In matters of business and diplomacy the phonogram will
teach its users to be brief, accurate, and honest in their speech; for
the phonograph is a mechanical memory more faithful than the living
one. Its evidence may even be taken in a court of law in place of
documents, and it is conceivable that some important action might be
settled by the voice of this DEUS EX MACHINA. Will it therefore add a
new terror to modern life? Shall a visitor have to be careful what he
says in a neighbour's house, in case his words are stored up in some
concealed phonograph, just as his appearance may be registered by a
detective camera? In ordinary life--no; for the phonograph has its
limitations, like every other machine, and it is not sufficiently
sensitive to record a conversation unless it is spoken close at hand.
But there is here a chance for the sensational novelist to hang a tale
upon.
The 'interviewer' may make use of it to supply him with 'copy,' but this
remains to be seen. There are practical difficulties in the way which
need not be told over. Perhaps in railway trains, steamers, and other
unsteady vehicles, it will be-used for communications. The telephone
may yet be adapted to work in conjunction with it, so that a phonogram
can be telephoned, or a telephone message recorded in the phonograph.
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