FAMOUS ECHOES.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2675, 21 July 1913, Page 8

FAMOUS ECHOES.

GHOSTLY TRICKS OP SOUND. There i« a flagstone on the floor of the Statuary' Hall, in the Capitol at Washington, marked by a small black hole about as large as an umbrella end, on which, says tho New York Tribune, if a person stood and uttered a word, he heard a repitition, of his voice proceeding apparently from the basemen c of the building just below him. An appreciable interval elapsed between the utterance of the sound and its echo, a circumstance that rendered tho effect almost uncanny. To laugh was to provoke a mocking rejoinder, and many persons, say the Capitol guides, were persuaded that a trick was being played on them. Tho same effect was noticeable on that part of the floor adjacent to the flagstone mentioned; but tho farther away from tho latter the less distinct became the echo, until, at a certain distance, it was not perceptible at all. vSome echoes, in their mystic character, would seem to approach the domain of psychic phenomena, which is eliciting so much and such puzzled attention. One of these ghostly tricks of sound is to bo found in the gardens of Aux Rochors, in France which was onoe the residence of Madame do Sevigne. Tho chateau is situated near the old town of Vitre. A broad gravel walk on a dead level conducts through the gardens to the house. In the centre of this, on a particular spot, the listener is placed at the distance of ten or twelve yards from another person, who addresses him in a low and almost inaudible whisper, when immediately, as from toms of thousands of invisible tongues, 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 through the air. On removing from this spot, however trifling the 1 distance, the intensity of the repitition ig sensibly diminished, and within a few feet ceases to bo heard. One of the most famous echoes is to b« heard in Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire England, which is said to repeat seventeen syllables by day and twenty by night. Although this statement is to bo found in various standard textbooks and treatises on the subject, it lias lately been contradicted by the Rev. J. M. Bacon, F.R.A.S. 'Hie latter remarks, however, that the diminution of this classic echo is probably due to the removal of various buildings in its neighborhood. 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 on the floor can bo heard from all points, and even the faint rasping sound produced by rubbing the hands together is perfectly audible from one end of tho building to the other. (i In the Cathedral of Girgenti, in Sicily, the slightest whisper is borne with perfect distinctness from tho 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 in which love, jealousy, and manslaughter figured jointly. Although acoustics would seem'to account satisfactorily for many echoes, there yet remains’ much that i s mysterious and baffling concerning them.