Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

the action of all the other parts. Mr. Edison’s expectations of the capabilities of the instrument 673not being realized, he turned his attention, after several unsuccessful attempts at its improvement, to the electric light and other subjects, at the same time declaring his conviction that the perfection of the instrument would be but a matter of time; in fact, within a very few years afterwards such improvements were made on Mr. Edison’s instrument as went far to justify this prophecy. These were the work of Dr. Chichester Bell and Mr. Tainter, who, after long continued experiments, found in paraffin wax, with a small admixture of some other substances, a better material for receiving the impressions. A cutting style made to act upon this cuts out a fine groove, the bottom of which is not a series of indentations, but a continuous wavy curve, representing every degree of inflection the vibrating diaphragm. In the new form of the instrument, Fig. 319g, which was called the graphophone, to distinguish it from Edison’s, the cylinder does not move forward: it is the diaphragm that advances parallel to the revolving axle. The cylinder is driven by a treadle, like a sewing-machine, and there is an ingenious arrangement by which the speed is controlled so that it can be maintained quite uniform. The movement of cylinder and style can be instantly arrested by touching a button, and as readily re-started. Quite recently Mr. Edison has returned to improving the phonograph by using rather thick, solid cylinders of wax, which are previously prepared for use by the instrument itself paring them down to a truly cylindrical and perfectly uniform surface, the result being a great increase of clearness in the speech and tones of music. Mr. Edison’s new instruments are driven by small electro-motors, and the speed is regulated by a centrifugal governor. It is said that these wax cylinders are capable of giving out the same record for a thousand times without perceptible sign of deterioration; and when the cylinders are required to receive a fresh impression, a former one can easily be pared off. The machines can be arranged so as to sound loud enough to be heard by a large assembly; but the quality of the tones of speech or music is most perfect when conveyed from the receiving chamber in front of the diaphragm to one or both of the auditor’s ears by means of a short elastic tube. Half a dozen persons can thus hear the record on the cylinder with such marvellous distinctness as to be able to recognize the tones of a known voice. The very latest form of the instrument, as it has just left Mr. Edison’s hands, is represented in Fig. 319h. In this one single very small diaphragm serves both for recording and reproducing the sounds. This is made of extremely thin glass, to which is attached a small projection made of celluloid, which acts on a bar that carries the recording point. The configuration of this point is most ingenious and peculiar, for it is, in fact, double, one part being shaped like a gouge, which cuts into the walls of the minute depression traced on the wax cylinder, while a style-shaped part impresses the wax with punctured indentations. The shaping of its forms is a difficult and delicate operation, for they are very small and are cut in sapphire. The reproduced speech given out by this instrument is said to possess the properties of sharpness and clearness in a remarkable degree. The machine is provided also with a sapphire cutting edge, by which an old record may be pared off by the very motion of the cylinder in receiving a new one. This phonograph is put in movement by ingenious mechanical devices, for giving uniform rotation from such motive power as may be supplied by the foot or by water or by clockwork. This improved instrument lays claim to practical utility, and its manufacture will, it is stated, be shortly commenced on a large scale. 674Quite recently there has been established in America a big manufactory of phonographs in the form of a toy, which is sure to become very popular everywhere. Here they turn out daily several hundred real speaking dolls, which contain clockwork actuating a phonographic cylinder impressed with the words of some childish story or simple rhyme, such as “Jack and Jill,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” etc. Each doll of course repeats its little tale as often as the clockwork is set going. These toys are adapted to all nationalities; for, besides many English, there are a number of French, German, Italian, etc., girls employed doing nothing all day long but addressing appropriate words to each little automaton’s waxen cylinder. Fig. 319h.—Edison’s Perfected Phonograph. The capabilities of the phonograph suggest some curious applications that may be made of it. For example, the songs of a fine singer may thus, in all their modulations, reach people in distant lands, or be made audible to future generations. Thousands of people in England have heard with their ears, through Mr. Edison’s instruments lately brought over by Col. Gournaud, songs and speeches, and pieces of concerted music, sung, said, or played in America months before. Music can be bottled up, so to speak, without the consent of the originators; and, indeed, it is said that an eminent prima donna has applied for an injunction to restrain certain phonographers from reproducing her vocal triumphs with their instruments. A speech of Mr. Gladstone’s, delivered in England, has been phonographically heard in New York with great applause. There is no reason but what, with a loud speaking phonograph uttering an orator’s very words and tones, while instantaneous photographs of his successive gestures and attitudes are projected on a screen, a true and lively impression of his eloquence might be conveyed centuries after his decease. One is almost led to speculate as to the consequences if these nineteenth century inventions had been antedated by a few thousand years: what stores of knowledge we might now possess! and how pleasant it would be thus To hear each voice we feared to hear no more! Behold each mighty shade revealed to sight, The Bactrian, Samian sage, and all who taught the right! 675 Fig. 320.—The Domestic Aquarium. AQUARIA. Under the date of May 28th, 1665, the curious gossiping diary of Samuel Pepys contains this entry: “Thence to see my Lady Pen, where my wife and I were shown a fine rarity; of fishes kept in a glass of water, that will live so for ever—and finely marked they are, being foreign.” This doubtless refers to the now well-known gold fishes, which about the time alluded to were introduced into Europe from China, where they had probably been for ages reared and kept in captivity, chiefly for the sake of ornament. Perhaps the reader may be disposed to think that, therefore, the aquarium cannot be distinctively a nineteenth century invention, nor at all a modern invention, in principle at least; but merely the “glass of water,” or the globe of gold fish on a larger scale. Such a notion would be quite incorrect, for the principles which are embodied in the modern aquarium were not recognized and applied until quite recently. Aquatic animals kept for a period in vessels in which the water is changed from time to time cannot be considered as properly forming an aquarium. The beauty and value of a well-regulated aquarium depend not merely on the opportunities it affords of studying the habits of the animals; the spectacle it presents has a far wider interest, as illustrating and confirming the conclusions of science regarding certain great principles which govern the whole animal and vegetable life of this terraqueous globe. Perhaps in the whole range of nature nothing is more wonderful than the direct interdependence of animal and vegetable life, and the exact balance between them, which preserves the composition of the atmosphere unchanged. The constituents of the atmosphere have an immediate relation to both forms 676of life. No animal can live without a supply of oxygen gas, which it absorbs and replaces by carbonic acid gas. The latter, on the other hand, is absorbed by plants, for these, under the influence of light, decompose the carbonic acid, returning the oxygen to the atmosphere, thus purifying the air by again fitting it for the respiration of animals. It might be supposed that animals which live entirely beneath the surface of water are removed from the influence of atmospheric oxygen, and that they form exceptions to this law. But such is not the case, for water absorbs and holds in solution a certain quantity of air, the oxygen of which is taken up by aquatic animals. In the lower forms of animals inhabiting water, the absorption of this vital element takes place at the general surface of the body; but in the more highly organized creatures there are special organs appropriated to this purpose, of which the gills of a fish may be cited as a typical example. The giving out of carbonic acid is an action as universal in the animal world as the absorption of oxygen, and all aquatic animals tend to charge the water in which they live with this gas. Fish, or any other water animals, will soon die if they are placed in water from which all the air has previously been expelled by boiling, or by placing under the receiver of an air-pump. In this case the creature dies from want of oxygen; but it would also die, even if supplied with oxygen, were the poisonous carbonic acid emitted by itself allowed to accumulate in the liquid. In nature, this carbonic acid forms the food of aquatic plants and sea-weeds, and these restore oxygen to the water. If a bunch of watercresses be placed in a bottle filled with water, and exposed to strong sunshine, the leaves may soon be seen covered with small bubbles of gas. This gas may be collected and examined by a suitable arrangement of the bottle, and it will be found to be pure oxygen. The merit of having first imitated the plan of nature for the preservation of aquatic animals appears to belong to Mr. Ward, the inventor of the “Wardian cases” for ferns and other plants. He, in 1841, formed in London a fresh-water aquarium, in which, for the first time, the animals were kept in a healthy condition by the compensating action of plants. Mr. Gosse, Dr. Price, and others, made experiments with marine animals and plants, about 1850. Mr. Mitchell, who was then secretary to the Zoological Society of London, saw about this time a small aquarium on the balancing principle at Dr. Bowerbank’s, and this suggested the erection of the fish-house in the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park. This was opened in 1853, being the first public aquarium ever constructed. The tanks remain at the present time in nearly their original condition, and this aquarium has been remarkable, not only as predecessor of the many public aquaria which have since been erected, but for having given rise to a movement in favour of aquaria as domestic establishments. The setting-up of household aquaria became almost the rage of the day, and so many books and magazine articles devoted to the subject appeared during the ten years following the establishment of the Regent’s Park aquarium, that the literature of the subject is quite considerable. Mr. Gosse showed how water for marine aquaria could be produced by adding to fresh water the solid constituents of sea-water; and, in the marine aquaria of some inland towns far distant from the sea, this artificial sea-water is the only kind used. After the establishment of the Regent’s Park aquarium, public aquaria were opened successively in Dublin, Galway, Edinburgh, Scarborough, Weymouth, the Crystal Palace, Brighton, Manchester, and Southport; and on the continent at Paris, Hamburg, Hanover, Boulogne, Havre, 677Brussels, Cologne, Vienna, and Naples; also in North America at San Francisco, and in other places. The general interest in public aquaria, and especially