In a general sense, the name “telephone" applies to any instrument or apparatus which transmits sound beyond the limits of ordinary audibility. But, since the recent discoveries in telephony, the name is technically and primarily restricted to an Instrument or device which transmits sound hy means of electricity and wires similar to telegraphic wires. In a secondary sense, however, being the sense in which it is most commonly understood, the word "telephone” constitutes a generic term, having reference generally to the art of telephony as an insti-tutlon, but more particularly to the appara-tus, as an entirety, ordinarily used in the transmission, as well as in the reception, of telephonic messages. IIockett v. State, 105 Ind. 261, 5 N. E. 178. 55 Am. Rep. 20L
Source: Black's Law Dictionary 2nd Ed (1910)
