A TELEPHONIC TRIUMPH.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 915, 31 May 1877, Page 3

A TELEPHONIC TRIUMPH.

The following special despatch was sent by telephone to the Boston Globe : " Salem, Feb. 12, 10.55 p.m.

" Professor A. Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, lectured on his invention at Lyceum Hall this evening. The lecture was one of a course of the Essex Institute, and about 500 persons were present. The lecture was very well received, and the frequent and long-continued applause showed that the audience appreciated fully the wonderful uses and the experiments made with the machines. Professor Bell briefly explained the construction of the instrument, and then sketched his studies of the system of transmitting sounds. He explained that it was his first attempt before an audience to try these different experiments. An intermittent current was first sent from Boston by Thomas A. Watson, Professor Bell's associate. This caused a noise very similar to a horn from the telephone. The Morse telegraph alphabet was then sent by musical sounds, and could be heard throughout the hall. The audience burst into loud applause at the experiment. A telephonic organ was then put into operation in Boston. ' Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot' and 'Yankee Doodle ' were readily heard throughout the hall, and heartily recognised. At this point Professor Bell then explained how he learned to transmit the tone of the human voice, and paid a grateful tribute to Mr Watson. Professor Bell asked Mr "Watson for a song, and 'Auld Lang Syne' came from the mouthpiece of the instrument almost before his words were ended. Mr "Watson was then asked to make a speech to the audience. He expressed himself as having more confidence eighteen miles away than if he were present. His speech was as follows: —' Ladies and Gentlemen, — It gives me great pleasure to be able to address you this evening, although I am in Boston and you are in Salem.' This could be heard 35ft. distant—that is, all over the hall—and brought down the house with applause. A system of questioning was then earned on, and Mr Watson was asked if ho heard the applause. The answer was, 'I am not listening; try again.' The applause was given, and its receipt at once acknowledged in Boston. Coughing and singing were then heard, and a variety of questions were then asked from the Salem end, and among them, ' What news from the Electoral Commission?' followed by the distinct answer of ' I don't know of any.' But the news came fleeting along that the engineers of the Boston and Marine Railroad had struck. General Coggswell asked if the trains were running; the answer was clear and distinct that they were not at half-past 5 o'clock. Professor Bell introduced the Rev. E. C. Bolles, who said, ' I shake hands with you cordially in imagination twenty miles away.' The Rev. E. S. Atwood asked, 'Does it rain?' 'lt does not in Boston,' was Mr Watson's answer. Professor Gage, the electrician, then spoke through the telephone, endeavouring to have his voice recognised. This coidd not be done, as Mr Watson was not familiar with the voice. Mr Shaje Zsawa was recognised, Mr Watson being perfectly familiar with his tones. One of the assistants in Boston then said that "Hold the Eort" would be sung in Boston, and the tune which followed was readily recognised. Professor Bell closed his lecture by briefly stating the practical uses to which he was confident the telephone could be applied. Hearty applause was afforded the lecturer as he finished, and people flocked about the stage in large numbers to more closely examine the wonderful instrument that had placed them in audible communication with people nearly twenty miles away. " The special by telephone to the Globe has been transmitted in the presence of about twenty, who have thus been witnesses to a feat never before attempted—that is, the sending of a newspaper despatch over the space of eighteen miles by the human voice—and all this wonder being accomplished in a time not much longer than would be consumed in an ordinary conversation between two people in the same room."

The instrument which transmitted the wonderful voice-message to the listening ears in this city (says the Globe) was placed in a little room in Exeter-place, were assembled Professor Watson, Benjamin Bridden, the electrician ; Professor E. B. Wurman, and Mr A. B. Fletcher, representative of the Globe. The experiment was a great success. The conversation with the friends 18 miles away was carried on in the ordinary tones of voice. The Globe representative in Boston very easily recognised the voice of the transmitter of the despatch in Salem ; and very distinctly heard the applause which was given in the Essex Institute-hall. It was a very note- ■ worthy occasion, certainly ; and the complete success attained led to the discussion of many ■■ plans for the further practical utilisation of telephone, which sends its first newspaper des- | patch to the Globe readers for their delectation and wonder this morning.