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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
162
Bourseul
deserves
the
credit
of
being
perhaps
the
first
to
devise
an
electric
telephone
and
try
to
make
it;
but
to
Reis
belongs
the
honour
of
first
realising
the
idea.
A
writer
may
plot
a
story,
or
a
painter
invent
a
theme
for
a
picture;
but
unless
he
execute
the
work,
of
what
benefit
is
it
to
the
world?
True,
a
suggestion
in
mechanics
may
stimulate
another
to
apply
it
in
practice,
and
in
that
case
the
suggester
is
entitled
to
some
share
of
the
credit,
as
well
as
the
distinction
of
being
the
first
to
think
of
the
matter.
But
it
is
best
when
the
original
deviser
also
carries
out
the
work;
and
if
another
should
independently
hit
upon
the
same
idea
and
bring
it
into
practice,
we
are
bound
to
honour
him
in
full,
though
we
may
also
recognise
the
merit
of
his
predecessor.
Bourseul's
idea
seems
to
have
attracted
little
notice
at
the
time,
and
was
soon
forgotten.
Even
the
Count
du
Moncel,
who
was
ever
ready
to
welcome
a
promising
invention,
evidently
regarded
it
as
a
fantastic
notion.
It
is
very
doubtful
if
Reis
had
ever
heard
of
it.
He
was
led
to
conceive
a
similar
apparatus
by
a
study
of
the
mechanism
of
the
human
ear,
which
he
knew
to
contain
a
membrane,
or
'drum,'
vibrating
under
the
waves
of
sound,
and
communicating
its
vibrations
through
the
hammer-bone
behind
it
to
the
auditory
nerve.
It
therefore
occurred
to
him,
that
if
he
made
a
diaphragm
in
imitation
of
the
drum,
and
caused
it
by
vibrating
to
make
and
break
the
circuit
of
an
electric
current,
he
would
be
able
through
the
magnetic
power
of
the
interrupted
current
to
reproduce
the
original
sounds
at
a
distance.
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