with Reference to Sound. 353 
hon and full appreciation of music, are to be found in the free 
ait, where the medium through which the sound passes is with- 
or reverberation. There is no sublimer sound than the mingling 
of.a thousand voices and instruments in an open field ; so, on the 
surface of a lake, ina calm evening, music will seem to fill the air 
with a distinctness of utterance, and melt upon the ear witha 
delicacy, not elsewhere found. Handel knew this when he con- 
inved his celebrated water music to gratify his sovereign, George 
], whose anger he had incurred. But, in the nature of things, 
“specially with a climate like ours, it is rare that music can be thus 
Worshipped at her own shrine. Moreover the sensitiveness of many 
of the instruments which compose the orchestra at the present 
day, forbids their ever being used without injury in the open air, 
When confined within the four walls of a building. ‘Theoreti- 
cally, could we secure the read ge and equal diffusion of 
sound over the whole apartment, without the intervention of re- 
Verberation or disturbing echoes, we should have a perfect Music 
om, in every part of which the auditor would hear with equal 
distinctness and accuracy. How to approximate to this is the 
Problem that here demands our serious attention. 
It seems almost superfluous, in this connection, to allude to the 
necessity of a retired position or other measures to exclude ex~ 
| sound, as an important requisite of a Concert Room. But 
“se are points hitherto much neglected. 
Jo ee fees sity the saultitadieous cries and sounds of busy 
life Produce a constant discord, which the spirit of music seeks 
Stoop Szrres, Vol. KV, No. 45—May, 1853. 46 
