is Natural Hiftory . : ici BK 
ay 
create Tones ; Percuffion of Metals (comprehending Glaf, and the like) | 
Percuffions of Air, and Percuffions of Water. ca al nad 
: The Diapafon or Eightin Uufick, isthe fweeteft Concord ; infomuch, | 
as it isin effeG an Vnifon; as we fee in Lures thar are ftrung in the bafe ftrings q 
| with two ftrings, one an Eighth above another, which make butasone yu nd ; | 
and every Eighth Note in Afcent, (asfromEight to Fifteen, from Fifteen || - 
to Twenty two, and fo im infinitum) are but Scales of Diapafon. Thecaufe | 
is dark, and hath not been rendred by any, and therefore would be better 
contemplated. It feemeth that Air ( which is the {ubje& of Sounds ) in 
Sounds that are not Tones (which are all unequal ashath been faid) ad- | 
‘mitteth much variety; as we fee in the Voices of Living Creatures, and | _ 
‘likewife in the Voices of feveral Men ; for we are capable to difcern feves | 
ral Men by their Voices) and in the Conjugation of Letters, whence 1- 
ticulate Sounds proceed; which of all others, are moft various. But inthe | 
Sounds which we call Tones (that are ever equal) the Air is not able to | — 
caft ic felf into any fuch variety ; but is forced to recur into one and the | 
fame Pofture or Figure, oncly differing in greatnefs and {mallnefs. So | 
we fee Figures may be made of Lines, crooked and ftraight, in infinice 
variety, where there is inequality ; but Circles or Squares, or Triangles 
Equilateral, (whichareall Figuresof equal Lines) can differbacin greater 
forleffer. ) | ’ 
Itis to benoted (the rather, left any Man fhould think that there is any 
thing in this number of Eight, to create the Diapafon) that this computa- 
tion of Eight, is a thing rather received than any truecomputation. For | _ 
a true computation ought ever to be, by diftribution into equal Por-| — 
tions.. Now there be intervenient in the. rife of Eight (in Tones) two| 
Beemols or Half-Notes ; fo as if you divide the Tones equally, the} 
Eighth is but Seven whole and equal Notes: And if you fubdivide that | 
into Half-Notes, (as it is inthe ftops of a Lute) it maketh the number of} — 
Thirteen. Ae 
Yet thisistrue, That in the ordinary Rifes and Falls of the Voice of | 
‘Man (not meafuring the Tone by whole Notes and Half Notes, whichis | 
the equal Meafure) there fall out tobe two Beemols (as hath been faid) be- if 
‘tween the Vaifon and the Diapafin; and this varying is natural. For if a] 
Man. would endeavor to raife or fall his Voice ftill by Half-Notes, likethe| 
{tops of a Lute, or by whole Notes alone, without Halfs as far as an Eighth ; | 
he will notbeable to frame his Voice unto it, which fheweth, that after e-| — 
very three whole Notes, Neturerequireth, for all Harmonical ufe,one Half | — 
Note to beinterpofed. | mn r 
It is to be confidered, That whatfoever vertue isin Numbers, forcon-| — 
ducing to concent of Notes, is rather tobe afcribedto the Aute-number, than | 
tothe Enrire-number; asnamely, thatthe Sound returneth after Six, or after} > 
Twelve: Sothat the Seventh or the Thirteenth isnot the Matter, butthe|} 
Sixth, or the Twelfth; and the Seventh and the Thirteenth, are butthe | | 
‘Limits and Boundaries of the Return. : ' vies at 
107. -. The Concords in Mufick which are Perfect, or Semiperfed, between the | 
| Vaifon and the Diapafon, are the Fifth, which is the moft Perfet; the Third | ©) 
| next, and the Sixth which is moreharfh > Andas the Aacients cfteemed, and| 7) 
fo do my felt, and fome other yet, the Fourth which they call Diate(eron; as| 
forthe Tenth, Twelfth. T hirteenth, and {0 ininfinitum,they be but Recurrences 
of the former ; viz. of the Third, the Fifth, and the Sixth, being an Eighth 
refpedivelyfromthem. Meets Met i 120120 ; 
103. 
e tel) PTI ie ap ed net 
104. 
10. 
' 
106. 
' 
ie 
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a 
