Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-07-10

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! mon natural cause to so thoroughly i'm
pregnate the atmosphere with solid
infinitesmal particles or atoms of solid
matter as to serve as the proximate
cause, in the production of rain falls /;
and, also to act in COZ junction with the
all pervading ether in the production of
light and the conveyance of sound from
its originating causes to the organs of
hearing in the animal body. failed to
discover any tenable ground advanced
by his opponents to meet his arguments
or to base their own upon--it being, as
he clearly pointed out, utterly impossible
from the nature of the case to consider
"air waves" differentiated from the all
pervading infinitesimally divided solid
matter pervading them; making it in
disputably apparent that nature designed
the two to act in conjunction in the
production of physical effects. AT this
junction his opponents seemingly unable
to answer his argument, one of their
number, DR.. Fowler, a Chief Examiner
in the Patent Office-an old, valued
friend of mine and an individual Justly
renowned for his scientific ability and
erudton, turning to me asked my opin-
ion of the subject under consideration.
Not wishing to incur a prejudice against
myself in an attempt to play an impor-
tant part in the discussion, l concluded
70 in,
argument that presented itself to my
mind, viz, that the fact that pure air is
so poor a conductor of sound-having
many times a less power of conductivity
than wood or metal-it seemed to me
that "the air wave theory" was utterly
untenable.
A simultaneous denial of my state
ment by at least three of the individuals
present in tone obviously suggestive
of my ignorance of the subject-certain-
ly surprised me, as l hotly denied the
insinuation. This brought from my
questioners demand for my authority
for my statement. l answered, that any
recognized treatise treating of the fun
damental laws of general physics should
contain the requisite information. As
one of the individuals present had his
office in the building that we were in
with large library well stocked with
scientific volumes, was asked to find
volume to prove my contention. This
was quickly done in my choosing Has
wells treatises on Engineering, in which
under the caption of Sound in the
table of contents, pointed out to my
crestfallen opponents the unmistakable
declaration that "sound has a velocity
from to 16 times greater in metals and
wood than air." This led to a futile
attempt to discredit Haswel as a sound
authority when Col. Mallory came to
my rescue with the statement that
"Haswell' in matters of engineering and
physical science was the accepted au-
lhority of the Engineering Department
of the U. S. Government.
l have gone minutely into the fore
going statements to show how utterly
prone and abject are the minds of even
our best scientific scholars before So
called accepted scoastic authority; a
deplorable mental, servile condition, well |
illustrated in the "Kotoing" Chinese |
fashion of a sophomeric reviewer before
certain ancient, sacred authorities, as |
exhibited in a recent article copied by |
the Middlebury Register on Joseph Bat
tells recently published volume entitled |
ELLEN, or The Whispering of an Old
Pine"
1t was at last unanimously agreed by |
the party engaged in the foregoing dis
cussion that from the arguments present.
ed which were new to the advocates of |
"the wave theory of sound"-that this |
theory from rational philosophic point
of view had no substantial basis to rest
upon; for 1T could not inferentially. in |
either reason or philosophy be supposed |
or imagined that nature would have Sc
lected one of the poorest conductors in |
her realm for the conveyance or transit |
of one of the most important adjuncts to
tne lie OF all living creatures
The foregoing discussion of the nature
and cause of sound was suggested to my
mind by the simultaneous appearance in
the Middlebury Register of copy of an
alleged criticism from the Springfield |
Republican on Joseph Battell's recent vol
ume, entitled ELLEN, or the Whisperings
of an Old Pine" and An article in the
New York Sunday Sun in which the
startling statement is made that French
scientist has succeeded in photographing,
on moving prepared ribbon, serving as
a sensitive medium, the articulate sounds
of the human voice, thus making the hu-
man voice equally with the human face
the subject of photography.
The fact that articulate sound has be-