Edison, in November of 1877, sent to his friend Alfred Hopkins, editor of the _Scientific American_, several sketches of models of his new invention in which “speech was capable of indefinite repetition from automatic records.” The next month a model was perfected. The incident was described as follows in the December 22, 1877, issue of the _Scientific American_: “Mr. Thomas A. Edison recently came into this office, placed a little machine on our desk, turned the crank, and the machine inquired as to our health, asked how we liked the phonograph, informed us that _it_ was well, and bid us a cordial good night.” It was noted that the sound was fully audible to a dozen members of the staff who gathered around. The writer also noted, “When it becomes possible to magnify the sound, as it doubtless will, the witness in court will have his own testimony repeated. The testator will repeat his own will.” The editor of the _Scientific American_ concluded his comment on the Edison “Talking” phonograph by saying: “It is already possible to throw stereoscopic photographs of people on screens in full view of an audience (i.e., still pictures). Add the talking phonograph to counterfeit their voices and it would be difficult to carry the illusion of real presence much further.” The description of the Edison phonograph attracted wide attention. The article referred to above was quoted fully in _Nature_, a British publication. This led Wordsworth Donisthorpe to set down the first complete plan of the talking motion picture. Others, of course, had had the idea but up to that time the plan had never been expressed so clearly and completely. Wordsworth Donisthorpe, born in 1847, was an English lawyer who throughout life maintained a lively interest in many affairs. He was an outspoken individualist, being a firm believer in local government. He wrote books on such subjects as _Law in a Free State_, and _Love and Law_, as well as on scientific matters. When he designed his device, the Kinesigraph, he was living at Princes Park, Liverpool. After reading about Edison’s phonograph, Donisthorpe wrote to the _Nature_ magazine and referred to the idea of combining the phonograph and still projection suggested by the Editor of the _Scientific American_. Donisthorpe quoted that comment and then said: Ingenious as this suggested combination is, I believe I am in a position to cap it. By combining the phonograph and the Kinesigraph I will undertake not only to produce a talking picture of Mr. Gladstone which, with motionless lips and unchanged expression, shall positively recite his latest anti-Turkish speech in his own voice and tone. Not only this, but the life-size phonograph itself shall move and gesticulate precisely as he did when making the speech, the words and gestures corresponding as in real life. Surely this is an advance upon the conception of the _Scientific American_!