54 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



been substantially as above recorded, and the results have been of 

 such a curious character as to be well worth a visit from those inter- 

 ested in the influence of the sea in modifying and eroding the coast. 



-+*+- 



THE TELEPHONE, WITH A SKETCH OF ITS INVENT- 



OE, PHILIPP KEIS. 



By WILLIAM F. CHANNING, M. D. 



A BOOK of absorbing public interest is announced shortly to 

 appear in England and this country a history of the telephone 

 of Johann Philipp Reis, with a biographical sketch of its inventor, by 

 Professor Sylvanus P. Thompson. 



The telephone outranks all previous discoveries in its direct en- 

 largement of human power. The telescope and microscope are its 

 nearest compeers. The telegraph, beside it, is a clumsy mechanism. 

 The telephone, which makes a whispering-gallery of the round earth, 

 may well exert an influence on civilization, comparable with that 

 of the railroad and steamship. Already the business centers expand, 

 and the values of city lands change, under the magic of an inven- 

 tion which places every man at every other man's ear. But this 

 promise or prophecy of the telephone is not all that affects the inter- 

 est of the American people. There is a menace in connection with its 

 present history which justly awakens public concern. Rapacious 

 hands have clutched the throat of the telephone, to extort oppressive 

 tribute for every word which it utters. 



Professor Thompson's book, which treats exhaustively the early 

 history of the telephone, is therefore not only of scientific but of 

 social interest and importance. It establishes beyond honest doubt 

 or question, by historical evidence, by the reproduction of original 

 documents and illustrations, and by the public records of scientific 

 bodies, that Philipp Reis discovered the electric transmission of S2)eech 

 in 1860-'61 ; that he elaborately described and exhibited his telephone 

 in 1861 ; that he invented transmitting and receiving instruments, 

 which not only talked then and talk now, but which include the essen- 

 tial principles of the transmitters and receivers now in use ; and that 

 he manufactui'ed, placed on the market, and sold his instruments in 

 18G3, for the purpose of illustrating the electric transmission of 

 speech and song. That an invention so important, made in the heart 

 of Germany, should not have been instantly perfected and utilized 

 would surprise us in this country, if history did not abundantly teach 

 that inventions complete in themselves often lie sterile until the favor- 

 able season and soil are found for their commercial adoption and de- 

 velopment. 



