DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELEPHONE 



"I wrote an account of these researches to Mr. 

 Alexander J. Ellis, of London. In reply he informed 

 me that the experiments related had already been per- 

 formed by Helmholtz, and in a much more perfect 

 manner than I had done. Indeed, he said that Helm- 

 holtz had not only analyzed the vowel sounds into their 

 constituent musical elements but had actually per- 

 formed the synthesis of them. 



"He had succeeded in producing, artificially, certain 

 of the vowel sounds by causing tuning-forks of different 

 pitch to vibrate simultaneously by means of an electric 

 current. Mr. Ellis was land enough to grant me an 

 interview for the purpose of explaining the apparatus 

 employed by Helmholtz in producing these extraordi- 

 nary effects, and I spent the greater part of a delightful 

 day with him in investigating the subject. At that time, 

 however, I was too slightly acquainted with the laws 

 of electricity fully to understand the explanations given; 

 but the interview had the effect of arousing my interest 

 in the subject of sound and electricity, and I did not 

 rest until I had obtained possession of a copy of Helm- 

 holtz' s great work, and had attempted, in a crude and 

 imperfect manner, it is true, to reproduce the results. 

 While reflecting upon the possibilities of the produc- 

 tion of sound by electrical means, it struck me that the 

 principle of vibrating a tuning-fork by the intermittent 

 attraction of an electromagnet might be applied to 

 the electrical production of music. 



"I imagined to myself a series of tuning-forks of dif- 

 ferent pitches, arranged to vibrate automatically in the 

 manner shown by Helmholtz, each fork interrupting 



[75] 



