i88o.] 
Academies and Societies . 
141 
Herr Faber exhibited his new speaking machine, which is de- 
signed to imitate mechanically the utterances of the human 
voice by means of artificial organs of articulation made on the 
human model, and actuated by an operator who depresses cer- 
tain keys, as in playing a musical instrument. The organs are 
a bellows made of wood and india-rubber, which answers to the 
lungs ; a small windmill placed in front of the latter, to give the 
“ r ” or trilling sounds ; a larynx, made of a single membrane of 
hippopotamus hide and india-rubber, to give the “ drone ” or 
basic tone of the voice ; a mouth with two lips ; a tongue ; and 
a nose or proboscis, made of india-rubber tubing placed below 
the mouth, but curving up towards it. Fourteen distinCt vocal 
sounds can be uttered by the instrument, but in combining these 
any word in any language can be played by the keys. Thus 
Herr F^ber caused his machine to say such words as “ Mariana,” 
“ Eliza,” “ Philadelphia,” “ Constantinople,” and various sen- 
tences in French, English, and German, more or less distinctly. 
Laughing and whispering were also produced, and the voice of 
the instrument, which was ordinarily loud and clear, and resem- 
bling that of a girl, was lowered in pitch and loudness to a more 
masculine tone. 
