The Development of Telephone Service (vol.1)

The desire to transmit speech over long distances probably dates back to the first wide separation of loved and beloved. That many methods have been suggested for the transmission of speech is of record. That speech has been mechanically or acoustically transmitted over many hundred feet of taut string and practically straight wires, during several hundred years, is true. That the 'lover's telephone' is a toy that has amused several generations is well known... Nevertheless, the facts are that no authentic record has been found proving the existence of a practical method of speech transmission over long-distances, either electrical or mechanical, prior to the invention of the electric-speaking telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.