The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-02-27

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not uncommon to hear the lamp glasses
or other sounding bodies in the room join
in the concert In those cases the glass
picks out from the general clamor that
particular SET of vibrations which it is ca
pable of taking up, and rings in harmony
with the note producing them whenever
fork will thus excite a silent one to play
with it. Two pendulum clocks fixed to
| the same wall, or two watches lying on
the same table, will take the same rate of
going, through this sympathetic conlmu-
remarkable, if one clock be set going and
the other not, the ticks of the moving
clock, transmitted through the wall, will
start its neighbor.
1t is in consequence of this property
that the sound Of particular organ pipe
will sometime break particular window
Sapaand that a powerful voice can crack a
wine glass by singing near it. The story
goes that the Swiss muleteers tie I'D their
bells at certain places, lest the tinkle
should bring an avalanche down. Pro
lessor Iyndall, however, who, from the
not believe the dreadful catastrophe ever
But the most beautiful instances of
sympathy in sound are afforded by the
phenomena Of musical or sensitive flames.
10 Professor Leconte, of the United
States, belongs the honor of first calling
attention to these curiosities. The Pro-
fessor was assisting at a musical party one
evening, and he says, Soon after the
music commenced [ observed that the
flames Of a fsh-tail burner exhibited pull
sations which were exactly synchrnous
with the audible beats. This phenomena
was very striking to every one in the
room, and especially so when the strong
notes Of the violoncello came in. It was
exceedingly interesting to observe how
perfectly even the trills of this instru-
ment were reflected on the sheet of flame
A deaf man might hare seen the halmo-
ny. BY experiment, he found that the
vibrations were not due to the shaking of
the walls and floor Of the room, but were
communicated directly from the music to
the flame. This interesting subject has
been followed up extensively by Profes-
sor Tyndall and Mr. Barrett. 1t has
been found that those flames only are
sensitive which are on the point Of far
ing, or roaring, as some would term it.
A common fish tail burner, just at the
point Of futtering, but still giving out a
clear sheet Of flame, is thrown into a
state OF connection, squirting out CULVER
ing tongues, when whistle is blown in
its neighb0rhod A bat 's-wing Jet be-
HAYES in a similar manner, throwing forth
its tongues whenever an anvil is struck
with a hammer. Professor Tyndall
makes flames almost dance to music. He
places a long rod-like fame and short
one side by side upon blowing a whistle,
the long fame becomes short, torked and
brilliant, and the short one long and
smoky The most marvellous fame ex
hibited at his lecture on this subject was
a long thin one. twenty four inches high.
The slightest tap on distant anvil reduc
ed the height OF this fame to seven inch
es. At the shaking of bunch Of keys
it became violently agitated and emitted
a loud roar. The cracking Of a boot set
it in commotion SO did the cTumDling of
piece of paper or the rustic OF a silk
dress. The patter Of a rain drop startled
it. At every tick of watch held near
it, down it fell The twitter Of a distant
sparrow or the chirp Of cricket produc-
ed the same effect, When Prof. Tyndall
recited Sponsors verse, commencing,
Her ivory forehead full of bounty
beams" the flames seemed to show its
appreciation Of the languages: it noticed,
some sounds with a slight nod. to others
it bowed more distinctly and TO certain
others, again, it made obesiance TO the
performance of musical box, the fame
| behaved like a sentient being Jets of
smoke are acted upon Ike flames, and SO
/ are jets OF water, under certain condl-
! tions.
The loud noises which caves and rocky
| Enclosures give forth when low sounds are
uttered in them, are web known. Bun
sen has noticed that when one Of the
steam Jets Of Iceland breaks out near
/ the mouth Of q cavern, a thundeT-like
sound is produced When hollow
! shell is placed close to the ear, low,
murmuring noise i: heard, which little
children readily believe is the roaring OF
the sea. These phenomena are the eff
! fectS Of resonance, aud resonance is the
reinforcement of one sound by echoes Of
itself If we speak into the mouth Of q
hollow tube the sound vibrations of the
/ air pour down the tube to the bottom
striking against this, they are reflected,
and turn bacl, again; on their way back
they meet others going down, and, union
giving strength, they reinforce each Other
and a doubled sound issues from The
tube it may be that several reflections
conspire to reinforce the original SOUND
several times, and then for light whis-
per We have a loud roar.
The channel Of the ear itself is res0
nant cavity. Every one is familiar Will
the experiment of holding poker by
two strings, one in each hand, thrusting
the fingers in the ears, and striking the
poker against some hard substance. A
sound is experienced by this means which
is as deep and sonorous as cathedra
bell. 1t is due to the reinforcement o.
the vibrations OF the poker in the hollow
cavity Of the ear When we blow gently
across a closed tube, such as the pipe o.
key, the gentle f1uttering OF our breath
is so reinforced by the resonance Of the
cavity that a whistle is produced. Al
organ-pipe gives forth its powerful note
on the same principle; the prime source
Of the sound is only gentle puff Of vino
blown against sharp edge: this pro
duces a fiutter IN the air, and some par
ticular pulse Of this huttering is convert
ed into musical sound by the resonance
OF the associated column of air. Ii {
tuning fork be sounded and held in front
of the slit near the bottom Of an organ
pipe, the pipe will resound as if it had
been blown into. Bat the pipe and the
fork must yield the same note. OF the for
mer will not speak" Any cavity vii
not fully resound TO any sound. 1t Is
only when the note the pipe would give
if blown into is the same as that given by
the fork that the resonance is perfect.
| -~ q -e-
La France says that when the Klne
and Queen OF Belgium informed Poor
| Charlotte" of the death Of NaXimiIiar