HELMHOLTZ IN BONN 



physicists have long known that if a violin string is 

 plucked, and attention is fixed on the sensation of 

 tone, we not only hear that of the musical tone 

 whose pitch is determined by the period of the large 

 vibrations of the string, but in addition to this, the 

 ear becomes aware of a whole series of higher musical 

 tones, called the harmonic upper partial tones. The 

 first one, termed the fundamental or prime partial 

 tone, or the prime, is the lowest, and generally the 

 loudest, of all, and it is the tone by whose pitch we 

 judge of the pitch of the whole compound musical 

 tone. The partials are so arranged that the first 

 partial, or second harmonic constituent, is the octave 

 of the prime, with twice the number of vibrations ; 

 the second, the fifth of this octave, with three 

 times the number of vibrations ; the third, the 

 second higher octave, with four times the number of 

 vibrations ; the fourth, the major third of the second 

 higher octave, with five times the number of vibra- 

 tions of the prime ; the fifth is the fifth of the second 

 higher octave, or a minor third above the fourth 

 partial, with six times the number of vibrations of 

 the prime in the same time. Thus the partials go 

 on, becoming generally fainter, to tones making 

 seven, eight, nine, etc., times as many vibrations in 

 the same time as the prime. We may also avoid 

 using the word t partials ' altogether, and call the 

 harmonic constituents the first, second, third, etc., 

 harmonics. 



H7 



