with Reference to Sound. — 351 
1 
walls and ceiling was made smooth, and had become completely 
hardened, reverberation was very much in the ascendant, though 
still, in a measure, checked by the staging which filled up the 
Mterior of the hall like a forest of masts. On the removal of the 
Staging, a powerful tone of the voice was prolonged four to four 
anda half seconds. This was when the room was empty, an 
completely devoid of upholstery and carpeting. When the floor 
of the main hall and balconies was covered with benches, having 
cushioned seats and backs, the aisles carpeted and the semi-circu- 
ar Windows near the ceiling shielded with curtains of canvas, 
the change was very marked, and the presence of a moderately 
large andience so completed the cure as that no injurious excess 
of sound remained. Should it be required, on any occasion, to 
teduce still further this reverberatory property, it can (in the 
‘pinion of the writer) be readily and perfectly accomplished by 
the use of additional upholstery, and the adoption of a simple 
the room, nor mar, to any extent, its architectural beauty.* 
Mr. J. Scott Russell, whose opinion, in almost all matters of 
“entific enquiry, is entitled to profound respect, has adopted a 
iflerent view of the nature of reflection and reverberation from 
i 
Mr 
tion 
* The writer ] lted with reference to the acoustic defects of 
the new Town Hall tai W cbiocath, par The size of this hall is about 80 feet by 
56, and 28 feet in height. “It has perfectly smooth walls and ceiling. re 
~ © Windows h side. has no dra or upholstery whatever. Te- 
fhe tation is ftrsieton tb ae great as oer the building wholly unfit for 
"ke gy for which it was intended. Some measures were recommended for its 
vi : 
ement, the s f which remains to be seen. — : 
i The reverberation in St. Paul's Church, Boston, which is usually very considerable, 
‘e checked by the customary decorations of the Christmas season, that the utter 
of the speaker is then much more distinct than at other times. sie 
