THE MYSTERIOUS SOUNDS OF NATURE, 773 



duced by quickly succeeding impulses, approach in some degree to be- 

 ing musical tones. Water, in particular, has the property of giving 

 forth sounds of this character, which vary in quality from the dull 

 moaning of the waves to the charming warble of the gurgling brook 

 and the pattering of the cascade. The great drops of the shower 

 produce their melodies also, which in the cave of Staffa make a genu- 

 ine water-music. 



Among the natural sounds of obscure origin with which mythol- 

 ogy and science have been occupied are the rustlings and so-called 

 voices which seem to come from the air, sometimes from the bosom 

 of the earth, and which have been remarked upon in all ages. Au- 

 tenrieth refers them to the same class as the noises like thunder or 

 the firing of cannon, which the hearers often fail to trace to an appar- 

 ent cause. Sometimes they seem like the trampling of horses, or the 

 roll of drums, or the clangor of trumpets ; at other times, like human 

 voices. In the last case, the sounds are those which are common to 

 all men, and may be interpreted by each hearer as in his own language. 

 To the Romans they spoke Latin, to the Greeks Greek, to the Scotch 

 Highlanders Gaelic. History has notices of these sounds ; the Bible 

 descriptions attribute to them a religious significance. They are re- 

 ferred to when it is related that Samuel heard the voice of Jehovah 

 three times in the temple ; when Habakkuk, pronouncing the curse on 

 Babylon, spoke of the stones crying out in the walls ; when the glad 

 voices of the mountains and waves are mentioned in the Psalms ; in 

 the account in John of the voice that cried out from heaven when 

 Jesus went into Jerusalem, and the people wondered whether it was 

 thunder or an angel ; in the story of the conversion of St. Paul ; and 

 in the account of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of 

 Pentecost. The profane history of antiquity also tells of voices from 

 aboVe, and ascribes to them a supernatural significance and an influ- 

 ence over the hearts of men. Instances in point are the sounds of bat- 

 tle, and the clash of arms, and the neighing of horses, heard by night, 

 according to Pausanias, on the field of Marathon ; the address of the 

 god Pan to the Athenian ambassadors to Sparta, told of by Herodotus ; 

 and the voices heard by both armies after the battle of the Romans 

 with the sons of Tarquin. The Germans have myths of the din made 

 by the war-god and his marching hosts, of the wild huntsmen, of 

 strange cries and of the barking of dogs heard in the air ; and the 

 French have stories not unlike them. 



Accounts have been given in more recent times of air-noises of 

 another kind, or " devil's music," which have been heard in the East, 

 in Europe, and in America, and of which discussions may be found in 

 the acoustic letters of Richard Pohl and in the " Musical Conversations- 

 Lexicon " of Gathy. The devil's voice in Ceylon is heard in clear nights 

 on the hills and among the valleys in different places, passing quickly 

 from one spot to another, sometimes resembling the barking of a dog, 



