Note 25 — Chapter II
Reading edition
On July 27, 1681, “Mr. Hooke showed an experiment of making musical and other sounds by the help of teeth of brass wheels; which teeth were made of equal bigness for musical sounds, but of unequal for vocal sounds.”—Birch’s “History of the Royal Society,” p. 96, published in 1757.
The following extract is taken from the “Life of Hooke,” which precedes his “Posthumous Works,” published in 1705, by Richard Waller, Secretary of the Royal Society: “In July the same year he (Dr. Hooke) showed a way of making musical and other sounds by the striking of the teeth of several brass wheels, proportionally cut as to their numbers, and turned very fast round, in which it was observable that the equal or proportional strokes of the teeth, that is, 2 to 1, 4 to 3, etc., made the musical notes, but the unequal strokes of the teeth more answered the sound of the voice in speaking.”