There seemed to
be something magical in the effect, which issued, as it were, from the
machine itself. Then followed a cornet solo, concert piece of cornet,
violin, and piano, and a very beautiful duet of cornet and piano. The
tones and cadences were admirably rendered, and the ear could also
faintly distinguish the noises of the laboratory. Speaking was
represented by a phonogram containing a dialogue between Mr. Edison and
Colonel Gouraud which had been imprinted some three weeks before in
America. With this we could hear the inventor addressing his old
friend, and telling him to correspond entirely with the phonograph.
Colonel Gouraud answers that he will be delighted to do so, and be
spared the trouble of writing; while Edison rejoins that he also will
be glad to escape the pains of reading the gallant colonel's letters.
The sally is greeted with a laugh, which is also faithfully rendered.
One day a workman in Edison's laboratory caught up a crying child and
held it over the phonograph. Here is the phonogram it made, and here in
England we can listen to its wailing, for the phonograph reproduces
every kind of sound, high or low, whistling, coughing, sneezing, or
groaning. It gives the accent, the expression, and the modulation, so
that one has to be careful how one speaks, and probably its use will
help us to improve our utterance.
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