OCTOBKR 5, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



475 



As a further support to his position, the 

 author lays great stress upon the statement 

 that Reis's apparatus could and did transmit 

 spoken words so as to be understood. As to 

 the fact of speech having been transmitted oc- 

 casionall3-, it is doubtless true that some words 

 were recognized, but imperfectly, and with 

 ililHculty ; and it is true, also, that when im- 

 perfectl}' meeting the conditions set upon it by 

 the inventor, the apparatus, when applied to 

 transmit spoken words, will, with skilful han- 

 dling, sometimes ' deviate into sense ' so far, 

 that an occasional word or short phi-ase can lie 

 made out with cHbrt, by attentive listening with 

 the ear close to it. Professor Bottger, who 

 took an enthusiastic interest in the matter, 

 says that the operators 

 could communicate 

 words with each other, 

 but adds, ' only such, 

 however, as the}' had 

 already heard frequent- 

 Ij'.' Of the other ex- 

 perimenters and wit- 

 nesses whose testimony 

 is given in the book, 

 some were able to under- 

 stand portions of what 

 was said; others failed. 

 Ever}- one familiar with 

 telephonic experiments 

 knows how eas^' it is to 

 recognize these familiar 

 phrases by the mere in- 

 tonation, and how dif- 

 ferent this is from un- 

 derstanding words not 

 previously known. Is 

 it any thing surprising, 

 that the words of a fa- 

 miliar song should ap- 

 pear to be recognized when the air is heard ? 

 Granted that the spoken words were some- 

 times reproduced so as to be understood, it 

 must also be admitted that the apparatus ac- 

 complished this so imperfect!}' as to be of no 

 practical value. To make it practically effi- 

 cient required a modification that was in it- 

 self a radical change and a distinct invention. 

 That this was also llcis's opinion, will be seen 

 from the extracts given in a subsequent para- 

 graph. 



There is good evidence, in the later writings 

 and advertisements of Reis, that he Iiad come 

 to the conclusion that the faithfid reproduction 

 of the comi)lex motions which occur in articu- 

 late speech was impossible, and that he had 

 silently abandoned the idea of reproducing 



speech. A further proof of this is found in 

 the addition of the telegraphic signal-appara- 

 tus to the later forms of the instrument, to 

 enable the experimenters to communicate with 

 each other. Professor Thompson's argument 

 that the Morse signal-apparatus, if intended 

 for verbal communication, should have been 

 reversed, meets the facts but half way ; for the 

 complete telephonic installation required a 

 transmitter and a receiver at each end of the 

 wire, so that the Morse signals could be sent 

 in either direction with the same facilit}' as the 

 telephonic. Moreover, as if to prevent any 

 possible question as to its use, Reis himself 

 expressly says that the Morse apparatus is for 

 the purpose of enabling the operators to com- 



municate witli each other ; and, in the prospec- 

 tus issued with the instruments, he describes a 

 special alphabet, which he had devised to enable 

 words to be spelled out. If these could be 

 transmitted tcleplionically, wh}' take this un- 

 necessary trouble? This very provision is a 

 most emphatic testimony that Reis, at this 

 time, had become convinced that the a|iparatus 

 as a transmitter of speech was a failure, and 

 that, his original idea having proved impracti- 

 cable, he had contented liimself with sending 

 musical tones. 



In respect to this point, the letter of Reis, 

 written by himself in Knglish to Mr. Ladd, and 

 given at p. 81, is most significant. lie says, 

 "Tunes and sounds of any kind arc only 

 brought to our conception by the condensations 



