i4<o Dr. Young's Experiments and Inquiries 



aliquot points, of as many lucid lines as correspond to the 

 number of the harmonic, more nearly approaching to each 

 other as the bow approaches more nearly to the point, Plate VI. 

 Fig. 51. According to the various modes of applying the bow, 

 an immense variety of figures of the orbits are produced, 

 Fig. 45, more than enough to account for all the difference 

 of tone in different performers. In observations of this kind, a 

 series of harmonics is frequently heard in drawing the bow 

 across the same part of the chord : these are produced by the 

 bow ; they are however not proportionate to the whole length 

 of the bow, but depend on the capability of the portion of the 

 bowstring, intercepted between its end and the chord, of per- 

 forming its vibrations in times which are aliquot parts of the 

 vibration of the chord : hence it would seem, that the bow takes 

 effect on the chord but at one instant during each fundamental 

 vibration. In these experiments, the bow was strung with the 

 second string of a violin : and, in the preparatory application 

 of resin, the longitudinal sound of Chladni was sometimes 

 heard ; but it was observed to differ at least a note in different 

 parts of the string. 



XIV. Oj the Vibrations of Rods and Plates. 



Some experiments were made, with the assistance of a most 

 excellent practical musician, on the various notes produced by 

 a glass tube, an iron rod, and a wooden ruler ; and, in a case 

 where the tube was as much at liberty as possible, all the har- 

 monics corresponding to the numbers from 1 to 13, were dis- 

 tinctly observed ; several of them at the same time, and others 

 by means of different blows. This result seems to differ from 

 the calculations of Euler and Count Riccati, confirmed as 



