The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-01-21
TO HEAR BY THE HANDS.
Scotch Electricians Device to Enable Dear
to Enjoy Music.

Scotch Electricians Device TO Enable Dear
to Enjoy Music.
BY means of an invention OF DR..
Thomas McKendrick, a noted expert in
acknowledgements Of Glasgow, Scot
land, 1t is possible for the deaf to hear
music. To accomplish 1t the deaf per-
son must dip his hands into a tub Of
water A phonograph is used for sup
plying the music The sound waves are
directed into regular telephone trans
mitter The transmitter connects with
a series of batteries under the tub,
connecting herewith. The harmony is
carried TO the brain through the hands.
The principle on which DR.. McKen-
I drick based his idea is one which is
but little understood. Water Is one of
| the best conductors of electricity
known. DR.. William Harvey King, an
| electro-therapeutical expert OF New
| York who has studied DR.. McKen-
| bricks discovery, said in the New York
Herald a few days ago that the great
difficulty which had always bafiled ex-
! perimenters in this line was that the
! batteries used did not produce the per-
| feet rhythmical vibrations necessary.
I'VE have made this experiment with
the Faradic battery" said DR.. King
but. to speak technically for a mo-
ment, the long period of cessation be-
| tween the make and the break de.
stroys the rhythm, and consequently
| the sensation Is not transmitted. The
European expert has prepared a spe'
cial battery. the secret of which he
| still retains"
| The process by which the rhythm Of
music is transferred through the nerves
to the nerve centre of the brain Is
clearly described by DR.. King.
! IF you have ever been aboard G
small steam vessel which was being
propelled at a high rate Of speed By
machinery of high horse power" sale
DR.. King, you have no doubt felt the
unbroken or rhythmical vibrations go,
ing through the body Of the craft. Now
| deaf person, under the condition cit
I'd, hears these vibrations as well as one
whose auditory nerves are perfectly
normal. While the sensation Of listen
ing to the music is accomplished on the
same general principle as l have JUS
| described the effect on the deaf woue
be much more striking and agreeable.
Take. for instance, a person wht
has been deaf from birth. He immerse!
his hands in the prepared water con
nected with the phonograph. Thu
rhythm of the music is conducted b,
the nerves locally affected to the tis
sure Rolando in the brain, and the
sensation Is one of pleasure. Greater
still Is the pleasure experienced by on'
who has at one time had normal hear.
ing and who has become deaf from
some cause or another. If the tune SO
lected is one with which the subjec
has been familiar, he may easily fol
low the varying changes of the music
and by the aid OF his imagination
which in the deaf Is unusually acute
he can thus enjoy the oddly conducted
concert almost as thoroughly as If hi
hearing was normal"
While the new system of making tn
deaf hear is yet in it's infancy, DR.
King says that scientists all over th'
world. himself included are working
lntiringly with the electrical agent, an'
are sanguine of even greater success
than has already been attained.