Heinrich Friedrich Peter.
[Herr Peter is still Music-teacher in the Garnier Institute, and has a vivid recollection of his former colleague Philipp Reis, and of the experiments with the telephone.]
“Dear Sir,
“The following particulars concerning Reis’s Telephone I have several times narrated. I was teacher of music in Garnier’s Institute at the time when Mr. Reis invented the telephone, in the year 1861. I was much interested in his experiments, and visited him daily, giving him help and making suggestions. His first idea was to imitate the construction of the human ear. He constructed a funnel-shaped instrument, the back of which was covered with a skin of isinglass, upon which was fastened a piece of platinum, against which rested a platinum point. As receiver of the electric current he used a common knitting-needle, surrounded by a coil of insulated green wire, which was at first merely laid on a table. At first the tones were very much interfered with by a buzzing noise. At my suggestion he placed the spiral upon my violin as a resonant-box; whereupon the tones were perfectly understood, though still accompanied by the buzzing noise. He continued experimenting, trying various kinds of membranes, and made continual improvements in the apparatus. I was present and assisted at the experiments at Frankfort-on-the-Main, on the 26th of October, 1861; and after the meeting broke-up, I saw the members of the Society as they came and congratulated Mr. Reis on the success of his experiments. I played upon the English horn, and Philipp Schmidt sang. The singing was heard much better than the playing. At an experiment which we made at Friedrichsdorf, in the presence of Hofrath Dr. Müller, Apothecary Müller, and Professor Dr. Schenk, formerly Director of Garnier’s Institute, an incident occurred which will interest you. Singing was at first tried; and afterwards his brother-in-law, Philipp Schmidt, read long sentences from Spiess’s ‘Turnbuch’ (Book of Gymnastics), which sentences Philipp Reis, who was listening, understood perfectly, and repeated to us. I said to him, ‘Philipp, you know that whole book by heart;’ and I was unwilling to believe that his experiment could be so successful unless he would repeat for me the sentences which I would give him. So I then went up into the room where stood the telephone, and purposely uttered some nonsensical sentences, for instance: ‘Die Sonne ist von Kupfer’ (The sun is made of copper), which Reis understood as, ‘Die Sonne ist von Zucker’ (The sun is made of sugar); ‘Das Pferd frisst keinen Gurkensalat’ (The horse eats no cucumber-salad); which Reis understood as ‘Das Pferd frisst....’ (The horse eats ...). This was the last of these experiments which we tried. Those who were present were very greatly astonished, and were convinced that Reis’s invention had opened out a great future.
“H. F. Peter, Musiklehrer.”