Dec. 5. ^^1^ 



NATURE- 



95 



scientific world of some fresh discovery or advance — 

 works of research ; to offer a digest, for the information 

 of students, of results already attained— text-books ; and 

 to attract to the paths of science the outside public — 

 popular works. The pretty and attractive book before 

 us belongs to the last of these categories, and is, we 

 think, well calculated to gain the end in view. It consists 

 of chromo-lithographs of nearly fifty of our better-known 

 native wild flowers, with two or three pages of gossipy 

 talk about each. Of the letter-press not much more can 

 be said than that it is fairly accurate from a botanical 

 point of view, and pleasantly written. The illustrations 

 strike us as unusually good of their kind. They have of 

 course the inherent defects of this mode of illustration, in 

 the absence of half-tones and delicate shades ; but the 

 general aspect of the plant is in nearly all cases well and 

 faithfully given, and the drawing is good. The book is 

 a very good one to put in the hands of a child to interest 

 him or her in the wealth of wild flowers which is such a 

 source of delight to all dwellers in the country who have 

 eyes educated to see their beauty. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



\The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, er 

 to correspond with tJie writers of, rejected manuscripts. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 

 short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com- 

 munications containing interesting and novel facts. ^ 



The Telephone 



I HAVE jnst read an article in Nature, vol. xviii. p. 698, en 

 the history of the speaking telephone, which contains an 

 erroneous statement of facts which happen to be within my own 

 knowledge ; so that, in the interest of a truthful history of this 

 discovery, it is incumbent upon me to make a brief statement in 

 regard to it. 



I had the honour to be one of the judges at the International 

 Exhibition at Philadelphia, and of the group to whom was con- 

 fided the examination of instruments of research and precision. 

 In the performance of my official duty I took part in the experi- 

 ments which first brought the speaking telephone to the notice 

 of the scientific world. Prof. Bell and Mr. Elisha Gray were 

 both exhibitors at that Exhibition. Mr. Gray's apparatus was 

 conspicuously shown near one of the main aisle?, with the ex- 

 hibit of the Western Electric Company, while Prof. Bell's was 

 in a side room in one of the galleries, as a part of the Massa- 

 chusetts' educational exhibit. About the middle of June, 1876, 

 Prof. Bell came to Philadelphia to give personal explanations in 

 reference to his apparatus, and before any public exhibition was 

 made he stated to me in detail the character of his inventions. 

 He was working at two independent things, the one the multiple 

 telegraph by means of transmitted musical notes, the other the 

 transmission of articulate speech over long distances. I told 

 him that I was present in May, 1874, at the rooms of Prof. 

 Henry, in the Smithsonian Institution, when Mr. Elisha Gray 

 exhibited to us an apparatus for the electric transmission of 

 musical sounds, and I asked him whether his first invention was 

 similar. He said there was some similarity, although each had 

 worked independently, and that there was a dispute as to the 

 priority of invention. While sanguine as to practical results 

 from his multiple telegraph, his great invention was the speak- 

 ing telephone, which he believed he had discovered, and in 

 respect to which there was no rival claimant. He said the idea 

 came to him from some of the suggestions in re«pect to sound 

 vibrations made by Hehnholtz, and that hp had succeeded, after 

 patient research, in constructing an instrument which would 

 transmit articulate speech. To this invention he desired to 

 direct the attention of the judges. 



The experiments with the ^telephones had to be made when 

 the Exhibition was closed to the public, and the first experiments 

 were made by Sir William Thomson and others on Sunday, 

 i™^ r^ 25— I do not now remember upon which of these two 

 da.e?. Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Brazil were 

 present at these experiments. Attention was first given to Mr. 



Gray, and he gave a lengthy accoimt of his experiments, which 

 had resulted in the perfected apparatus which he then exhibited. 

 He gave an explanation of his various instruments in chrono- 

 logical order, and conducted some very entertaining experiments 

 as he proceeded in his discourse. The object which he had in 

 view was to send many messages simultaneously over the same 

 wire by using sending and receiving instruments of difiFerent 

 musical notes. 



The greater part of the day was given to Mr. Gray, so that 

 insufficient time remained for satisfactory trial of Prof, Bell's 

 apparatus. The judges and the distinguished visitors present 

 did, however, proceed to the Massachusetts gallery, and Prof. 

 Bell explained briefly his two inventions, and some experiments 

 were made with his speaking telephone, enough to excite the 

 curiosity of those present in the highest degree. The results 

 were so at variance with the views hitherto received that it was 

 determined by my distinguished colleague, Sir William Thom- 

 son, to make other experiments, in which I took part. These 

 experiments were made two or three days later, in the building 

 known as the Judges' Pavilion, in the evening, after the visitors 

 had left the grounds. Prof. Bell had returned to Boston, and 

 was not present at this trial of his apparatus. It was brought 

 over to the judges' pavilion, at my request, by Mr. Hubbard, 

 one of the officers in charge of the Massachusetts exhibit, and 

 the experiments were made by Sir William Thomson and myself. 

 Every precaution was taken to make an impartial test. I was 

 at the transmitting instrument which was placed out of doors at 

 a distant part of the building, and Sir William Thomson was at 

 the receiving instrument in a distant room in the building. After 

 some experiments to find the pitch of voice which wovdd suit 

 the vibrating membrane then used, I received word by messen- 

 ger from Sir William that he could then hear distinctly, and 

 accordingly the pitch of voice then used was maintained in the 

 subsequent trials. I held in my hand a copy of the Neiv York 

 Daily Tribune, and I began to read to him itenas from its news 

 summary, and soon the messenger came to tell me that the 

 messages were heard distinctly at the other end. The longest 

 message which I sent was the following from that paper : — 

 " The Americans of London have made arrangements to cele- 

 brate the coming Fourth of July," and the messenger brought 

 me back firom Sir WiUiam Thomson the exact repetition of the 

 message. Thereupon we exchanged places, and I could not 

 only hear distinctly the utterances of my colleague, but I coidd 

 even distingui^h the ictus of his voice. The results convinced 

 both of us that Prof. Bell had made a wonderful discovery, and 

 that its complete development would follow in the near future. 



The news of these successful experiments soon circulated 

 freely, and the day following, or possibly two days afterwards, 

 Mr. Gray came to me and inquired whether the reports of our 

 success with Bell's telephone were correct ; and upon receiving 

 from me an affirmative reply, he said that it was impossible, 

 that we had been deceived in some way, that the transmission 

 was by actual metallic contact through the wire, and that it wa^-, 

 to use his own words, "nothing more than the old lover's tele- 

 graph." In reply I said to him that we had taken every possible 

 precaution against error, that we were both convinced of the 

 reality of BeU's claims, and that Sir William Thomson would 

 report to that effect. He persisted in his statement that the 

 result was impossible, and that we must have been deceived in 

 some way or other. 



After having had direct knowledge of Mr. Grajr's views at 

 that time, I must confess to some astonishment at his claim now 

 made that he anticipated Mr. Bell in the invention of the speak- 

 ing telephone. Several months ago I saw an article in Scribner's 

 Magazine, by Mr, Prescott, in w^ch, while no direct assertion 

 was made that Mr. Gray was the first inventor, there were illus- 

 trations given to show the development of the invention in 

 chronological order, and Mr. Gray's instniment was there given 

 priority. I had it in mind then to write a note to Mr. Prescott 

 upon this subject, but I feared that there might be unpleasant 

 controversies over the patents, and, the claim of Mr, Gray 

 being rather indefinitely stated, I held my peace. But now that 

 the error appears to be taking root, I have felt it to be my duty 

 to make the statements above given. I have before me a letter 

 from Mr. Bell, dated at Boston, Wednesday, June 28, 1876, 

 and directed to me at Philadelphia, in which he gives diagrams 

 showing how we might arrange the apparatus to transmit articu- 

 late speech, as he believed, from Boston to Philadelphia, and 

 proposing experiments to that end if the judges should so desire. 

 In conclusion I ought to state further, that after Sir William 

 Thomson's address at Glasgow had brought the telephone into 



