SONG OF THE WIRES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1914, Page 3

SONG OF THE WIRES.

. A pihenomenoii 'wiwi' whicH most people :axe familiar- is JBh© vfeurious • noise mad© by telegraph wires.. , ltr i is acoeptefd as ordinary, aJid yet tJaere r has hitherto been no filial explana- ; tion. Many and vavied are tih&; reasons giv^n, but generally it is asca*ibea to the action of ..the. wind,' : -which, is supposed .to play upon tlao wires -as on the strings of a hai-p. This expla- ; nation, however, cannot be accepted, I because the noise is often heard, and j in many iaistances. at it® plainest, oil 1- perfectly calm days. Another expla-. ! nation frequently' proposed is that, th© "tunes ' are caused by the effeco of lalternaiing cold and heat, which, j b,y contracting or expanding tlho j.wires, causes them to give out a • sound tfo&si is accordingly flat or '< sharp! This second theoa-y, howevei",; I is also 'inadmissible, because in order ■ to produce such difference of tonej ; a" variation of; temperature such a!s is 1 never experienced would be necessary. i What, then,- is the real reason? ' ! I^ird theory^which seems to be about ' the most likely has been put forward ■ by Professor Field, of tOiie Univensity . jof Ottawa. He'says tihat the songs ■of ( the telegraph wives is the, song of ' the 'barometer, and that the .vaa'ia- ' tions are in diiiect relation to variii- : ; tions of the, weatheir. It is,_ accorcii ing to the professoi*, a scientific .indication of the weather. If the sound is low, *he conditioas, will change ia { two days, but if it is sharp a inomen-;.j'.-tarj! cfiuinge is pa-obable ; The vibrations of tlie wire, according to ProfesI sor Field's i3ieory,' are tiransmitted by 1 the posts, which receive them, in turn ' 1 fram the earth. They 4U-e the-result of vibrations of the earth, which ar© jreoorded so faithfully on, the seismcgraph, which gives, as is well known | fairly precise information as to thfv ! approaching condition of -tho atmos-«^ | phexe.