1877] WRITINGS OF JOSEPH HENRY. 487 



PART v.— INVESTIGATIONS IN 1877. 

 (Report of the United States Light-House Board for 1877, pp. 61-72.) 



On account of the occurrence of the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion at Philadelphia, which absorbed most of the time of the 

 officers of the Light-House Board not devoted to ordinary 

 light-house service, but few observations were made relative 

 to sound in 1876, and an account of what were made is in- 

 corporated in the following report. 



Agreeably to previous engagement I visited Portland, Me., 

 to make some further investigation in regard to the abnor- 

 mal phenomenon of sound noticed in a former report. 

 We left Portland on the afternoon of September 3, 1877, in 

 the steamer Iris, which had been fitted up during the year 

 under the direction of the inspector, Commander H. F. 

 Picking, and was in excellent condition, and well adapted to 

 the duty of a light-house tender. The party consisted of 

 General J. C. Duane, engineer of the first district; Com- 

 mander H. F. Picking, inspector of the first district; Mr. 

 Edward L. Woodruff, assistant engineer of the third district; 

 Mr. Charles Edwards, assistant engineer of the first district, 

 and myself. 



Old Anthony Station. — We first examined one of the auto- 

 matic whistling-buoys invented by Mr. Courtenay, of New 

 York. This was in place and emitting sounds at a station 

 called Old Anthony, — off" Cape Elizabeth, about nine miles 

 from Portland. On approaching it at right angles to the 

 direction of the wind, we heard it at the distance of a mile. 

 But the sound did not appear loud even within a few rods. 

 It was however of considerable quantity, being from a loco- 

 motive whistle of ten inches in diameter. The instrument 

 is operated by the oscillation of the waves, which at this time 

 were not of sufficient height to move it vertically through a 

 space of more than one foot. It emitted a sound at each oscil- 

 lation. This invention consists of a large pear-shaped buoy 

 about twelve feet in diameter at the water-surface, floating 

 about twelve feet above the same plane. In the interior of this 



