The Sounds of the Consonants. 37 



Art. XII. — The Sounds of the Consonants, as Indicated by 

 the Phonograph. 



By Alex. Sutherland, M.A. 



[Read 14th November, 1878.] 



On its first discovery, the phonograph was hailed with 

 much satisfaction by those who are devoted to the study of 

 music as a physical science, but a few months of actual ex- 

 perience have shown that their hopes were by no means 

 likely to be fulfilled. As a means of registering sounds the 

 phonograph is not to be compared with methods that have 

 long been known ; the phonautograph of Leon Scott, the 

 manometric flame of Konig, the graphic method of Duhamel, 

 all give results that are more easy of interpretation than 

 the phonograms printed by the new instrument on tin-foil. 

 It is almost impossible to see, much less properly to estimate, 

 the minute and delicate curves contained in the dots which 

 make up the phonogram. A microscope gives little assist- 

 ance, for when one looks down into an indentation present- 

 ing intricate surfaces of curves in three dimensions, the 

 unaided eye can distinguish little of any importance in its 

 appearance. 



Various contrivances have already been adopted for the 

 purpose of examining these indentations more thoroughly ; 

 one observer has made careful sections of the tin-foil, and by 

 magnifying these to the extent of about 400 diameters has 

 been able to verify the results already obtained by other 

 instruments. Jenkins and Ewing in their recent articles 

 in Nature described multiplying arrangement which they 

 have used with success in order to obtain magnified trac- 

 ings of the marks obtained by singing the vowels into the 

 phonograph. In this way they have made careful analyses 

 of the wave forms which constitute the vowel sounds u and 

 6 when sung in different notes. But they cannot claim to 

 have discovered a single new fact. The truth seems to be 

 that while the tin-foil on which the phonograms are im- 

 printed is impressed with moderate ease, there is yet enough 

 of mechanical resistance to destroy altogether the finer sorts 

 of vibrations. 



Now we know from Helmholtz's researches that while 



