ON LIGHTHO USE CHAR A CTERIS TICS. 42 1 



appreciation, and which cannot be misunderstood 

 by any one who has heard it, or has read it as the 

 description of the sound of such and such a light- 

 house, or has been told of it by word of mouth. 

 The distinction between long and short blasts, as 

 Mr. Price Edwards pointed out in his communication 

 to the Society of Arts already referred to, has not 

 proved satisfactory in experience ; and I believe 

 this will generally be admitted to be the case by 

 those who have experience of the working of the 

 Morse system of long and short blasts of the steam 

 whistle or siren at sea. There is an uncertainty 

 as to the instant when the sound ceases, prolonged 

 as it often is by echoes, and in the case of the 

 steam whistle an uncertainty also as to when it 

 begins, which is very distressing to any one trying 

 to understand Morse signals by -long and short 

 sounds. But corresponding signals by very short 

 high and low notes following one another very 

 quickly, with ample times of silence between the 

 groups of sounds, are exceedingly clear and may 

 easily be distinguished, even when the sounds are 

 barely audible. 



