Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 edition. Excerpt: ... THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY AS APPLIED TO SOUNDS. It is well-known that all sounds arise from a peculiar action of the air, and that this action may be excited by the concussion resulting from the sudden displacement of a portion of the atmosphere itself, or by the rapid motions of bodies, or of confined columns of air; in all which cases, when the motions are irregular, and the force great, the sound conveyed to the sensorium is called a noise. But that musical sounds are the result of equal and regular vibratory motions, either of an elastic body, or of a column of air in a tube, exciting in the surrounding atmosphere a regular and equal pulsation. The ear is the medium of communication between those varieties of atmospheric action and the seat of consciousness. To describe fully the beautiful arrangement of the various parts of this organ, and their adaptation to the purpose of collecting and conveying these undulatory motions of the atmosphere, is as much beyond the scope of my present attempt as it is beyond my anatomical knowledge; but I may simply remark, that within the ear, and most carefully protected in the construction of that organ, there is a small cavity containing a pellucid fluid, in which the minute extremities of the auditory nerve float; and that this fluid is the last of the media through which the action producing the sensation of sound is conveyed to the nerve, and thence to the sensorium, where its nature becomes perceptible to the mind. The impulses which produce musical notes must arrive at a certain frequency before the ear loses the intervals of silence between them, and is impressed by only one continued sound; and as they increase in frequency the sound becomes more acute upon the ear. The pitch of a musical note...
