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in order of decreasing consonance

image

*
Fig. 102. — Optical images of five intervals arranged in order of decreasing consonance. (Zambiasi.) The vibrations of the two tones were combined vertically to obtain Lissajou’s figures; these were traced by a luminous point on a sensitive plate moving uniformly at such a rate that the entire course of the curve was traced in one-tenth of a second. The tones were produced by the vibrations of two tuning-forks, one of which had a small aperture illuminated by the sun, while the other had a lens through which the image of the slit was projected on to the photographic plate.
(cropped from page)

ex Luigi Luciani, Human Physiology. Vol. IV (of V), The Sense Organs. London, 1917
University of Michigan copy, digitized February 5, 2008

“According to Helmholtz it is this dissonance which gives to minor chords the contradictory indefinite character that renders them apt to express melancholy feelings.”
p 255

whilst seaching “lachrymal fluid.”
 

11 May 2014

tags:
contradictory indefinite character; curves; drawing; “lachrymal fluid”; melancholia; tuning; L. Luciani, The Sense Organs (1917)