Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/196

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

188 SOUND monic, and so on, until the velocity has been so diminished that the beats of the lowest or fundamental harmonic are perceived. Then all the component sounds of the reed are beat- ing on the ear in unison, but the effects they severally produce on the ear are very differ- ent ; for the higher harmonics, notwithstanding their feebler intensities, must be heard more distinctly, because their intermittences are the furthest removed from the number that cause the blending of their separate impulses. In other words, the number of impacts of the highest harmonics approaches nearer than the lower to the number of beats required to cause them to give their greatest dissonant effects ; it having been determined that it requires about ^ of the number of sonorous impacts, which blend into a continuous sound, to produce the most dissonant sensation that can be obtained by a series of separated beats falling on the ear. The following are the most important works on sound : Chladni, Traite d'acomtique (Paris, 1809); Peirce, "An Elementary Trea- tise on Sound" (Boston, 1836), which contains an excellent catalogue of works and memoirs on the subject ; Airy, " On Sound and Atmos- pheric Vibrations, with the Mathematical Ele- 'ments of Music" (London, 1868); Donkin, "Acoustics" (Oxford, 1870); Acoustique, in Daguin's Traite de physique (Paris, 1870) ; ATcuttik, in vol. i. of Wullner's Lehrbuch der Experimentalphysik (Leipsic, 1870); Helm- holtz, Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen (Brunswick, 3d ed., 1870 ; English translation, by A. J. Ellis, 1875); Sedley Taylor, "Sound and Harmony" (1873); Tyndall, "On Sound" (new ed., 1875); and A. Guillemin, Leson: no- tions d'acoustique physique et musicale (1875). SOUND, The, a narrow strait, forming one of the passages between the Cattegat and the Bal- tic, and separating the Danish island of See- land from the coast of Sweden. In its larg- est sense it extends N. and S. 66 m., and oppo- site Copenhagen it is about 15 m. wide. But the name is properly confined to the narrowest part of the passage, which between Elsinore and Helsingborg is not more than 3 m. wide. The Great Belt gives a wider and deeper com- munication between the Cattegat and the Bal- tic, but the Sound is most frequented because shorter and favored with better winds. The depth ranges from 4 to 20 fathoms. The Danish kings formerly owned the territory on both sides of the strait, and from time im- memorial levied duties on all vessels passing through it; but this is done no longer, the right having been bought off by other nations, under treaties concluded in 1857. SOUNDING. See ATLANTIC OCEAN, vol. ii., p. 69, and DBEDOINO, DEEP-SEA. SOI R Gl M. See TUPELO. SOUTH, Robert, an English clergyman, born at Hackney, Middlesex, in 1633, died in London, July 8, 1716. He graduated at Christ Church college, Oxford, in 1655, was ordained in 1658, was elected public orator of the university in SOUTHAMPTON 1660, soon afterward became chaplain to the chancellor Clarendon, and was made a pre- bendary of Westminster in 1663, and a canon of Christ church, Oxford, in 1670. He was a zealous champion of passive obedience and the divine right, and was opposed alike to Protestant dissent and to Roman Catholicism. When Sherlock published his " Vindication of the Holy and Ever Blessed Trinity," South attacked him for inculcating tritheism (1693). His sermons have passed through many edi- tions (6 vols., 1692; 5 vols. additional, 1744; 4 vols., London, 1843 ; 2 vols. royal 8vo, Ed- inburgh, 1843; abridged, London, 1851 and 1859) ; and a volume of his posthumous works appeared in 1717. SOUTH ADAMS. See ADAMS, Mass. SOUTH AMERICA. See AMERICA. SOUTHAMPTON, a S. E. county of Virginia, bordering on North Carolina, bounded E. by the Blackwater river and S. W. by the Meher- rin, and intersected by the Nottaway; area, 600 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 12,285, of whom 6,795 were colored. The surface is nearly level and diversified by large forests of cypress and pine, and the soil is tolerably productive. Tar and turpentine are largely exported. It is traversed by the Seaboard and Roanoke and the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio railroads. The chief productions in 1870 were 218,858 bushels of Indian corn, 13,683 of oats, 24,927 of sweet potatoes, 3,587 Ibs. of wool, and 18,- 660 of butter. . There were 909 horses, 1,385 milch cows, 3,308 other cattle, 2,576 sheep, and 12,978 swine. Capital, Jerusalem. SOUTHAMPTON, a seaport town of Hamp- shire, England, and a county of itself, on the peninsula formed by the estuary of the river Itchen and the larger estuary of the Test, called the Southampton water, 70 m. S. W. of London; pop. in 1871, 53,741. The South- ampton water varies in breadth from 1| to 2 m., and extends inland from Calshot castle, 7 m. below Southampton, to Red Bridge, 4 m. above. The entrance is well sheltered by the isle of Wight, and the channel is deep and straight, with good anchorage. It has the ad- vantage of four tides in the 24 hours ; a pecu- liarity caused by the isle of Wight intercept- ing a portion of the tidal wave in its progress both ways through the English channel. The' mean rise of the spring tides is 18 ft., and of the neap tides 8 ft. The town is well built, and supplied with pure spring water from an artesian well 910 ft. deep. It has a well wooded park of 365 acres, 5 parish churches, 13 other churches, a public library and mu- seum, and several charitable, literary, and sci- entific institutions. Among the noteworthy public buildings are the custom house, the ordnance survey office, the royal Victoria hos- pital for 1,200 invalid soldiers, and the royal southern yacht club house. For many years Southampton was mainly a watering place, but since the opening of the docks in 1842 it has become the principal port of departure