188 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



less to add that the projecting machine, as also the camera used in 

 taking the stereo negatives, must be of duplicate construction. 



The phonograph — or graphophone — has frequently been used 

 in combination with machines for the production of motion views. 

 By such means Edison hoped to reproduce the sounds accompany- 

 ing many scenes with such perfection that it would be possible to 

 represent, for example, the complete performance of an opera or 

 a drama, with all its accessories. Up to the present time, however, 

 these anticipations have not been realized. The rich song notes of 

 a Patti or a Melba can not yet be satisfactorily stored up in the 

 phonographic cylinder, to be given out when required with the full 

 tone and perfect expression of the artist. But better things may 

 be looked for in the near future, and it is probable that Edison's 

 attractive scheme will, sooner or later, be carried into effect. 



In an ideal exhibition of this nature we should see the animated 

 views appear upon the screen in relief and in their natural tints, 

 while the sounds appropriate to certain scenes would be reproduced 

 with as much fidelity as the optical impressions. Much remains to 

 be done before this ideal can be fully realized; but in the mean- 

 time it will be possible, with our present resources, to make some 

 progress in this direction, and to obtain pictures of a novel and 

 instructive type, by proceeding along the lines which I have at- 

 tempted to define in the present article. 



PROCESSES OF CHANGE IN PRONUNCIATION.* 



Br MICHEL BREAL, 



PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN THE COLLEGE DE FRANCE. 



PROFESSOR OSTHOFF, of the University of Heidelberg, has 

 said that phonetic laws are blind and operate with a blind ne- 

 cessity. If, instead of this, he had said that these laws are constant so 

 long as they are the effect of our habits, and that our habits, where 

 nothing contradicts them, are manifested uniformly and regularly, 

 he would have uttered an incontestable truth. But we do not think 

 they are fatal or blind. 



Phonetic changes start from one person. If they are not ac- 

 cepted, they remain without effect and are soon forgotten. 



At such an age as ours, with a settled tradition of pronuncia- 

 tion, with our schools and academies, the individual has little power. 

 But it has not been so always and everywhere. Suppose that, among 



* An address delivered at the institution of the Laboratory of Experimental Phonetics 

 in connection with the College de France. 



