I have made experiments in this direction; they are delicate and demand
time and patience, but the approximations obtained promise a favourable
result.'[See Du Moncel's EXPOSE DES APPLICATIONS, etc.]
Bourseul deserves the credit of being perhaps the first to devise an
electric telephone and try to make it; but to Reis belongs the honour of
first realising the idea. A writer may plot a story, or a painter
invent a theme for a picture; but unless he execute the work, of what
benefit is it to the world? True, a suggestion in mechanics may
stimulate another to apply it in practice, and in that case the
suggester is entitled to some share of the credit, as well as the
distinction of being the first to think of the matter. But it is best
when the original deviser also carries out the work; and if another
should independently hit upon the same idea and bring it into practice,
we are bound to honour him in full, though we may also recognise the
merit of his predecessor.
Bourseul's idea seems to have attracted little notice at the time, and
was soon forgotten. Even the Count du Moncel, who was ever ready to
welcome a promising invention, evidently regarded it as a fantastic
notion. It is very doubtful if Reis had ever heard of it.
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