My department is in possession of knowledge of the details of [the telephone], and the possible use of the telephone is limited.
Engineer-in-Chief, British Post Office, 1887
Bell expects that the public will use his instrument without the aid of trained operators. Any telegraph engineer will at once see the fallacy of this plan. The public simply cannot be trusted to handle technical communications equipment. Bell's instrument uses nothing but the voice, which cannot be captured in concrete form… we leave it to you to judge whether any sensible man would transact his affairs by such a means of communications. In conclusion the committee feels that it must advise against any investment whatever in Bell's scheme.
Minutes of a Western Union meeting, circa 1880
Application should be made to the Postmaster, and when several persons have agreed to take Wires immediate steps will be taken to establish a sysem of intercommunication by Telephone Instruments. By Order of the POSTMASTER GENERAL.
Excerpt from an advertisement appearing in several newspapers, December 1880. Reproduced in Telecoms Heritage Journal, First Half 2000.
Nearly all the hospitals have availed of telephonic communication, which is of the greatest convenience to those poor creatures who will have the means of having at once the best medical assistance in the city called to their aid.
Report by the Chairman of the Telephone Company of Ireland, September 1883. Quoted in Telecommunications Heritage Journal, August 2004.
How telegraph wires in London were put through small pipes...
A large rat, with a fine steel wire, was put in the pipe. Behind there was thrust a ferret. The rat ran from the ferret a short distance and stopped. It was feared that he would show fright and be killed. But he started on again. He ran through the whole length of the pipe and brought out the wire in good style, though closely pushed by the ferret.
The Electrician, 17 May 1884
Mr W E Irish of Sunderland has been trying his hand at an invention to automatically record the telephonic sounds as ordinarily transmitted by these instruments. It is doubtful if such a record is of much value.
The Electrician, 30 August 1884
A great future is doubtless in store for the telephone.
Chambers Journal, 1885
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The possibilities of a private home telephone system throughout the country is out of the question. Almost the entire working population of the United States would be needed to switch cable.
NY telephone financier, 1887
It's out of this world. This morning I saw a telephone in the post office.
Diary of a 14 year-old boy, 1887
The Americans have need of the telephone - but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.
Engineer-in-Chief, British Post Office, date unknown
A German physician is said to have discovered that excessive indulgence in telephonic communication causes a peculiar disease of the ear. It also brings on a total loss of the temper and promotes expletives. Evidently the telephone has never been educated up to the point of understanding that a soft answer turneth away wrath.
The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review, Aug 24, 1888 (quoted in Telecommunications Heritage Journal, Feb 2004)
Ordinarily an operator can tell a woman the moment he hears her working the wire. He tells by her touch on the key. Women, as a rule, telegraphers say, do not touch the key of their instruments as firmly as men.
Western Electrician, 1891
The cable nipped the evil of misunderstanding leading to war in the bud.
Sir John Pender, chairman of the Gutta-Percha Company (now Cable and Wireless), 1894
An entirely new and much-improved method of conducting diplomatic relations between one country and another has come into use with the telegraph wire and cable.
Charles Bright, 1898