The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1864-01-23
Total,

When In the grand crescendo passages, these
six organists rose simultaneously from their
seats, and receding couple Of PAGES, rushed
forward In line, throwing their collective weight
of over twelve hundred pounds upon the pedals;
the musical explosion-for by no other namc
can It be designated-was terribly grand
Through inadve, tence the roof trap-doors OF
the Music Hall had not been raised. and the
irst effect Of this great defamation OF sound was
to lift the heavy tin roof from the wall sockets
some fifteen feet into the air, holding 1t sus.
pended there until the immense volume OF sound
had forced passage beneath It. II is propos.
ed to avert similar accidents By placing an I'm.
mense sound escape chimney over the Music
Hall, after the style OF drauSht chimney to
furnace but DR.. Holmes, who has given much
attention to acoustics, suggests-perhaps not
altogether seriously-that the condensed sound
thus vented may fall upon the city in solid
chunks, doing damage.
Outside the building the effects were quite as
remarkable. II was noticed that the spires OF
the different churches In the city vibrated over
an arc of several degrees, the weather yanes up
ON them dipping and oscillating In the most
singular manner, from the same cause. The
walls Of houses throughout the city were sen.
sibly shaken. furniture displaced, &c., causing
many timd persons to rush to the street, think
ipg Il m earthquake. In the towns immedi-
ately adjoining Boston the conclusion also was
supposed to be On earthquake. At Newbury-
port II was thought that the sound indicated .
heavy naval engagement Of Boston harbor.-
At Salem jarring conclusion and report was
experienced, resembling In sound q heavy bur.
den. train passing over a trestlo.work bridge.
At Jamaica Plains 1t was thought to proceed
from a thunder storm in the direction Of Bos
ton, and, curiously enough. tho barometer fell
several degrees at that point; and tho same
fact was noticed at Natick. Lynn, and as far
distant as Taunton.
wave Of considerable magnitude, and in its re-
trograde aud return swamped, stranded and
kecled over several vessels, doing no little dam
age TO the commercial interests. Gold fish in
globes, and fish OF all kinds In aquaria, were in
stantly killed; and what, for time, was unex I.
plainable, was the fact that they sank immedi.
ntely, until II was nscertained by DR.. Holmes
that their bladdcrs had been burst by the con-
cussion when, Of course. being minus their
contemporaries, they went down like lead.
DR.. Holmes states also the remarkable fact that
numerous bodies OF drowned persons were
brought 10 the surface In the harbor and In
Charles river by the same conclusion. A Sin.
gular effect was produced by the pulsation OF
sound from the cresccndo detonation passing
along tho telegraph lines from Boston In vari-
Gus directions, and which travelled o distance
of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred
miles over some wires, or until considerable
bodies Of running water were encountered,
over which, from some unexplainable cause In
acoustics, tho Eolian tone-which Is described
as o Wild, unsanny wail-would In no Instance
pass. DR.. Holmes humorously notes that the
same fact Is recorded Of witches-i. G.. that they
cannot pass over streams Of running water
Another curious feature Of this phenomenon
was tho fant that musical tone swelled and con-
tracted In regular crescend0es and diminnen.
does nj equal intervals along the wires. Thus
at Worcester, which Is forty-hve miles from
Boston, the sound Was barely perccptible, while
at Springfield, just double the distance, the
tone approached to shrek in volume.
DIR. Holmes thus explains this interesting
fact. It is we'll known among musicians that
harp, or any other stringcd instruments, do
not take the shape Of q single pulsation with
its maximum expansion at tho centre Of the
string, but are divided along the string Ia nu-
merous stronger pulsations or crescendos,
crossing each other at regular diminuendo in.
teryals, at which latter point tho string Is
nearly or quito motionless. Tho knowledge
of this curious law Of vibration readily affords
. solution. says DR.. Holmes, to the mystery Of
the telegraphic crcscendo freaks noticed. DR..
Holmes, who. In company with Mayor Lin
and body Of learned savans Of the Harvard
persuasion, made an interesting pedestrian tour
through some eight or ten miles Of the main
pipes Of the monster organ before II was set
up, has written graphic description Of the
trip, and OF the organ ~ whole. The party
found no dificulty In walking quite erect
through at least six miles OF the major pipes,
and got through the smaller Eolian tubes quite
comfortably on their hands and knees. His
description OF the great instrument has ap-
pesred In book form under the opropos Of
''Soundings from the Atlantic"