In all the books of electrical science, there was nothing to help Bell and Watson in this journey they were making through an unknown country.

They were as chartless as Columbus was in 1492.

Neither they nor any one else had acquired any experience in the rearing of a young telephone.

No one knew what to do next.

There was nothing to know.
For forty weeks--long exasperating weeks--the telephone could do no more than gasp and make strange inarticulate noises.