6 o 
214 
215 
21 6 
Experiments 
in Contort, 
touching the 
Medium «f 
Sounds. 
2IJ 
2J8 
2 15? 
220 
3\[aturall History: 
! It. is certaine, that in the PaJJageof So»pdh thorow Hard i>. odies , the i 
| Spirit or Pneumaticall Part of the Hard ^ody it felfe, doth, cooperate • 
But much better, when the lities ot'that Hard Bodjrare ftrucke, than when 
the Peraiifion is only within, without Touch of the Sides.Take therefore 
a HawkesBcll, the holes hopped vp, and hang it bv a threed, within a 
Bottle GlalTe • And hop the Mouth of the Glade, very clofe with Wax - 
And thenfhake theGlalTe, and fee whether the Bell giue any Sound at 
all, or hov# weake ? But note, that you muh in head of die Threed take a 1 
Wire • Or elle let the Glaflc haue a great Belly • leli when you fhake the 
Bell, it daih vpon the Sides of the Glalfe. 
i It is plaine, that a very Long, and Down-right Arch , for the Sound to 
paffe, will extinguifh the Sound quite • So that that Sound, which would 
be heard ouera Wall, will not be heard ouera Church ; Nor that Sounds 
which willbeeheard, if youftandfome dihance from the Wall, will bee 
heard if you hand dole vnder the Wall. 
Soft and Foraminous Bodies, in the firfi Creation of the Sound, will dead 
it 5 For the Strikingagainh Cloth, or Furre, will make little Sound' 5 As 
hath becne faid: But inthe Paffage of the Sound, they will admitit better 
than Harder Bodies 5 As wee fee, that Curtaincs, and Hangings, will not 
ftav the Sound much • But Glafie-windowcs, if they bee very Clofe, will 
chccke a Sound more, than the like Thicknehe of Cloth. Wee fee alfo, in 
the Rumbling of the Belly ,how eafily the Sound pafleth thorow the Guts, 
and Skin. 
It is worthy the Enquiry, whether Great Sounds (As of Ordnance, 01 
Bells) become not more weake, and Exile, when they paffe thorow Small 
Crannies. For the Subtilties of Articulate Sounds (it may be) may paffe tho¬ 
row SmaB Crannies^ notconfufed - 3 But the Magnitude of the Sound (per¬ 
haps) not fo well. 
T He Mediums of Sounds are Aire ; Soft and Porous Bodies • Alfb water. 
And Hard Bodies refule not altogether to be Mediums of Sounds, But 
all of them are dull and vnapt Deferents , except the Aire. 
In Aire, the Thinner or Drier Aire, carrieth not the Sound fo well, as 
the more Dcnfe ; As appeareth in Night Sounds ; And Euening Sounds 5 
And Sounds in moift Weather, andSoutherne Winds. The reafon is al¬ 
ready mentioned in the Title of Maioration of Sounds • Being for that Thin 
Aire is better pierced ; bur Thtckc Aire preferueth the Sound better fram 
Waft ; Let further Triallbee made by Hollowing in Mills, and Gentle 
Showers: For(it may he) that will fomewhat dead the Sound. 
How farre forth Flame may bee a Medium of Sounds (efpecially of fuch 
Sounds as are created by Aire , and not betwixt Hard Bodies) lec it be tried, 
inspeaking wherea Bonfire is betweene; But then you muftallow,forlbme 
difturbance, the Neife chat the Flame it felfe maketh. 
Whether any other Liquors, being made Mediums, caufe a Diuer- 
fityof Sound from water, it may bee tried : As by the Knappingof the 
Tongs • Or Striking of the Bottome ofa VelTell, filled either with Milkc, 
ox 
