Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-10-18
THE BARKING SANDS.
One of the Many Wonders of the Hawaiian Islands.
Results of . SavRnt's Investigation of the Curious Phenomenon-Sand that Emits Peculiar NoIses-The Cause of
 the Sonorousness.


 Peculiar NoIses-The Cause of
 the 1Sonorousness.
 The so-called "barking sands" of Kauai are mentioned in the works of several travellers in the Hawaiian Isl- Rnds, and havo a worldwide fame as 3 natural curiosity; as a rule, however, the printed accounts arc meager in de- tails, and show the authors to have been unacquainted with similar phenomena elsewhere.
 Writing to the Honolula Commercial Advertiser, H. Corrington Bolton, Ph.i D., says: Jointly with Dr. Alexis A. Julien, of Columbia College, New York, have been studying the properties of sonorous sand for long time, and have visited many localities in America, Eu-i rope and Asia; hence I was able during a recent visit to Kauai to make some notes and comparisons that may tn-i forest the residents of this kingdom.
 Notwithstanding recent rains, l found the sand on the dune at Mana dry to the depth of four or five inches, and when pushed down the steep incline it gave out deep base note. having a tremulous character. This hardly re- sembles the 'barlzing" of dog; but a sound somewhat like it is produced by plunging the hands into the sand and bringing them vigorously together. Another way is to fill long bag three quarters full of sand and then, dividing it's contents into two parts, holding one in each hand to clap tho two portions together. This I had found to be good method for testing the sonorous- ness of sand on sea beaches. A bag of k1, ,,r41 sk1 Asar T. ities long time if kept dry and not too frequently manipulated. The angle at which the sand lies where it falls over. the dune is thirty-one degrees; the so- nervousness extends several hundred feet along the dune, being interrupted; by acreeping vine that thrives marvel ously in such a soil.
 A similar dune of sonorous sand oc-, CUTS on Niihau, as has long been known to residents of the island, and it has been also reported to occur near Koloe.
 These observations, simple as they are, have been of special interest to me, because they show that the sand of these localities forms a link between that of the sea beaches and that of a certain hill on the Gulf of Suez known as Jebe1 Nagous, and which I visited in April, 1889. Sonorous sand is of moro common occurrence than generally sup posed. It is found on the Atlantic coast of the United States from Maine to Florida, on the Pacific coast, in Europe, Japan, Africa, TaSm ania, etc., as well as on the shores of many freSh-water lakes. The musical notes obtained at these far separated localities are also the same, but in Arabia the incline is 800 feet high, and consequently the sounds are far louder, especially as they are further magnified by being echoed from adjoining cliffs.
 The sand at Kauai and Niihau is made up of fragments of shell and coral, while that of all other localities known to us lover one hundred in number) is sili- ceous. This shows that the sonorous- ness is independent of material. EX- animation under the microscope further shows that the sonorous quality is not connected with the shape of the grain. Sonorous sand is distinguished by being free from fine dust or silt; the individ- ual grains are very uniform in size. It is very easy to deprive sand of it's acoustic power by mixing a little earth with it, or by wetting it.
 A number Of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the cause of this P curious property of certain sands. The . prevalent idea in these islands that the
 sound is due to tho cellular structure oi
 the sand must be abandoned, since most F sonorous sand is not so constituted that of Kauai forming an exception
 Some have attributed tho sonorous
 quality to saline crusts, others to cleo tricity, effervescence of air between the ! particles, reverberation within subter L~r @1. .N,saN% %sNr,s 1NE
 one author attempts to explain the phe
 nomenon by writing of "a reduplica , ton of impuses setting air in vibration , in focus of echo" These theories Dr
 Julien and I reject for reasons can no f here detail, and we believe the tru, ! cause of sonorousness to be connected :. with thin pellicles of films of air or o r gases thence derived. deposited, ant 2 condensed upon the surface of the san( v grains during gradual evaporation, afte { wetting by seas, lakes or rains. B.
 virtue of these films the sand grains be '. come separa ted by elastic cushions o ;. condensed gases, capable of considerabl o vibration, whose thickness we have ap , proximately determined. The extent O ; the vibration and the volume and pitcl . of the sound produced we also find to b o largely dependent upon the forms Q structures, and surfaces of the san'
 grains, and especially upon their purit !, or freedom from fine silt or dust. We have shown that the pitch of tn !, musical notes obtained on sea beache IT is proportional to tho mass of sam i- moved, the greater the mass the lowe d the tones; on. the dunes of Kauai an . Niihua the same holds true. Those wh
 wish to learn moro details of our inves tigations can find abstracts of thre papers read before the Amercan Associa v, tion for the Advancement of Science i the proceedings for 1883, 1884 and 1889. e The Best Is the Cheapest. - It is false economy that induces peo
 pie to use cheap butter, cheap coffee