Show SOUND soun e march of science is 19 a tireless relesa endrest one A new dis ajr does but birt pave the way for and so rapidly do they come that ay iy y are brought into existence and without the general public know anything about them the latest ot of a consequential ebar character acter in domain Is an instrument i we vve are alq assured to la ito add greatly information extant regarding at a recent meeting of the can n association for the promotion of science prof A 0 webster ter of clark university propounded a question as to how loud sound Is and as it was unmeasured he brought before the members a contrivance which served as an exact standard of comparison by its use it Is now possible to determine how loud any sound is by means of waves composed to reflect light the professor gave out the suggestion that with this contrivance it would be possible to chase the echo to its source and know everything regarding it and that a modified form of the apparatus might be used on shipboard to denote the approach of other vessels thus giving it practical as well as experimental peri mental value it is represented as a comparatively simple contrivance it Is composed of a set of movable mirrors and prisms acting conjunctively with tha a diaphragm A principle discovered by isaac newton obtains in this particular the rings produced by refraction of shafts of light upon the opaque bodies and which are known to scientists as newtons New tons rings are with other and consonant principles relating to inflection placed in a box the rings are projected against a moving sensitive sensa tive photographic plate on one side of the box is a globe shaped resonator inside of which is a sensitive diaphragm to vibrate on the inner side of the diaphragm is attached a small circular mirror weighing a fraction of a grann graim when a sound however slight enters the resonator or receiver of the instrument the diaphragm and consequently the small mirror vibrates back and forward and a small beam of light is sent careening abbrat among the other mirrors and prisms and is made finally to resolve itself into a series of colored fringes these fringes are projected through a series of slits in a screen until by the time the light reaches the photographic plate it takes the form of a waving line this waving line Is projected on a screen en by means of a lantern and may be viewed if cessare ces sary by a number of persons at once as during the meeting spoken of it thus appears that while a deaf man could distinguish the sounds and note their difference a blind man could not among some interesting experiments performed were the pronouncing of some vowel sounds into the receiver and having them then projected upon a screen where they appeared as an irregular moving line this shows how impossible it is for a person to hold his voice evenly while pronouncing but one word and is a point for singers to think over it is declared that the new machine will prove of great scientific value and if so there Is no reason why its utility should be thus restricted all such discoveries are nursed and cultivated by the scientific department of society for a time but eventually in one way or another if of any practical value at all they get into the possession of the common people where their novelty soon evaporates and they are then placed in the category of the common places |