30 



board, niul concliicled by offering a vote of thanks to Mr. 

 IMoNeil, in behalf of the Institute, for his interesting and 

 instructive lecture, which was unanimously adopted. 



A. C. GooDELL, Jr., Esq., in behalf of the Committee 

 appointed on the previous INIonday evening, reported the 

 following resolutions in reference to Prof. Bell and the 

 telephone, viz. : — 



RicsoLVKD, Tliat we tender our cordial tlianks to Professor Alexan- 

 der Graliani Bell, and to his associate, Mr. Thomas Augustus Watson 

 of Salem, for the wonderful and profoundly interestini;' experiments 

 so successfully performed by them at Lyceum Hall on the evening of 

 the 12th inslaiit; and to the Atlantic and Paciflc Telegraph Company, 

 Mho generously permitted the use of their wires between 8alem and 

 Boston; and to Miss Anastasia L. MoUoy, who operated the telegraph 

 ou that evening. 



Rksoi.ved, That the experiments we have witnessed satisfiictorily 

 demonstrate the feasibility of conveying articulate sounds by means 

 of magneto-electricity: and we liiul that this metliod ])()ssesses advan- 

 tages over the ordinary electric telegraph in the following particulars : 



First, in the simplicity and cheapness of the mechanism employed. 



Second, in dispensing entirely with batterries. 



Third, in avoiding the necessity of employing skilled operators. 



Fourth, in the apparently great motive force of the magneto-electric 

 current employed, and (according to the evidence exhibited by Prof. 

 Bell) in the fact that resistance is, by this means, so far overcome or 

 avoided as to encourage the belief that, practically, no difficulty may 

 be expected, from that source, in the longest circuits. 



F.fth, in the rapidity of communication by the teleplione, and in the 

 ■ease with which it insures accuracy by admitting of iustantaiieous 

 vocal repetition from either end of a telephonic line. 



Rksolved, That the discpvery that the vibrations of a conducting 

 memi)rane or plate set in motion by the human voice can be so deli- 

 cately and forcibly communicated to a corres[)ondiug membrane at the 

 opposite end of an electric circuit, as to produce articulate sounds of 

 exactly the same timbre, quality, pitch and relative strength, appears 

 to us one of the most marvellous discoveries of the age; and the prac- 

 tical embodiment of this discovery, in the telephone, constitutes a 

 most curious and remarkable invention; and we deem it especially 

 noteworthy that these were not accidental, but the result of profound 

 study of the science of acoustics, and a consequent inference tliat 

 currents of electricity might be made to vary in intensity in the exact 

 ratio that air varies in density when aflected by sound. 



Rksolved, That we deem it a signal honor to have been privileged 



