1/2 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



Phelps gave at least some of his plates to the American Museum, 

 and Mr. Crooke also gave away some of those he first selected. 



When Mr. Crooke was in the manufacturing business he was 

 invited to call on Mr. Thomas A. Edison and see if he could not 

 suggest some material that would do for his phonograph cylin- 

 ders. Mr. Edison asked him to step out of the room for a mo- 

 ment while he repeated a few words to the phonograph, then 

 upon his return see if he could tell what he had been saying. 

 While he was outside he heard Mr. Edison repeating, " Mary had 

 a little lamb." Upon his return the machine was worked back- 

 ward and Mr. Crooke repeated " Mary had a little lamb," which 

 greatly pleased Mr. Edison until Mr. Crooke told him what he 

 had heard. So a new trial was made, and Mr. Crooke went to a 

 much greater distance but only to hear Mr. Edison, who talked 

 louder than he thought, repeat: "If I were a cassowary on the 

 plains of Timbuctoo." It was of no use, the machine did not 

 work then as it should, and Mr. Crooke tried many things in the 

 way of metals out of which cylinders might be made. It was 

 not until some time after, that the idea of the mixture of hardened 

 wax, etc., was perfected. 



Mr. Crooke was a most interesting narrator of his many ex- 

 periences and possessed a retentive memory and a great store of 

 exact knowledge on a wide range of subjects. He entertained 

 us for many hours with stories of the hostile Indians that at one 

 time frequented the vicinity of Crookeville in Colorado ; with the 

 scenes of his boyhood days along the Hudson River ; and with 

 accounts of the great flocks of the wild passenger pigeons, which 

 are no more. 



