26 



trnted by drawings on the board.] I used a common 

 battery and instead of breaking the current I used a con- 

 stant current, and a vibrating membrane. I found that 

 by placing a membrane before the magnet and speaking 

 before it, the sound was transmitted. 



It was my good fortune to meet with another person 

 interested in simihir studies, jNlr. Watson of Salem. It 

 is chiefly due to his assistance that the invention is pro- 

 ceeding to a successful issue. 



[The lecturer then explained the construction of the 

 magneto-electric telephone on the blackl)oard.] 



Though the sounds are at present feeble and heard with 

 difficulty at a distance, I hope in the future to be able to 

 have them more audible. Soft articulation is more intel- 

 ligible than loud. A whisper is perfectly a\idil)le. 



Messages' have been transmitted through this instru- 

 ment between Boston and Conway, a distance of 143 

 miles. I have passed the messages through the human 

 body and through water, which has a million times more 

 resisting power than a wire. The result of these experi- 

 ments seemed to demonstrate that the resistance retard- 

 ing the magneto-electric current was vastly less than the 

 resistance to the galvanic current, and encouraged me to 

 believe that it will, in time, be possible to converse across 

 the Atlantic hy means of international telephony. These 

 experiments we are now conducting are made over a dis- 

 tance of twenty miles; and there is no battery, only a 

 wire. 



rCouohing and sini>;in2: were then heard, and a varietv of 

 questions was then asked from the Salem end and among 

 them: "What news from the Electoral Connnission?" fol- 

 lowed by the distinct answer of "I don't know of any." 

 But the news came fieetiiiij along that the eniiineers of 

 the Boston and Maine Railroad had struck. General 



