The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1913. THE TELEPHONE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 10, 10 January 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1913. THE TELEPHONE.

So closely associated with ti e invention of the telephone are the names of Graham Bell and Thomas A. Edison, that few people are aware that twenty years before the invention of these two notable electricians made its appearance a young French officer had worked out and publicly demonstrated the theory of the telephone. Etienne Charles Bourseul was the young man’s name, and only a few months ago ho died in Paris at the age cf eightythree. It was in 1854 that he announced his theory of the possibility of transmitting the sound of the human voice by electric wire. Being a Government official, it was necessary for him to obtain the consent of his chiefs before publishing his discovery. The permission was granted, accompanied, however, by a warning to devote his attention to “more serious matters.” From an account of what followed, which is now published, it appears that Boursenl’s article on the matter appeared in the journal ‘L’ illustration’ on August 26tb, ISSI. He recommended the use of a flexible plate at the source of sound, which would vibrato in response to the varying pressure of the air and thus open and close an electric circuit, and of a similar plate at the receiving station, which would be acted on electro-mag-netically, and thus give out as many pulsations as there were breaks in the circuit. Bourseul was thus substantially the inventor of the telephone, but he did not carry the theory into detail. Another inventor named Reis supplemented Bourse-id’s work by studying the problem of retaining the correct pitch, quality, and relative intensity of the sounds transmitted, and succeeded in constructing a telephone with a receiver capable of reproducing sounds, but not, however, fitted for long-distance talking. It was, however, Bell and Edison who, more than twenty years later, supplied the elements which ware absent in the inventions of these two pioneers, and, most strangely, the* very day on which Graham Bell filed with the United States Patent Office papers relating to his telephonic invention, a similar application was lodged by Elisha Gray, of Chicago, the priority of a few hours only giving the honour of the invention to 8011. Bourseul did not pursue

his telephonic investigation!?, but they were recognised by the Government so far as to secure for him tiie rank ot Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. Bell and Edison themselves have since , acknowledged his claim to be the original inventor of the wonderfully useful instrument which to-day lias become so common in our offices and houses. j