The Washington herald., 1922-08-17
Alexander Graham Bell.
To the Editor. The Washington Herald:

Your editorial, THE Memorials of
Science" merits reproduction In all
other newspapers. Valuable as tele-
phone service is. IL is not the only
'.fitting memorial that was erected
to him within his lifetime" There
are several others. But. from my
point of view. the City of Chicago
paid the highest tribute Of all the
many honors conferred upon Alex
ander Graham Bell.
In Chicago, in 1916. he had the
unusual pleasure of participating in
the dedication of a large modern
school building. designed to carry
out the suggestions he had offered
at a public meeting called by the
Board OF Education of that city in
1884. Then the suggestions were
declared visionary and unworthy OF
consideration. although he had
proved Ave years earlier that the
suggestions were practicable: name
ly. that in the training of deaf chill
dren every effort should be made
to have them associate with hear
ing children as much as possible
during the recess hour as well as
after school hours.
He would have the deaf children
occupy a separate room in the same
building with the hearing children,
but they would be taught by spe-
cially trained teachers: that is. by
teachers who know all that is
known by teachers of hearing chill
dren. and. in addition, possessed a
thorough knowledge OF the mechan-
ism and the principles of speech.
Cut in the rock that forms a par,
OF the wall of that handsome build
ing is the name: Alexander Graham
Bell School"
The pride of washingtonians In
the fact that this open minded. low
able scientist was a resident of this
city is fully justified because of the
many researches he made here for
the betterment of humanity
According to the medical journals
an improved form of the telephone
probe, which he devised here In
Washington in 1SSo-1SSl. was used
in many of the hospitals or the Lead
ing combatants during the world
war.
1t was in Washington that he car
ried on his experiments with sell
enium that resulted in the invention
of his radiophone, an invention that
meant far more to him than even his
invention of the telephone did. And
was first transmitted by wireless"
was first transmitted by wireless. :.
a beam Of sunlight being used as a
transmitting medium. That was
over forty years ago.
1t was on the Potomac that in
1882 he demonstrated the prac-
ticability of establishing communi-
cation between vessels at sea, with
the aid of an electric telephone. and
using the conductivity of water as
the medium for the transmission of
electric signals.
1t was in Washington that he
aided in inventinC the graphophone.
the wax disc record (now called the
musical record. and the wax cylin-
drical record. as well as the i'm
proved form of phonograph. That
was thirty-five years ago. a period
longer than the lifetime Of a gen.
Grafton.
Incidentally 1t may be added that
II was a washingtonian. the late
Edward D. Easton. who fell so
deeply In love with these inven-
tions. as he experimental with the
first crude machines in DR.. Bells
laboratory. that he perfected the
organization that built up the
foundation on which now rests the
vast musical recording industry.
On the corner of Thirty-ffth
street and Volta place in the
Georgetown section stands the
Volta Bureau, an Institution whose
helpful service has won interna-
tional commendation. He founded
II in 1887. "for the increase and
diffusion of knowledge relating to
the deaf" and he endowed 1t in the
hope that aurists would nnd its
unique library and valuable archives
helpful in researches for determin-
ing the causes for the loss OF hear
ing. and how best to conserve hear
ing. f. ID.