320 



NATURE 



\Aug. lo, 1876 



proper quality of tone or Jeeling to the whole sound of his 

 orchestra, considered as a single instrument, by regulating the 

 relative intensiiies of the sounds produced by the various classes 

 of instruments employed. Now this third function, the regula- 

 tion of relative intensities, has hitherto been discharged through 

 the judgment of the ears of a conductor who is placed in the 

 most disadvantageous position for judging by his ears. Surely 

 he is not conducting for his own personal gratification, but for 

 the gratification of his audience, whose ears stand in very diffe- 

 rent relations from his own in respect to their distance from the 

 various instruments in action. Is it not time that he should pay 

 more attention to his third function and place himself in the 

 position occupied by an average hearer ? This position would 

 be elevated, and somewhere in the midst of the audience. The 

 exact determination of its place would depend on various condi- 

 tions which cannot now be considered. That the position at 

 present occupied by the conductor of an orchestra has often 

 allowed him to deprive his audience of some of the most deli- 

 cate and touching qualities of orchestral and concerted vocal 

 music I have no doubt, and I firmly believe that when he changes 

 his position in the manner now proposed the audience will have 

 some of that enjoyment which he has too long kept to himself. 

 During the past winter, in the Academy of Music at New York, 

 I fully confirmed all the foregoing surmises, by placing myself in 

 different parts of the house to observe the different results, and 

 my opinions were fully shared by others who have a more deli- 

 cate musical organisation than I can lay claim to. 



In large orchestras, these interferences of sonorous sensations 

 are so riiultiplied and various as to be beyond our mental con- 

 ception. By taking them up in detail, some general laws may, 

 however, be evolved. But it will be impossible to formulate 

 such laws until, firstly, we are in possession of a quantitative 

 analysis of the compound tones of all musical instruments (that 

 is, until we know the relative loudness of the partial tones of 

 which they are composed at all parts of their compass), and 

 secondly, we have determined throughout the musical scale the 

 relative intensities of the sounds (of simple tones) when oblitera- 

 tion of the sensations of higher (simple) tones supervenes. The 

 powerlessness of one sound to affect the sensation due to another 

 sound lower than itself in pitch greatly simplifies this problem. 



Quantitative analysis of the compound tones of musical instru- 

 ments is now the great desideratum of the composer. It is only 

 after we know the relative intensities of the components of typical 

 musical tones used in orchestral performances, that we can so 

 regulate their intensities as to give those qualities of sound which 

 the composer desires to be heard. Tfius, it at once becomes 

 evident that the instruments used in orchestral music should be 

 very differently constructed from those used for solos or 

 quartets. In orchestral instruments certain characteristic upper 

 partials (overtones, harmonics) should predominate, in order to 

 find expression in the midst of other and graver sounds. Such 

 orchestral instruments will therefore have exaggerated peculiari- 

 ties in their qualities of tone, which will render them unfit to be 

 played on alone, and iminfluenced by other orchestral notes. It 

 is surely not hopeless to anticipate that empirical rules may 

 be attained, which will guide the musical instrument-maker to 

 the production of those special qualities of tone required in 

 orchestral instruments. It is fortunate that the very phenomena 

 of the interferences of sonorous sensations will assist in the much 

 desired solution of the problem of measuring the intensity of a 

 sound (simple tone), either when existing alone or as component 

 of an ordinary musical (compound) tone. On this subject I am 

 now engaged. It is evident (by way of illustration), that so far 

 as concerns the measure of the relative intensities of sounds 0/ 

 the same pitch, this problem has already received the simplest 

 solution by merely placing these sounds at various distances, and 

 obliterating the sensations tliey excite by means of a constant 

 and standard sound of a lower pitch. But I reserve a descrip- 

 tion of this work for a more formal publication. 



NOTES 



i Prop. HxjXley, -who has recently left for America, has 

 accepted an invitation from Prof. W. B. Rogers to attend the 

 Buffalo meeting of the Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, and also to deliver a course of lectures before the 

 Johns Hopkins University. His stay, however, in the country 

 will be but short. 



The Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna 

 announces an open competition for the Aldini Medal, to be 

 awarded to the author of the memoir of greatest experimental 

 and scientific value in galvanism. The medal is of gold, of the 

 value of 1,000 liras, and is open to all works whicli profess to 

 have extended our knowledge in any department of galvanism, 

 and which may be sent to the Academy expressly for the compe- 

 tition, during the two years comprised between June i, 1876, and 

 May 30, 1878. Memoirs must be written in Italian, Latin, or 

 French. The usual conditions of such competitions are to be 

 observed, and memoirs should be sent in before the last-men- 

 tioned date, addressed " Al Segretario perpetuo dell' Accademia 

 delle Scienze dell' Istituto di Bologna." 



We notice in the Revue Scientijique further particulars regard- 

 ing the meeting of the French Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, to be held at Clermont-Ferrand on the i8lh inst. A 

 list of the papers to be read is also given. This is a very useful 

 arrangement for those who may anticipate taking part in the 

 proceedings, and others, and might with advantage, we think, be 

 copied in this country. In the group of physics and chemistry 

 we note the following among the subjects to be treated : — Dif- 

 fraction in optical instruments ; new volumetric determinations 

 of arsenic ; new salts of bismuth ; experiments made to determine 

 if the ether is ponderable ; observations in celestial and terrestrial 

 physics in Japan and Siam (by M, Janssen) ; thermo-diffusive 

 properties of cast-iron ; the idea of unity in chemical and cosmic 

 phenomena ; the radiometer, &c. In the group of natural 

 sciences : — Vichy waters, from a physiological and hygienic point 

 of view ; recent prehistoric discoveries in Medoc ; animal heat ; 

 influence of the want of air and li^ht in the streets and houses 

 on health ; functions of leaves and roots of plants in tropical 

 countries ; cure of paralysis by continuous currents ; operations 

 for cataract ; the bite of vipers ; ophthalmia in the North of 

 Africa ; proof of the existence of ferment-germs in the organism 

 as in the air ; a new sesthesiometer ; production of phenomena 

 of synthesis in plants ; sporadic and endemic goitre in Puy-de- 

 Dome J on measles in beef and inermous taenia ; resources of 

 France as regards war-horses ; various points in local arche- 

 ology, geology, paloeontology, &c. In the group of economical 

 sciences : — Teaching of living languages, from the economical 

 point of view ; remedies for phylloxera ; depopulation of the 

 country and emigration to America ; workmen's dwellings and 

 morality of France; economical consequences of the war 

 indemnity, &c., &c. 



The storm of August 3 will be long remembered not only as 

 being about the heaviest summer gale that has occurred for many 

 years, but also as having been most disastrous to life and pro- 

 perty among the fishing population. It broke out on the fisher- 

 men on the east coast just when their nets had been shot for the 

 night at distances of twenty miles, and upwards, out at sea 

 The value of the nets lost at Aberdeen alone is estimated at 

 4,000/. The rate of the fall of the barometer being nearly an 

 inch in twenty-four hours, the point to which it fell being about 

 29 'o inches at sea-level over a wide district in the north, the 

 time during which it remained low, and the large and com- 

 paratively rapid rise which followed are rather the characteristics 

 of our more marked winter storms. A storm of this nature is, 

 therefore, deserving of a very careful investigation, chiefly with 

 the view of ascertaining how far it might have been possible to 

 have given the fishermen some intimation beforehand of its 

 peculiarly destructive character. 



In the Bulletin International of August 3, M. de Tastes 

 relates some interesting particulars of a waterspout (trombe) 

 which was observed near Tours, on May 25, 1876. It first ap- 

 peared as a mass of whitish vapour against a background of 



