If it should be said that Bell is here speaking only of an early and experimental form, and not of his real invention, it should be remembered that Bell here refers to the apparatus with cone and membrane, identical with that exhibited at Glasgow in September, 1876, by Sir William Thomson (who had received it from Bell) and by him described as the very “hardihood of invention,” and “by far the greatest of all the marvels of the electric telegraph.” It certainly worked upon the principle of undulatory currents,[55] whether it articulated or not. Bell had himself, speaking in May 1876, before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences upon his researches, even more explicitly admitted the imperfections of his own instrument. The effects were not sufficiently distinct to admit of sustain ed conversation through the wire. Indeed, as a general rule, =the articulation was unintelligible=, excepting when familiar sentences were employed.--(Proceedings of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. xii. p. 7.) Yet this most imperfect machine, of which the articulation was, as a general rule, unintelligible, had, two months previously, had a patent granted to it as a new invention, the claim being for “the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically, as herein described, by causing electrical undulations similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sounds, substantially as set forth.” If then mere mechanical imperfections do not make an invention any the less a true invention capable of legal recognition, it would be dishonest to the last degree to deny to Philipp Reis the honour of his invention, of which he honestly and openly stated both the successes and the imperfections. He told the world what he aimed at, and in what measure success had crowned his aims. His claim to be the inventor of the Telephone he considered to be justified by that measure of success. If he was so far in advance of his time that the world was unprepared to receive or use the splendid discovery which he gave freely to it, that was not his fault; nor does neglect or apathy make him in one single degree the less entitled to the credit of his inventions. _Tulit alter honores_ has not unfrequently been truly said concerning the men of genius who have had the misfortune to live in advance of the age. But posterity does not let the names of such truly great ones perish in the dust. The inventor of the Telephone will be remembered and honoured in the coming if not in the present age. SCHEDULE OF AUTHORITIES Key to Title of Work: