302 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 



included in their natural series of harmonics, and it being pos- 

 sible that the suppression of the proper vibrations of the shorter 

 tube resulted not from the ordinary principle of interference 

 but from being forced into unison with the longer one, Professor 

 Kane endeavoured to obtain a system in which the whole series 

 of neither tubes should be suppressed, but that certain notes 

 should be absorbed from the series of each. In only one case did 

 he succeed, but in that one the result is very satisfactory. A 

 combination was made of this figure, in 

 which the length of the path a. b. c. e. was Jy 



21 inches, that of the path a. b. d. e. was n, \ 

 1 8 inches. The series of the shorter tube ^ 



was F. F'. C". F"\, and of the longer D. D'. A'. D". F". A". D"'. 

 The waves being excited from the orifice e. the series of the system 

 was D. F. D". F". A". C". Hence the notes F'. and C". had 

 been absorbed from the series of the shorter, and the notes D'. and 

 A', from that of the longer tube : whilst the F. F'\ and C". of the 

 one and the D. D". and A", of the other tube maintained their place 

 in the series given by the system. 



On the various Attempts which have been made to imitate Human 

 Speech by Mechanical Means, By Professor Wheatstone. 



Professor Wheatstone gave an account of the various attempts 

 which have been made to imitate the articulations of speech by me- 

 chanical means. He described and repeated the experiments of 

 Kratzenstein, De Kempelen, the Abbe Mical, and Mr. Willis of 

 Cambridge. De Kempelen's speaking-machine was exhibited in 

 the course of the lecture, and made to pronounce many words and 

 a few short sentences. Professor Wheatstone concluded with an 

 analysis of the elements of speech founded on these and other inves- 

 tigations, and pointed out the importance of the inquiry as con- 

 nected with philology. 



On the Communication of Sound, with reference to Public Buildings. 

 By Dr. B. Reid. 



Experimental Researches into the Laws of the Motion of Floating 

 Bodies, By J, S. Russell. 



It was the object of these inquiries to assist in bringing to per- 

 fection the theory of Hydrodynamics, and ascertain the causes of 

 certain anomalous facts in the resistance of fluids, so as to reduce 

 them under the dominion of known laws. 



The resistance of fluids to the motion of floating vessels is found 

 in practice to differ widely from theory, being, in certain cases, 

 double or triple of what theory gives, and in other and higher 

 velocities, much less. These deviations have now been ascertained 

 to follow two simple and very beautiful laws : 1st, A law giving a 

 certain emersion of the body from the fluid as a function of the ve- 



