120 Chapter 7
ecclesiastically suspect because it seemed to leave no room for the transubstantiation of
bread and wine into divine body and blood.^39
Still, Mersenne notes the unsolved problem of why the atoms return to their place, or
what force might so move them; “ it is not enough to say that it is natural to them, ” because
“ atoms are indifferent to all sorts of places and movement is as natural to them as the
repose is contrary. ” He speculates about “ little hooks or crotchets of the other atoms of
the bell, which draw them back into their ordinary place, ” or of atoms having tetrahedral
or octahedral shapes (as in Plato ’ s Timaeus ) that might somehow explain their internal
forces and movements.^40 But he could go no further in advancing this microscopic view
or in formulating the macroscopic mathematics of vibration. Even so, Mersenne raised the
perplexing multiplicity of overtones into a principle of harmonic pleasure: “ The sound of
any string is the more harmonious and agreeable, the greater the number of different
sounds it makes heard at a time. ” If, he continues, it is permitted to “ translate physics into
human actions, one can say that each action is much more agreeable and harmonious to
God as it is accompanied by a greater number of motives, provided that they are all good. ”^41
Mersenne ’ s own vibrating plethora of investigations and speculations testify to his devo-
tion to the God of Universal Harmony. His questions, his beautiful questions, he left for
those who came after.