347 
of Edinburgh, Session 1873-74. 
resonators may hear 3 (96), 5 (160), 8 (256), 11 (352), and 14 
(448). I have examined this and various other combinations. I 
can with my own ears hear, by using the appropriate resonator, the 
primary combination series quite distinctly, but no farther. The 
secondary tones I have never heard. Eight out of the ten non- 
musical people I have examined have heard the primary series ; 
the other two said they thought they could hear the second. The 
two musical persons asserted they could hear the tones distinctly. 
If then “the presence of overtones confers on music its most 
characteristic charms,” as stated by Sedley Taylor,* it appears to 
me that non-musical persons, when aided by resonators, are as 
capable as musical persons of recognising the existence of certain of 
these overtones. The difference between the two classes of listeners 
is either — (1), that the intensity of the overtone requires to be 
greater to be appreciated by a non- musical than by a musical per- 
son ; or (2), that musical persons, by previous education of the 
sense, are better able to appreciate distinctions of sound. Non- 
musical persons seem to be incapable of noticing the existence of 
the higher overtones, which are, of course, much less intense than 
the lower overtones. They are incapable of observing the differ- 
ence and summation tones having high vibration numbers. Thus, so 
far as the mere perception of musical sounds, and of those secondary 
vibrations, which produce overtones, and give quality to the funda- 
mental tone, or duad, or triad, &c., is concerned, non-musical persons 
are affected by the vibrations just as musical persons are affected. 
The only difference I Lave noticed between the two is that of in- 
tensity. A musical person hears tones of low intensity, such as the 
higher overtones, quickly, and apparently without difficulty; where- 
as, a person who is non-musical hears the lower overtones, but he 
cannot hear the upper at all, even with the aid of a resonator. The 
question of intensity of tones and overtones I have still under expe- 
rimental inquiry. These researches indicate that in the sense of 
hearing there is no state analogous to that of colour-blindness in 
the eye. 
* Sound and Music : A Non-Mathematical Treatise on the Physical Consti- 
tution of Musical Sounds and Harmony, &c. By Sedley Taylor, M.A., &c. 
London, 1873. 
2 Y 
vol. vrn. 
