THE 



PHILOSOPHICAL MAGAZINE 



AND 



ANNALS OF PHILOSOPHY. 



[NEW SERIES.] 



NO V EMBER 1828. 



LIV. Answer to an Article by Mr. Henry Meikle, published 

 in No. VII. of the Quarterly Journal of Science, By 

 J. Ivory, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. $c* 



TN the last Number of the Quarterly Journal of Science, 

 * there is an article of some length by Mr. Henry Meikle, 

 in which he animadverts in a style which is hardly called for, 

 on the analytical theory of sound, and on the variation of 

 temperature which air undergoes when it changes its bulk. 

 In his strictures on the first of these subjects he does little 

 more than enlarge on the observations which Professor Leslie 

 has more briefly made relative to the same matter in the arti- 

 cle Acoustics, in the Supplement to the Encyclopcedi a Britannica. 

 Whatever purpose such discussions may serve, one is at a loss 

 to find out how they can benefit science. Great fault is found ; 

 no remedy is proposed ; the subject is ultimately left just where 

 the author found it ; and the whole ends in a vain display of 

 learning and fine writing. Whoever will attend to Mr. Mei- 

 kle's remarks will soon be convinced that any attempt to an- 

 swer them is not a very likely way to elucidate, or to improve, 

 the theory he attacks. Besides, this theory has been long 

 known ; 1 have only made use of the most simple case of it 

 for a particular purpose ; and therefore I do not think myself 

 indispensably called upon to defend it against such arguments 

 as are contained in the article under consideration. Leaving, 

 then, the analytical theory of the propagation of sound to 

 stand on its own merits, 1 must, however, express my regret 

 that Mr. Meikle has made so little progress towards that 

 thorough reform which, he thinks, is so necessary, 



* Communicated by the Author. 

 New Series. Vol. 4. No. 23. Nov. 1828, 2 T I pro- 



