Read in Section of Ophthalmology, Otology and Laryngology of the American Medical Association, May, 1884.
In 1875 we made a series of experiments on the perception of "Musical Tones by the Human Ear."
Before giving the writer's experiments in detail it will be proper to state the results obtained by other observers. The discrepancy, in our opinion, can only be accounted for in three ways. First, variations in the sound conducting portion of the auditory apparatus; second, defect, original or acquired, in the perceptive portion, and third, want of cultivation.
"Savart" fixed the lowest limit of the human ear for musical sounds at eight complete vibrations a second, by means of a toothed wheel and an associated counter, and the highest limit at twenty-four thousand vibrations. "Helmholtz" has fixed the lowest limit at sixteen vibrations and the highest at thirty-eight thousand. "Vierordt" gives the highest tone as forty-eight thousand, and