The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-16

approached since their discovery by
Professor Tyndall. may prove of meal
culable practical value to navigators,
while the invention of an instrument
which would tell the mariner the ac-
tual point of the compass from which
comes the sound of foghorn or of
bell-buoy, the booming of which appar-
emily reaches him from several points
of the compass at one and the same
time, and Is heard or is inaudible at
varying distances, would be of the ut
most importance to him in stormy and
foggy weather. Probably not a few
readers of the Times have crossed the
Atlantic and have experienced the feel
ing of dread which is almost irresisti-
Bile to the oldest and toughest sailor
or traveller when, crossing the fog
banks of Newfoundland, or passing up
the English or St. Georges channels,
the heavy clouds have enveloped the
ship and, amid minute-repeated shrieks
of ones own syren, the answering boom
of another foghorn is heard-some-
Where-no one can exactly say where
and suddenly from out the mist looms
another vessel, which passes so quickly
in the opposite direction, shrieking and
booming like some soul in torment, as
to present to the dullest imagination
the idea of ghostly visitant.
Mr.. Bacon has made many remark
able voyages in search of the acoustic
secrets of the air. He has spent vigil
liant nights in the celebrated whisper
ing gallery" of st. PauPs cathedral,
catching sounds which other ears would
probably not notice and noting careful
ly the effect of atmospheric conditions
upon the sound waves. He has scared
balloons thousands of feet above the
roaring city, and, with megaphones
and strangely constructed eartrumpetS,
has tested the acoustic properties and
effects of varied strata of air and OF
masses of cloud.
Five or six miles off Foulness Point,
on the southern coast of the county of
Essex, is a tiny island, little else but
a sand bank-a sort of spur Of the ter
rible Goodwin Sands-from which rises
a solitary tower, the Maplin light,
which sheds it's warning ray across the
deeps and shoals, guarding the sailor
from their treacherous embraces. Here,
by the ready courtesy of the Trinity
house. which, as all the nautical world
knows, has special charge of all light
houses, lightships and bell buoys around
the British coasts, Mr.. Bacon one day
took up his abode. together with a re-
markable collection of curious and Won
derful sound catching, measuring and
testing instruments, with permission to
remain in that lonely retreat just as
long as he pleases. Well, he is not al
together alone, for. as in every other
lighthouse, there are two men whose
duty it is to tend the lamps and keep
them clean and bright, look after their
mechanism and light them and keep
them alight during stated hours of the
night. Nevertheless he will be lonely
enough.
The objects of his self-incarceration
are to determine the maximum range
Of the human voice and of powerful
sound instruments; to note the rise and
fall of sounds heard afar off, as of
church or lighthouse bell or foghorn;
to test sound transmitters and receiv-
ers, and to determine how sounds are
affected by winds, either across or
against the direction in which the sound
is travelling. These are some few of
the objects which Mr.. Bacon has in
view. and which he hopes to clear up
before abandoning his sojourn in the
Maplin lighthouse. But there are two
problems of sound which demand solu
ton and with which he will especially
grapple. The first is to discover some
means Of ascertaining with certainty
from what poi;.t Of the compass SOUND
heard in darkness or fog is coming. The
second is TO determine under what con-