I2th February, igoS. 



Mr. John Brown, F.R.S., in the Chair. 



THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF MUSIC. 

 By Professor W. B. Morton. 



(Abstract.) 



Professor Morton, who was warmly received described the 

 subject as being on the borderland between science and art. 

 Some of the questions which arose could be answered on purely 

 physical principles, but in many cases historical and purely aesthetic 

 considerations came in. He proposed to answer the question as 

 to the structure of the diatonic scale — why the black notes on a 

 piano occur in groups of two and of three. After an explanation 

 of the physical facts underlying the production of sound, the 

 question of pitch was discussed, and referred to the rate of 

 vibration of the instrument producing the sound. For musical 

 purposes it was necessary to fix on definite pitches among the 

 range of audible notes. It was shown that the particular notes 

 adopted in Western music arose from the practice of singing in 

 parts. This led to the use of notes whose numbers of vibrations 

 bore simple relations to one another, and hence to the construc- 

 tion of the diatonic scale. Experiments were shown to illustrate 

 the relation of these laws of consonance to the physical pheno- 

 menon of " beats" occurring when two notes are sounded together 

 which differ slightly in pitch, and, further, to the fact that notes 

 produced by musical instruments are in general compound. 



Professor Lindsay moved a vote of thanks to Professor 

 Morton, which was seconded by Mr. Swanston, and passed by 

 acclamation. 



