THE PHONOGRAPH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 33, 9 February 1891, Page 4

THE PHONOGRAPH.

THE EXHIBITION TO-NIGHT,

Iγ Thomas Alva Edison, the great American inventor, had lived a hundred years or so ago, and. had dared to show the unsophisticated people who then inhabited Englandand elsewhere his wonderful phonograph, the chances are he would have been killed as a magician of the darkest order. At the present time the world is (jetting so accustomed to news almostevery day of some extraordinary invention or discovery, that outside the little fbrmular ' Dear me ! what a wonderful thing,' the subject is generally taken quite as a matter of course. In places like the colonies thie apparent indifference is no doubt owing in many cases to the fact that for a considerable time the public have to depend upon report as to the excellence and novelty of many inventions, and there is always a questkm whether the thing itself is as good as it is said to be. The preconceived ideas of most people as to the powers of the phonograph were naturally tinctured with a good spice of doubt. How could it be possible that any machine could receive a man's voice and repeat it: any number of times afterwards, sc that it cculd be easily recognised ? Id was a hard thing to swallow. Moat) people who have nob heard the talking machine afc work, are willing on the strength of reporo to admit that by some extraordinary means or other it does register sound, and emit it again, but until they have heard it they cannot possibly imagine how faithfully it does its work. As a matter of fact, the phonograph is one of the most wonderful creations of the cleverest man of the age—not leas wonderful because it is not so useful as many of the other things he has invented. The people of New Zealand owe something to the enterprise of Messrs MacMahon, who have introduced the phonograph to them, and it is pleasing to know that so far they have mot with the success they deserve. It is not easy to say very much, as the thing simply must be seen and heard to be realised. Alt the explanatory business is done by Professor Archibald in a very cioatty and interesting way, and the introductory account of the history ot the instrument is efficiently told, and illustrated with limelight views. The patent of MrEdi6on for the machine dates from July, ISB7, and he states that the discovery may be regarded as almost accidental. He was engaged upon a machine intended to repeat Morse characters, and in the manipulation of this he found that when the cylinder carrying the indented paper was turned with great swiftness it gave off a humming sound from the indentations—a musical rhythmic sound, resembling that of human talk distinctly. Ho was led from this to try to fit a diaphragm to the machine which would receive the vibrations upon an impressible material placed on the cylinder. The result of a trial with paraffined paper was excellent. The indentations on the cylinder, when rapidly revolved, caused a repetition of the original vibrations to reach the ear through a recorder, just as if the machine itselt were speaking. " I saw at once," saye Edison, "that the problem of registering human speech, so as it could be repeated by mechanical means as often as might be desired, was solved."_ The phonograph entertainment will be given in the Opera House to-night for the first time.