150 Hature'0 flBtraclec. 



as possible these words : " The operator has 

 gone to dinner." From what we know now 

 of the operation of the telephone I have no 

 doubt but that he transmitted his voice to 

 some extent over the wire. This young man's 

 claims have never been put forward before, 

 and we are doing him tardy justice. But his 

 claim is quite as good as many others set forth 

 by people who think they invent, whenever it 

 occurs to them that something new might pos- 

 sibly be done, if only somebody would do it. 

 And when that somebody does do it they lay 

 claim to it. 



In the early days of the telephone it was not 

 supposed that a vocal message could be trans- 

 111 it ted to a very great distance. However, as 

 time went on and experiments were multiplied 

 the distance to which one could converse with 

 another through a wire kept on increasing. 



In these days, as every one knows, it is a 

 daily occurrence that business men converse 

 with cadi other, telephonically, for a distance 

 of 1000 miles or more; in fact, it is possible 

 to transmit the voice through a single circuit 

 about as great a distance as it is possible to 

 practically telegraph. This leads us to speak 

 of another telegraphic apparatus which we 

 have not heretofore mentioned, and that is the 

 telegraphic repeater. It is a common notion 

 that messages are sent through a single cir- 

 cuit across the continent, but this is not the 



