VOICES OF THE PAST

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1931, Page 9

VOICES OF THE PAST

OLD PHONOGRAPH RECORDS. TESTS AFTER FORTY YEARS. - A small gathering of personal friends of Mr. Edison and the late Colonel Gouraud assembled in London recently at the house of Mrs. R. Courtenay Gayer, a daughter of Colonel Gouraud, to commemorate the passing of the inventor. Colonel Gouraud introduced Edison’s talking machines into England, and some of the original records brought by Colonel Gouraud were replayed on this occasion. The apparatus which he used is in the Edison Museum in America, but a contemporary instrument was lent for the occasion by the Gramophone Company and two boxes of the original cylindrical phonograph records of yellow wax, which have been preserved in Colonel Gouraud’s family, were opened. Somo of the records appeared to have shrunk after 40 years and it was not possible to hear the first record sent to England in 1888. Similar disappointment was experienced with records labelled as giving the voices of King Edward, Sir Henry Irving, and the Speaker of the House of Commons, but a message from Cardinal Manning to the Duke of Norfolk came readily into contact with the needle and emitted sounds which were heard through the original earpiece, designed like a stethoscope. After this record had been played several times the needle cleared away the dust and the sound greatly improved. It became possible to catch even the intonation of the Speaker and the words were quite unmistakable. Part of Cardinal Manning’s deathbed speech in 1892 thanking Mr. Edison and Colonel Gouraud for the phonograph were also heard on another record, a duplicate of that sent to the Vatican, and a third record of Cardinal Manning was also partially heard.

; Another successful record was a quick march played by the band of the -Royal Marines (Chatham Division) and several speech records were also partially heard, including one by H. M. Stanley to Colonel Gouraud before his marriage and a recitation of “The 'Charge of the Light Brigade,” by Tennyson. All the records improved in quality as they were played, and it was hoped by an adjustment of the machine to get results from some of the smaller records which could not be tried then. Speakers on these include Queen Alexandra, the Marquess Of Salisbury, Cardinal Vaughan and Mr. Edison and Colonel Gouraud themselves.