The New York herald., 1922-08-03

overcoming stammering speech, while
his son, Alexander Melville Bell. father
Of the inventor of the telephone, per-
fected system OF visible speech when
employed, as a professor in an Edinburgh
college.
Devised Talking Skull.
With this heritage. the son. born In
Edinburgh. Scotland, in ls47, under
took similar experiments while still a
lad He constructed an artificial skull
OF gutta percha and Indian rubber that
could be made TO pronounce several
words in weird tones when blown into
by a hand bellows. At the~age of Is
he became, like his father a teacher
of elocution and an instructor OF deaf
mutes.
Bell reached crisis in his life at the
age of %, when he was threatened with
tuberculosis. The disease caused the
death OF his two brothers, and the Bell
family migrated to Brantford, Canada.
meeting at that time with Sir
Charles Wheatstone. the English In
ventor of the telegraph, fired the young
elocutionist with ambition TO invent
musical or multiple telegraph. which
eventually turned out to be telephone
His father. while giving lecture In
Boston, proudly mentioned the sons
success in teaching London deaf mutes.
This led the Boston Board of Education
to offer young Bell $500 to Introduce his
system in the school for deaf mutes.
He was then "a. and he soon became
the educational sensation of the day.
He was appointed professor in Bos-
ton University and opened his Instantly
successful school OF Vocal Physi-
ology.'
But he found that teaching interfered
with his inventing, and he soon gave up
all but two pupils One of these was
Mabel Hubbard. of a wealthy family
She had lost her hearing and speech in
an attack of scarlet fever while a baby
II was she who later became Bells
wife.
Had Laboratory in Cellar.
Abandoning his classroom work. the
young teacher spent the following three
years in night work in cellar in
Salem, Mass. His money needs were
met by Gardiner G. Hubbard, his future
father-in-law. and Thomas Sanders.
owner of the cellar AS he worked he
began to see the possibility of convey
ing speech over an electrically charged
mans ear for his first transmitter. IF
! can make deaf mute talk" he de-
clared. Il can make iron talk
His first success came while testing
his instrument in his new quarters In
Boston. Thomas A. Watson. Bells as
sistant. had struck a clock spring at
one end of the wire and Bell was cleo
trified to hear the sound in another
room. For forty weeks thereafter the
N c ETY. 1a1 fo,
human speech. Then. on March 10. 1876,
Watson became almost insane with JOY
when he heard over the wire Bells
voice saying:
MIR. Watson, come here: I want you"
On his twenty-ninth birthday Bell re-
ceived his patent. 1t was at the Gen.
tennial Exposition. In Philadelphia two
months later. where men of science the
world over. who had come to examine
and study the numerous inventions ex-
hibited. saw Prof. Bell give a practical
demonstration of the transmission of the
human voice by electricity.
The Heart of n Scientist.
Bell himself had not intended to at
tend the Centennial at ALL He was
poor and at that time he had reorgan-
lied his classes in vocal speech. Toward
the end of June he went to the railroad
station to see Miss Hubbard off for
Philadelphia. There had been talk OF
his going. but he had quietly put IL
aside. But Miss Hubbard believed he
was going. and when they reached the
station she pleaded with him and he re-
fused AS he put her aboard the train
and 1t began to move out, leaving him
on the platform. she burst into tears
Bell dashed after her and sprang
aboard without baggage. ticket or other
trifle.
The next Sunday afternoon Bell was
promised an inspection of his invention
by the judges of exhibits 1t was a hot
day and the Judges already had seen 2
great DEAL Some were for going home:
they were bored. Then on the seen,
appeared the blond bearded Emperor
OF Brazil with outstretched hands. He
had heard some of Bells lectures in
Boston: the deaf mute work appealed to
him. His greeting made a stir Bell
prepared for his demonstration. A wire
had been strung the length of the room
Bell took the transmitter; Dom Pedro
placed the receiver to his ear. Amazed.
he exclaimed:
MY God-it- talks!
Lord Kelvin Hears.
Afterward Lord Kelvin-plain William
thompson then-toos up the receiver.
He was the engineer of the first At
lantic submarine cable He nodded hi.