after
that / received from him a human ear
cut from a dead subject, and so treated
that / was able to study it and use it in
my experiments This was of great value
to me-"
Have there been many improvements
in the telephone since your original in
Vention2"
mo" replied Mr.. Bell, there have not.
The principle of the telephone is I'M
changed There have been many improve
ments. but they have been in the line of
transmitters and receivers, and things
machine itself and its fundamental prin-
ciples, 1t is about the same as when it
was first made"
The Boston Transcript saysl that
Maria. MITCHELL Is thR only Aunarioe NC