The record-union., 1895-09-12
ABOUT SOUND.
some Very Peculiar Things in Connec-
tion with 1t.

Generally sound is more audible at
night than in the daytime. humboldt
noted this when listening 10 the caiaracts
OF the OrlnocO and traced it TO the differ
ence in The humidity OF the air. The at
mosphere is sometimes more than usually
opaque or transparent to sound as well as
10 light. Dr. IyndalI has proved this In
a striking way III relation To the audibiI-
ity OF the fog signals in different states OF
weather. \ little mystery Is also due to
the fact that we sometimes know that
sound is being produced by an object
visible TO us and yet we cannot hear it.
The chirp OF the sparrow is inaudible to
some persons; hers, who can hear tho
sparrow, cannot hear the squeak of a bat:
and all of US are at the mercy OF a kind
of tone-deafness in regard To sounds of
acute pitch. \ singular case OF visible
but inaudible drumming occurred dur
ing the revolution. English and 4 meri-
can troops were drawn up on the oppo-
site sides OF river. The outposts wore
mutually visible and the English could
see an American drummer beating tattoo,
though no sound could be heard. This is
attributed to kind of toneopacity which
affected the air over the river in partic-
ular state of temperature and humidity.
There is TO most OF US much mystery in
sounds when they are louder than we ex-
pected to find them. At Carlsbrooke
Castle, Isle OF Wight, when even so small
an object as pin Is dropped into GER
tain we'll the sound can be heard above,
although the well is more than 200 feet
deep. At ST. Alban's Cathedral, it used
10 be said, the tick OF a watch could be
heard from end TO end of that long build
ing.
sound can be heard over water
greater distance than over land. DR..
Hutton heard person reading at 40
loot distance on the Thames, when he
could near him only seventy feet Oft on
shore. Sound is hoard better also over
ice. 1t Is asserted That the human voice
has been heard ten miles oil at Gibraltar.
single sounds repeated many times
and whole sentences repeated after rec
ond or two are alike mysterious To those
who are not conversaut with the scientific
conditions on which they depend. Some
recorded echoes are OF very remarkable
character. Those on and near the Lakes
Of IS l.arney are very strange. At " ood-
stock Park, near oxford, i; used to be
said that an echo would repeat seventeen
~ ilabIes 10y day and twenty by night-a
statement possibly III ueei OF modern
mod i:icAtioB. An echo on the banks Of
the LIgo lie. LupO, near Iernl, l. said to
repeat seventeen syllables; while the old
tOpOgral hers uf sussex told OF an echo of
twenty -one syl!ab!es IN Shipley church.
Many mysterious runIDiing, u trenl-
bling II nOl booming, has been fairly
attributed 20 distant canuonading heard
over VIDE stretches OF sea and sometimes
over iaud. SuppOsing The statements to
be correct, many or tie recorded eX-
amples are notable. The evening gun at
Plymouth has been heard at iliracombe,
Sky miles oil. Rather more than this il
the distance from Holynead 10 Kings
town, near Dublin, distance travelled by
the sound o. salute from the fioet of
warshlps. CAnnouaGiu- oil tho coast OF
Essex mas ieen heard 1T Cambridge, and
OF tue North foreiand, 1T London, dis
tapces uf seventy or eighty miles. The
booming oi great guns has been heard
from Messlna 10 syracuse, from Genoa TO
LegherU. from Portsmouth 10 Hereford
distances Of ninety to a hundred miles.
l.e terrible firing Of the Federals and
Contcder4teS at The battle of Gettysburg
made itself hearJ $50 miles OF, and il is
even said that the gun-iiring at Stock
holm was once heard AT distance O. $50
miles. and that the cannonading in The
German Ocean WIS audible ut Shrews-
bury, 2o0 miles oil. But ii for cannon
adlng we substitute the nightiest sounds
Of nature, great volcanic eruptions we
leave such distances lar behind. Sir
Stamford Rallies and other reliable au-
;horities tell us that the tremendous vol
canc eruption at Sumbawa Island, in the
Eastern Archipelago. was heard 800 miles
away.-Chieago News.