Science and Sound in Nineteenth-Century Britain

Sounds Experimental and Entertaining

Edward J. Gillin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781032500782
• eBook ISBN: 9781003805212
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

Sound and Science in Nineteenth-Century Britain is a four-volume set of primary sources which seeks to define our historical understanding of the relationship between British scientific knowledge and sound between 1815 and 1900. In the context of rapid urbanization and industrialization, as well as a growing overseas empire, Britain was home to a rich scientific culture in which the ear was as valuable an organ as the eye for examining nature. Experiments on how sound behaved informed new understandings of how a diverse array of natural phenomena operated, notably those of heat, light, and electro-magnetism. In nineteenth-century Britain, sound was not just a phenomenon to be studied, but central to the practice of science itself and broader understandings over nature and the universe. This collection, accompanied by extensive editorial commentary, will be of great interest to students and scholars of the History of Science.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Chronology
• An Introduction to Science and Sound in Nineteenth-Century Britain
• 1 New Experiments on Sound
• 2 The Enchanted Lyre
• 3 The Acoucryptophone, or Enchanted Lyre
• 4 Enchanted Lyre
• 5 Description of the Kaleidophone, or Phonic Kaleidoscope
• 6 The Kaleidophone, or Phonic Kaleidoscope
• 7 Experiments on Audition
• 8 On the Resonances, or Reciprocated Vibrations of Columns of Air
• 9 On the Transmission of Musical Sounds Through Solid Linear Conductors, and on their Subsequent Reciprocation
• 10 On the Vowel Sounds, and on Reed Organ-pipes
• 11 On the Vowel Sounds, and on Organ-pipes
• 12 Royal Institution
• 13 On a Peculiar Class of Acoustical Figures, and on the Forms of Fluids Vibrating on Elastic Surfaces
• 14 On the Figures Obtained by Strewing Sand on Vibrating Surfaces, Commonly Called Acoustic Figures
• 15 Lectures on Sound
• 16 Letters on Natural Magic addressed to Sir Walter Scott
• 17 Researches on the Elasticity of Regularly Crystallized Bodies
• 18 On the Vibration of Heated Metals: By Arthur Trevelyan, Esq.; Including a Letter on the Same Subject by Dr W. Knight
• 19 Trevelyan’s Experiments on the Production of Sound during the Conduction of Heat
• 20 On Sonorous Phænomena in Electro-Magnets
• Bibliography
• Index