180 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Supposing a simple capstan, traversed by two levers, with a mean length 

 at the point of application of the resultant force of ten times the diameter of 

 the drum, each man makes an effort which may be valued at 539! pounds. 

 If twelve men work each capstan, their effort will be 6474 pounds, which 

 gives in the first case, when a force equal to two-thirds of the load is required, 

 2400 men and 200 capstans; for the second case, 2160 men and 180 capstans; 

 for the third, 2000 men and 166 capstans ; and for the fourth, 600 men and 50 

 capstans. 



By the use of pulleys and muffles the number of men and capstans may 

 be reduced one-half or a quarter. 



The results here shown indicate the force necessary to move the block upon 

 a horizontal plane; but as it had to be raised above the walls of the temple 

 which it served to cover, in raising it upon an inclined plane it is evident that 

 the force must be increased in the ratio of its inclination. 



UNIFORM MUSICAL PITCH. 



The committee appointed a year ago by a general meeting of musicians, 

 and others interested in music, assembled in London, to consider the subject 

 of the present state of musical pitch in England, 1 have recently reported, 

 substantially as follows : 



The committee found, after a little inquiry, that their attention would have 

 to be directed to three principal points : 1 . Whether a uniform musical pitch 

 was desirable. 2. Whether a uniform musical pitch was possible. 3. Sup- 

 posing a uniform pitch to be desirable and possible, what that pitch should 

 be. 



1. With the first of these considerations the committee was not long occu- 

 pied, all testimony going to prove the frequent inconvenience to which musi- 

 cal performers, vocal and instrumental, musical instrument-makers, musical 

 directors, and even instructed hearers, were alike put by variations in the 

 pitch, whether of individual instruments or of entire orchestras. The com- 

 mittee came early to a unanimous resolution that a uniform pitch was desirable. 



2. The second question, "whether a uniform pitch was possible," was 

 not found to admit of so ready an answer as the first. That a uniform pitch 

 is never for any length of time maintained is well known to all practical 

 musicians. The effects of temperature on musical instruments are so great 

 and so rapid, that a difference in pitch of at least a quarter of a tone has 

 often been remarked between the beginning and the end of the same concert; 

 and instruments not required at the beginning of a performance are fre- 

 quently tuned to a higher pitch in order to meet this anticipated elevation. 

 In theatres, instruments to be used on the stage are systematically tuned 

 sharper than those to be used in the orchestra, to compensate for the differ- 

 ence of temperature before and behind the scenes. Still, though the main- 

 tenance of a certain pitch may be difficult, or even impossible, the definition 

 of it is not. A point of departure, if nothing more, would be in the highest 

 degree convenient to musicians. No great practical inconvenience has ever 

 been found to result from any change of pitch possible during a single per- 

 formance. It is against the gradual elevation, consequent on the absence of 

 any recognized standard, that musical practice requires a security. Physical 

 science is, happily, enabled to afford this, and to bring to the aid of musical 



1 See Annual of Scientific Discovery, I860, pp. 188-191. 



