HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ 



second was added to it the resultant sound was 

 more like O. Helmholtz was able to distinguish the 

 sounds in the mixture. This experiment suggested the 

 use of resonators. These were, in the first instance, 

 cones and cylinders made of pasteboard, and finally 

 the resonators, in the hands of Rudolf Konig, a native 

 of Konigsberg, now established in Paris, took the form 

 of hollow brass globes, each with a narrow, nipple- 

 like end, which was introduced into the ear, while the 

 other was directed to the source of sound. By the 

 use of a number of such resonators, each tuned to 

 a particular tone, it is possible to analyse a compound 

 wave of sound into its constituents. However com- 

 plicated the wave may be, the ear will pick up the 

 tone of the resonator, and this tone will sound loudly 

 in the ear. This invention was of the greatest 

 importance in practical acoustics, as it enabled the 

 observer to sift a mass of sound, and it did for the ear 

 what the prism of Newton did for the eye. Helm- 

 oltz also worked out the mathematical theory of 

 resonance in great detail. 1 Many years ago the 

 writer, with a feeling of veneration, had the satis- 

 faction of seeing the original resonators of Helm- 

 holtz in the physiological laboratory of Heidelberg. 



Helmholtz then laid stress on the fact, that the 

 ear is capable of analysing a compound tone, even 

 without the aid of resonators. Musicians and 



'For an exposition, see Lord Rayleigh on Sound, vol. ii., p. 171. 

 London, 1894. 



I 4 6 



