404 



NATURE 



\Scpt. 6, 1877 



repeated on the diapliragm a with a strength and form that 

 must vary exactly together. Hence, whatever sound produces 

 the vibration of n is repeated by a', because its vibrations are an 

 exact repetition of those of a. 



It is quite evident, however, that Bell's telephone is limited in 

 its range. The currents opeiating it are very weak, and it is so 

 sensitive to currents that when attached to a wire which passes 

 in the neighbourhood of other wires, it is subject to be acted 

 upon by every current that passes through any one of those 

 wires. li'rnce, on a busy line, it emits sounds that are very like 

 the pattering of hail against a window, and which are so loud as 

 to overpower the effects of the human voice. 



Now Mr. T. A. Edison, of New York, has endeavoured to 

 remedy these defects in Bell's by introducing a transmitter which 

 is operated by battery currents, whose strength is made to vary 

 directly with the quality and intensity of the human voice. In 



Bell's Aiticulating Tduph 



cairjing out his investigations in this field he his discovered the 

 cuiious fact that the resistance of plumbago varies in some ratio 

 in\ersely with the pressure brought to .bear upon it. Starting 

 fri-m Reiss's transmitter he simply sulistitutes for the platinum 

 point (</) a small cylinder of plumbago, and he finds that the 

 resistance of this cylinder varies sufficiently with the pressure of 

 the vibration of the diaphragm to cause the currents transmitted 

 by it to vary in form and strength to reproduce all the varieties 

 of the human voice. His receiver also is novel and peculiar. 

 In 1S74 he discovered that the friction between a platinum point 

 ar.d moist chemically-prepared paper varied every time a current 

 was passed between the two, so th.at the rate with which the 

 paper moved was altered at will. Now by attaching to a 

 resonator n a spring /', whtse platinum face c rested on the 

 chemically prepared paper d, whenever the drum e was rotated 



experiments (see 



and currents sent through the paper,^ the friction between c and a 

 is so modified that vibrations are produced in the resonator c, 

 and these vibrations are an exact reproduction of those given out 

 by the transmitter at the other station. 



Edison's telephone, though not in practical use in America, is 

 under trial. In some experiments made with it songs and words 

 were distinctly heard through 12,000 ohms, equal to a distance 

 of 1,000 miles of wire. 



BcU's telephone is, howevfr, in practical use in Boston, Pro- 

 vidence, and New York. There are several private lines that 

 use it in Boston, and several more are under construction. I 

 tried two of them, and though we succeeded in conversing, the 

 result was not so satisfactory as experiment led one to anticipate. 

 The interferences of woiking wires will seriously retard the 

 employment of this apparatus, but there is no doubt that scientific 

 inquiry and patient skill will rapidly eliminate all practical 

 defects. 



To Prof. Graham Bell must be accorded the full credit of 

 heing the first to transmit the human voice to distances beyond 

 the reach of the ear and the eye by means of electric currents. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 

 REPORTS. 



Report of the Committee, consisting of the Rev. H. F. Barnes, 

 C. Spince Bote, Esq., H. E. Dresser, Esq. (Secretary), Dr. A. 

 Giinther, f. E. Hurting, Esq., f. Gwyn Jeffreys, Esq., Prof. 

 Ntwion, and the Rez'. Canon Triitram, appointed for the pur- 

 pose of inquiring inio the posiibihty of establisJiing a Close 

 Time for the Protection of Indigenous Animals. — Your Com- 

 mittee bef;s leave to report that the object for which it was 

 appointed continues to receive a considerable shate of public 

 a tentior, and that during the past year the three Acts of Par- 

 liament establishing a close time for certain kinds of birds have 

 attracted so much notice that there is no fear of their falling into 

 neglect. 



There is no sjinptom of the diminution of the interest which 

 the .Sea-birds Preservation Act (1S69) has alw.iys excited ; and 

 within the past twelve months application for the extension of 

 the close time has been made, according to the provisions of that 

 .\ct, by the Jtistices in Quarter-Sessions of Northumberland, 

 Lancashire, and the North Riding of Yorkshire — facts which 

 suthciently speak for the general appreciation of the measure. 



The \Vild Birds Protection Act (1S72) is possibly viewed by 

 the public with greater favour than either of the othei s ; but 

 your Committee sees little reason to modify the opinion of it 

 expressed in former reports. Nevertheless a conviction under 

 it, presenting some rather important features, in May last, indi- 

 cates that it is not so entirely useless as had been th ught. 



Tne Wild Fowl Preservation Act (1S76) came into operation 

 this year, and at first undoubtedly caused some discontent in 

 many quarters, a warm discussion of its principle and proviiions 

 being raised by a portion of the public press. Your Committee, 

 however, has noticed with much satisfaction that viitually no 

 objection was taken to its principle, while the necessity of some 

 enactment of the kind was conceded on almost every side. 

 Furthermore, very nearly the sole cause of complaint lay in 

 regard to the limits of the close time therein imposed, on which 

 point no blame attaches to your Committee. The limits of the 

 close .time proposed in the Bill, as draughted by your Com- 

 mitttee, and introduced into Parliament, were, as stated in la.st 

 year's report, altered in its passage through the House of Com- 

 mons ; the change being such as your Committee then declared 

 did not meet with its approval. Your Committee is therefore in 

 no way responsible for the unseasonableness of the close time 

 which was enacted, and believes that the soundness of its views 

 on the subject is now generally admitted. In confirmation of 

 this belief it may be stated that the Justices in (Juarter-Sessions 

 of the counties of Dorset, Norfolk, Kent, Somerset, Southamp- 

 ton, Wigtown, and Essex, have severally made application to 

 the Home Office for such an alteration of the close time as will 

 brino it more or less nearly in accordance with that originally 

 proposed by your Committee. 



Another charge was brought against this Act. It was alleged 

 to be imperfect in that it did not expressly prohibit the possession 

 or sale, during the close time, of birds of the kinds professedly 

 protected, which had been imported into this country from 

 abroad. This charge was supported by the dismissal (on the latter 

 ground) by two m.agistvates of 'nformstions laid against certain 

 poultrymen or game-dealers in London, and if it could have been 



