Abstract
THE Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna has recently appointed a commission to inquire into the possibilities of the application of the phonograph to scientific purposes. It would appear that this instrument has as yet been used mainly as a means of domestic recreation or as an adjunct to the penny showman, but it is quite clear that the instrument provides a means of preserving actual spoken specimens of languages, especially of those which are in a state of gradual development and growth or in a condition of decay. Moreover, by bringing the spoken speech or dialect of distant lands and out-of-the-way districts to those to whom they would be otherwise inaccessible, a most valuable means of scientific research is made available. Recognising the latent possibilities of the phonograph in this direction, the Vienna Academy appointed the above-mentioned commission, the special task of which was the establishment, if possible, of central archives where phonographic records could be kept, duplicated and made accessible to the general scientific world.
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G., C. The Archives of Phonographic Records . Nature 67, 301 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067301a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067301a0