On 2 October 1850 Benoit invited Triat and friend Jules Allix, a journalist from La Presse. He first asked Triat and then Allix to stand at one station and to spell out a word – he would then tell them what the word was by reading from the receiving end. However, the transmission was inaccurate, with him supposedly receiving errors such as “gymoate” instead of “gymnase”, and he continually walked between the two devices, claiming that it was necessary to supervise his assistants to ensure that they were touching and reading the snails correctly. Triat began to suspect that it was a hoax. Allix, however, was convinced by the demonstration and wrote an article full of praise for Benoit's creation, which appeared in La Presse on 25 and 26 of October 1850.Communication Universelle par Jules Allix: La Presse, 1850-10-25 et 1850-10-26 Among other praise, Allix suggested that ladies might wear the device on their "waist-chains". Triat demanded a second, stricter test, to which Benoit agreed. When the time came, though, Benoit had vanished. He was subsequently seen wandering the streets of Paris and died at the beginning of the year 1852.L'Abeille médicale : revue des journaux et des ouvrages de médecine, de chirurgie, de pharmacie, 1861-01-14, pp. 9-13.
