MEDIUM 223 



now see, the number of rhythms that we do not 

 directly perceive is much greater than that of 

 the others. 



The illustrious astronomer and scientist Camille 

 Flammarion reproduces, by application, a table in 

 which the learned English chemist Sir William 

 Crookes tries to give an idea of the continuity and 

 unity of the phenomena of the universe. With this 

 object, let us imagine a seconds pendulum. By 

 doubling the oscillations in one unit of time, one 

 obtains the table which will be seen below (p. 224). 



In commenting on the table, Flammarion says : 

 " Starting from the fifth degree, with 32 vibra- 

 tions per second, we enter the region in which the 

 vibration of the atmosphere reveals itself as a 

 sound. There is found the lowest musical note. 

 If among musical sounds one chooses a very low 

 one for instance, the lower octave on the organ- 

 one perceives elementary sensations, though they 

 form a continuous whole, a condition indispensable 

 to produce a musical sound. 'The deeper the 

 sound,' says Helmholtz, ' the better the ear perceives 

 the successive pulsations of the air/ 



" In the ten degrees following the vibrations per 

 second rise from 32 to 32,768 ; every time the 

 vibrations are doubled the same note in the upper 

 octave is reproduced. . . . 



"We then reach a region in which the velocity 



