E C H 



Addison describes an echo at the palace of Simonetta, 

 near Milan, a* returning the sound of a pistol ."><; tun. - 

 The palace has two wings; and. when a pistol is tired 

 from a window in one of the wings, the sound is re- 

 flected from a dead wall in the other wing, atul i.s heard 

 ruin a window in the back front. The following ac- 

 count of it, lio\\c\cr, from Keysler, is more minute and 

 interesting. 



" At the Marquis Simonctt.i's \illa is a very extraor- 

 dinary echo ; it is occasioned by the rellection of the 

 voic'between the opposite pMWfll wings of the build- 

 ing, which are fifty-eight common paces from each 

 other, and without any windows or doors, by which 

 the sound might be dissipated or lost. The repetition 

 <if the sound dwells chiefly on the lo-st syllable, which 

 might have been altered by allowing a greater distant e 

 between the two wings ; but possibly it was apprehend- 

 ed, that the number of the repetitions would be dimi- 

 nished by that means. Two or more bodies placed op- 

 posite each other, at different distances, are requisite 

 to form a multiplied echo; or the wall at which the 

 .speaker stands, must have another wall opposite to it, 

 to as to form two jmrallel planes, which will alternately 

 reflect to each other the sound communicated to them, 

 with as little dissipation as possible. This last circum- 

 stance is found in the two parallel wings of this scat, 

 which, forming right angles with the main body of the 

 building, have a very surprising effect. A man's voice 

 is repeated above forty times, and the report of a pis- 

 tol above sixty, by this echo: but the repetition is so 

 quick, that it is difficult to tell them, or even to mark 

 them down, unless it be early in the morning, or in a 

 calm still evening : when the air is rather too moist or 

 too dry, the effect is found not to answer so well." 



Southwell mentions a building, similar to the palace 

 of Simonetta, which had projecting wings, and pro- 

 duced 60 repetitions of every sound. 



The Abbe Guynet describes an echo on the road from 

 Kochepot to Chalons, which repeats, in the day-time, 

 14 syllables well articulated, and, during the night, 

 16 syllables. 



About three leagues from Verdun, there is a singu- 

 lar echo, occasioned by two towers projecting from the 

 body of a house, and distant 26 toises, or about 50 

 metres. \Vhcn a person stands in the line betweeii the 

 two towers, and pronounces a word in a pretty high 

 tone, he will hear it repeated 12 or 13 times at equal 

 intervals, and always more feebly. If he places him- 

 self at a certain distance out of this line, the echo is 

 no longer heard. One of these towers has a low apart- 

 ment vaulted with hewn stone, while the other has its 

 vestibule vaulted. See Hist. Acad. Par. 1710. 



In the Memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences 

 for 1792, there is described a curious echo, at Gene- 

 fay, in die neighbourhood of Rouen. A person who 

 sings, does not hear the repetition of the echo, but 

 merely his own voice ; whilst those who listen hear on- 

 ly the repetition of the echo, though with singular va- 

 riations. Sometimes the echo seems to approach, and 

 at other times to recede. One person hears a single 

 voice, and another several voices : one person hears the 

 echo on the right, and another on the left ; the echo 

 always varying with the position of the person who 

 hears it. 



M. Quesnet has described another singular echo near 

 Rouen, in the Memoirs of the Academy for 1664. 



In the neighbourhood of Coblentz, on the banks of 

 the Rhine, there is a very remarkable echo, which is 

 described by Barthius, in his notes upon the Thebaid 

 of Statins. He has heard it repeat words seventeen 



E C L 



times, and it produces exactly the same cfl'ecU as that Kcho, 

 at (ienef.iv, mar lumen. Eclectics, 



At Locheiieilan, a hike in Inverness-shire, and the *** 

 pro|>crty of .1. I'. Grant, Esq. of Hothieimirehus, there 

 is a very fine echo. The wall of an ol.i ] the 



middle of the lake, repeats several syllables with 

 distinctness ; and when a pistol is fired, the sound is 

 repeated about thirty times, from the numerous and 

 lofty hills with which the lake is encircled. 



In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, in the King's 

 Park, there is a place calkd th. /; , [. \ per- 



son standing in front of this, will hear repeated v> ith 

 great distinctness several syllables which he may utter. 

 The sound is in this case reflected from a circular wall 

 at no great distance, and the rock to which the pro- 

 perty is ascribed merely happens to be near the centre 

 of the circular wall. 



In erecting the baptistery of the church of Pi.sa, the 

 architect. Giovanni Pisano, disposed the concavity of 

 the cupola in such a manner, that any noise from be- 

 low is followed with a very loud and long double echo. 

 The repetition, however, is not so distinct ;:s that of 

 Simonetta. Two persons whispering, and standing op- 

 posite to each other, with their faces near the wall, can 

 converse together without being overheard by the com- 

 pany between. This arises from the elliptical form of 

 the cupola, each person being placed in the focus of 

 the ellipse. 



In the cathedral church of Gloucester, there is a 

 whispering gallery above the eastern extremity of the 

 choir, and which extends from one end of the church 

 to the other. If two persons, placed at the distance of 

 25 toises, speak to one another in the lowest voice, it 

 is distinctly heard. A similar effect is produced in the 

 vestibule of the Observatory of Paris, and in the cu- 

 pola of St Paul's in London. Mr Southwell informs us, 

 that, in Italy, on the way to Naples, and two days jour- 

 ney from Rome, he saw in an inn, a square vault, where 

 a whisper could easily be heard at the opposite coiner ; 

 but not at all on the side corner that was near to you. 

 This property was common to each corner of the room. 

 He saw another on the way from Paris to Lyons, in 

 the porch of a common inn, which had a round vault. 

 When any person held his mouth to the side of the 

 wall, several persons could hear his whisper on the op- 

 posite skle. 



See Harris's Lexicon Technician, Art. ECHO; Birch's 

 Hist, of th? Kni/nl Society, vol. i. p. 137; Addison's 

 Travels, Edit. 1718, p. 32 ; Keysler's Travels, vol. i. 

 p. 428, 490; Southwell, Phil. Trans. 174,6, vol. xliv. 

 No. 480. p. 219; Guynet, Mem. Acad. Par. 1770, Hist. 

 2,'i; Quesnet, Mem. Acad. Par. 1666, torn. ii. p. 87; 

 Abbe Gallois, Mem. Acnd. I'nr. torn. x. p. 127 ; Actis, 

 Mf<n. Turin, 1788, vol. iv. App. 43. () 



ECLECTICS, a name given to certain ancient phi- 

 losophers, who endeavoured to form a ."ystpin of opi- 

 nions by selecting from every sect those doctrines which 

 seemed to approach nearest to the truth. Hence their 

 denomination, derived from utliyu, " I choose," may be 

 considered as referring either to themselves or their 

 tenets ; and may signify either " one that chooses," or 

 " that which may be chosen." They were also deno- 

 minated aiwlogetiti ; but generally called themselves 

 Philalethrs, i.\: " lover of truth," or rather never as- 

 sumed any distinct name, but wished to be considered 

 as chiefly followers of Plato, whose philosophy they 

 made the foundation of their system. The notion of 

 such a philosophical selection had been adopted by 

 several of the leaders among the Grecian sects, even by 

 Plato, Zcno, and Aristotle ; had been sufficiently com- 



