Ancient Chinese Telephones.
At a recent meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society in Shanghai, says the Scientific American, a paper by Dr. Macgowan was read on the subject of the early use of telephones in China. This paper being very brief, we give it in its entirety:— 'It detracts nothing from the merit of the ingenious physicists who have conferred on mankind the boon of the telephone, that its principles are familiar to uncivilized peoples, several of whom are in possession of rudimentary telephones. It was, I opine, when the Chinese were in their youth that they constructed the rudimentary instrument, a specimen of which I herewith transmit for the society's museum. It consists of two bamboo cylinders, one and a half to two inches in diameter, and four in length; one end of each is closed by a tympanum of pig bladder, which is perforated for the transmitting string, the string kept in place by being knotted. This rude instrument is styled the 'listening tubes,' and is employed for amusement as a toy, conveying whispers forty or fifty feet. It is unknown in many parts of the empire, Chih-kiang and Kiangsu being the only provinces (so far as I can ascertain) where the listening tube is employed. 'Besides this toy, Chinese ingenuity produced, about a century and a half ago, the 'thousand mile speaker.' The implement is described as 'a roll of copper likened to a fife, containing an artful device; whispered into and immediately closed, the confined message, however long, may be conveyed to any distance, and thus in a battle, secret instructions may be conveniently communicated. It is a contrivance of extraordinary merit.' The inventor of the 'thousand mile speaker,' Chiang Shauhsin, of Huichou, flourished during the reign of Kang-hsi. He wrote on occult science, astronomy, etc. 'The above account of his invention was taken from his works by the author of a Fuhkien Miscellany. At that time—reign of Kien Lung—there was no longer an instrument of this description in that province. It seems to have perished with the ingenious scientist who contrived it. Here is a fine opportunity for the organization of a new telephone company, with a legal department to hunt up the lost evidence, and take a whack at the Bell telephone monopoly. Doubtless many heathen Chinese might be found glad to testify they had often used the old telephone in talking from the Great Wall to Pekin, and further if necessary.'—Christian at Work.