[From Nature, VoL XVIIL] 



XCV. The Telephone (Rede Lecture). 



WHEN, about two years ago, news came from the other side of the 

 Atlantic that a method had been invented of transmitting, by means of 

 electricitv, the articulate sounds of the human voice, so as to be heard 

 hundreds of miles away from the speaker, those of us who had reason to 

 believe that the report had some foundation in fact, began to exercise our 

 in picturing some triumph of constructive skill something as far 



surpassng Sir William Thomson's Siphon Recorder in delicacy and intricacy as 

 that is beyond a common bell-pull. When at last this little instrument appeared, 

 consisting, as it does, of parts, everyone of which is familiar to us, and capable 

 of being put together by an amateur, the disappointment arising from its 

 humble appearance was only partially relieved on finding that it was really 

 able to talk. 



But perhaps the telephone, though simple in respect of its material and 

 construction, may involve some recondite physical principle, the study of which 

 might worthily occupy an hour's time of an academic audience : I can only 

 aay that I have not yet met anyone acquainted with the first elements 

 of electricity who has experienced the slightest difficulty in understanding the 

 physical process involved in the action of the telephone. I may even go 

 further, and say that I have never seen a printed article on the subject, even 

 in the columns of a newspaper, which shewed a sufficient amount of mis- 

 apprehension to make it worth preserving a proof that among scientific subjects 

 the telephone possesses a very exceptional degree of lucidity. 



However, if the telephone has something to say for itself, it would seem 

 hardly necessary for me to take up your time with any tedious introduction. 

 It is unfortunate, however, that up to the present time the telephone has kept 

 all his more perfect utterances to be whispered into the privileged ear of a 

 dingle listener. When he is older, he may get more accustomed to public 



