768 PROFESSOR JOHN G. M'KENDRICK 



has always shown that the fault does not rest so much with the instrument as with the 

 operator. As examples of complex sounds, I have obtained the sound of about 2000 

 persons singing in a large hall with organ accompaniment, the dashing of the waves on 

 a shingle beach, the hissing produced by the escape of air from an iron cylinder under a 

 pressure of over 200 atmospheres, the sound of a riveter's workshop, and the sound of 

 a military band of about seventy performers. The tones of single instruments are, as a 

 rule, easily taken, and their range as regards pitch is faithfully recorded. Thus, I have 

 records of scales from the deepest tone of the bass- tuba, 28 vibrations per second (the 

 lowest sound in the orchestra except the still lower note of the contra-bassoon, 27 

 vibrations per second), up to the highest note of the piccolo, 4096 vibrations per second. 

 My collection now includes, taking the instruments in the order of their highest notes, 

 the organ, piccolo, clarinette, harp, flute, piano, violin, guitar, viol d'amour, oboe, 

 saxophone, mandolin, bugle, three-keyed horn, trumpet, cornet, viola, cor anglais, 

 violoncello, alto trombone, tenor trombone, bassoon, bass-tuba, bass trombone. The 

 instruments most difficult to record are those having a wide keyboard, such as the organ, 

 harmonium, and piano. When the sounds proceeding from a series of wires or reeds or 

 pipes stretching over a distance considerably greater than the transverse diameter of the 

 receiving resonator fall on the glass disk of the phonograph, the sounds are not recorded 

 with equal intensity, those coming from the vibrating body immediately in front of the 

 resonator being usually more intense than those coming from vibrating bodies placed 

 more to the sides. This is especially the case when the wide end of the resonator is 

 brought close to the piano, as I have proved by placing the phonograph below the piano 

 and then taking the vibrations from the sounding board immediately overhead. As a 

 rule, both with the organ and piano, the deep pedal notes are not recorded distinctly, and 

 produce jarring sounds probably by the vibrations acting on the loose link between the 

 recording lever and the glass disk. To secure the natural tones of the piano and organ, 

 the phonograph should be placed at a considerable distance from the instrument. The 

 best records I have got from the organ were obtained when the recording phonograph 

 was about forty feet distant from the instrument. Then the balance of the intensity of 

 the various tones is excellent, and although there is a loss in intensity there is a gain in 

 quality and distinctness. 



V. The Mechanism of the Kecording Point in the English Model. 



9. It was a considerable time before I thoroughly understood the way in which the 

 marker made its impression with each vibration on the wax cylinder. The original tin- 

 foil phonograph was so constructed that when the diaphragm was pressed inwards by 

 the condensation of the air wave, the marker made a corresponding depression on the 

 tinfoil, and when the diminution of pressure came on, corresponding to the rarefaction 

 of the air wave, the marker passed away from the tinfoil. There were thus a series of 

 marks the depth of each of which corresponded to the degree of pressure on the dia- 



