British Acoustics and its Transformation from the 1860s to the 1910s

Summary

Between the 1860s and the 1910s, British acoustics was transformed from an area of empirical research into a mathematically organized field. Musical motives—improving musical scales and temperaments, making better musical instruments, and understanding the nature of musical tones—were among the major driving forces of acoustical researchers in nineteenth-century Britain. The German acoustician, Helmholtz, had a major impact on British acousticians who also had extensive interactions with American and French acousticians. Rayleigh's acoustics, reflecting all these features, bore remarkable fruit in his treatise The Theory of Sound, which successfully subjected empirical acoustics to analytical mathematics. His accomplishments made British acoustics a subfield of physics, thus distinguishing it from the ‘new acoustics’ in early twentieth-century America.

I would like to profoundly thank Ivor Grattan-Guinness for his cordial help and comments throughout the course of gathering materials and writing earlier drafts. I would like to give special thanks to Curtis Wilson for his valuable comments. My gratitude is also due to the archivists and librarians at Imperial College Library for permission to use the materials housed in their institution.

Notes

¹Only acousticians have undertaken to write a general history of nineteenth-century acoustics. Bruce Lindsay, ‘Story of Acoustics’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 39 (1966), pp. 629–44; Robert T. Beyer, Sounds of Our Time: Two Hundred Years in Acoustics (New York, 1999). 

²Historians of physics underestimate the status of acoustics in the nineteenth century. For instance, acoustics does not occupy any meaningful sector in the discussion of Peter M. Harman, Energy, Force, and Matter: The Conceptual Development of Nineteenth-Century Physics (Cambridge, 1982).

³Ja Hyon Ku, ‘J.W. Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound, First Edition (1877–1878)’, in Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics, 1640–1940 edited by I. Gratttan-Guinness (Amsterdam, 2005), pp. 588–99.

⁴This numbers were quoted from the classification in Scientific Papers by Lord Rayleigh, most of which was edited by Rayleigh himself. See Rayleigh, Scientific Papers by Lord Rayleigh (New York, 1964), vol. 1, p. xiii.

⁵Robert T. Beyer, ‘Acoustic, Acoustics’, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 98 (1995), pp. 33–34.

⁶John Tyndall, On Sound (New York, 1867; New York, 1969).

⁷This process of the mathematization of some experimental physical fields can be found in Peter Harman, Energy, Force, and Matter: The Conceptual Development of Nineteenth-Century Physics (Cambridge, 1982).

⁸Hermann von Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music, trans. A.J. Ellis (New York, 1885, New York, 1954).

⁹See Ja Hyon Ku, ‘Helmholtz-ui saengrihag yeongu-ui seonggyeog-gwa cheonggag-ui gongmyeong iron’(Characteristics of Helmholtz's Physiological Research and His Theory of Resonance of Hearing) (in Korean), unpublished Master thesis for Seoul National University, 1995.

¹⁰Steven Vogel, ‘Sensation of Tone, Perception of Sound, and Empiricism: Helmholtz's Physiological Acoustics’, in Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundation of Nineteenth-Century Science, edited by David Cahan (Berkeley, 1993), 259–90.

¹¹Hermann von Helmholtz, ‘Über Combiantionstöne’, Annalen der Physik, 99 (1856), 497–540 (497).

¹²Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (note 8), Appendices.

¹³Robert J. Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, Life of John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh (London, 1924) pp. 25–36; R.B. Lindsay, ‘Strutt, John William, Third Baron Rayleigh’, in Charles Coulston Gillispie, ed. Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York, 1981), vol. 13, p. 101.

¹⁴Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound, 2nd ed. (London, 1894–1895; New York, 1945). The first edition published in 1877–1878 is preserved and made distinct in this enlarged edition.

¹⁵A.J. Ellis, ‘The History of Musical Pitch’, in Journal of the Society of Arts (March, 1880), 293–404 (293).

¹⁶A.J. Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’, in Helmholtz, Sensations of Tone (London, 1885; New York, 1954), Appendix XX, pp. 495–522.

¹⁷Ellis (note 15), p. 302.

¹⁸‘Hipkins, Alfred (James)’, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 2001), vol. 11, p. 543.

¹⁹A.J. Ellis's extended appendices were added for music students. See Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’ (note 16), Appendix XX.

²⁰Ellis, ‘Additions by Translator’ (note 16), pp. 259, 326, 470.

²¹D.J. Blaikley, ‘Notes on the Action of Musical Reeds’, Proceedings of Musical Association, 15th session, 1888–89, p. 151.

²²D.J. Blaikley, ‘Notes on the Action of Musical Reeds’, Proceedings of Musical Association, 15th session, 1888–89, p. 151.

²³The history of the Society of Arts can be found in the web pages of RSA; http://www.rsa.org.uk/rsa/index.asp.

²⁴The William Shipley Group for RSA History’, Newsletter of The Royal Society of Arts 5 (Sept. 2005), 1–2 (2).

²⁵Beyer (note 1), p. 41–42.

²⁶D.C. Miller, Anecdotal History of Science of Sound: To the Beginning of the 20th Century (New York, 1935), p. 51.

²⁷D.J. Blaikley to Rayleigh, Unpublished letters to Rayleigh, July 22, 1884 in Strutt, John William (1842–1919) 3rd Baron Rayleigh, General Correspondence and Notebooks at the Research Library of the USAF Research Laboratory, Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA, USA held on microfilm at Library Archives and Special Collections, Imperial College London.

²⁸D.J. Blaikley, Cantor Lectures on Musical Wind Instruments (London, 1905), p. 15.

²⁹D.J. Blaikley, ‘Notes on the Action of Musical Reeds’, Proceedings of Musical Association, 15th session, 1888–1889, 151–64 (156–57).

^{30 1} D.J. Blaikley, ‘Notes on the Action of Musical Reeds’, Proceedings of Musical Association, 15th session, 1888–1889, p. 162.

³¹David Pantalony, ‘Rudolph Koenig's Workshop of Sound: Instruments, Theories and the Debate over Combination Tones’, Annals of Science, 62 (2005), 57–82 (63).

³²H. McLeod to Rayleigh (note 27), 3 November 1877.

³³A.J. Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 24 May, 9 June, 1877.

³⁴Joseph Fourier, Theorie analytique de la chaleur (Paris, 1822), pp. 207–37.

³⁵Helmholtz (note 8), pp. 52–53.

³⁶Helmholtz (note 8), pp. 65–69.

³⁷John William Strutt, ‘On the Theory of Resonance’, Philosophical Transactions, 161 (1870), 77–118 (78) [Reprint in Scientific Papers by Lord Rayleigh (New York, 1964), art. 5, vol. 1, 33–75 (34)].

³⁸John William Strutt, ‘On the Theory of Resonance’, Philosophical Transactions, 161 (1870), 77–118 (78) [Reprint in Scientific Papers by Lord Rayleigh (New York, 1964), art. 5, vol. 1, pp. 74–102.

³⁹Rayleigh, ‘Acoustical Observations I’, Philosophical Magazine, 3 (1877), 456–64 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 46, vol. 1, 314–21]; Idem, ‘Acoustical Observations IV’, Philosophical Magazine, 13 (1882), 340–47 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 84, vol. 2, 95–102]; Idem, ‘Acoustical Notes VI’, Philosophical Magazine, 2 (1901), 280–85 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 270, vol. 4, 550–54].

⁴⁰Ellis, ‘Additions by Translator’ (note 16), pp. 470–81.

⁴¹R.H.M. Bosanquet to Rayleigh (note 27), 22 July, unknown year.

⁴²Johann H. Scheibler, Der physikalische und musicalisch Tonmesser (Essen, 1834).

⁴³Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 9 June 1877.

⁴⁴Beyer (note 1), pp. 14–15.

⁴⁵Pantalony (note 31), pp. 69–81.

⁴⁶Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’ (note 16), pp. 527–38.

⁴⁷Helmholtz (note 8), pp. 80–82.

⁴⁸Miller (note 26), pp. 87–88.

⁴⁹Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’ (note 16), p. 442.

⁵⁰Ellis (note 15), p. 298.

⁵¹Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 1 September 1877.

⁵²Helmholtz's reductionist orientation in his physiological research can be referred to Timothy Lenoir, The Strategy of Life: Teleology and Mechanics in Nineteenth Century German Biology (Dordrecht, 1982), pp. 197–209; Ja Hyon Ku (note 9), pp. 5–16.

⁵³R.J. Lloyd to Rayleigh (note 27), 1 October 1895 and 3 January 1896.

⁵⁴Ja Hyon Ku, ‘Rayleigh-ui sori-ui banghyang jigag yeongu-e daehan gwahagsajeog gochal’ (A Historical Inquiry about Rayleigh's Research on the Perception of the Direction of Sound) (in Korean), Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea, 21 (2002), pp. 695–702.

⁵⁵John William Strutt, ‘On the Theory of Resonance’ (note 37); Idem, ‘Remark on a Paper by Dr Sondhauss’, Philosophical Magazine, 40 (1870), 211–17 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 4, vol. 1, 26–32].

⁵⁶Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (note 14), chapter 16.

⁵⁷D.J. Blaikley, ‘On Quality of Tone in Wind Instruments’, Proceedings of the Musical Association, 6th Session, 1879–1880, 79–90 (81–84).

⁵⁸Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), Sept. 2, 1877.

⁵⁹Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’ (note 16), p. 532.

⁶⁰August Töpler, ‘On the Application of the Principle of Stroboscopic Disks to the Optical Analysis of Vibrating Bodies’, Philosophical Magazine, 220 (1867), pp. 16–17.

⁶¹V. Carton Maley, Jr. The Theory of Beats and Combination Tones, 1700–1863 (New York and London, 1990), pp. 11–23.

⁶²Beyer (note 1), pp. 313–14.

⁶³Pantalony (note 31), p. 65.

⁶⁴Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), undated, beginning with ‘I thank you sincerely for your kind invitation … .’

⁶⁵Jane Smeal Thompson and Helen G. Thompson, Silvanus Phillips Thompson: His Life and Letters (London, 1920), p. 159.

⁶⁶Jane Smeal Thompson and Helen G. Thompson, Silvanus Phillips Thompson: His Life and Letters (London, 1920), p. 159.

⁶⁷Beyer (note 1), p. 106.

⁶⁸Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), 7 October 1878.

⁶⁹Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), 29 March 1878.

⁷⁰Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), unknown date, just before the publication of the 2nd edition of The Theory of Sound in 1894.

⁷¹Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), 19 October 1894.

⁷²Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), unknown date, just before BA meeting at Oxford in 1894, beginning with ‘I have the pleasure to send you a short paper … .’

⁷³W.L. Stevens to Rayleigh (note 27), 27 August 1887.

⁷⁴Stevens to Rayleigh (note 27), 14 November 1888.

⁷⁵Stevens to Rayleigh (note 27), 23 March 1889.

⁷⁶Mayer to Rayleigh (note 27), 19 October 1894.

⁷⁷The detailed description of the content and characteristics of the book can be found in the author's article. See Ku (note 3).

⁷⁸Rayleigh, ‘Acoustical Observations II’, Philosophical Magazine, 7 (1879), 149–62 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 61, vol. 1, 401–405].

⁷⁹Rayleigh, ‘Acoustical Observations I’ (note 37), p. 458; Idem, ‘Interference of Sound’, Royal Institution Proceedings, 17 (1902), 1–7 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 273, vol. 5, 1–7]; Idem, ‘Shadow’, Royal Institution Proceedings, Jan 15 (1904), 1–7 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 293, vol. 5, 166–72].

⁸⁰Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 24 May 1877.

⁸¹Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 2 September 1877.

⁸²Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 1 September 1877.

⁸³Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 3 September 1877.

⁸⁴Rayleigh, ‘Acoustical Observations IV’ (note 37), p. 340–41.

⁸⁵Walter G. Brown to Rayleigh (note 27), 10 June 1879.

⁸⁶Bosanquet to Rayleigh (note 27), 22 July, unknown year.

⁸⁷F. Oosting to Rayleigh (note 27), 9 May, 1885.

⁸⁸Rayleigh, ‘On an Instrument Capable of Measuring the Intensity of Aerial Vibration’, Philosophical Magazine, 14 (1882), 186–87 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 91, vol. 2, 132–33].

⁸⁹Ja Hyon Ku, ‘Rayleigh-ui silheom umhyanghag yeonku-ui seongkwa: dogu-ui gaeseon-gwa jeongmilseong-ui jeungjin’(Accomplishments of Rayleigh's Experimental Research: Improvement of Instruments and Enhancement of Precision) (in Korean), Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea, 22 (2003), 115–20 (118–19).

⁹⁰Emily Thompson, The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933 (Cambridge, 1999), p. 5.

⁹¹Beyer (note 1), p. 93.

⁹²Rayleigh (note 88).

⁹³H.W. Mackenzie to Rayleigh (note 27), 8 January 1881.

⁹⁴Andrew Warwick, Masters of Theory: Cambridge and the Rise of Mathematical Physics (Chicago, 2003).

⁹⁵Andrew Warwick, ‘Cambridge Mathematics and Cavendish Physics: Cunningham, Campbell and Einstein's Relativity 1905–1911, Part I: The Uses of Theory’, Studies of History and Philosophy of Science 23 (1992), 625–56 (636).

⁹⁶R.J. Strutt (note 13), p. 50.

⁹⁷Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (note 14), vol. 1, p. xxxiii.

⁹⁸John William Strutt, ‘On the Theory of Resonance’, (note 37), pp. 77–118.

⁹⁹W. Froude to Rayleigh (note 27), 18 January 1876.

¹⁰⁰Ellis, ‘Additions by the Translator’ (note 16), Appendix XX.

¹⁰¹Ellis to Rayleigh (note 27), 1 September 1877. Ellis's life was little known. He was educated mathematician in Cambridge, but he made great accomplishments in studying early English pronunciation as a phonetician. His work on music is remembered less that it deserves. ‘Ellis (Sharpe), Alexander J(ohn)’ in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed., edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 2001), vol. 8, p. 153.

¹⁰³R.J. Strutt (note 13), p. 83.

¹⁰²R.J. Strutt (note 13), p. 81.

¹⁰⁴R.J. Strutt (note 13), p. 84.

¹⁰⁵Hermann von Helmholtz, ‘Lord Rayleigh's Theory of Sound’ [a review by Hermann von Helmholtz] Nature, 19 (12 December 1878), 117–18.

¹⁰⁶Ku (note 3). pp. 592–93.

¹⁰⁷Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (note 14), chapters 4–5.

¹⁰⁸H. Lamb to Rayleigh (note 27), 4 October 1894.

¹⁰⁹Rayleigh tended to undertake theoretical problems by reasoning without considering the practical systems. Some examples could be found in Rayleigh, ‘On the Vibrations of a Cylindrical Vessel Containing Liquid’, Philosophical Magazine, 15 (1883), pp. 385–89 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 101, vol. 2, 212–19]; Idem, ‘Note on the Free Vibrations of an Infinitely Long Cylindrical Shell’, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 45 (1889), pp. 443–48 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 155, vol. 3, 244–48]; Idem, ‘On the Free Vibrations of an Infinite Plate of Homogeneous Isotropic Elastic Matter’, Proceedings of London Mathematical Society, 20 (1889), pp. 225–34 [Reprint in Scientific Papers (note 37), art. 156, vol. 3, 225–34].

¹¹⁰Andrew Warwick, ‘The Laboratory of Theory or What's Exact about the Exact Science?’ in The Values of Precision, edited by Norton Wise (Princeton, 1995), pp. 323–27.

¹¹¹A.E.H. Love to Rayleigh (note 27), 22 June 1888.

¹¹²Love to Rayleigh (note 27), 19 May 1888.

¹¹³Love to Rayleigh (note 27), 3 October 1894.

¹¹⁴A.G. Greenhill to Rayleigh (note 27), 21 January 1886.

¹¹⁵Keiichi Aichi to Rayleigh (note 27), 22 September 1918.

¹¹⁶Aichi to Rayleigh (note 27), 17 December 1918.

¹¹⁷R. Bruce Lindsay, ‘Historical Introduction’, in J.W.S. Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (New York, 1945), vol. 1, p. xxvii.

¹¹⁸Silvanus Thompson, ‘Note on a Mode of Maintaining Tuning Forks by Electricity’, Philosophical Magazine, 22 (1886), pp. 216–17.

¹¹⁹W.G. Gregory, ‘On a Method of Driving Tuning-Forks Electrically’, Philosophical Magazine, 28 (1889), pp. 490–91.

¹²⁰John LeConte, ‘On Sound-Shadows in Water’, Philosophical Magazine, 13 (1882), 98–112 (99).

¹²¹Charles V. Burton, ‘Some Acoustical Experiments’, Philosophical Magazine, 39 (1895), pp. 447–453 (452).

¹²²Lord Kelvin, ‘Continuity in Undulatory Theory of Condensational-Rare-Fractional Waves in Gases, Liquids and Solids, of Distortional Waves in Solids, of Electric Waves in All Substances Capable of Transmitting Them, and of Radiant Heat, Visible Light, Ultra Violet Light’, Philosophical Magazine, 46 (1898), 494–500 (495).

¹²³D.J. Blaikley, ‘Experiments on the Velocity of Sound in Air’, Philosophical Magazine, 18 (1884), 328–34 (331–32).

¹²⁴J.H.T. Roberts, ‘On Transverse Vibration of a String Maintained by Forces of Double Frequency’, Philosophical Magazine, 23 (1912), 931–36 (932).

¹²⁵J.W. Nicholson, ‘The Scattering of Sound by Spheroid and Disks’, Philosophical Magazine, 14 (1907), 364–77 (365).

¹²⁶J.W. Nicholson, ‘The Scattering of Sound by Spheroid and Disks’, Philosophical Magazine, 14 (1907), pp. 366–77.

¹²⁷E.H. Barton, ‘On Spherical Radiation and Vibrations in Conical Pipes’, Philosophical Magazine, 15 (1908), 69–81 (69).

¹²⁸E.H. Barton, ‘On Spherical Radiation and Vibrations in Conical Pipes’, Philosophical Magazine, 15 (1908), p. 77.

¹²⁹Rayleigh's employment of successive approximation can be found in Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (note 14), vol. 1, pp. 190–91.

¹³⁰Charles V. Burton, ‘On the Plane and Spherical Sound-Waves of Finite Amplitude’, Philosophical Magazine, 35 (1893), 317–33 (317).

¹³¹Webster Low, ‘On the Velocity of Sound in Air, Gases, and Vapours for Pure Notes of Different Pitch’, Philosophical Magazine, 38 (1894), 249–65 (251).

¹³²J.D. Everett, ‘on Resultant Tones’, Philosophical Magazine, 41 (1896), 199–207 (199).

¹³³C. Chree, ‘Longitudinal Vibrations in Solid and Hollow Cylinders’, Philosophical Magazine, 47 (1899), 333–49 (333–34).

¹³⁴C.A.B. Garrett, ‘On the Lateral Vibration of Bars’, Philosophical Magazine, 8 (1904), 581–90 (581).

¹³⁵Mary Taylor, ‘On the Emission of Sound by a Source on the Axis of a Cylindrical Tube’, Philosophical Magazine, 24 (1912), 655–64 (655).

¹³⁶Young's experiment-oriented acoustics can be found in his treatise; Thomas Young, A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts, 2 vols. (London, 1807).

¹³⁷This story can be find in a traditional explanation of the invention of telephone such as David A. Hounshell, ‘Elisha Gray and the Telephone: On the Disadvantages of Being an Expert’, Technology and Culture 16 (1975), 133–61.

¹³⁸Physiological and phonetical traditions were strong in the Continent. These traditions would affect American ‘new acoustics’ more than musical traditions. James Lastra, Sound Technology and the American Cinema: Perception, Representation, Modernity (New York, 2000), p. 36; Robert Brain, ‘Standard and Semiotics’ in T. Lenoir, ed. Inscribing Science: Scientific Texts and the Materiality of Communication (Stanford, 1998), pp. 249–84.

¹³⁹Thompson (note 90), chapter 1.

¹⁴⁰Research on whispering galleries can be found in Rayleigh, The Theory of Sound (note 14), vol. 2, pp. 126–29.

¹⁴¹On the backward situation, see Robert G. Arns and Bret E. Crawford, ‘Resonant Cavities in the History of Architectural Acoustics’, Technology and Culture, 36 (1995), 104–35 (125–28).

¹⁴²Thompson (note 90), p. 104.

¹⁴³Thompson (note 90), pp. 107–112.

¹⁴⁴Although Sabine was not inclined to financial rewards and much oriented to pure science, his works were applicable to needs of new industrial situations.

¹⁴⁵Harvey Fletcher, ‘Book Review of the Theory of Sound by Lord Rayleigh’, Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers, 16 (1928), 181–91.

¹⁴⁶Lindsay (note 113), p. v.