Such a 'telephonograph' is, however, a thing of the future. Wills and
other private deeds may of course be executed by phonograph. Moreover,
the loud-speaking instrument which Edison is engaged upon will probably
be applied to advertising and communicating purposes. The hours of the
day, for example, can be called out by a clock, the starting of a train
announced, and the merits of a particular commodity descanted on. All
these uses are possible; but it is in a literary sense that the
phonograph is more interesting. Books can now be spoken by their
authors, or a good elocutionist, and published in phonograms, which will
appeal to the ear of the 'reader' instead of to his eye. 'On, four
cylinders 8 inches long, with a diameter of 5,' says Edison, 'I can put
the whole of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY.' To the invalid, especially, this use
would come as a boon; and if the instrument were a loud speaker, a
circle of listeners could be entertained. How interesting it would be
to have NICHOLAS NICKLEBY read to us in the voice of Dickens, or TAM O'
SHANTER in that of Burns! If the idea is developed, we may perhaps have
circulating libraries which issue phonograms, and there is already some
talk of a phonographic newspaper which will prattle politics and scandal
at the breakfast-table.
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