Multiple ^Transmission. 123 



duction-coil that I heard humming in the 

 closet. He had one terminal of the coil con- 

 nected to the zinc lining of the bathtub 

 which was dry at that time while he held the 

 other in his left hand, and with his right was 

 taking shocks from the lining of the tub by 

 rubbing his hand against the zinc. I noticed 

 that each time he made contact with the tub, 

 as he rubbed it for a short distance, a peculiar 

 sound was emitted from under his hand, not 

 unlike the sound made by the electrotome 

 that was vibrating in the closet. My interest 

 was immediately aroused, and I took the elec- 

 trode out of his hand and for some time ex- 

 perimented with it, going to the cupboard from 

 time to time to change the rate of vibration of 

 the electrotome, and thus change the quality 

 of the sound. I noticed that the sound or tone 

 under my hand, if it could be so called, 

 changed with each change of the rate of vi- 

 bration. The thing that most interested me 

 was that the peculiar characteristics of the 

 noise were reproduced. In those few minutes 

 I laid out work enough for years of experi- 

 ment, and as a result I was late to dinner. 



This discovery opened up to my mind the 

 possibility of three things the transmission 

 of music and of speech or articulate words 

 through a tolcgraph-wirr, and the transmis- 

 sion of n nuinlxT of messages over a single 

 I constructed a keyboard consisting of 



