NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 189 



general understanding among those engaged in music could be brought to 

 bear. These were points upon which those present were well qualified to 

 give opinions, which, he was sure, would be listened to with interest and 

 deference. 



Letters were then read from gentlemen who were unable to attend, most 

 of whom were in favor of establishing a uniform diapason. 



Professor John Donaldson (in his letter) suggested what he considers to 

 be a very simple standard of pitch: "Let a column of air, say an organ 

 pipe thirty-two feet long, be put into vibration or undulation, it will be 

 found to give thirty-two vibrations or undulations at each oscillation of the 

 pendulum. The length in the latitude of London being* 39'1393 inches, al- 

 lowance could easily be made for the slight variation of length in the lower 

 or higher latitudes. If 32 feet in length = 32 vibrations, then as the vibra- 

 tions are inversely as the lengths : a 10-foot pipe = C4 8 ft. = = 1~28 the 

 pitch of the lowest string of a violinccllo; computing the vibrations or un- 

 dulations as course and recourse, the pitch adopted in Paris by Rheica in his 

 treatise on harmony." 



Mr. Alfred Mellon was of opinion that "there is no doubt that the mu- 

 sical pitch has been much elevated during the last quarter of a century, 

 and that some disadvantages result therefrom; but it may be questioned 

 whether greater disadvantages would not now be caused by a resumption of 

 the former pitch, or any depression of it. Many of the wind instruments 

 now in use would be injured, and the artists put to the expense of new ones. 

 The principal organs in Birmingham, Liverpool, Bradford, and other large 

 towns, would have to be altered at great expense. All purely orchestral 

 performances would also lose much of their brilliancy in the lowering of 

 the stringed instruments. Many other disadvantages occur to me, and will 

 doubtless be brought to your notice. On the other hand, I am not aware 

 (writes Mr. Mellon) that the proposed alteration would benefit any persons 

 except the singers and the wind instrument makers. But considering that 

 music is the universal language of Europe, it is desirable to establish a 

 uniform pitch between England and the Continent; and I would therefore 

 recommend that the pitch now in use at the Royal Italian Opera, Covcnt- 

 garden, under the direction of M. Costa, Esq., should be established as the 

 definite limit to prevent further elevation. But it must be borne in mind 

 that even this pitch cannot be maintained as an absolute rule throughout 

 an entire evening's performance; the warmth of the temperature and the 

 breath of the performers would have the effect of sharpening the wind 

 instruments, and necessarily drawing the rest of the orchestra with them." 



Mr. Hullah thought a uniform pitch was highly desirable. Of course a 

 uniform pitch aspiring to universal adoption, must be regulated eventually 

 by what was convenient to the human voice. But there was a question 

 whether there was any particular number of vibrations per second which 

 was more convenient than another for simplifying musical calculations. He 

 had found the number of 512 vibrations per second for the C gave the sim- 

 plest series of numbers representing the other notes, and was very favorable 

 for musical calculations; at the time of which he was speaking, this pitch 

 was a little above some of those then in use, and a little below others, so 

 far as a correct comparison could be made, for that was a difficult matter. 

 He had then with him a pocket full of tuning-forks which he had collected, 

 and no two of them were alike, except those Avhich had been made to his 

 order by a scientific process. He put himself in communication with Mr. 



