252 A. M. Mayer—Researches in Acoustics, 
and cones is such that their molecules are severally tuned to the 
vibrations corresponding to the colors red, green and violet? 
This would lead us to look for effects of actinism on the retina 
as showing the link existing between the transmitting and sen- 
sory functions of the eye. Do not the facts of the known per- 
sistence of chemical action, after it has been once initiated, and 
the time which would be required for the retinal molecules to 
recombine, or rearrange themselves, after the setherial vibrations 
had ceased, comport with the known durations of the residual 
5. Quantitative applications of the Laws to the Jundamental facts 
of Musical Harmony. 
To show the full value of these laws in introducing quanti- 
tative precision in the explanations of consonance and disso- 
u 
such application as will serve to show their importance in giv- 
ing clear and simple guides in reasonings in the physiological 
theory of musical cee é 
_We have seen that in the case of the simple sound C,, of 
vibrations per second, that 16 beats gave a continuous sensa- 
tion ; therefore, to determine the nearest consonant interval of 
this sound, we have 64: 64+16::C.:E 1.» Hence the nearest 
n 
sonance. In the following table we give the determinations of 
the nearest consonant intervals of the simple sounds of the Cs 
es.* 
C,of 64 vibrations, interval = major third. 
128 “ “ ; 
C2 # ‘ = minor third. ' 
ce ete a = “ minus } + of a semitone. 
Ct « mae = = “minus 4 — of a semitone. 
Go « bid é = = one tone. 
“6 
= one tone minus $+ of a semitone. 
We thus see that while in the neighborhood of C , the near- 
est consonant interval is the major third, that in the octave of 
C, the nearest co Sonant interval has contracted to a to 
This result shows why it is that the middle portion of the 
* We have, for simplicity of illustratio. determined the above intervals on the 
basis of the pitch of the lower note ; but as the iiktesee.auodocs e 
pple ph lao ik ener it would have been more accurate to have taken, 
= ee Reco on, the mean pitch of the two sounds. The 
_ determinations would be Somewhat changed for lower but not perceptibly for 
Bo , 
PAE Oe Re a fe 
Spee apenas Se) cere rahe eae 
Tat eee 
