Prof. A. M. Mayer's Researches in Acoustics. 505 



partial e" , of 640 double vibrations, and the sixth partial (or 

 fifth upper partial) g" (of 768 double vibrations), which come 

 out with wonderful distinctness. The fact that the lowest, or 

 prime partial tone in the majority of ordinary compound 

 musical tones is strongest, is due (among other reasons) to 

 the fact that the sensation of each partial tone of which the 

 whole musical tone is composed, is diminished by the action 

 on the ear of all the components or partial tones below it in 

 pitch. Thus the higher the pitch of any component or partial 

 tone the greater the number of lower components which tend 

 to obliterate it. But the prime, or lowest, component partial 

 tone is not affected by any other. Another illustration I 

 cannot resist giving. At the end of the street in New York 

 in which I resided, there is a large fire-alarm bell, the residual 

 sound of which, after its higher components have disappeared, 

 is a deep simple tone. This bass sound holds its own with 

 total indifference to the clatter of horses, or to any sounds 

 above it in pitch. It dies out with a smooth gradient, gene- 

 rally without the slighest indentation or break produced by 

 the other sounds of the street. Indeed, in this case, as in all 

 others where one sound remains unaffected by intense higher 

 notes, the observer feels as though he had a special sense for 

 the perception of the graver sound — an organ entirely distinct 

 from that which receives the impress of the higher tones. 



That one sonorous sensation cannot interfere with another 

 which is lower in pitch is a remarkable physiological discovery, 

 and, next after the demonstration of the fact that the ear is 

 capable of analyzing compound musical sounds into their con- 

 stituent or partial simple tones, is probably the most important 

 addition vet made to our knowledge of the nature of hearing. 

 It cannot fail to introduce profound modifications into the 

 hypotheses heretofore framed respecting the mechanism and 

 functions of the ear. 



3. On a proposed Change in the usual Method of conducting 

 Orchestral Music, indicated by the above discoveries. 

 We have seen how an intense sound may obliterate, en- 

 tirely or in part, the sensations of certain partial tones or 

 components of any musical tone, and thus produce a profound 

 change in its quality. In a large orchestra I have repeatedly 

 witnessed the entire obliteration of all sounds from violins by 

 the deeper and more intense sounds of the wind instruments, 

 the double-bases alone holding their own. I have also ob- 

 served the sounds of the clarinets lose their peculiar quality 

 of tone and consequent charm from the same cause. Xo 

 doubt the conductor of the orchestra heard all his violins, 



