The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-06-12

cardcd them az foolish and Impractical"
@"But did not electricity have much TO
do with the frst telephone
4. Not great deal was the reply.
we had two electro agnets, one At
each end Of the wire. These were all
that were used In the f1rst Instruments,
and we transmitted sound with them al
most as we'll as we do now. The batter
les and other electrical machinery ilnve
been the joutgrowth Of other necessities
In the practical Working Of the Invention
rather than In the pure trat,sln. ssion OF
tho human voice. That part OF the IN
strument, Which you now put to your
ears was al nrst used to speak into; and
the diaphragm, as 1t Is was made for
spcnklng. not for hearing. a pyecc OF
Iron or steel would do Just as well for
the purpose for which II is now used.
We had at first two such mouth pieces
one held at the ear and the other to
speak into While listening the. receiver et'
often puts one Of these at each ear to
better the transmission. The batteries
were necessitatcd for calling the sub
scribcrs. We had to have call bells,
Which were orig nally rung with crank,
ms Is done in some OF the old phones to-
day. These bells nccessitated an electric
battery for every instrument. and other
things have added electrical machinery
which was entirely unknown at the
The Autobiography Of the Tele-
phone.
Cannot YOU give me the nutobiogra pny
OF the telephone Or. Bell?" / asked.
II will give you some of 1t at least.
was the reply. The invention was born.
r may say. in my long study OF sotinn
In copnection with the human voice.
might perhaps say that It's birthplace
dated still farther back. My fathers life
was devoted to the study jof vocal sounds. 4
He was an authority on voice culture,
md also the inventor OF vIs.blc speech,
nm alphabet In which the actions Of the
organs of the mouth In producing speech
arc symbolized. BY this invention the
sounds Of any language may be express 4
ed. and by II a large number of deaf
people are taught to speak. Even back
OF that. my grandfather was a student
of sound. He was an orator, we'll yersed
In cocution and voice, culture. SO that
ifthere IS anything In heredity the germ
Of the telephone may have come from
my grandfatter.'a
please carry the autobiography down
Into your life sad ].
''As / think Of 1t in that way, can
mark several interesting stages which
now seein to point TO the telephone
saId Or. Bell. II have told you In the
past. how father once offered myself
md my brothers prizes lf VIC could ln-
vent any kind OF n machine that would
talk This was after he had taken US
TO see speaking automoton. / did In
vent a inouthpiece OF rubber and other
material that would say mamma and
cry like a baby. Another stage might
be marked by my ambition to be a singer
and musical composer. had a
good voice, and. just before reaching
manhood, was devoting myself to Its
training with that life work in View. !
This led me to the further study Of the 1
voice and the transmission OF sound.
That ambition was gwen UP on account
of my health. and for the same reason
father brought me TO Canada. where We
purchased farm This migration now
seems almost propidential In the life of
the invention, for I am sure had ] re-
NAMED In England I never should have
made IT. The intellectual atmosphere
of Great Britain is too cold and conser-
vntive to incite great discoveries. whereas
that OF this country is stimulating and
friendly to all new things. Our patent
gystem Is also far more encouraging. ~
We'll, to continue my story Dr.. Bell
went on. II found the Canada farm Just
what needed. The change and the out
of door life soon made a new man of me,
and father, In the meantime, having |
again taken UP his studies Of the teacf-
Ing OF the deaf ] became Interested IN
that and was mntn professor OF vocal /,
physiology In the Boston University.
Partly an Accident.
"All this work, you see was along the |