TRANSMISSION OF SOUND THROUGH LONG TUBES. \03 



Experiments on the Transmission of Sound throxtgh solid 

 Bodies, and through Air in very long Tubes: by Mr, 



BlOT*. 



AT has long been known, that air is not the only medium, Sound pro- 

 in which the phenomenon of sound mav be produced and ''"ced and 



1 . 1. , T • I- t 1 transmuted bf 



transmitted. All bodies enjoy this property, when they other bodies 



enter into a vibratory motion: aiid as, even in the nicst ^^^''^^ ^'^' 

 solid substances, the elasticity of the ultimate particles ap- 

 pears to be extremely great, it follows, that sound may be 

 produced and transmitted in all bodies, when they are suit- 

 ably agitated. This result is confirmed by a great number 

 of daily observations. The miner, when excavating his ^^ the ground, 

 gallery, hears the strokes of the miner opposed to him : 

 and thus judges of his direction. Stone, wood, metals, and 

 even water, transmit sound: and Franklin assures us, that water, 

 he has heard under water, at the distance of half a mile, the 

 sound of two stones struck against each other. Several too 

 have observed, that the velocity of sound is much greater 

 in solid bodies, than in the air. Experiments of this kind ^^"■^ of 600 

 were made in Denmark on a wire extended horizontally 

 600 feet. A piece of sonorous metal, suspended from one 

 extremity of this wire, was struck gently; and a person 

 at the other extremity holding it between his teeth, or ap- 

 plying it to some solid part of the organ of hearing, heard 

 two distinct and successive sounds. The first and most 

 rapid wastransmittedbythewire : the second through the air : 

 and from their interval, compared with the known velocity of 

 sound in air, it was found, that the sound transmitted by the 

 metal arrived almost instantaneously. These experiments 

 were repeated in England by the Royal Society, and si- 

 milar results were obtained, but I do not know the precise 

 quantities found. Mr. Hassenfratz too made experiments ExperimenU 

 on the same subject in the quarries at Paris, with Mr. Gay- yjgg^ 



♦ M^ra de la Soc. d'Arcueil, vol. II, p. 405. Read to the Institute 

 NoTcmber, 1808. ' 



Lussac. 



