in other words, be sent around a corner. In 1876, 

 however, Bregnet improved this simple telephone so 

 that it was possible to send a message over a string 

 which made several turns or angles. To do this he in- 

 serted little drum-like structures at the turning points of 

 the string, these little drums being made of cylinders 

 with the ends covered by membranes through the cen- 

 tre of which the string passed, thus reproducing the 

 vibrations set up by the voice in the transmitter and 

 passing them along the line to the receiver. 



Such telephones, however, were at best only toys 

 for communicating verbal messages a few yards. But 

 at about this time the possibility of utilizing electricity 

 and magnetism for conveying these vibrations to a great 

 distance seems to have occurred to a number of investi- 

 gators. It had been discovered in 1837 by Page in 

 America that a magnetic bar would emit sounds when 

 rapidly magnetized and demagnetized; and in 1860 Reis 

 had invented a "musical telephone." This instrument 

 was composed of two distinct parts, a sounder and a 

 receiver. The sounder consisted of a sounding-box 

 having across its opening a membrane, in the centre of 

 which there was fitted a small disk of platinum, having 

 above this a metallic point. At one side of the box 

 there was a tube corresponding to a speaking-tube, ar- 

 ranged so as to receive the sound and direct it toward 

 the membrane through the interior of the box. 



The receiving instrument consisted of a small iron 

 rod about the size of a knitting-needle placed upon a 

 sounding-box. About this rod was wound an insulated 

 electrified wire, the whole apparatus having the appear- 



[70] 



