478 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



parts — 1, A sound contractor, which is placed within a sort of desk or box 

 fixed in front of the speaker, and which is formed on the same principles 

 as a large ear trumpet ; 2. A tube, or tubes, to conduct the sound to the 

 auditors ; 3. An ear-piece, which is at the extremity of the tube, or branches, 

 when several are used, and which, being held within the ear, enables the 

 deaf to hear the contracted sound. 



The instrument on exhibition enables a person at the distance of fifty 

 feet, to hear distinctly any ordinary conversation carried on at the rostrum, 

 even when all the confused noises of the Fair are at their height. 



Mr. Stelle. — As far as I have tried the phonophorus, I have never found 

 it to fail. It conveys the sounds with such distinctness that the deaf can 

 enjoy all the advantages of public v/orship, provided seats be fitted up in 

 churches especially for them, and have pipes from the phonophorus to each 

 person. 



Mr. Seeley. — The principles upon which this instrument is constructed 

 are correct. Sound can be concentrated and can be conveyed to a distance, 

 when the force of the undulations is not allowed to dissipate itself. The 

 reason why sound becomes weaker is, that all forces or influences emanating 

 from a center, in all directions, become less intense as the square of the 

 distance increases ; because the surfaces of spheres vary as the squares of 

 their diameters, and any influence passing off from a center, in all directions, 

 is expended upon successive spherical surfaces. But when the sound is not 

 allowed to expand its energy in all directions, but only in one, it is obvious 

 it will preserve a greater intensity for any given distance, and consequently 

 can be conveyed much farther. 



It may be well to inquire into the practicability of connecting the pho- 

 nophorus from some fashionable church with our private dwellings, so that 

 we might hear sermons at home, and not be compelled to wade through 

 snow or dirt. Then, indeed, a man, instead of " worshipping under his 

 own vine and fig tree," could turn on the Gospel as we do water or gas. 

 Not that I would hint that any fashionable preachers ever supply us with 



gas. 



Mr. Tillman. — The apparatus of the " Invisible Lady" was constructed 

 on principles similar to this. A hollow ball was suspended by wires with 

 a square frame. Four trumpets projected from the ball towards the four 

 sides of the frame. In one side of the frame there was a tube opening 

 opposite a trumpet, and leading down through the leg of the frame and off 

 to an adjoining room, where a lady was concealed in such a manner that she 

 could see the parties consulting the Invisible Lady. When any one whis- 

 pered through one of the trumpets, the sound was conveyed to the lady in 

 the adjoining room who returned an answer, which, proceeding from the 

 suspended ball, and no connection being seen between that and any other 

 place, gave the impression that a lady was inclosed within the ball. 



Professor Reuben. — Even when the car — the proper organ of hearing — 

 has been injured by disease or accident, it is possible to have the sensation 

 produced through the sides of the head. Indeed the whole side of the bead 



