WONDERS OF SCIENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18906, 5 July 1923, Page 11

WONDERS OF SCIENCE.

MACHINE WITH A BRAIN.

POSSIBILITY OF A TALKING DOLL,

(From Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 18. Professor C. V. Boys has spent three years in prefecting a wonderful machine which he has invented. This is on exhibition at the Royal Society, in Burlington House. The niervellous new jnechanism calculates, thinks, find then dips a pen m ink and writes down its thoughts. It has human intelligence, and .more than human infallibility. It never tires and never makes a mistake. The work of the calorimeter is to pass out gas, correct temperature and pressure, adjust water vapour, and write down the actual value of the gas in ink op a reel of paper. It is the gas consumer’s watchdog. No mistake escapes its vigilance. It detects the slightest variation in the quality of the gas, and at once pens an indictment of the offence, for action by the export engineer. The work will go on unceasingly for months without any human assistance. NEW HEADS. So many remarkable examples of scientific progress were displayed at the annual conversazione of the Royal Society that those who examined them became bewildered by what they'say. Beetles whose heads had been cut off were shown with other beetles’ heads transplanted on them. Mr Graham Cannon said that the body of the beetle on being given a change of head would gradually conform to tho species, and even the sox, of tho decapitated beetle whose head it now wore. Some of these beetles lived six weeks after their change of head, and fed and_ lived normally. Truly, the possible lilies'of development of these startling experiments make one think I The contents of a man-eating crocodile’s stomach presented to the British Museum by Mr C. S. M. Swynerton attracted considerable attention. A number of h,uman bones, 11 gold bracelets, and bead necklaces were found inside this monster. Pieces of doepsea cable damaged by sharks, on© of which had left his teeth behind, were also shown. SIR R. PAGET’S ARTIFICIAL “THROAT.” One of the most interesting items was the demonstration given by Sir Richard Paget, who has made artificial throats which can produce vowel sounds, and even speak. ■'xhere have,” said Sir Richard, “been scientific experiments made for the reproducing of the human voice since 1779. A good many vowel sounds have been reproduced by combining a reed like the reed of a clarionet with a tube which resonates, But it has never been possible in this way to produce all the vowel sounds, and the fundamental principle of vowel production by the human voice did not seem to be understood. During the war 1 had a good deal of experience in listening to and analysing the sounds in connection with the detection of submarines. About a year ago I got interested in listening to the sound of my own voice when whispering vowel sounds without usin- the larynx. I hoard in every case two notes or resonances inside my mouth, i then made experiments with plasticine cavities, which I tuned to have the same resonances as those I had heard in my own mouth. These plasticine cavities were bottle-shaped, with waists, and according as the model hod a high waist or a low waist, or a stout waist or a thin waist, the two cavities gave difference resonant notes. When airwas blown through such a model, the effect of the two resonating cavities was to produce what we call a whispered vowel sound. Having added on a reed at .the back of the model so as to pass vibratory air through tho model instead of a continuous stream of air, those resonances coloured the notes that came from the reed in a way which the human ear appreciated as voiced vowel sounds. “Hie practical result of the experiment is to give an explanation of the mechanism of vowel production, and also the possibility of testing by experiments with models tho different effects of variations of the larynx, and the variations in the" size and contour of the cavities of the human mouth —and 'so on. Then the experiments also lead to the possibility of making an instrument that will imitate tho human voice much more closely than has been possible hitherto—for example, an improved vex humana pipe for organs. It would also bo possible to make talking dolls. We may even conceive g, British industry of talking doll making. STANDARDISED VOWEL. “Then there is the possibility of riling models for standardisation vowel sounds for instructional purposes,” said Sir Richard. “Tho phonograph is not altogether satisfactory as a method of standardising \owel sounds because the vowel sound in a phonograph varies as the speed varies, whereas in those models the vowel sound is constant, whatever tho air pressure and v hatever the larynx note employed. There is a further possibility of applying the invention to the development of a new branch of music, since it is clear that human speech is essentially a musical effect.”