source file: mills2.txt Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 17:55:40 -0700 Subject: Re: Amplification, question, comment From: Jim Flannery Daniel Wolf wondered: >A question. Jonathan Walker=B4s excellent tutorial mentions Pythagoras=B4= s >comparison of the weights of hammers. I have encountered medieval >illustrations of this experiment, but am not familiar with a classical >source. In any case, comparing weights would not likely have lead to >si= mple >ratios (anyone who has ever built a metallophone knows this - shape and >density being equally important). Even a comparison of weights hanging >= from >strings would have been inconclusive. String- and panpipe- lengths seem = >to >be the only successful classical means of determining ratios. Was the >hammer experiment performed to show a negative result? The classical source is Iamblicus, _Life of Pythagoras_, ch. 26. No, the=20 physics don't work. But then, the esoteric gloss on these things being=20 more important to the Pythagoreans than reproducibility, it's doubtful=20 it bothered anybody at the time. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- / -- -- -- -- -- / -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- / / It isn't enough for yr heart to break because everybody's / / heart is broken now --Allen Ginsburg 1962 / / Jim Flannery jim@scientia.org / =20 / Newgrange Media newgrange@sfo.com / -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- / -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- / -- -- -- -- -- / Received: from ns.ezh.nl [137.174.112.59] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Sun, 22 Sep 1996 15:27 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA10615; Sun, 22 Sep 1996 15:29:20 +0200 Received: from eartha.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA08884 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id GAA22512; Sun, 22 Sep 1996 06:29:17 -0700 Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 06:29:17 -0700 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu