THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 43 
SOME PHENOMENA OF SOUND. 
Read before the Hamilton Association, Thursday, April 27, 1594. 
BY J. E. P. ALDOUS, B. A. 
Before proceeding to. the special consideration of sound as it 
appears in music, it will be well to consider the property of sound 
pure and simple. Years ago a friend of mine, who was addicted to 
suggesting perplexing conundrums for his own amusement and the 
confusion of his friends, made the statement to me that sound does 
not exist, unless some one is present to hear it. Now, it depends 
on what you mean by sound whether or not this is true. Every 
one has heard the vibration of a violin string or piano string when 
it has been set in motion by bow, hammer or finger. Were it not 
for the sounding board, very little sound would be heard from such 
vibrating string ; but, a suitable sounding board being provided, the 
vibrations are communicated by the string to the sounding board, 
which gathers them up, amplifies them, and transmits them to the 
surrounding atmosphere, where they go on circling out and out, like 
the ripples caused by a pebble thrown into water, until they reach 
something that prevents them going further, or till they disappear 
through attenuation. If these vibrations reach the drum of an ear, 
a sensation is conveyed to the brain and we say we “hear a sound,” 
z. ¢., the brain is conscious of certain air-vibrations having impinged 
on the tympanum of the ear. So, if by ‘“‘sound” you mean the 
sensation of vibration, my friend’s statement was true ; if by sound 
you mean the vibrations of the air, they exist under the circum- 
stances that excite them, whether any person is present to perceive 
them or not. 
A short while ago Dr. A. Wilford Hall, of New York, pro- 
pounded a theory that sound was not a wave or vibration aftair at 
all, but is a substantial something that is communicated from what- 
ever generates the sound through the medium of the air to the 
person who perceives it. As our time does not allow us to fully 
