54 



♦ KNOW^LEDGE 



[January 2, 1888. 



di-inking, and now " a sober man among Lis sons," was more 

 than once overtaken by liquor during the time when he bad 

 yet to learn his brain's exceptionally limited power of resisting 

 the action of intoxicants. This man would not only be unable 

 to recall what had happened during the time when he was 

 intoxicated, but a number of preceding events which had 

 taken place while be was still perfectly sober. His friends 

 would tell him of things which had happened a full hour 

 before he was " overtaken" (as the quaint expression has it), 

 which had altogether passed from his remembrance. He 

 used to say that his recollection was clear up to a certain 

 point, bej-ond which everything seemed " veiled." 



But it was clearly shown by an experiment which he 

 arranged for his own satisfaction — being one of the inquisi- 

 tive sort — that the veiling was, as it were, extended back- 

 wards from the time of actual intoxication, for whereas his 

 forgetfulness extended over the whole interval from the fir.>t 

 glass of wine (which he always remembered drinking) to the 

 sixth or seventh at which intoxication began, he couLl 

 remember with accustomary readiness all that happened at 

 a sitting where he had drunk four or five glasses of the same 

 wine. Of course he had to trust to his friends to note for 

 him at what stage intoxication began ; in fact, until he had 

 learned this from others he could know little about it, 

 because of the peculiar veiling of past events which took 

 place after he had passed that stage. But his friends not 

 being of the sort who rejoice to see a man under the 

 influence of liquor, he had confidence in them; and beiides, 

 he could prove so much as tliis for himself, that whereas he 

 could never remember more than the first glass if he drank 

 tco much, he could drink four or five glasses safely, remem- 

 bering all that happened. What he could not learn for 

 himself was, how many more glasses he could take without 

 intoxication. At last he could only obtain this knowledge 

 in such sort that he was conscious of it while intoxicated ; 

 for his friends found that after the sixth or seventh glass, 

 which produced intoxication, he could always remember 

 every detail of what had happened during previous acces- 

 sions of the temporary insanity we call drunkenness. 



The way in which this man's mind came out from the 

 " veiling" was as strange and as suggestive as the way in 

 which it was thrown under that veiling. I remember being 

 present at the moment when consciousness or sanity (whicdi- 

 ever we choose to call it) came back to him. He was a 

 mathematician, and a man had put in his hand to test his 

 condition a mathematical treatise on mechanics, over which 

 my friend had maundered, as drunken men will. Suddenly 

 his mind seemed to straighten up, and, in response to a 

 remark that he was " screwed," he turned to the pages in 

 the book dealing with the screw, and said quaintly, " See 

 liere, A. You 're a classical man, and know nothing about 

 mathematics ; but these angles, Alpha and Beta " (showing a 

 diagram^ " represent the pitch of these screws. Now you 

 needn't pitch into me about being screwed, for if I 'm 

 screwed at an angle Alpha, you're screwed at an angle 

 Beta." (A. really was at the time the worse for liquor, l)ut 

 the other who had been so a moment before, was, from the 

 moment lie had opened t!ie bock, perfectly clear-minded, and 

 a few minutes later was at his mathematical studies.) 



Mr. NOKDEXSKIOLD some time ago received an account from 

 Don Carlos Stolp, of San Fernando, Chili, of his observations of the 

 "red sunsets" of 1883-1884, from a point on the ,\ndes about 

 15,000 feet above the sea, and afterward Senor Stolp sent some 

 specimens of an atmospheric dust which he had observed at the 

 same time. Analysis of this dust .showed that it had no relation 

 to volcanic dust, but that it was of the liind regarded as cosmic 

 dust — containing the iron, nickel, phosphoric acid, and magnesia 

 constituents characteristic of tlie cosmic deposits. There is, 

 however, no evidence that this dust was connected with the red 

 IJglit. 



EDISON'S PHONOGRAPH. 



y answer to questions about his phonograph, 

 Mr. Edison said recently : — 



" Perhaps I am wrong in telling you any- 

 thing about my phonograph, becattse what I 

 claim for it is so extraordinary that I get only 

 ridicule in return. I am so confident that 

 when the apparatus appears it will dispel all 

 doubts as to its practicability and working value, that I can 

 afford for the present to ignore all kinds of criticism, and 

 keep at my work regardless of the storm which I have been 

 raising by telling a few people that there was such a thing 

 as a perfected phonograph in existence. I am sure that 

 while scientific men may doubt that I have succeeded as 

 well as I say I have, they will admit that there is nothing at 

 all impossible in what I claim, and that the germ of the 

 perfected phonograph, shoidd such a thing appear, is very 

 clear in my old toy of ten years ago, which was exhibited all 

 over the country, and was then acknowledged to be one of 

 the wonders of the century. Just consider for a second 

 what my old phonograph is, and think how little needed to 

 be done to bring it to a working instrument. With my 

 roughly-constructed instrument of 1877 I reproduced all 

 sorts of sounds, getting back from the phonograph some- 

 thing like the original sound. Of course you had to yell 

 into the thing ; and the reproduction of conversation was 

 often something of a caricature of the original. Neverthe- 

 less, to obtain a result that could be understood was doing 

 wonders ; and most people who remember my exhibitions 

 will admit that, while I did not produce a commercial 

 machine, I made a very interesting and creditable attempt, 

 and my whistling and singing phonograph was a wonder. 



"There were all sorts of objections in detail to my first 

 instrument. It weighed about one hundred pounds ; it 

 cost a mint of money to make ; no one but an expert could 

 get anything intelligible back from it ; the record made by 

 the little steel point upon a sheet of tin-foil lasted onlj' a few 

 times after it had been put through the phonograph. I 

 myself doubted whether I should ever see a perfect phono- 

 graph, ready to lecord any kind of ordinary speecii and 

 to give it out again intelligibh'. But I was perfectly sure 

 that if we did not accomplish this, the next generation 

 would. And I dropped the phonograph and went to work 

 upon the electric light, certain that I had sown seed which 

 would come to something. For ten years the phonograph 

 has come up in my brain automatically and almost periodi- 

 cally. I would turn it over and over mentally when I had 

 nothing else to think about. W^hen I couldn't sleep at 

 night, when travelling, when worried about business affairs, 

 I would think the phonograph over and jot down any new 

 ideas for future experiments. Eight months ago I began 

 laboratory work upon it again, and a month ago I stopped 

 because I could see no further improvement to be made. It 

 is a finished machine — simple, cheap, effective, not liable to 

 get out of order, and it does everything that I ever hoped 

 the perfected phonograph might do. 



" My phonograph will occupy about as much space on the 

 merchant's desk, or at the side of the desk, as a typewriter 

 does. It will work automatically by a small electric motor, 

 whicli runs at a perfectly regular rate of speed, is noiseless, 

 and starts or sto[)S at the touch of a spring. Suppose the 

 merchant wishes to write a letter, he pulls the mouthpiece 

 of the phonograph to him, starts the motor with a touch, 

 and says what he has to say in an ordinary tone of voice. 

 When he has done he pulls out a little sheet and rolls it up 

 for the mail. The recipient places this sheet in a similar 

 phonograph, touches the motor spring, and the instrument 

 will at once read out the letter in a tone more distinct 



