Editing Alexander Graham Bell (section)

===First experiments with sound===
Bell's father encouraged his interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique [[automaton]] developed by Sir [[Charles Wheatstone]] based on the earlier work of [[Wolfgang von Kempelen|Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen]].{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=25}} The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a human voice. Bell was fascinated by the machine, and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful.{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=25}} While his brother constructed the throat and [[larynx]], Bell tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could "speak", albeit only a few words.{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=25}} The boys would carefully adjust the "lips" and when a [[bellows]] forced air through the [[Vertebrate trachea|windpipe]], a very recognizable ''Mama'' ensued, to the delight of neighbours who came to see the invention.{{sfn|Petrie|1975|pp=7–9}}

Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's [[Skye Terrier]], Trouve.{{sfn|Petrie|1975|p=9}} After he taught it to growl continuously, Bell would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and [[vocal cords]] to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma". With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate "How are you, grandmama?"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Messenger|first=Stephen|title=Before Inventing The Telephone, Alexander Graham Bell Tried To Teach His Dog To Talk|url=https://www.thedodo.com/before-inventing-the-telephone-489117573.html|access-date=2021-01-30|website=The Dodo|date=March 29, 2014 |language=en}}</ref> Indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a "talking dog".{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=30}} These initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using [[tuning fork]]s to explore [[resonance]].

At age 19, Bell wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist [[Alexander John Ellis|Alexander Ellis]], a colleague of his father.{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=30}} Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany, and also lent Bell a copy of [[Hermann von Helmholtz]]'s work, ''The Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shulman |first=Seth |title=The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Bell's Secret |location=New York |publisher=Norton & Company |date=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/telephonegambitc00shul/page/46 46] |isbn=978-0-393-06206-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/telephonegambitc00shul }}</ref>

Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by Helmholtz, who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "contraption", Bell pored over the book. Working from his own erroneous mistranslation of a French edition,<ref name="DCB" /> Bell fortuitously then made a deduction that would underpin all his future work on transmitting sound, reporting: "Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means, so could consonants, so could articulate speech." He also later remarked: "I thought that Helmholtz had done it&nbsp;... and that my failure was due only to my ignorance of electricity. It was a valuable blunder&nbsp;... If I had been able to read German in those days, I might never have commenced my experiments!"<ref>{{cite book |last=MacKenzie |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine MacKenzie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iFOcw4lN_ZYC |title=Alexander Graham Bell |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=Grosset and Dunlap |date=2003 |orig-year=1928 |page=41 |isbn=978-0-7661-4385-2 }}</ref>{{sfn|Groundwater|2005|p=31}}{{sfn|Shulman|2008|pp=46–48}}{{refn| Helmholtz's ''The Sensations of Tone'' is credited with inspiring Bell, at the age of 23, to further his studies of electricity and electromagnetism.<ref name="DCB" />|group=N}}