FAMOUS ECHOES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 183, 2 August 1913, Page 17

FAMOUS ECHOES.

GHOSTLY TRICKS OF SOUND. There is a flagstone on the floor of the Statuary Hall, in the Capitol at Washington, I marked by a small black hole about as large as an umbrella end, on which, says the "New York Tribune," if a person stood aud I tittered a word, he heard a repetition of his voice proceeding apparently from the basement of the building just below him. An appreciable interval elapsed between the utterance of the sountl and its echo, a circumstance that rendered the effect almost To laugh was to pTOvokc a mocking rejoinder, and many persons, say the Capitol gnides, were persuaded that a trick was being played on them. The same effect was noticeable on that part of the floor adjacent to the flagstone mentioned; but tbe farther away from tiie latter the less distinct became the echo, until, at a certain distance, it was not perceptible at all. Some echoes, in their mystic character, would seem to approach Uie domain of ! psychic phenomena, which is eliciting so much and such puzzled attention. One of these ghostly tricks of sound is to be found in tbe gardens of Aux Rochers, in France, which was once the residence of Madame de Sevigne. The chateau is situated near the old town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead level conducts through the gardens to the bouse. AN OFT-REPEATED WHISPER. i In the centre of this, on a particular ! spot, the listener is placed at the distance of ten or twelve yards from another person, wJio .addresses him In a low and almost I inaudible .wliisper, -when' immediately, as from tens of thousands of invisible tongnes, starting from the earth beneath, or as if every pebble were gifted with powers of speech, the words are repeated with a slight hissing sound, not unlike the whirling of small shot thTOugh the air. On removing from this> spot, however trifling the distance, the intensity of the repetition is sensibly diminished, and within a few feet cea.es to be heard. One of the most famous echoes is to be heard in Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire, .England, which is said to repeat seventeen syllables by day and twenty by night. Although this statement is to be fonnd in various standard text-books and treatises on the subject, it has lately been contradicted by the Rev. J. M. Bncon, F.R-A-o. The latter -remark--, however, that the dljniiurtion of this classic echo is probably due to the removal of various buildings in its neighbourhood. THE MORMON TABERNACLE. A most striking interior echo is a feature of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. When this hall is empty and quiet, the ring of a pin falling ou the floor can be heard from all points, and even the faint rasping sound produced by rnbbtng the hands together is perfectly audible from one end of the building to the other. In the Cathedral of Girgenti, in Sicily, the slightest whisper is borne with perfect distinctness from the region of the great door to a location in the upper part of the church, about 250 feet distant It is said that this circumstance led to the removal of the confessional from near the entrance as a result of an accidental discovery of the peculiar acoustic effect and a consequent tragedy iv which love, jealousy, and manslaughter figured jointly. Although acoustics -would seem to account satisfactorily for many echoes, there yet remains much that is mysterious and baffling concerning them.