they can be copied out by his secretary.
Callers can leave a verbal message in the phonograph instead of a note.
An editor or journalist can dictate articles, which may be written out
or composed by the printer, word by word, as they are spoken by the
reproducer in his ears.

Correspondence can be carried on by phonograms, distant friends and
lovers being able thus to hear each other's accents as though they
were together, a result more conducive to harmony and good feeling than
letter-writing. In matters of business and diplomacy the phonogram will
teach its users to be brief, accurate, and honest in their speech; for
the phonograph is a mechanical memory more faithful than the living one.
Its evidence may even be taken in a court of law in place of documents,
and it is conceivable that some important action might be settled by
the voice of this DEUS EX MACHINA. Will it therefore add a new terror
to modern life? Shall a visitor have to be careful what he says in a
neighbour's house, in case his words are stored up in some concealed
phonograph, just as his appearance may be registered by a detective
camera? In ordinary life--no; for the phonograph has its limitations,
like every other machine, and it is not sufficiently sensitive to record
a conversation unless it is spoken close at hand. But there is here a
chance for the sensational novelist to hang a tale upon.

The 'interviewer' may make use of it to supply him with 'copy,' but this
remains to be seen. There are practical difficulties in the way which
need not be told over. Perhaps in railway trains, steamers, and other
unsteady vehicles, it will be-used for communications. The telephone may
yet be adapted to work in conjunction with it, so that a phonogram can
be telephoned, or a telephone message recorded in the phonograph. Such
a 'telephonograph' is, however, a thing of the future. Wills and other
private deeds may of course be executed by phonograph. Moreover, the
loud-speaking instrument which Edison is engaged upon will probably be
applied to advertising and communicating purposes. The hours of the
day, for example, can be called out by a clock, the starting of a train
announced, and the merits of a particular commodity descanted on.
All these uses are possible; but it is in a literary sense that the
phonograph is more interesting. Books can now be spoken by their
authors, or a good elocutionist, and published in phonograms, which
will appeal to the ear of th