Abstract
MR. T. E. HERBERT describes the bookbefore us as a practical handbook, and, from certain expressions used in the second chapter, he seems to be one of those practicians who have not overmuch sympathy with theoretical workers. It is not perhaps to be wondered at, therefore, if the preliminary chapters of his book, dealing with the fundamental principles of sound, electricity, magnetism, and telephony are handled in a very unsatisfactory manner. We are afraid that a reader, if he has not already acquired a thorough knowledge of the subject, will be liable to form erroneous impressions. Thus, to give one example, Mr. Herbert states that in an induction coil “the E.M.F.'s generated in the secondary coil are directly proportional to the current variations in the primary.” Again, the description of the action of the Bell transmitter is, we are inclind to think, incorrect, as the same mistake is made here of not properly allowing for the time taken over a vibration of the diaphragm.
The Telephone System of the British Post Office.
By T. E. Herbert. Pp. xi + 218. (London: Whittaker and Co., 1901.) Price 3s. 6d.
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The Telephone System of the British Post Office . Nature 64, 599 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/064599b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/064599b0