ystal silence there.'

The first was a piece which had been played on the piano, quick time,
and the fidelity and loudness with which it was delivered by the hearing
tube was fairly astonishing, especially when one considered the frail
and hair-like trace upon the wax which had excited it. There seemed to
be something magical in the effect, which issued, as it were, from the
machine itself. Then followed a cornet solo, concert piece of cornet,
violin, and piano, and a very beautiful duet of cornet and piano. The
tones and cadences were admirably rendered, and the ear could also
faintly distinguish the noises of the laboratory. Speaking was
represented by a phonogram containing a dialogue between Mr. Edison
and Colonel Gouraud which had been imprinted some three weeks before in
America. With this we could hear the inventor addressing his old friend,
and telling him to correspond entirely with the phonograph. Colonel
Gouraud answers that he will be delighted to do so, and be spared the
trouble of writing; while Edison rejoins that he also will be glad to
escape the pains of reading the gallant colonel's letters. The sally is
greeted with a laugh, which is also faithfully rendered.

One day a workman in Edison's laboratory caught up a crying child and
held it over the phonograph. Here is the phonogram it made, and here
in England we can listen to its wailing, for the phonograph reproduces
every kind of sound, high or low, whistling, coughing, sneezing, or
groaning. It gives the accent, the expression, and the modulation, so
that one has to be careful how one speaks, and probably its use will
help us to improve our utterance.

By speaking into the phonograph and reproducing the words, we are
enabled for the first time to hear ourselves speak as others hear us;
for the vibrations of the head are understood to mask the voice a little
to our own ears. Moreover, by altering the speed of the barrel the voice
can be altered, music can be executed in slow or quick time, however it
is played, inaudible notes can be raised or lowered, as the case may
be, to audibility. The phonograph will register notes as low as ten
vibrations a second, whereas it is well known the lowest note audible to
the human ear is sixteen vibrations a second. The instrument is equally
capable of service and entertainment. It can be used as a stenograph, or
shorthand-writer. A business man, for instance, can dictate his letters
or instructions into it, and