HISTORY OF THE TELEPHONE.--The principle of the telephone, that sounds
could be conveyed to a distance by a distended wire, was demonstrated
by Robert Hook in 1667, but no practical application was made of
the discovery until 1821, when Professor Wheatstone exhibited his
"Enchanted Lyre," in which the sounds of a music-box were conveyed
from a cellar to upper rooms. The first true discoverer of the
speaking telephone, however, was Johaun Philipp Reis, a German
scientist and professor in the institute at Friedrichsdorf. April 25,
1861, Reis exhibited his telephone at Frankfort. This contained all
the essential features of the modern telephone, but as its commercial
value was not at all comprehended, little attention was paid to it.
Reis, after trying in vain to arouse the interest of scientists in his
discovery, died in 1874, without having reaped any advantage from it,
and there is no doubt that his death was hastened by the distress of
mind caused by his continual rebuffs. Meanwhile, the idea was being
worked into more practical shape by other persons, Professor Elisha
Gray and Professor A.G. Bell, and later by Edison. There is little
doubt that Professor Gray's successful experiments considerably
antedated those of the others, but Professor Bell was the first to
perfect his patent. February 12, 1877, Bell's articulating telephone
was tested by experiments at Boston and Salem, Mass., and was found
to convey sounds distinctly from one place to the other, a distance
of eighteen miles.
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