CKNTURY III. 115 



quite ; so that that sound, which would be heard 

 over a wall, will not be heard over a church ; nor 

 that sound, which will be heard if you stand some 

 distance from the wall, will be heard if you stand 

 close under the wall. 



215. Soft and foraminous bodies, in the first crea 

 tion of the sound, will dead it; for the striking 

 against cloth or furr will make little sound ; as hath 

 been said : but in the passage of the sound, they 

 will admit it better than harder bodies ; as we see, 

 that curtains arid hangings will not stay the sound 

 much ; but glass windows, if they be very close, will 

 check a sound more than the like thickness of cloth. 

 We see also in the rumbling of the belly, how easily 

 the sound passeth through the guts and skin. 



216. It is worthy the inquiry, whether great 

 sounds, as of ordnance or bells, become not more 

 weak and exile when they pass through small cran 

 nies. For the subtil ties of articulate sounds, it may 

 be, may pass through small crannies not confused, 

 but the magnitude of the sound, perhaps, not so well. 



Experiments in consort touching the mefyum o 



217. The mediums of sounds are air, soft and 

 porous bodies, also water. And hard bodies refuse 

 not altogether to be mediums of sounds. But all 

 of them are dull and unapt deferents, except the air. 



218. In air, the thinner or drier air carrieth not 

 the sound so well as the more dense ; as appeareth 

 in night sounds and evening sounds, and sounds in 

 moist weather and southern winds. The reason is 



