320 SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



fmall wire, fo as to efcape with rapidity on the oppofite fur-* 

 face, and keep down the maximum of temperature? &c. 

 Optra defiderantur, non verba. W. N. 



Thick Iron burned in Oxigen, 



Combuftion of jyj r . Accum informs me, that a thick piece of iron or fleel, 

 iron in oxigen. r , . r , 



lucn as a hie, may be burned in oxigen gas, if it be made very 



fliarp pointed, and a fmall piece of wood be thick upon its 



extremity, which is to be fet on fire previous to immerfion 



into the gas. 



Extreme accuracy of tuning Mufical Injlruments. 



Very exaft pro- About a year ago Huddleftone, Efq. fhewed me an 



mufical inftnf- exce ^ ent monochord, with improvements for afcertaining the 

 merits. precife lengths, and fecuring the equable tenfion of the firing, 



which I fhould be glad if I had an opportunity of communi- 

 cating. I was much gratified by his method of tuning uni- 

 fons to a degree of precifion which the direcl power of the ear 

 could afTuredly never command. 1. He tunes his firing («} 

 (to the tone given by a fork, or otherwife) fo as to have no 

 beat or undulation, but to be as nearly unifon as the fenfe can 

 diftinguifh; 2. he tunes another firing (6) a very fmall quan- 

 tity fharper (or flatter) fo as to afford an evident beat ; 3. he 

 fets a fmall pendulum, or bullet and thread, to vibrate with the 

 beat; 4. he tries his fork with the lail firing (b) and obferves 

 the beat by the pendulum, unaltered ; 5. if the beat be flower 

 than before, it follows that the firfl firing (a) is flill too flat, 

 becaufe the fork is nearer unifon with the fharp firing (b) ; — 

 if quicker, then (a) is too fliarp. I heard four forks flFuck in 

 quick iucceflion, which had been tuned by this procefs ; and 

 though there was only the fundamental, with its third, fifth, 

 and oclavo, the effect was delightful. 

 Strange mflu- The fame gentleman mentioned a fingular, and I believe 



ence of organ unobferved fact, relative to the combination of mufical undu- 

 pipes upon ^ " M * . * . , _ . -it i 



each other. lations in the air. 1 wo contiguous organ pipes, both excel- 

 lent, flopped diapafan C and C fharp, in a valuable inflru- 

 ment he poflefles, govern each other, fo that if C be firfl 

 founded and held, the C fliarp will give unifon to C when- 

 ever its key is flruck : but if C fliarp alone be founded and 

 held, the C pipe will give C fliarp when its key is flruck. I 

 will not venture tofpeculate upon this. 



INDEX. 



