756 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A Plea for Candor in Bible-Reading. By a 

 Citizen of Jackson. Jackson, Tenn. : J. G. 

 Cisco. Pp. 44. 



Wisconsin Geological Survey. Report for 

 the Year 1877. By T. C. Chamberlain. Madison, 

 Wis.: D. At wood print. Pp. 93. 



Variation s of the Leaf-Scars of Lepidodendron 

 aculeatum. Pp. 15. Also of Certain Sigillariae. 

 Pp 5, with Plates. By H. L. Fairchild. From 

 " Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences." 

 Transactions of the American Entomological 

 Society. Vol. VI., Nos. 3 and 4. With Plates. 

 Philadelphia : The Society. Pp. 174. 



Twelfth Annual Report of the Sheffield Sci- 

 entific School. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse 

 & Taylor print. Pp. 53. 



Discovery of Stone Implements in Glacial 

 Drift, in North America. By T. Belt. From 

 Quarterly Journal of Science. Pp. 22. 



Willard' s Method of treating Ores. Plymouth , 

 Mass. : Avery & Doten print. Pp. 15. 



Bulletin of the University of California, No. 

 28. Pp.72. 



Dental School of Harvard University. Cam- 

 bridge : C. W. Lever print. Pp. 9. 



Memorial to Congress for the Improvement 

 of the Mississippi River. St. Louis : J. J. Daly 

 & Co. print. Pp. 38. 



Froward to the Froward. By E. A. Beaman. 

 New York: E. H. Swinney. Pp. 28. 



Methods of Arithmetical Instruction. By F. 

 W. Bardwell. New York: Putnams. Pp. 34. 

 15 cents. 



The Glycogenic Function of the Liver. By 

 J. Le Conte. From American Journal of Science. 

 Pp.9. 



Nature and Possibilities of Social Science. 

 By P. Burton. Aurora, 111. : Herald print. Pp.8. 

 On a Branch Naval Observatory. By Rear- 

 Admiral Rodgers. Pp. 6. 



The Kirografer and Stenografer Monthly. %\ 

 per year. Amherst, Mass.: J. B. & E. G. Smith. 

 Is the Universe governed by a Devil ? By 

 J. F. Smith. Oak Lawn, R. I. : Home Publish- 

 ing Co. Pp.14. 15 cents. 



Contributions from the Chemical Laboratory 

 of Harvard College. By J. P. Cooke, Jr. Pp.132. 

 Hereditary Epilepsy. By Dr. E. Dupuy. On 

 the Seat of the Vaso-Motor Centres. By the 

 same. New York : Reprinted from the " Trans- 

 actions of the American Neurological Associa- 

 tion." 



Researches into the Physiology of the Brain. 

 By the same. New York: Putuama. Pp.31. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Anticipations concerning the Phono- 

 graph. Dr. William F. Channing, writing 

 to the Providence Journal on Edison's pho- 

 nograph, thus presents its future : " The 

 sheet of tin-foil or other plastic material re- 

 ceiving the impressions of sound will be 

 stereotyped or electrotyped so as to be mul- 

 tiplied and made durable. Or the cylinder 

 will be made of a material plastic when 

 used, and hardening afterward. Thin sheets 

 of papier-mache, or of various substances 

 which soften by heat, would be of this char- 



acter. Having provided thus for the dura- 

 bility of the phonotype plate (a better name 

 than phonograph), it will be very easy to 

 make it separable from the cylinder pro- 

 ducing it, and attachable to a corresponding 

 cylinder anywhere or at any time. There 

 will doubtless be a standard of diameter 

 and pitch of screw for phonotype cylinders. 

 Friends at a distance will then send to 

 each other phonotype letters, which will 

 talk at any time in the friend's voice when 

 put upon the instrument. How startling, 

 also, it will be to reproduce and hear at 

 pleasure the voice of the dead ! All of 

 these things are to be common, every-day 

 experiences within a few years. It will be 

 possible, a generation hence, to take a file 

 of phonotype letters, spoken at different 

 ages by the same person, and hear the early 

 prattle, the changing voice, the manly tones, 

 and also the varying manner and moods of 

 the speaker so expressive of character 

 from childhood up ! 



" These are some of the private appli- 

 cations. For public uses, we shall have gal- 

 leries where phonotype sheets will be pre- 

 served as photographs and books now are. 

 The utterances of great speakers and singers 

 will there be kept for a thousand years. 

 In these galleries, spoken languages will 

 be preserved from century to century with 

 all the peculiarities of pronunciation, dia- 

 lect, and brogue. As we go now to see the 

 stereopticon, we shall go to public halls to 

 hear these treasures of speech and song 

 brought out and reproduced as loud as, or 

 louder than, when first spoken or sung by 

 the truly great ones of earth. The ease 

 with which the phonotype cylinders may be 

 stereotyped or electrotyped and multiplied, 

 has been spoken of. Certainly, within a 

 dozen years, some of the great singers will 

 be induced to sing into the ear of the pho- 

 nograph, and the electrotyped cylinders 

 thus obtained will be put into the hand- 

 organs of the streets, and we shall hear 

 the actual voice of Christine Nilsson, of 

 Miss Cary, or even of Jenny Lind and Al- 

 boni, ground out at every corner ! 



"In public exhibitions, also, we shall 

 have reproductions of the sounds of Nature, 

 and of noises familiar and unfamiliar. Noth- 

 ing will be easier than to catch the sounds 

 of the waves on the beach, the roar of Ni- 



