Omaha daily bee., 1915-01-09

II affects our auditory nerves with a
sensation which We call hearing. Ordi-
nary sounds are conveyed to cur cars by
vibrations OF the atmosphere. which con-
sists of mixture OF gases These vibra-
tons are known as "sonorous waves"
According to Helmholtz' experiments. the
car cannot Getect any sound If the num-
her of vibrations per second is less than
sixteen or more than 5000. But this is
an extreme estimate All ordinary
musical sounds are comprised between
forty and 1000 vibrations per second. COW
ering about seven octaves The lengths
81 the sonorous waves corresponding to
freouencies of forty and 1000 per second
are respectively twenty-eight feet and
twenty-eight one hundredths of a foot
the latter being trifle more than three
and one-third inches
Now. turn to light. Light is due TO a
vibration of a medium called the ether. or
'luminiferous ether" which is supposed
to pervade all space and to pass freely
through all matter, while being itself ex-
empt from the ordinary limitations and
properties OF matter. Just as in the case
Of sound. the vibrations that give rise
to the sensation OF light belong to series
Of waves only a small part of which
possess the requisite length and fire.
puency necessary to affect the organs OF
sight. II is important to remember the
distinction that the light waves" are
in the ether, while the sound waves"
are in the atmosphere. or some other
ordinary material substance
II the rapidity Of the vibrations in the
ether is less than about $50 million-million
per second, or more than $50 million
million per second they make an impress
sion on the. optic nerve and we see no
light. The wave lengths corresponding
with the fre6uencies just mentioned are
respectively about one IS, 000th of an inch
and one 5S,QO0th of an inch
Within these limits notable differences
In the effects produced upon the eye by
waves of various lengths occur. These
differences are the origin OF coIors. The
longest and slowest of the waves in
cluded In the limits named above produce
the sensation of red; the shortest and
most rapid produce the sensation of VIC
let; intermediate waves produce the SEN
sations. of orange, yellow, green, blue, in
digo and intermediate shades When all
the luminous waves are blended together
In the eye they give the effect of white
light
From what has Just been said you will
see that IL would be impossible for such
direct relation, as your question indi-
Gates, to exist between the vibrations OF
sound and those of light A sound that
becomes so shrill that IT passes upward
on the gamut beyond the reach OF the
ear may still be a sound for some crea-
ture, like an insect, with an organ of
vision constructed to respond to vibra-
tons of very high frequency But it
could not merge into the minute etheric
vibrations that produce the sensation OF
color without itself in some manner pass
ing over from the realm of ordinary mat
ter into that of extraordinary matter.
which seems to be occupied by the ether
We have no direct knowledge of any
such correspondence. but am far from
thinking that it does not exist. The an
swer to Your second question plainly
suggests that II does exist, because that
answer is that the difference of coIors is
due to vibrations of matter-the matter
of which the optic nerve and the brain
are composed. And since the vibrations
which produce the sensation OF light and
color are, originally. in the ether, they
AHN''f ~ epAAt bt dDie 10 pass
over TO ordinary matter, else they could
not cause any sensation. It is something
like what occurs when sonorous waves
conveyed through the air from a musical
string set another musical string TO sing
ing the same note. The air is an incom-
psrsbly rarer substance than the string,
and similarly the ether is incompara bly,
rarer than the substance of the auditory
nerve
Tho third question leads to speculative
ground, which could not be traversed at
the end of u brief article. 1t touches the
vast problem Of the nature of matter.
which is now occupying the best powers
of the greatest living thinkers and OBJ
servers. ! may say. however that every
thing at present seems to indicate that
motion OF a rhythmic character does lie
at the basis Of matter. II is often said.
nowadays, that matter is simply cleo
tricity in motion. but that does not con-
rey any clear idea TO the mind, because
we do not yet know what electricity f.
while there are speculative intellects
whose vertiginous excursions would uD-
set all our ordinary notions about motion