Abstract
WHEN, about two years ago, news came from the other side of the Atlantic that a method had been invented of transmitting, by means of electricity, the articulate sounds of the human voice, so as to be heard hundreds of miles away from the speaker, those of us who had reason to believe that the report had some foundation in fact, began to exercise our imaginations in picturing some triumph of constructive skill—something as far surpassing Sir William Thomson's Siphon Recorder in delicacy and intricacy as that is beyond a common bell-pull. When at last this little instrument appeared, consisting, as it does, of parts, everyone of which is familiar to us, and capable of being put together by an amateur, the disappointment arising from its humble appearance was only partially relieved on finding that it was really able to talk.
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THE REDE LECTURE 1 . Nature 18, 159–163 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018159a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018159a0