Page:Young - Outlines of experiments and inquiries respecting sound and light (1800).djvu/34

 2&hairsp;NM + 2&hairsp;MS = KN + NM + NM + MO = KM + NO, is equal to the sum of the distances of the corresponding parts of the simple vibrations. For instance, if the two sounds be as 80 : 81, the joint vibration will be as 80.5; the arithmetical mean between the periods of the single vibrations. The greater the difference in the pitch of two sounds, the more rapid the beats, till at last, like the distinct puffs of air in the experiments already related, they communicate the idea of a continued sound; and this is the fundamental harmonic described by. For instance, in Plate V. Fig. 34–37, the vibrations of sounds related as 1 : 2, 4 : 5, 9 : 10, and 5 : 8, are represented; where the beats, if the sounds be not taken too grave, constitute a distinct sound, which corresponds with the time elapsing between two successive coincidences, or near approaches to coincidence: for, that such a tempered interval still produces a harmonic, appears from Plate V. Fig. 38. But, besides this primary harmonic, a secondary note is sometimes heard, where the intermediate compound vibrations occur at a certain interval, though interruptedly; for instance, in the coalescence of two sounds related to each other as 7 : 8, 5 : 7, or 4 : 5, there is a recurrence of a similar state of the joint motion, nearly at the interval of $5⁄15$, $4⁄12$ or $3⁄9$ of the whole period: hence, in the concord of a major third, the fourth below the key note is heard as distinctly as the double octave, as is seen in some degree in Plate V. Fig. 35; AB being nearly two-thirds of CD. The same sound is sometimes produced by taking the minor sixth below the key note; probably because this sixth, like every other note, is almost always attended by an octave, as a harmonic. If the angles of all the figures resulting from the motion thus assumed be rounded off, they will approach more nearly