The phonoscope (Nov 1896-Dec 1899)

6 THE PHONOSCOPE April, 1897 Zbc pbonoorapb Whisperings of Disease Revealed by the Phonograph Medical science has found a great field of usefulness for the phonograph. It is no longer a toy with which to amuse the wide-mouthed rustics at country fairs, but a valued agent of the healer's art. There is in New York a laboratory, with walls of red and tables and shelves laden down with delicate instruments, where daily for five years the coughs, the hoarse whisperings and all the labored sounds of diseased throats have been recorded upon cylinders of wax. Every malady of the palate, throat, chest and nasal cavities has been registered in this way. Marked, dated and described, these cylinders can be brought out at any time, slipped into the phonograph, and the entire study of the case reviewed. And not only this, Dr. J. Mount Bleyer, owner of the collection, who has, he insists, been the only man in the world to adapt the phonograph to the uses of medicine, has gone even further. In addition to the 600 cylinders with records of coughs he has at least 1,400 others, carrying the finest voices in the world. Stars of the Metropolitan Opera House contingent, foreign voices which have never been heard on these shores, famous orchestras, violinists, great musicians all over the world. It is without a doubt the most curious library in the world, and one of the most valuable from a scientific standpoint, too, because of its absolute uniqueness. Many curious stories of disease are told by these cylinders of throats and vocal organs only slightly affected, of throats in somewhat advanced stages of various maladies, and, finally, examples in which disease has reached its worst form and no cure is possible. With the tubes from the instruments in his ears, the student or physician can hear as plainly as if the patient were before him, the exact sounds accompanying all sorts of throat diseases. Comparing, by the use of different C3-linders, disease with disease, and cough with cough, it becomes possible, as never before in the history of surgery, to gauge the exact intensity of the ailment that is being studied and to mark out more effective cures. And if a patient returns for treatment, even after years of absence, all the physician has to do is turn to the box of cylinders, listen to the noises they give out and have the case as fresh in his mind, in its technical points, as if it had been entrusted to him only yesterday and he had been thinking about it all night. Dr. Bleyer believes that this phonographic system of keeping records of cases will, within a few years, become as useful as the old methods of surgeons of preserv ing parts of the human body in alcohol. It matters not how weak and " lost" the voice is. Even the hoarsest breathing out of a sound records itself upon the cylinder and can be reproduced in its precise intensity. This is the great scientific value of phonographic registering of vocal sounds, for if the most trifling tones and shades of tones were lost the record would be imperfect, incomplete and valueless. To take down the record of any talking voice, all that is needed is to have the phonograph carefully adjusted and to see that a distinct and clear record is made. The phonograph in every -day use does not give this, conveying only the general impression rather than the exact tone quality which is necessary for scientific investigation. To obtain the precise results lie wants, and to make sure that the record shall be set down undeviatingly, Dr. Bleyer uses a special diaphragm, a device of his own, which differs from the diaphragm in ordinary use in that the needle or stylus which cuts into the wax and makes the impression, deeply or lightly, according to the intensity of the tones, is much more rigid and has no give or spring to it. This has given to his records their scientific value. The cone that is used in this scientific work is about six inches in diameter at its mouth, and is made of papier mache. Two or three minutes of talking or whispering is all that is necessary to complete a record. Where the patient is an ignorant person, the. mere fact of having to talk through a machine like this confuses him and he seems to have no idea of what to say. Therefore, a large number of the records which Dr. Bleyer keeps are merely descriptions given in the voice and language of the patient of the features of his case. It is a much more difficult matter to register with exactness a singing voice, but an improved apparatus is used, which is so finely adjusted that if the singer be tired or out of voice, that fact is made perfectly apparent in the reproduction. For taking a singing voice a second funnel is used, a long one, also of papier mache, four feet in diameter at its outer edge, or where the singer stands, and not joining on to the big end of the smaller funnel. In fact, the small end of the large funnel is much greater in size, and when it is supported so that it meets the small funnel there is a considerable outlet for a great deal of the volume of sound. This insures only the most perfect tones passing into a second funnel and striking the diaphragm. It is in this way that Dr. Bleyer has obtained his records of many of the world's greatest singers, and also of orchestras in full operation. It might seem that a collection of so much that is delicate, brilliant and perfect in the way of sound would be unnecessary and superfluous in scientific records that concern the diseases of the voice, but these examples have an especial value for the purposes of comparison, representing, as they do, the possibilities of the vocal cords in exceptional instances. Dr. Bleyer proposes now to devise a microphone which will take the chest and heart tones or sounds and set them down upon the cylinder in such a manner that they can be accurately perceived by the ear and carefully studied. It is not far from probable that this instrument will be in complete operation by the early Fall. If it is as successful as is expected, it will bring about a revolution in the studv of diseases of the lungs and heart, and be a remarkable contribution to modern medicine. It is a theory of Dr. Bleyer' s that through the phonograph it is possible to correct man)' errors and deficiencies of the voice and to train people to overcome impediments in speech. In this way the phonograph is not only valuable for purposes of cure, but it can train and preserve. The Motor Mr. Depew Wants To See In an interview with a reporter the other day, Mr. Chauncey M. Depew, president of the Xew York Central Railroad, gave his views on the possibilities of making fortunes. Here is one of the questions asked him, with his reply : " What are your opinions on the great inventions of the future ?" " The man who will make money is the one who perfects an electric motor which will enable the railway companies to move passenger and freight trains at less cost than now by the steam locomotive; which will solve the problem of street transportation, so as to supersede the overhead trolley, at less cost. "If the flying machine can be made a success, as it will have no right of way to buy, no roadbed to keep up, no expenses for the maintenance of way, it will revolutionize everything, and make a fortune beyond the dreams of avarice for the man who makes it a success. Great fortunes are made mainly in two lines — one, inventions ; the other improvements." H TEo\> pbonoorapb Although, in order to instruct children, it is well enough to make them read a description of great scientific inventions, such as the telegraph, telephone, phonograph, etc., it is certainly preferable to put these different instruments in their hands in order to permit them to learn how they operate. Yery simple apparatus capable of giving children general ideas as to the telegraph and telephone have been devised and sold at very low prices, but such an advantage has not hitherto existed for the phonograph. '! his want has, fortunately, just been supplied. Thanks to an ingenious instrument, which is very easily manipulated and of relatively low price, children will be able in the future to assure themselves that it is as easy to obtain a reproduction of the human voice with the phonograph as it is that of a piece of music by means of a mechanical piano. So this is one of the playthings that has met with the most success this year. A TOY PHONOGRAPH The principle upon which the construction of this phonograph is based is the same as that of the Edison apparatus. It is the transmission to a disk of the vibrations that correspond to certain sounds. For registering a sound in the Edison phonograph, a point connected with a plate in front of which the speaking is done traces upon a revolving cylinder moving longitudinally a series of lines, the depth and length of which depends upon the vibrations to which the place is submitted. It results inversely that when the cylinder is displaced the point with which it is in contact transmits to the plate, and then to the ears of the auditors, the sounds due to the vibrations to which the plate has previously been submitted. In order that such apparatus may be placed in the hands of children, it is necessary to take care not to have them of too fragile construction. The principal difficulty resides in the selection for the cylinders of some other material than wax, the wear of which is too rapid. Celluloid has been found good for this purpose. These cylinders have an orifice in the center into which passes the rod that holds them in place, and a rotary motion is given them by a clockwork movement that is wound up with a key. — 1* Illustration.