ECHOES. 251 



kiln in Gaily Lane, which measures in front 40 feet, 

 and from the ground to the eaves 12 feet. The true 

 centrum phonicum, or just distance, is one particular 

 spot in the King's Field, in the path to Norehill, on 

 the very brink of the steep balk above the hollow 

 cart- way. In this case, there is no choice of distance ; 

 but the path, by mere contingency, happens to be 

 the lucky, the identical spot, because the ground 

 rises or falls so immediately, if the speaker either 

 retires or advances, that his mouth would at once be 

 above or below the object. 



We measured this polysyllabical echo with great 

 exactness, and found the distance to fall very short 

 of Dr. Plot's rule for distinct articulation ; for the 

 Doctor, in his History of Oxfordshire, allows 120 

 feet for the return of each syllable distinctly ; hence 

 this echo, which gives ten distinct syllables, ought 

 to measure 400 yards, or 120 feet to each syllable; 

 whereas our distance is only 258 yards, or near 75 

 feet to each syllable. Thus our measure falls short 

 of the Doctor's as five to eight ; but then it must be 

 acknowledged, that this candid philosopher was con- 

 vinced afterwards, that some latitude must be ad- 

 mitted of in the distance of echoes according to time 

 and place. 



When experiments of this sort are making, it 

 should always be remembered, that weather and the 

 time of day have a vast influence on an echo ; for a 

 dull, heavy, moist air deadens and clogs the sound ; 

 and hot sunshine renders the air thin and weak, and 

 deprives it of all its springiness ; and a ruffling wind 

 quite defeats the whole. In a still, clear, dewy even- 

 ing, the air is most elastic ; and perhaps the later the 

 hour the more so. 



Echo has always been so amusing to the imagi- 

 nation, that the poets have personified her ; and in 

 their hands she has been the occasion of many a 



