The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-07
DECEPTION OF SOUND
ECHOES THAT HAVE MADE GER
 TAIN SPOTS FAMOUS.
Marvellous Acoustics of Statuary Hall at the Capitol, Where Whisper is Repeated With
 Distinctness.
Washington Times,

Washington Times.
 Most persons who have visited thls city, as well as the residents thereof, have probably listened with wonder to the weird echoes to be heard in stat uary Hall. the old chamber of the House of Representatives, at the capl- tol. There is a certain tlaGstone Tn the floor of this apartment marked by small black hole about as large as an umbrella point upon which, If per- son stand and utter a sound, he hears a repetition of his own voice proceed ing apparently from the floor directly beneath his feet. An interval elapses between the utterance--of the sound and its echo, and this makes the erect all the more extraodinay, in so much that many persons who hear the echo for the first time are persuaded trick is being played upon them. The same erect Is noticeable on that portion of the floor adjacent to the haGstone men, toned, but the farther away from the latter the less distinct the echo, until, at certain distance, it is not distin- guishable at all.
 The angular extremities of the hall (which is semicircular in form. with a domed rooD are capable of one of oAAOoS "ohoCl lul dIOuolII VhSSLo like that of the repeating hagstone, are met with but rarely and which have never yet been accounted for in a sat- isfactory manner. If two persons stand at these extremities, which are fully 150 feet apart, one whisper in a tone that would be inaudible two feet away, the other, by leaning his ear toward a narrow space between the wall and plaster, will hear distinctly the voice or his companion, spoken into similar space on the opposite side, and which will not be affected or overheard by anyone NSe in the apartment, ra mat ter how crowded the latter.
 These and similar strange tricks of sound are experienced in various places, though, as before mentioned, they are exceedingly rare. In the gar dens of Les Rochas, which was the residence of Madame de Sevigne, is a remarkable echo which finely illus trates the conducting and reverberat- ing powers of a flat surface. The chateau is situated near the old town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on dead level conducts through the gar den to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular spot, the listener is placed at the distance of about ten oi l"CiNC HUH pclSOll, who, similarly placed. addresses him in a low, and in the common acceptation of the term inaudible, whisper, when immediately, as from tens of thousands of invisible tongues. starting from the earth beneath, or as if every pebble was gifted with powers of speech, the words are repeated with slight hiss ing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot through the air. On remov- ing from this spot, however trifling the distance. the intensity of the repetition Is sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to be heard.
 Under the idea, evidently, that the ground beneath was hollow, the soil has been dug up to a considerable depth. but without discovering any clue to the solution of the mystery.
 An echo in Woodstock Park, Oxford shire. England, repeats seventeen sylla, bles by day and twenty by night. One on the bank of the Lago del Lupo, above the fall of Terni, repeats fifteen.
 One of the most remarkable echoes known is one on the north side of Ship ley Church. in the County of Sussex, England, which repeats distinctly twenty-one syllables. In the Abbey Church of St. Albans is very curious echo; the tick of watch may be heard from one end of the church to the other. In Gloucester Cathedral, a gal lery of octagonal form conveys a whisper seventy-five feet across the nave. In the Cathedral of Girgenti in Sicily. the slightest whisper is borne with perfect distinctness from the great door to the cornice behind the high altar. distance of 250 feet It Is said that this circumstance led to the re- moval of the confessional from it's position near the door of the cathedral as result of an accidental discovery or the peculiar acoustic effect, and a consequent tragedy in which love, ieal- ousy and manslaughter figured jointly. In the whispering gallery of St. Paurs London. the faintest sound Is faithfully conveyed from one side of the dome to another, but is not heard at any in termediate points
 In the Manfroni Palace at Venice ia square room. about twenty five feet nigh, with a concave roof, in which a person standing in the centre and stamping gently with his foot on the floor hears the sound repeated a great number of times but, as his position deviates from the centre the reflected sounds grow fainter and at a short dis tance wholly cease. The same phe nomenon occurs in large room of the library of the museum at Naples.