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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
204
When
Edison
arrived
at
the
laboratory
in
the
morning,
he
read
his
letters,
and
then
overlooked
his
employees,
witnessing
their
results
and
offering
his
suggestions;
but
it
often
happened
that
he
became
totally
engrossed
with
one
experiment
or
invention.
His
work
was
frequently
interrupted
by
curious
visitors,
who
wished
to
see
the
laboratory
and
the
man.
Although
he
had
chosen
that
out-of-the-way
place
to
avoid
disturbance,
they
were
never
denied:
and
he
often
took
a
pleasure
in
showing
his
models,
or
explaining
the
work
on
which
he
was
engaged.
There
was
no
affectation
of
mystery,
no
attempt
at
keeping
his
experiments
a
secret.
Even
the
laboratory
notes
were
open
to
inspection.
Menlo
Park
became
a
kind
of
Mecca
to
the
scientific
pilgrim;
the
newspapers
and
magazines
despatched
reporters
to
the
scene;
excursion
parties
came
by
rail,
and
country
farmers
in
their
buggies;
till
at
last
an
enterprising
Yankee
even
opened
a
refreshment
room.
The
first
of
Edison's
greater
inventions
in
Menlo
Park
was
the
'loud-speaking
telephone.'
Professor
Graham
Bell
had
introduced
his
magneto-electric
telephone,
but
its
effect
was
feeble.
It
is,
we
believe,
a
maxim
in
biology
that
a
similarity
between
the
extremities
of
a
creature
is
an
infallible
sign
of
its
inferiority,
and
that
in
proportion
as
it
rises
in
the
scale
of
being,
its
head
is
found
to
differ
from
its
tail.
Now,
in
the
Bell
apparatus,
the
transmitter
and
the
receiver
were
alike,
and
hence
Clerk
Maxwell
hinted
that
it
would
never
be
good
for
much
until
they
became
differentiated
from
each
other.
Consciously
or
unconsciously
Edison
accomplished
the
feat.
With
the
hardihood
of
genius,
he
attempted
to
devise
a
telephone
which
would
speak
out
loud
enough
to
be
heard
in
any
corner
of
a
large
hall.
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