92 THE CREATION OF MATTER 



causes resonance. From this it is evident that resonators 

 may be made which shall be responsive to only one note 

 in the scale, and thus may be employed to discover if 

 that note be present in any sound. It is by means of 

 resonators that the difference in clang-tint in musical 

 instruments is found to be due to overtones. 



As in their chemical activities and the motions they 

 produce in light, so in their action in yielding sound, the 

 ordered condition of material elements is revealed. The 

 particles, urged on by the force of elasticity, execute 

 motions that vie in regularity with those seen in any 

 other field. 



The measures of elasticity, found in nature, are collo- 

 cated at points and within ranges such that they produce 

 motions which fit into the range of the perceiving organ. 

 Had they been rapid as those of light, they would have 

 been imperceptible. In that science we dealt with hun- 

 dreds of billions. Light motions begin at about 400 

 billions and end at towards 800. Those of sound begin, 

 practically, at 40 per second, and end at 4000, although 

 fewer and nearly ten times larger numbers may be 

 heard. Thus between the ranges of the numbers of 

 motions in sound and light the difference is very great, 

 but both are suitable, each for the organ to which it 

 ministers. 



The ear forms a delicate test of the regularity of the 

 action of the particles. The least disorder produces 

 noises. And it abhors and is pained by them. There 

 are noises that are terrible to hear. But these are not 

 due to nature's work, to the originating cause in its 

 particles, nor to those of the conveying medium. Their 

 honour has been saved by the discovery that noises are 

 composed of pleasant sounds, irregularly mingled, irregu- 

 larly caused. Let a cause work regularly and the sound 



