Echoes From Dead Voices

The Scientifte American of laat week contains the first announeement of whiit muy be the most wonderful invention of the day. Nothing could be more incredible than the likelihood of once more hearing the voice of the dead, yet the invention of the new instrument is said to render ttiis possible licreafter. It is true that the voicet) are stilled, but whoever bas spoken or whoever may speak iuto the monthpiece of the phonograph, and whose words are recorded by it, has the assurance that his speech may be reproduced audibly in his own tones long after he himself has turned to dust. A strip of indented paper travels through a little machine, the sounds of the latter are magniiied, and posterity, centuries henee, hear us as plainly as if we were present. Speech has become, as it were, immortal. The Sdentific American says : The poEsibüihes of the future are not much more wonderful than those of the present. The orator in Boston speaks, the indented strip of paper is the intangible result; but this travels under a second machine which may conneot with the telephone. Not only is the speaker heaid now in San Francisco, forexample, but by passing the strip again under the reproducer he may be heard to-morrow, or next year, or next century. His speech, in the flrst instance, is recorded and transmitted simultaneously, and indeflnite repetition is possible. " The new invention is purcly mechanical - no electricity is involved. It is a simple affair of vibrating plates, thrown into vibration by the human voice. It is crude yet, but the principie has been found, and modiflcations and improvements are only a matter of time. So also are its possibilities other than those already noted. Will writing be a thmg of the past ? Why not. if by simply talking into a mouth-piece our speech is recorded on paper, and our correspondent can by the same paper hear us speak ? Are we to have a new kind of books ? There is no reason why the orations of our modern Ciceros should not be recorded and detaohably I bound so that we can run the indented slips through the machine, and, in the viaí.vu j vi4x Kjnu ajjai lj-llciilb, Jj.t3tc.Ll again, and as oí ten as we will, to the eloquent words. Nor are we restrioted to spoken words. Music may be crystallized as well. Imagine an opera or an oratorio, sung by the greatest living vocalists, thus recorded, and capable of being repeated as we desire."