Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 6.djvu/721

 out the low boom of the cannon continued audible after all the other sounds had ceased.

But it was only during the early part of the day that this preference for the longer waves was manifested. At 3 the case was completely altered, for then the high-pitched siren was heard when all the other sounds were inaudible. On many other days we had illustrations of the varying comparative power of the siren and the gun. On the 9th of October, sometimes the one, sometimes the other was predominant. On the morning of the 13th the siren was clearly heard on Shakespeare's Cliff, while two guns, with their puffs perfectly visible, were unheard. On October 16th, two miles from the signal-station, the gun at eleven o'clock was inferior to the siren, but both were heard. At 12.30, the distance being 6 miles, the gun was quite unheard, while the siren continued faintly audible. Later on in the day the experiment was twice repeated. The puff of the gun was in each case seen, but nothing was heard; in the last experiment, when the gun was quenched, the siren sent forth a sound so strong as to maintain itself through the paddle-noises. The day was clearly hostile to the passage of the longer sonorous waves.

October 17th began with a preference for the shorter waves. At 11.30 the mastery of the siren over the gun was pronounced; at 12.30 the gun slightly surpassed the siren; at 1, 2, and 2.30  the gun also asserted its mastery. This preference for the longer waves was continued on October 18th. On October 20th the day began in favor of the gun, then both became equal, and finally the siren gained the mastery; but the day had become stormy, and a storm is always unfavorable to the momentary gun-sound. The same remark applies to the experiments of October 21st. At 11, distance 6$1/2$ miles, when the siren made itself heard through the noises of wind, sea, and paddles, the gun was fired; but, though listened for with all attention, no sound was heard. Half an hour later the result was the same. On October 24th five observers saw the flash of the gun at a distance of 5 miles, but heard nothing; all of them at this distance heard the siren distinctly; a second experiment on the same day yielded the same result. On the 27th also the siren was triumphant; and on three several occasions on the 29th its mastery over the gun was very pronounced.

Such experiments yield new conceptions as to the scattering of sound in the atmosphere. No sound here employed is a simple sound; in every case the fundamental note is accompanied by others, and the action of the atmosphere on these different groups of waves has its optical analogue in that scattering of the waves of the luminiferous ether which produces the various shades and colors of the sky.

—A few additional remarks and suggestions will fitly wind up this paper. It has been proved that in some states