| Show POWER OF THE phonograph the accounts of the tan experiments experiment a recently made by a learned professor at the smithsonian institute in determining the meaning mean ing of the various sounds sou ud of the simian tongue is of exceptional interest this gentleman according to the pittsburg Di dispatch vatch has with extreme patience succeeded in recording upon the phonographic cylinder many times repeated the chatter of monkeys and after careful practice of the sounds thus obtained he finds that by repeating them he can make himself understood by t e animals As it is 18 but natural to suppose it is only sounds expressive of sensations common to ourselves and our four footed brethren that have as yet been recognized and defined Ded sounds for instance that express cold hunger fear ani and other of the feelings most frequently experienced the value however of such investigations as am these from a scientific standpoint can hardly be overestimate overe eti mated they w will III unquestionably resulting result resul tin in the following out of an entirely new line of speculation in the near future this novel use of the phonograph is an interesting te confirmation of the fact that the more or less marked tendency of many scientific discoveries is ie toward special applications undreamed of when the offspring of the inventors ingenuity was first made known to the world what at first is regarded as an ingenious toy frequently becomes a necessary adjunct to our civilization photography for a considerable time seemed to h ive little use other than that of ministering to the vanity of a favored few who could afford to employ it now it is used in every branch 01 of science and art and is indeed absolutely indispensable the he phonograph was long considered a wonderful but comparatively useless plaything and doubts are still expressed of its ultimate practical value for the purpose for which it was originally designed but there can be no question that this invention like many of its predecessors is destined to open out fresh fields of investigation and develop new wonders in many and widely varied directions some very interesting facts have been lately established chien point to the possibility of the use of the phonograph in the solution of certain problems involving musical acoustics about two years ago when dr WaDge manu mr Edia ons representative senta tive was waa exhibiting the phonograph before the young borman emperor at his palace in berlina record was about to be male made of a performance of the royal orchestra dr Wange maun suggested certain changes in the position of the instruments Instrument a which experience peri ence convinced him were more favorable to the blending and recording of sound than their ordinary disposition the leader of the orchestra horror stricken at the unheard of innovation the emperor at once commanded that it should be done and the record was made the result so pleased the emperor that at the next royal concert the strings wood woodwind and brass were placed a la a phonograph the recording of the subtlest quality ov or the son soul I 1 of the human voice the phonograph has not attained to but for or indicating the purely capabilities of the vocal organ it pos aei ses remarkable possibilities when in paris dr called on mme ame Mare marchesi beal the celebrated teacher of singing and suggested that the phonograph might be used for vocal teaching and rendered possible certain distinctions and shades of tone which often escape the unaided ear mme ame Marc marches hegi ridiculed the idea saying that her thirty five years of tuition had been none too much to give her right ideas on the subject subie ct but she could trust herself sooner than man the newfangled new instrument dr however gained permission to call the next day when twelve of the artists pupils sang a plain scale ascending and descending into the phonograph ame mme marches was perfectly astounded with ith the result for on listening to the record she perceived inequalities and inaccuracies of tone which had escaped even her keen ear |
