240 Kansas city review of science. 
speech in 1 860-61 ; that he elaborately described and exhibited his telephone in- 
1861; that he invented transmitting and receiving instruments, which not only- 
talked then and talk now, but which include the essential principles of the trans- 
mitters and receivers now in use; and that he manufactured, placed on the 
market, and sold his instruments in 1863, for the purpose of illustrating the 
electric transmission of speech and song. That an invention so important, made 
in the heart of Germany, should not have been instantly perfected and utilized 
would surprise us in this country, if history did not abundantly teach that inven- 
tions, complete in themselves, often lie sterile until the favorable season and soil 
are found for their commercial adoption and development. 
Professor Thompson, without the least imputation of plagiarism, shows, in 
parallel columns, the identity of expression between Reis and Bell, in their state- 
ment of the essential principles of the telephone. The impression of the identity 
of Reis's and Bell's discovery grows, page by page, during the perusal of this 
book. 
The conclusion reached by Professor Thompson, from the survey of the 
whole field — a conclusion which seems to be fully borne out by the facts adduced 
— is the following ; " There is not, in the telephone exchanges of England to day, 
any single telephone to be found in which the fundamental principles of Reis's 
telephone are not the essential and indispensable features." 
This conclusion makes the speaking telephone, in its elementary form, free 
to the whole world. It opens wide the door for the future development of the 
telephone ; and it should assure to all those who, by their genius and industry, 
in our day and generation, have improved or may improve the telephone, an 
ample pecuniary reward. The recompense due to the family of Philipp Reis^ 
should take the form hereafter, not of a tax, but a free gift from the world's grati- 
tude. 
This book comes, then, as a charter of freedom of speech in a larger sphere 
than ever before known. 
In the hght of historic facts which this book establishes, the decision of the 
courts of the United States that Professor Bell is the discoverer of a new and 
useful art (the electric transmission of speech),* to which he has exclusive title,, 
must be reversed as speedily as possible, that our courts may retain the respect 
of the people of the United States. — Dr. W. F. Charming, in Popular Science 
Monthly for August. 
A fine meteor, apparently about six inches in diameter, was observed at this 
city on the evening of the 23d of July in the southeastern sky. It fell almost 
vertically. 
