KEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 41 



Exhibits illustrating steam railway transportation and other uses 

 of steam power occupy the northeast section of this hall. In promi- 

 nent positions on the floor are two full-sized locomotives of the 

 earliest t3''pes — the "John Bull," which is the oldest complete loco- 

 motive in America, built in England in 1831 and run on the Camden 

 & Amboy Railroad from 1831 to 1868, and the " Stourbridge Lion," 

 built in England in 1838. In the adjoining wall case are various 

 railway appliances and a large number of models of engines and 

 coaches, extending back to the first inception of the employment of 

 steam as a motor power, many of the engines and coaches being of 

 quaint design and the latter showing a gradual departure from the 

 stage coach which had served as a pattern. Here also are displayed 

 restorations of Hero's rotary steam engine of 150 B. C. ; the Newton 

 locomotive of 1680, which was propelled by a jet of steam projected 

 backward against the air; Nordelle's engine of 1784, designed to 

 test the action of high-pressure steam in propelling vehicles; Tre- 

 vithick's locomotive of 1804; and many others connecting with the 

 great traction engines of recent years. In the same section appear 

 models of engines designed to utilize compressed air and gas, and 

 others illustrating the carrying arts, showing man and beast as 

 burden bearers, and the strange vehicles of all times and peoples. 



Most noteworthy in the northern part of the hall is the large and 

 unique exhibition of telephone devices, including both originals 

 and models, the former in many instances contributed by the in- 

 ventors, the latter to a great extent received from the United States 

 Patent Office. Six upright cases contain an extensive collection of 

 original apparatus illustrating the development of the speaking 

 telephone invented by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, and first put 

 into operation in 1875, when its practicability was fully demon- 

 strated. The earlier instruments were publicly shown at the Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, on June 25, 1876, when they 

 were tested by Lord Kelvin, Emperor Dom Pedro, of Brazil, and 

 other distinguished persons. It was on that occasion that Lord 

 Kelvin, after listening to the insignificant-looking toy, exclaimed, 

 " My God ! it does speak." Examples of the centennial telephones 

 and several large series of later ones, including various types of 

 magneto and battery telephones, with many pieces of apparatus 

 used by Dr. Bell in his researches, are included in the installation, 

 as are also a set of hand telephones, fitted with ivory cases, made in 

 1878 for exhibition to Queen Victoria, and the first desk telephone 

 set, constructed in 1877, consisting of two wooden hand telephones 

 attached to a wooden base, which is fitted with suitable connecting 

 screws and flexible cords. Other apparatus devised by Dr. Bell 

 for various purposes are placed next to the telephone exhibits. They 



