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A SHORT DISCOURSE

Concerning the Nature of Sounds, and the manner in which (as I understand it) they are magnified, or rather multiplied, by the Stentoro-Phonic Tube Morland’s name for his "loud-speaking trumpet" or megaphone, derived from Stentor, the Greek herald with a voice of bronze..

I shall not involve myself here in any tedious philosophical debate regarding the nature of sounds, because I believe it to be just as mysterious as that of light and colors, and consequently too fine and too subtle a thing for human reason and understanding to fully comprehend.

It is true, regarding the act of vision, that with the help of skilled anatomists, we may trace the refracted rays of visible objects (greater or fewer in number depending on whether the pupil is dilated or contracted) through the various transparent layers and fluids of the eye, until we find their pictures or images (with their positions inverted!) clearly settled in the retinaoriginal: "Tunica Retiformis," or the net-like layer of the eye..

But how are these images or representations afterwards transmitted to the rational soul? Is it only through the mediation of that incredible number of filamentsoriginal: "Capillamenta," meaning small fibers or threads. (or small threads) of which the optic nerve is composed? And if so, how are the various strikes upon the ends of those filaments in the retinaoriginal: "Tunica Retina." repeated by the other ends of the same filaments in the brain? And how can the soul, by contemplating the one, discern the other with such a great variety of figures and colors?

Or does that immortal fire, in the act of seeing, make any use of the animal spiritsIn 17th-century physiology, these were believed to be extremely subtle fluids or "messengers" that traveled through the nerves to communicate sensation and motion. (those nimble messengers for which it has such plentiful stores in the cavities of the brain) to conduct these sensory impressionsoriginal: "Species," referring to the mental images or forms of things perceived by the senses. into its private recesses there—just as she undoubtedly employs and sends them forth in greater or lesser numbers to animate the muscles, and thus give various motions to our bodily and living engines? And lastly, what kind of creatures are those little active spirits? How are they commanded, and how do they obey? These things are best known to the God of Nature, whose wonderful craftsmanship we all are.

In the same way, regarding the nature of sounds and voices: I must confess that the circular ripplesoriginal: "Undulations." in a vessel of water, caused by striking any part of its surface, and the echoing of those ripples when they meet resistance from the sides of the vessel, makes it seem more than probable that the striking of the air by any sound spreads and expands itself by a spherical wave (greater or less, according to the strength and power of that strike) until it meets with some opposition, and so echoes back again. And there is