(jntwry 1 1 



Purling Sound^&c. Generally, the Straight Line hath the cleaneft and round- 

 eft Sound, And the Crooked the more Hoarfe ,and Jarring. 



Of a Sinuous Pipe, that may have feme four Flexions, Triall would be 

 made. Likewife of a Pomade like a Croft, open in the middeft. Andfo 

 likewife of an Angular Pipe: And fee what will be the Effefts of thefe 

 feverall Sounds. And fo again of a Circular Pipe ; As if you take a Pipe perfect 

 Round, and make a Hole whereinto you mail blow • And another Hole 

 not farre from that % But with a Traverfe or Stop between them $ So that 

 your Breath may go the Round of the Circle, and come forth at the fecond 

 Hole. You may trie likewife Percufjions of Solid Bodies of feverall Figures >, 

 As Globes, Flats, Cubes, Cro[jes,T riangles,&c. And their Combinations ; As 

 Flat againft Flat: And Convex agairift Convex: And Convex againft Flat, &c. 

 And mark well the diversities of the Sounds. Try alfo the dirFerence in Sound 

 of feverall Crafjit tides of Hard Bodies percufled : And take knowledge of the 

 diverfities of the Sounds. I my felf have tried,thata Be/lot Gold yeeldeth an 

 excellent Sound, not inferior to that of Silver, or Br aft, but rather better : 

 yet we fee that a piece of Money of Gold foundeth fan e more flat than a 

 piece of Money of Silver, 



The Harp hath the Concave, not along the Strings, but acrofs the 

 Strings And no Instrument hath the Sound fo Melting, and Prolonged, as 

 the irijh Harp. So as I fuppofe, that if a Virginall were made with a double 

 Concave ^ the one all the length as the Virginall hath the other at the End 

 of the Strings, as the Harp hath • It mult needs make the Sound perfecler, 

 and not fo Shallow,and Jarring. You may trie it,without any Sound-Board 

 along, but only Harp- wife, at one End of the Strings: Or laftly with a 

 double Concave, at Each end of the Strings one. 



T -Here is an apparent Diverfity between the-Species Vtfible^ and Audible jn 

 this 5 That the Viftble doth not mingle in the Medium, but the Audible 

 doth. For if we look abroad, we fee Heaven, a number of Starres, Trees 3 

 Hills, Men, Beafts, at once. And the Species of the one doth not confound 

 the other. But if fo many Sounds come from feverall Parts, one of them 

 would utterly confound the other. So we fee, that Voices or Conforts ofMu- 

 fick do make an Harmony by Mixture, which Colours do not. It is true ne- 

 verthelefs, that a great Light drowneth a fmaller, that it cannot be feen As 

 the Sunne that of a Glorvorm-, as well as a Great Sound drowneth a leffer. 

 And I fuppofe likewife, that if there were two Lanthornes of Glafs, the 

 one a Cnmfin, and the other an Azure, and a Candle within either of them, 

 thoie Coloured Lights would mingle and caft upon a White Paper a Pur- 

 ple Colour. And even in Colour sjhzy yeeld a faint and weak Mixture .-For 

 white walls make Roomes more lightfome than black, &c. But the Caufe 

 ot the Confufion in Sounds, and the lnconfufion in Species Vifible is. For that 

 the Sight worketh in Right Lines, and maketh feverall Cones And fo there 

 can be no Coincidence in the Eie, or Vifuall Point : But Sounds that move 

 in Oblique and Arcuate Linesj muft needs encounter, and difturb the one 

 the other. 



The tweeteft'and beft Harmony is, when every Part or Inftrument, is not 

 heard by it felf, but a /Conflation of them all Which requireth toftand 

 fome diftance off. Even as it is in the Mixture of Perfumes 5 Or the Taking 

 j of theSmclsoi : feverall Flowers in the Air. 



The Dijpofition of the Air* in other Qualities, except it be joyned with 

 {Sound, hath no great Operation upon Sounds t For whether the Air be 



F 3 m lighifome 



n 



222 



223 



Experiments 

 in Conforr, 

 touching the 

 Mixture of 

 Sounds. 

 224 



225 



22$ 



