Qcntury II. 



Ic is certain, (ftowfoever it crofs the Received Opinion ) that Sounds 

 may be created without Air, though ^/V be the molt favourable Deferent 

 of Sounds. Take a Fefjel of Water , and knap a pair of Tongs fome depth 

 within the Water , and you ihall hear the Sound of the Tongs well , and 

 not muchdiminifhed ; And yet there is no Air at all prefent. 



Take one Feffel of Stiver, and another of Wood, and fill each of them full 

 of Water, and then knap the Tongs together,as before, about an handfull 

 from the Bottom , and you fliall find the Sound much more Refounding 

 from the FtfJ'el of Stiver, than from that of Wood: And yet if there be no 

 water in the Fefjel , fo that you knap the Tongs in the^/> , you mall find 

 no difference between the Silver and the Wooden Fefjel. Whereby , betide 

 the main point of creating Sound without Air , you may collect two 

 Things : The one , that the Sound communicateth with the Bottom of the 

 Fefjel : The other, that fuch a Communication palfeth far better, thorow 

 Water than Air. 



S take any Hard Bodies together , in the midft of a Flame , and you fhall 

 hear the Sound mih little difference, from the Sound in the Air. 



The Pneuma'ical Part, which is in all Tangible Bodies , and hath forae 

 Affinity with the Air performeth, in fome degree*, the Parts of the Air •, 

 As when you knock upon an Empty Barrett, the Sound is (in part)created 

 by the Air on the Out-fide • And ( in part ) by the Air in the Infide For 

 the SoundwiM be greater or. letter , as the Barrell is more Empty , or more 

 Full But yet the Sound participated alfowith the Spirit in the Wood , tho- 

 row which it patfeth from the Out-fide to the Infide: And fo it cometh 

 to pafs in the Chiming of Bets , on the Out- fide where alfo the Sound paf- 

 feth to the Infide : And a number of other like Inftances , whereof we ihall 

 fpeak more when we handle the Communication of Sounds, 



It were extreme Grofsnefs to think, (as we have partly touched be- 

 fore^ )that the Sound in Strings is made, or produced, between the Hand 2nd 

 the String, or the j>)ui/Iand the String, or the Bow and the String : For thofe 

 are but Fehicula mofus, Pafjages to the Creation of the S ound, the Sound being 

 produced between the String and the Air And that not by any Impulfien 

 of the Air from the firft motion of the String ; but by the Return or Refult 

 of the String, which was ftrained by the Touch, to his former Place : which 

 Motion of Refult is quick and fharp ^ Whereas the firft Motion is foft and 

 dull. So the Bow tortureth the String continually, and thereby holdethit 

 in a Continuall Trepidation. 



"FAke a Trunck, and let one whiftle at the one End, and hold your Eare 

 1 at the other , and you fliall find the Sound ftrike fo lharp , as you can 

 fcarce enduje it. The Caafe is, for that ^WdirTufeth it felf in round, 

 Andfoipendethit Self; But if the Sound, which wouid fcatter in Open 

 Air , be made to go all in to a Canalov Itmuft needs give greater force to 

 the Sound. And fo you may note, that Lnelofures, do no not only preferve 

 Sound,b\it alfo encreafe and fharpen it. 



A Hunters Horn , being greater at oneend., than at the other , doth en - 

 reafe the more, than if the Horn were all of an equall Bore. The 

 Cnufe is, for that the Air and Sound, being firft contjadted at the lelfer End, 

 and afterwards having more Room to fpread at the greater End , do dilate 

 themfelves., And in coming out ftrike more Air-, whereby the Soundis 

 the Greater , and Bafer. And even Hunters Horns , which are fometimes 

 made ftraight, and not Oblique,are ever greater at the lower end. It would 



E be 



158 



Experiments 

 in Conlorr, 

 touching the 

 /Magnitude, 

 and Exility^ 

 and Damfioi 

 Sounds. 



