Young’s Musical Optics 165
Figure 11.1
Young ’ s illustration of his experiments in “ Experiments and Inquiries Respecting Sound and Light ” (1800), with
his caption: “ Fig. 27. The appearance of a stream of smoke forced very gently from a fine tube. Fig. 28 and 29,
the same appearance when the pressure is gradually increased. Fig. 30. A mouth piece for a sonorous cavity.
Fig. 31. The perpendicular lines over each division of the horizontal line show, by their length and distance from
that line, the extent of pressure capable of producing, from the respective pipes, the harmonic notes indicated
by the figures placed opposite the beginning of each, according to the scale of 22 inches parallel to them. The
larger numbers, opposite the middle of each of these lines, show the number of vibrations of the corresponding
sound in a second. ”