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Among the donations to the cabinets announced were 

 the commission of a letter of marque, bearing the signa- 

 tures of Madison and Munroe, presented by Rev. Mr. 

 Atwood, and a unique Indian stone implement from Pea- 

 body, presented by Mr. John V. Stevens, for each of 

 which thanks were voted to the donors. 



Prof. A. GRAHAM BELL, now a resident in Salem, occu- 

 pied the evening with a singularly interesting and curi- 

 ously instructive address on the subject of speech, with 

 illustrative experiments of various kinds, and the aid of 

 Rev. E. C. Bolles with his camera. Prof. Bell has prac- 

 tically introduced into this country the system of Visible 

 Speech invented by his father, Prof. A. M. Bell of Uni- 

 versity College, London. Mr. Bell, in conjunction with 

 Dr. Clarence J. Blake, the aurist, of Boston, has conducted 

 a series of experiments, the remarkable results of which 

 were now first exhibited to a public audience. 



Mr. Bell had succeeded in using the membrana tympani 

 of the human ear as a phonautograph. An ear from a 

 dead subject had been experimented upon. A small style 

 of hay was attached to one of the ossiculse, and a hearing 

 tube was inserted in the outer ear. When any sound 

 was uttered into the tube, the membrana tympani was set 

 in vibration, and its motion was communicated to the 

 style. This latter was then caused to record its vibration 

 upon a plate of smoked glass passed rapidly underneath. 

 Mr. Bell stated that each different vowel uttered into the 

 tube caused the style to trace a different curve upon the 

 glass. A large number of these tracings were exhibited 

 to the audience by means of the camera. 



Mr. Bell was provided with accurate representations 

 and models of the vocal organs and organs of hearing so 

 as clearly to point out their several parts, even to the 



