Young’s Musical Optics 167
Figure 11.2
Plate 4 from Young ’ s “ Experiments and Inquiries Respecting Sound and Light ” (1800). Figs. 32 – 35 show “ affec-
tions of light, ” its reflection (32), refraction (33), total reflection (34), and light passing “ near an inflecting body ”
(35); figs. 36 – 43 show the waveforms of various combinations of two sounds: an octave (37), major third (38),
major tone (39), minor sixth (40), a fourth “ tempered by about two commas ” (41), a fourth further tempered by
“ subordinate vibrations of the same kind in the ratios of 3, 5, and 7 ” (42), and a vibration “ corresponding with
the motion of a cycloidal pendulum ” (43).