“One form of transmitter was at that time constructed which I miss amongst the various woodcuts you were good enough to send me, and one which Reis based great hopes upon. The instrument was very rough, however, consisting of a wooden bung of a beer-barrel (which I had hollowed out for an earlier telephone--it was not turned inside like others), and this was closed with a membrane. The favourite ‘Hämmerchen’ was replaced by a straight wire, fixed in the usual way with sealing-wax, and the apparatus stood within a sort of tripod, membrane downwards, the pin just touching the surface of a drop of mercury contained in a small cup forming one of the terminals of the circuit. The apparatus started off with splendid results, but may probably have been abandoned on account of its great uncertainty, thus sharing the fate of other of his earlier instruments. In my belief it is to these mechanical imperfections, due principally to the want of sufficient means at his command, that we must look to find the reason why Reis’s telephone did not come to an earlier fame. Thus Reis informed me that he intended to exhibit it once at some scientific meeting at Cassel, but notwithstanding a perfect rehearsal it was impossible to show the working to the audience; the failure was attributed by Reis to atmospheric influence (stretching of the diaphragm), and he felt much grieved at having lost his chance. To make matters worse, the early transmitters had no adjusting screws, and the contact was only regulated by a piece of bent wire, and the ‘hammer’ was fixed to the membrane. Philipp Schmidt should recollect what I state, as many experiments were made when only he, Reis, and myself were present, he being at one and I at the other end of the apparatus. The wire was stretched from Reis’s house, in the main road, through the yard to a hayloft, near the garden or field. We transmitted musical sounds (organ, &c.), singing popular songs (‘Wer will unter die Soldaten,’ ‘Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden,’ &c.) and speaking, or, more correctly, reading. We had a book, and were to find out what part of the page the reader was just transmitting. We frequently used a sort of ‘Exercier Reglement,’ a soldiers’ instruction book, or something of that sort. I have a distinct recollection of electromagnetic receivers being used, but not of their construction, except that the use of one of them was accompanied by a rattling and disturbing noise. The knitting-needle put in the _f_ of a violin was, however, the more favoured receiver, but at this time, in Reis’s mind, all seemed to hinge on the electromagnet, as it had before, and, I dare say, did again afterwards on the transmitter. I left Friedrichsdorf in ’62, and rarely saw Reis after that, except a few times at Mechanicus Albert’s (who made some of his apparatus), and at Professor Böttger’s, to whom he introduced me. Reis attended Professor Böttger’s lectures at the Physikalischer Verein, when in Frankfort, prior to his settling down