ined as
one invented to transmit air vibrations by electricity.

The receiver consists of an iron rod about the size of a knitting
needle, wound with insulated copper wire, and supported on a wood box
having very thin sides. The rod vibrates with every passage of the
current, and the thin box increases the amount of these vibrations and
makes them audible. It is found best to introduce several rods into the
insulated coil, as with only one the sound produced is rather snuffling.
In either case, however, the vibrations of the rod are exactly the same
as those of the membrane, and even the character of the sound is
automatically reproduced.

The description here given is that of Reuss's instrument, which was
illustrated last year in the French paper "La Nature." The exact
construction of Mr. Bell's telephone has not been made public, but it
seems to be quite similar. He is said to make his vibrating membrane of
metal. The greatest distance to which sounds have been sent is one
hundred and forty-three miles, from Boston to North Conway, N.H. The
instrument is not yet perfect, the sounds being frequently indistinct.
With a private wire and two persons accustomed to each other's voices it
would probably be a greater success. It is therefore likely to be
quickly introduced into business uses. At present some rather wild
anticipations are indulged in by the daily press, but the instrument
probably has a really remarkable future before it.

* * * * *

DAMAGES BY AN INSECT.

Traffic on railways and canals has diminished, public taxes do not pay
for collection, and poverty, privation, and misery have come upon
twenty-five departments of France from the ravages of the phylloxera
insect which attacks the roots of the grapevines. Such is the official
report of a committee appointed by the Academy of Sciences. The
important districts of Champagne, Burgundy, the Loire, and the Cher, are
now threatened, and from the greatly extended foothold which the insect
has now gained it is feared that its operations will be very rapid. It
is not impossible that the principal industry of France will be crippled
for years. In spite of all this, wine is now quite cheap. The hard times
have lessened consumption, and the product is so huge--900,000,000
litres, or 180,000,000 gallons yearly from France alone--that the stock
in the market is maintained in spite of the great ravages of the insect.
The cheape