EDITOR'S TABLE. 



745 



ly form to its theoretic structure. The 

 next, and by far the most brilliant step 

 yet taken, was made by the American 

 Franklin in demonstrating the identity 

 of lightning and common electricity, 

 and in the invention of the lightning- 

 rod. The Italians Galvani and Volta 

 then followed, giving us the electrical 

 batteries that bear their names; the 

 Englishman Davy soon made an epoch 

 in electro-chemistry ; and Oersted, the 

 Dane, came next with the discovery of 

 electro-magnetism. This paved the 

 way for the era of the successful estab- 

 lishment of the telegraph ; and here 

 our countryman Morse was a leader, 

 whose name is everywhere indissolubly 

 linked with the system. 



All these achievements in the prog- 

 ress of the science were regarded with 

 incredulous astonishment when they 

 were made ; but the recent exploits in 

 the field of electrical invention and dis- 

 covery surpass, if possible, in their 

 wonderful results, all that has gone 

 before, and here the work is exclusive- 

 ly American. The musical telephone 

 of Elisha Gray, and the speaking tele- 

 phone of Graham Bell, together with 

 the Phonograph of Thomas Edison 

 (which, although not an electrical ma- 

 chine, grew out of the telephone), were 

 all invented in this country, and they 

 nobly "crown the first two years of 

 our new century." The import of 

 these devices is being increasingly ap- 

 preciated by scientific men as their 

 powers are developed, and eminent 

 foreign electricians have pronounced 

 them the most extraordinary produc- 

 tions of the present century. Experi- 

 menters abroad may be expected to 

 contribute to the elucidation of their 

 conditions and principles, but they will 

 do well not to overlook what has been 

 accomplished here. Already, they are 

 taking credit for contrivances which 

 are but repetitions of American work. 

 Dr. William F. Ohanning, of Provi- 

 dence, who, with other gentlemen of 

 that city, have taken an active interest 



in the telephone from the outset, and 

 contributed valuable aid to Prof. Bell 

 in perfecting his invention, thus writes 

 to the Journal of the Telegraph in ref- 

 erence to things done on the other side, 

 that had been anticipated here : 



" A considerable flourish has recently- 

 been made over the multiple telephone of 

 M. Trouve" in Paris. As the speaking tele- 

 phone is entirely an American discovery, it 

 is worth while to keep the credit of what we 

 do at home. 



" The multiple telephone, that is, a cu- 

 bical or polyhedral chamber, every side of 

 which, except the front, is occupied by tele- 

 phone-plates with magnets, etc., behind, was 

 made last summer, by Henry W. Vaughan 

 in Providence, before the speaking tele- 

 phone had been seen in France. 



" In a recent lecture upon the telephone 

 before the Franklin Society of Providence, 

 I had the pleasure of using a pair of sympa- 

 thetic or rather responsive tuning-forks, 

 made manv months ago by Prof. E. W. 

 Blake, of Brown University. These tuning- 

 forks were of the same musical pitch, and 

 each mounted on a sounding-board. They 

 were also tempered and magnetized, so as 

 really to constitute permanent U magnets. 

 Between the poles or ends of the prongs of 

 each of these magnetic tuning-forks, a short 

 soft-iron core, surrounded with a coil of fine 

 insulated wire, was supported, very near, but 

 not in contact with, the prongs of the tuning- 

 fork. These instruments were placed in a 

 common telegraphic circuit a sixth of a mile 

 apart. "When the distant instrument was 

 struck, the other responded so as to be 

 heard throughout the lecture-room. This 

 is a form of the responsive tuning-fork, 

 much more beautiful than that figured in 

 Nature, and ascribed to W. C. Bontgen ; 

 and it anticipated European application by 

 several months." 



MR. WALLACE AND CLAIRVOYANCE. 



We have followed up the controver- 

 sy that grew out of the publication of 

 Dr. Carpenter's lectures on spiritualism, 

 and, having printed in the Monthly an 

 adverse review of that book by a lead- 

 ing representative of the spiritualist 

 party in this country, we have repub- 

 lished in successive numbers of the Sup- 

 plement the replies to Dr. Carpenter 



