Abstract
IT may be of interest at the present time to recall the fact that the word “microphone” was first employed by Sir Chas. Wheatstone upwards of fifty years ago. In a paper entitled “Experiments on Audition,” published in the Quarterly Journal of Science for 1827, Wheatstone remarks:—“ The great intensity with which sound is transmitted by solid rods at the same time that its diffusion is prevented affords a ready means of effecting this purpose [augmenting the loudness of external sounds], and of constructing an instrument which from its rendering audible the weakest sounds may with propriety be named a microphone”. As the original paper may not be readily accessible, an extract from it is appended to this letter, wherein will be found a description of the simple arrangement proposed by Wheatstone—it is in fact a metallic binaural stethoscope—together with some experiments with the instrument given by the author. The entire paper will appear in the republication of Wheatstone's scientific papers, which the Physical Society will shortly issue, and the instrument itself can be obtained for a trifling sum from Mr. Yeates, of King Street, Covent Garden.
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BARRETT, W. [Letters to Editor]. Nature 18, 356 (1878). https://doi.org/10.1038/018356a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/018356a0
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