CO NATURALIST S CABINET. 



Effect of sounds in water. 



in water, made the following experiments. He 

 employed two bells, the sounds of which he was 

 Used to; one of them a small tea-table bell, the 

 the other much larger and thicker, so that the 

 sound of it could be very well heard at the dis- 

 tance of a quarter of a mile. When these were 

 plunged under water and rung, he observed that 

 the sound of them was very sensibly graver; but 

 still the ringing tremor of both was very distin- 

 guishable. On performing an accurate experi- 

 ment, the tea-table bell was found in air the 

 highest G of a harpsichord; but in \vak-r it, 

 sounded a fifth false lower, or it sounded the C 

 sharp under' the G. After this he plunged his 

 head under the water while he rung the bell in 

 the air, and heard the sound of it distinctly. As 

 the tone of the bell is louder and more acute in 

 the air than in the water, its sound is necessarily 

 better heard when the head of the person mak- 

 ing the experiment is under the water and the 

 bell above it, than when the bell is rung under 

 the water while the head is above it. He next 

 plunged his whole body with the bells, holding 

 their handles in his hands, under the water, and 

 then rung them, and was surprised with the loud- 

 ness and distinctness of their sounds, and could 

 readily distinguish their different tones. In like 

 manner, when plunged under the water, he struck 

 two stones held in his hands against each other, 

 and was surprised with the shock communicaU d 

 to the ears. 



