1 1 6 NATURAL HISTORY. 



already mentioned in the title of majoration of 

 sounds ; being for that thin air is better pierced ; 

 but thick air preserveth the sound better from waste : 

 let further trial be made by hollowing in mists and 

 gentle showers ; for it may be, that will somewhat 

 dead the sound. 



219. How far forth flame may be a medium of 

 sounds, especially of such sounds as are created by 

 air, and not betwixt hard bodies, let it be tried in 

 speaking where a bonfire is between ; but then you 

 must allow for some disturbance the noise that the 

 flame itself maketh. 



220. Whether any other liquors, being made 

 mediums, cause a diversity of sound from water, it 

 may be tried : as by the knapping of the tongs ; or 

 striking of the bottom of a vessel, filled either with 

 milk or with oil ; which though they be more light, 

 yet are they more unequal bodies than air. 



Of the natures of the mediums we have now 

 spoken ; as for the disposition of the said mediums, 

 it doth consist in the penning, or not penning of the 

 air ; of which we have spoken before in the title of 

 delation of sounds : it consisteth also in the figure 

 of the concave through which it passeth ; of which 

 we will speak next, 



Experiments in consort, what the figures of the pipes, 

 or concaves, or the bodies deferent, conduce to the 

 sounds. 

 How the figures of pipes, or concaves, through 



which sounds pass, or of other bodies deferent, con- 



