Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-05
to his practical miracle Of telephoning b,
Sunbeam Telephone.

Sunbeam Telephone.
But to say that this is "telephoning by
means Of a sunbeam Is really very crude
and inaccurate description OF what actual
ly takes place. This was what Professor
Bell discovered by accident one day In the
course Of his experiments. 1t CHANGED that
he thrust in the path of the ray disc
of India rubber, and he found that COM
munication was not interrupted IN the
least If you or 1 had been there we should
have been both surprised and mystihed
But the accident told Professor Bell tnat
he had made yet further step In his re-
searches. that he had opened new gate
to further knowledge Of the subject. He
had discovered that the process OF tele-
phoning was not conducted by the visible
rays of the sunbeam at all. but by the
invisible rays. of which we know only by
Inference.
If you split up a sunbeam by means OF
q prism on each side Of the spectrum there
not visible, but which still have the prop
erty, some of them Of developing heat
and others of affecting q galvanometer
Some Of these are called actinic rays. and
then again there is another class of which
the world has heard a great deal OF late.
the so-called rays which Professor
Roentgen made use Of In seeing the bones
of the human body.
The peculiar quality Of these invisible
rays 10 that they will pass through sub
stances which the visible rays Of light will
not pass through, and this Is just what
happened when Professor Bell thrust this
piece Of India rubber into the sunbeam
path. in his experiment. The phenomenon
showed that 1t was these invisible rays
which really took up the sound vibrations
and carried them along. And SO from this
Professor Bell was led to change the
names of his device from a photophone to
a radiaphone. By this new phrase the IN
ventor was able to give a clearer and more
accurately descriptive name to his inven-
ton.
Use of selenium.
But Professor Bells researches were only
begun. AS I have already indicated. the
invention of the radiaphone was due to his
discovery of the peculiar properties pos
sessed by selenium. The latter Is an e1-
ceedingly rare metal so closely resembling
telurium that the man who found 1t first
gave 1t a name which would indicate Its
relationship; as telerium comes from tellus,
the earth, he took it's name from selene,
the moon. 1t Is as expensive as 1t is rare,
and in his laboratory last spring Professor
Bell showed me a little glass jar which
contains probab bly, the largest amount OF
selenium in the world. Furthermore. aside
from Its expense. 1t was a troublesome
metal to deal with. and many long night
did Professor Bell spend-all his work Is
done at night-over ways and means for
its practical use.
1t happened one day when Professor Bell
wished to make some experiments that the
selenium was all gone and just by way Of
hazard a number Of other substances were
tried. to see If they would act in anything
like the same way. 1t was Just from this
chance experiment that 1t was found that
there are a great many substances that
will do almost we'll. One of these was
ordinary black wool. And just to show you
how large part mere chance plays even
in matters Of pure science Professor Bell
goes on to tell of how one day he was
out of black wool. we'll as selenium.
There was white wool. however, and moth
ing daunted. the inventor proceeded to be-
daub this with ordinary lamp black. And
this worked better than ever. 1t was only
a little further step to experiment with
lamp black Itself. and finally with Just
plain soot And the last 1t was found
was the best of all.
So. one chance experiment after another,
1t finally fell out that Professor Bell de-
vlsed talking machine. literally, out Of
sunbeam and small phial of SCOT. At
first all the experiments were conducted
in the laboratory between one room and
another. One day Professor Bells CO.
worker. Sumner Tainter, climbed up with
radiaphone transmitter. into the cupola
of a school house. a considerable distance
away. Professor Bell was at the receiver