226 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



IX. Musical tones differ not only in the frequency and 

 intensity of the vibrations but also in other characteristics, which 

 change gradually with the alteration in pitch. Low tones are 

 generally termed " dull," high tones " bright." These distinguish- 

 ing characters are most marked when the extreme ends of the scale 

 are compared, and gradually become less distinct in the middle 

 tones. 



Besides the characteristics of dulness and brightness derived 

 from visual sensation, various spatial ideas are connected with the 

 different tones : bass notes are termed deep, heavy, blunt ; treble 

 notes high, thin, and sharp. This spatial character which we 

 connect with auditory sensations agrees with the fact that low 

 tones are given out by large instruments, or by the throat of big 

 animals or of full-grown men ; high tones, on the contrary, by 

 small instruments, or little animals, or by women and children. 

 According to Stumpf, however, the spatial character of tones is an 

 inherent property, independent of purely psychological processes 

 of association. 



Many physicists and physiologists have observed that the ear 

 is relatively more sensitive to high than to low notes. Helmholtz 

 observed that of two different tones with the same amplitude of 

 vibration the higher tone sounds louder. Charpentier (1890) 

 found that notes lying between / and / 3 with the same amplitude 

 of vibration are audible at a much greater distance in proportion, 

 as they are higher in pitch. Max Wien (1903) confirmed this 

 with the telephone. He found that comparatively strong currents 

 were required on the telephone to make the lower tones per- 

 ceptible. As the tones rise sensibility increases rapidly, and 

 reaches its maximum in the tones of between 1000 and 5000 

 vibrations, above which it declines again. The lowest notes of 

 large tuning-forks can only be heard at a small distance from the 

 ear, while the high notes of small forks are audible at a distance 

 of several yards. The highest tones give a disagreeable, almost 

 painful sensation, as if the drum were pierced with a needle, and 

 for that reason are not used in music. In conclusion, it may be 

 said that high notes are louder and more penetrating than low 

 notes. 



Stumpf described the three characteristics .of tones, viz. bright- 

 ness, fulness, and resonance, which alter gradually with increas- 

 ing pitch, by the term tonfarbe or timbre (quality). He thus 

 assumed that not only the compound tones of musical instruments 

 but also the simple tones of which they are built up are dis- 

 tinguished by timbre or quality, as well as by intensity and pitch. 



It is true that according to the latest researches no instru- 

 ment exists that is capal le of giving out pure tones unmingled 

 with partial notes ; but the ear is always capable of distinguishing 

 the quality of the fundamental tone, especially in those instru- 



