A. M. Mayer—Researches in Acoustics. 249 
and which give the sensations of these sounds. Some may imag- 
ine that the mass of the vibratile elements of the ear, compris- 
ing the tympanic membrane, the ossicles and the liquid of the 
internal ear, can vibrate, and that it is on this property of this 
mass that depends the impossibility of sonorous vibrations 
ceasing with the same rapidity in the ear. But this hypothe- 
sis does not suffice to explain the known facts. 
“When, in fact, an elastic body enters into vibration under 
the influence of an exterior sound, it takes the number of 
notes as among those of the bass, and, also, that the two 
sounds of the trill will blend, not with each other, but with a 
third sound belonging to the ear itself, We have already 
made known one of the sounds in the preceding chapter: it is 
the fa,.* In these circumstances, consequently, the result 
should be altogether different from that given us by the obser- 
vation of the facts.” 
*I here adopt, as I always do, the French notation, which is used by 
Those who use the French trans! n) 
e transla 
obse: 
low that used in} ves all of Helmholtz’s notes too low by an 
Th anslator’s Ut, should be: : 
The fact 'te elmholtz refers above is that the human ear is —_ by 
mance, to the fa, of 2730 complete vib: r ions —_ 
note, and of cause piercing in our ears. pre 
be adapted to the external auditory canal on : So wane pie 8 ro 
ve note; bu' same 
€ canal can no longer resound to ar = ; = Lmaber Saget 
adelphia, has shown aah dee are peculiarly sensitive to the acute mi of the 
violin. 
