First words over telephone?

Factual Questions
1

I have heard a number of times that the first understandable words spoken over the telephone were “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.” Supposedly, this was inventor Alexander Graham Bell calling for his secretary after spilling acid on himself.

Can this really be true? Bell has an emergency on his hands, so his first thought is to use the telephone that he is in the process of inventing? Telephones have been around all my life and I wouldn’t think to call someone on the phone if I just spilled acid in my lap, much less speak in such a mannered tone.

It just seems a bit convenient. I guess it would be hard to prove that this was not exactly what happened, and it makes for a better story than saying the first words over the telephone were “okay, how about now?” But I’m wondering if there are any records suggesting that the story was fabricated.

I don’t suppose any of you happened to be there in 1876, did you?

2

How come the gay activists haven’t “outed” Bell & Watson yet? Or have they already?

3

Actually, I always understood the story to be that they were getting ready to test the device, when Bell spilled the acid on himself. He called out to Watson, who heard the words over the telephone.
That is, they already had the telephones in hand when Bell had his little accident.

4

My impression is that Bell did not intentionally use the telephone to call Watson. His was an instinctive reaction to a lab accident; he was stating that he needs some kind of help. The telephone just happened to be “on” and Watson heard Bell’s words through the telephone, instead of through the air.

I’m sure that had the accident not occurred, Bell would have come up with something more momentous to say over the telephone. But the accident did occur, Bell’s reaction was to speak aloud, the telephone was on, and Watson heard Bell’s voice coming out of the telephone in the other room.

Of course, nowadays, Bell would have the accident, call to Watson for help, and be greeted with “Hi, this is Watson. I’m unavailable right now, but if you’ll leave your name and number…” :smiley:

(Sorry, but I couldn’t resist that last bit.)

5

In this case, we do have documentary evidence – Alexander Graham Bell’s handwritten notebook entry of 10 March 1876, in which he records the exact phrase he spoke, “Mr. Watson – come here – I want to see you.”

The legend part of the story is about Bell spilling something on himself. In fact, he was simply testing the equipment to see if Mr. Watson could in fact hear him.

6

Wow, thank you one and all. The resourcefulness and intelligence of the people on this board amazes me – I guess that’s why I usually feel more comfortable hanging around MPSIMS. Very cool link, SpoilerVirgin… I heartily recommend it to anyone interested enough to have read this far.