ANIMALS. 



16f, 



and thickest strings, have the most forceful 

 vibrations ; and, therefore, their tones are the 

 most loud and the most grave. 



To know the manner in which sounds thus 

 produced become pleasing, it must be observ- 

 ed, no one continuing tone, how loud and 

 swelling soever, can give us satisfaction ; we 

 must have a succession of them, and those in 

 the most pleasing proportion. The nature of 

 this proportion may be thus conceived. If 

 we strike a body incapable of vibration with 

 a double force, or, what amounts to the same 

 thing, with a double mass of matter, it will 

 produce a sound that will be doubly grave. 

 Music has been said, by the ancients, to have 

 been first invented from blows of different 

 hammers on an anvil. Suppose then we strike 

 an anvil with a hammer of one pound 

 weight, and again with a hammer of two 

 pounds, it is plain that the two-pound hammer 

 will produce a sound twice as grave as the 

 former. But if we strike with a two-po'ind 

 hammer, and then with a three-pound, it is 

 evident that the latter will produce a sound 

 one-third more grave than the former. If we 

 strike the anvil with a three-pound hammer, 

 and then with a four-pound, it will likewise 

 follow that the latter will be a quarter part 

 more grave than the former. Now, in the 

 comparing between all those sounds, it is ob- 

 vious that the difference between one and fwo 

 is more easily perceived, than between two 

 and three, three and four, or any numbers 

 succeeding in the same proportion. The suc- 

 cession of sounds will be, therefore, pleasing 

 in proportion to the ease with which they 

 may be distinguished. That sound which is 

 double the former, or, in other words, the oc- 

 tave to the preceding tone, will, of all others, 

 be the most pleasing harmony. The next to 

 that which is as two to three, or, in other 

 words, the thirl, will be most agreeable. And 

 thus, universally, those sounds whose differ- 

 ence may be most easily compared, are the 

 most agreeable. 



" Musicians, therefore, have contented 

 themselves with seven different proportions 

 of sound, which are called notes, and which 

 sufficiently answer all the purposes of plea- 

 sure. Not but that they might adopt a grea- 

 ter diversity of proportions ; and some have 

 actually done so ; but, in these, the differences 



of the proportion are so imperceptible, that 

 the ear is rather fatigued than pleased in 

 making the distinction. In order, however, 

 to give variety, they have admitted halftones: 

 but in all the countries where music is yet in 

 its infancy, they have rejected such ; and they 

 can find music in none but the obvious ones. 

 The Chinese, for instance, have neither flats 

 nor sharps in their music; but the intervals 

 between their other notes, are in the same 

 proportion with ours. 



" Many more barbarous nations have their 

 peculiar instruments of music ; and, what is 

 remarkable,the proportion between their notes 

 is in all the same as in ours. This is not the 

 place for entering into the nature of these 

 sounds, their effects upon the air,or their con- 

 sonances with each other. We are not now giv- 

 ing a history of sound, but of human perception. 

 " All countries are pleased with music ; 

 and if they have not skill enough to produce 

 harmony, at least they seem willing to substi- 

 tute noise. Without all question, noise alone 

 is sufficient to operate powerfully on the 

 spirits ; and, if the mind be already predis- 

 posed to joy, I have seldom found noise fail 

 of increasing it into rapture. The mind feels 

 a kind of distracted pleasure in such power- 

 ful sounds, braces up every nerve, and riots 

 in the excess. But, as in the eye, an imme- 

 diate gaze upon the sun will disturb the or- 

 gans, so, in the ear, a loud unexpected noise- 

 disorders the whole frame, arid sometimes 

 disturbs the sense ever after. The mind 

 must have time to prepare for the expected 

 shock, and to give its organs the proper ten- 

 sion for its arrival. 



" Musical sounds, however, seem of a differ- 

 ent kind. Those are generally most pleasing 

 which are most unexpected. It is not from 

 bracing up the nerves, but from the grateful 

 successionof the sounds, that these become so 

 charming. There /are few, how indifferent 

 soever, but have at times felt their pleasing im- 

 pressions; and, perhaps, even those who have 

 stood out against the powerful persuasion of 

 sounds, only wanted the proper tune, or the 

 proper instrument, to allure them. 



" The ancients give us a thousand strange 



instances of the effects of music upon men 



and animals. The story of Arion's harp, that 



gathered the dolphins to the ship's side, is well 



211* 



