Introduction 
5 
The harmonics or partial tones of the open G string of the 
violoncello are represented in the subjoined diagram:— # 
V % 1 
The first partial tone is the.pricPipalifiote ; the second is pro¬ 
duced by the string dividing'into two parts; the third by its 
dividing into three; and so on'to the thirteenth partial here 
shown. • « 
It seems hardly credible that such/a number of notes should 
all be sounding when the G string is set in motion, yet the 
fact is, by mechanical means, quite d’emonstrable. It is easy 
for the ordinary unassisted ear to detect at least the lower 
partials. If the G be struck on the piano, and the sound be 
allowed to die away by keeping the damper from the wire, as 
the principal note becomes fainter the third and fifth partials, 
D and B, are heard, faintly but clearly. The second and fourth 
partials, being the first and second octaves of the principal 
note, whilst heard as clearly as the third and fifth, are not so 
readily distinguished, as they do not differ in actual sound, 
but in pitch only. They may be heard in this way: Hold down 
the key of the principal note, G, without striking the wire; 
then strike the G above it—the second partial—and after a 
second or two release the key, still holding down the lower G. 
The sound of the G struck, and of the G an octave above it— 
the second and fourth partials—will now be heard most 
clearly; and that they are heard in the string of the lower G, 
which has been set in vibration by the string struck, is made 
evident by the sounds ceasing immediately the key -of the 
lower G is released. Thus it is evident that the unassisted ear 
*From MOMlGrNY, Grove's Dictionary of Music, .Harmonics. 
