434 Mr. E. H. M. Bosanquet on the Beats 



We have discovered in gaseous bodies, as it had been for- 

 merly observed for other substances, a remarkable relation 

 between the indices of refraction and the magnetic rotatory 

 power of rays having the same wave-length. 



4th. Finally, oxygen presents an anomaly which seems 

 connected with the exceptional magnetic properties of this gas. 



LII. On the Beats of Mistimed Consonances. 

 To the Editors of the Philosophical Magazine and Journal. 



Gentlemen, 



IN your November number, in a paper by Professor S. P. 

 Thompson on Binaural Audition, there occur some refer- 

 ences to my recent work. While it is gratifying that the 

 work should have attracted Prof. Thompson's attention, it is 

 rather disheartening to find that he has failed for the most 

 part to grasp its purport. I am obliged to him for his remarks, 

 as, if he has failed to understand it, I dare say a good many 

 other people will have done the same ; and it affords me the 

 opportunity of putting two or three points in a clear light. I 

 will take the passages I have to observe upon in order. 



Page 352. Halfway down, the word subjective is underlined 

 and a note appended. In the note there is first an objection 

 to my use of the word. I have never believed much in the 

 advancement of clearness by the employment of words very 

 strictly defined. In speaking of any particular matte]-, it 

 seems to me generally necessary and sufficient to give such 

 descriptions as shall leave no doubt of the meaning. This I 

 have amply done. Over and over again I have described the 

 subjective phenomena as being such as originate within the 

 ear itself. Whether this is the strictly philosophical sense is 

 to me immaterial. I took the use of the word from Helmholtz 

 (Ellis's ' Helmholtz/ p. 234, foot of page ; 4th German edi- 

 tion, p. 259, top of page). I think it is there used in the 

 sense in which I use it*. I may put the matter otherwise 

 thus: — In a binary combination a sin A + 6 sin B I find the 

 term lower in pitch {a sin A) subject to a variation of the co- 

 efficient a. Does this variation arise before or after the arrival 

 of the combination at the gates of the ear ? If before, I call 

 the variation objective ; if after, subjective. I will not repeat 

 the argument from resonators ; it is sufficiently stated in my 

 paper. 



Prof. Thompson then makes an objection which precisely 



* Viz. as opposed to the objective origin of combination-tones in in- 

 struments described a little further on. 



