[Alora 2p, JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY 0? ARTS. 485 Mournal of the Society of Arts. | No. 1,688, Vou. RXXUL — FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1885. All commnscetaons for the Society should be adedrered to he Secretary, Jehnestieet, Adelphi, Lendom, WAC. NOTICES. — CANTOR LECTURES. The third lecture of the fifth course on “Carving and Furniture" was delivered on Monday evening, March 23rd, by Mr. J. HUNGERFORD POLLEN, who, after explaine ing the arrangements of the old countey mansions, and the prominent position which carved wood occupied in their decoration, devated special attention to the productions of the age of Gibbons and Boule. The lecture was illustrated by photographs of examples shown on the screen by means of the lantern. | The lectures will be printed in the Jourmat during the summer recess, FOREIGN & COLONIAL SECTION. Commander Camexon"s paper on “The Congo and the Conference, in reference to Commercial Geography,” will be printed in the next number of the Fournai. Proceedings of the Society. ——. SIXTEENTH ORDINARY MEETING, Wednesday, March asth, 1885; Sir FREDERICK ABEL, D.C.L., C.B., F.RS. Chairman of the Couveil,ia the chair. . The following candidates were proposed for ‘election as members of the Society Dalyell, Hoo, Robert“Avstruther, C.S.L, LL.D. 31, Oadlow gardens, S.W. Handy, G, Hurlstone, Pak-lodge, East Twickenham, Mead, Joba, F.G.S., 12, Queen Anne's-gate, 5.W. Hodges, Herbert J.-Chesterfiel(-house, Darelay-road, Fulham, .W. Kendal, James, 106, Cheapside, E.C. Pears, Andrew, Spring-grove, Isleworth. Stenning, Allan E., Bast Grinstead, Sussex. ‘White, William Henry, Lawer Condercum, New: castle-on-Tyne, ‘The following candidates were balloted for and duly elected members of the Society -— Clare, Octasius Leigh, Hindley-cottage, East Shee, s.W. Gilbert, Wiliam Henry Sainsbury, 9, Old. Jewry- chambers, EC, ‘Kirkaldy, John, 40, West Todia-road, E. Partington, Chatles Frederick, 47, Lower Belgrave- street, ‘MacWilliam, George Greenshields, 30, Bartlett's buildings, Holbora, B.C. Patterson, George, 85, Catletonerd., Tufnell-pk., N. Sharp, James, Carr-hall, Wyke, near Bradford, ‘Wand, Howard Charles, Yeatton, Lymington, Hants “Watson, Joka, Cement Works, Gate head-on-Tyne, “The paper read was— ON THE MUSICAL SCALES OF VARIOUS NATIONS. By Atexanper J. Euus, RS. L—Inrropuertoy. ‘The tile of this paper was meant to be “On the Musical Seales of a/f Nations."’ Allis a biyg word, and T have had to withdraw it, and take refuge in the neutral term earious As I glance at Greece, Arabia, India, Java, China, and Japan, this term is at least not too comprehensive. The difficulties in collecting and co-ordinatiag information, even to this extent, have been many and geeat. Although some of the matter I have to bring to your notice may be found by those who know how to loak far it, in papers already published, by far the greater part is entirely new, ‘The very method by which the results have been obtained, and the language in which they ar expressed, are al-o new, the results of my own investigations. Ihave been assisted throughout by the delicate ear of Mr. Alfred James Hipkins, of J. Broadwood and Sons, Indeed, I may tay at the outset, that without his remarkable power of discriminating small intervals between tones of very different qualities, one of which ia each comparison was often of very short duration, and without his great kindness in putting his faculty at my disposal, and his hearty sympathy in all my musical work, this paper could aot have come486 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. (Ware, 15. into existence for want of materials, and the oaly reason why I have not associated his shame with mise at the head of it is, that I do to make him responsible for the shape in which our joint work is produced. The calculations, the arrangement, the illustra as wellas the original conception, form my part, The judgment of ear, musical suggestions, and assistance in every way I—Musicat Scaces. In my ‘History of Musical Pitch” (Fourna? Of the Sociely of Arts, sth March and ind April, 188, and jth Jan., 1881), Art. 2, 1 defined “ the pitch of a musical note to be the number of double or complete vibrations, backwards and forwards, made in each second by a particle of air while tho note is heard ;"* a full account of the methods by which this is ascertained, and showed how, by means of a sufficiently long series of tuning- forks, first, their own pitch, and then the pitch of all other notes of sufficient duration which “S-The reading ofthis paper mas eatrly occured bytes tations connected by the fewest possible explanations, Because it wis considered. soar importast thatthe audience should actoally bear the scales than be mnrely spoken 29 shout them, Bat op eae thin at al fetegibe te 3 reader, have bees otliged to xtendlmy paper to am unas! length ‘Tha Mevrations wero rendered ow peal lastroment. 1. A Divsord,an instrament oftwo strings, mast kindly e- snrected fortes wth a beawifal srunding Boaz by Meves™ [Jobs Rrondwoed and Sone, Tae vibrating wirer were 2, {Eooge F-toth milvotron, shoot t-foth feeb, the thinnest draws, and bad a obrating length of aston mullimetees of wach out make 0 feet), The ont wat ralsed pau, ‘and the bridge #41mm. fom the sounding head.” The wires were favened as on pianoforte, and screwed 0 pitch € eyuvib, or veer C, by the ual toning hammer, ‘A sunber of laths, aboot § mm. thick anf gif mm, ong, weve ‘contracted to ane as finger Brandi, Os feng of these wat fest sucked rough fee. octaves fhe ‘lice where the wice should be stopped by th fae (ot, ‘rather, side-ot the thumb mailto be more scrote) te pra ‘ace the notes af the Jor! major seals ealewlated en ibe ‘erual hypechenia, that the numbers of vibrations wed be feversely proportional tothe lengths. Oring ta the necemity Cian Ri gd some tics om Seger board {a8 oa the vicloncell}, the increased teasion 2 {com binging the wie to the board In each case sharpened tSesotecnidably To vrrome tis cali th soca layed oa» justly insoned.barmonical, taned fora feats EMC ed boon acurately adjated by pel, ad thea, aseach note was sounded, Mr. Hiphias marked off the positon where he had to stop the wize for perfect snisoe. From these was able to calculate and musk offen 4 geo= setrcal scale the exact panies ter wtopping the string, 20 1 to produce as interval of any given aumber of cent ce (is term caplained ia het. ), and Bease daw the forer Deasd foe aay auscal stale whatever. Mathiog enth such scale 00 is om board, I could thas erader any scale intnetly andibie. “This maoet have bees saticely ew to almert every one-ef the andience. 1, Five Zaglird Concertintiy tuned farsa with great care bby Mr, Saunders, of Moser. Lackenal and Cay the Sat fall within their compass, can be ascertained to one vibration in ten seconds. I chiefly used the forks of the late celebrated Scheibler for that paper. For the present investigation I have employed a much longer series of forks, with thelr pitch ascertained from those of Scheibler within that limit. Further, ia Art. 3, I defined musical pitch to be ‘the pitch of any named musical note which determines the pitch of all the ether notes in a particular system of tuning.”” By that system we arc therefore able to tune all the notes on an instrument. These notes, when sounded in succession from the lowest to the highest— ‘that is, from that which has the smallest to that which has the largest pitch number— forms the scede of the instrument, from which are selected the notes used for any piece of mausic forming the scale of that composition. ‘The word seule properly means dadder’, because the notes thus sounded gives us the sensa- tion of ascending by definite distances. An intercat between any two notes is the sensa- tio of the distance passed over in proceeding: concertina benve ig Leadon, The English vacetinu ad oe my porpos, two important advustages orer any othee strammest, Fire, Thad bee falling with t from beyboud, having pomersed some of the eatlles concetinas made Second fe har 14 notes to the ctave, and wat besce el old mneqeal temperament with extra A fat and D sharp. % Rqoal and Bagpipe, giving the complete aqui tempers rent, and also the Hagpipe sesia, and Meehagah's Arabic scale, alloning me to fstrate teve by playing arn. Joni giving the aconrate Barmenie sealer of Fy C, G mes, ‘major and minor, enabling mu to UMrate the ancient Greek terachards. . Pythagorean, contuining the tanetes cension of perfect Fitba, enabling me tp lve- trate the Pyihagoceas or Inter Greek fem ef the eevee Greck modes, and alto most of tbe the wedimyal Arabic ‘salon. «. Javese, the white Reys giving the Salvadie, and the black the Peiog scales. Tht wat tuned from forks adjesied by myvelf tothe pitches of he Javeve Gontrumeats ‘nblch weceplaped at the Aquariom in Lande, ia 1880, a8 ascertained by Mr, Hipkins atl myself om eareol examina tom. ‘Thisenabled me ta play several Javere srs 3: An Indian Sitdr, or longseeched quite, most Kindly presented 12 see by H.B. the Maja Ram Pal Singh, who bad Himself played upen i to Mr. Miptias andl, to enable Ute secerd some Tolan scales. One of theve scales ma ‘et upon the Sidr wo that ie could be played, the ethers were pliced ea the Dichord, “4 Two Pleas kindly leat me by M. Victor Mabiloe, of Brasil $A Gambong or Batafong, tht is, 2 wood harmonica, played bya hammer, scot direct from Songapore to A Hips, who kindly eat fe tis jarpes seaies chtaiend from them thls eaabled me navure uf their comstrection and tee, ‘6A aly the sastenal Japanttedautrisient alse kindly lent hy Mr. Hiphles, toned fr the ateualon by the easicans cof the Japanese Village, 2. Aamall Chine of Chinese Belly and aset of Japnorse Pltchepipes, Hindiy lent by Me’ Hermasa SithMarck 97,1886) JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. 487 from the first note to the second. It is ‘measured properly by the ratio of the amaller pitch number to the larger, or by the fraction formed by dividing the larger by the smaller. ‘When these ratios are known for each suc- cessive pair of notes, the scale itself is known, for means then exist for tuning the whole scale hen one of its notes is given. Clearly, if we assume, for the purposes of calculation, that the lowest note makes one vibration in a second (which could not be heard as a note), {the ratios mentioned would give the correspond ing numbers of vibrations for each note, and these all rultiplicd by the real audible number of vibrations in the lowest note, would give the adsolude pitches of the actuat notes heard, These ratios, therefore, are the important matters to ascertain, and they are said to give the relative pitch of each nate in the scale. The absolute numbers, which is what engaged my attention last time, are now of little con- sequence, We do not want to know haw to tune at any particular piteh, but how to tune at any pitch whatever. Hence it is the law which determines the relative pitch that we wish to find, of, in other words, the aystem of 0s or of their equivalents ML—Cewrs. Now these ratios convey no-conception what- ever tothe musician, who, without considerable instruction, can attach no musieal meaning to such ration a 2:34: 44: § 826,67, 7:8,8:9, 9: t6, and so om. Hence some other way of expressing them is necessary, especially for describing seales, To that end I must antici- pate somewhat. It will not ie, perhaps, too great an assumption to presuppose that every ‘one present is acquainted with the pianoforte, and knows that it is divided into sets of tones called octaves, and that there are 12 digitals of finger keys to each octave, 7 long and white, gashort and Black. But, perhaps, every one may not know (as he ought to know) that the object of the tuner is te make the interval (or sensation of distance of ascent) between any two notes answering to any two adjacent finger ‘keys throughout the instrument precisely the same. The nearer he succeeds the better the tuner, Theresultis called egiat femperament or tuning, and is the system at present used throughout Europe. (See “History of Musical Piteh,"" Art. and Appendix 1). For the purposes of measurement, 1 must assume that the tuoer has succeeded, although Iam bound te say that no tuner ever has as yet succeeded perfectly, on account of the great difficulty to be overcome, Thea we say that the interval of an Octave is divided into twelve equal intervals called Semitones. Now I must go a step furth Suppose a piano made of such a gigantic that we could interpose 9 smaller finger keys between any two at present existing, and that we could tune these at exactly equal intervals, called cenfs, so that 100 cents would form an equal semitone. It is as well to know at once that this is impossible". No ear has yet suc- ceedectin hearing the interval of 1 cent between two notes played in succession. Even the interval of 2 cents requires very favourable circumstances to perceive, although § may be easily heard by good ears, and 10 to 20 ought to be at once recognised by all singers and tuners. When the two notes are played at the same time, these acents make a distinet difference in consonances, and cents are felt to be out oftune. The tuner has constantly to Geal with intervals of from 2 to 22 cents, and he coreects his ear by playing the notes together. If, then, I say that a certain interval has 516 cents, I mean that it contains 3 semi: tones (counted by the keys on a piano) and 16 cents or avery little more, But how are we to determine the number of cents? By finding ‘the interval ratio already mentioned, which is best ascertained feoen the absolute pitch num- ‘bees of each note, and may be approximately ascertained by taking the ratio of the sounding. Tengths of two pieces of the same musical string, when they are in unison with the two notes as determined om anaccurate monochord. Having found these twa numbers, the dis- covery of the number of cents is a mere matter of arithmetic} When thenumbersof cents have * Although this is quite impassible 2 a and, we slay approrimate very closely to conception of such a division ‘catsy Dichord which i tacedio tener © r3¢ vibrations, Take tro Hotes at D and D shy an eqeal semitone apart fa the emer porilonf the cals. Their topping places are abocteor part. Now, if tbe Singer be glided over thin interval afer the atring is plucked, » grades! and costinsour alteration of sound Ia beard i parsing trom D to Dish, and ie evident that if Use Singer atop anywhere x contiouces tene wil be prcduced. Now, to divide af inches into = hondred parts, (fees the very sealble distance ofthe foxtieth part of am inch foreach. sAnd if we placed the inger at each we thowld get intervals almose (not gulta) 1 cont apart. How small thie Fnterva! le wae shown by stopping a Itecrals of cents, or 1 quarter ofa ich, in passing tom Zito Dish. VIG of the two eumbers expeessing the interval ratio, » tines the Linger ts maf greater than g ties the seller, rauleply 3.47 by thee diflerence, and divide by thle swe the seatest whole number, aiog tothe revat if over 430. mts ie = 16h the ailer-438 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS. (March 27, 1g, been ascertained by the process described in: the footnote, a scale, which I particularly leave unnamed, is written thas :— Vib. 270 308387 git azo 40 Cente E398 TE ag6 TIT ayg1V 232 ¥ 240 T Sums 0 238 qBy 728 960 1200 Here 1, If, &., are the nates of the partie cular seale, of which there are here five, I> Deing the octave of I. The numbers defmcer these note-symbols show the number of cents in the interval from one to the other. The numbers under them show the number of cents in the interval from I to the note question, The number advoe is the absolute pitch number of the note as already defined, that is, the mumber of vibrations which it makes in a second, as found from observations. Bat this may be omitted when merely the relative ch is wanted. han 2:3, multiply the larger number by 5, and the amals by proceed an before, and finally add 4p¥ to the ‘Thunfor 30245, mally 45 by, and aby, ering 0 igrence r, sum nfs. Then 7 at fag einer 90, the coane required. Lastly, if the ratio sexceeds 4 j.stultiply the Linger number bya and the aaaller ‘uy sand proceed an In firnt cata, adding” pen 46 the rel That foe $28) take 5x 5s 8 "rorr coavenital,battwhes alarpesanber of revalts hive to be ‘Shtained; always tedious. In this case, those who cam eae earithos, wil Bnd the folowing table wery simple, and it ‘wil give the wenn to one-tenth of coat. To Convent Losanituns meio Cars, ano Comvansacy, aerssssas Subtract the logarithins of the pitel of the smumbers of their vatio. Thos for 21:45, leg 45 ='F 65321, log aa = sess, diference “s48ty the went least log ia the table, rasa) aives 500 cents, Subtract tis fom foroee og, ress “anv, nent Benet “eans, giving go eats, total 9 eonts ta the nearest cent as before, Mt we cas bain If ‘eke, go sep farther and wubiracting the tw Lat let ve get “coos, which In the last column corresponds 12 Sr evans, Fleal revolt spr Tei a a general rule, wa ‘necentary to go beyond the nearost tobe umber af cents. “The following are a. few of th best Keown Interv a resin im conte and rao for -commparton wih hate which Name. Quartenoae. Small Seaton Pythagorean Linas, ‘Seal Emma ‘Trumpet three-quarter Toot, Minor Sacond. Bgual Tove. Major Second, Septisal maior Teed, qual minoe Thied. Just mse Teed. Zelen's nenral Thid, Jen major Third. gyal major Third. Pythagoccan major Thiet, Grave Four Jit Fourth. Egeal Fourth. ‘Seplinal FRR, Jor Tritone. gaat Teton ‘Grave Pitt Eagl Fok Seyinal or haumonle oor ‘Seve, 6 a ro Equal minor Seven rit Jest major Soret reo Equal major Seventh ne Dythagerean majse Seveath oo Octave + Consonant iterral, tha rert are dssoaast ‘Thercansoaance of thee Intervals tx dipated. 1 Equally semporediatecrals. The ration asigeed to theee Intervals (with the exception of the Octave) are aaly ery love approtizations the real rationbeing incommenvarable, ‘nol expresible fa bola numbers,