“Partials”

Abstract

IT is a well known fact that no musical sound is produced alone, but the instant it is sounded a series of other sounds springs from it, and always in a certain order and ratio. Next to the primary tone, the octave is heard, then the octave fifth, the double octave, the double octave third, the double octave fifth, the extra flat double octave seventh, the treble octave, and so on. The origin of these “partials” has long been an interesting study, and a solution has occurred to me which I think is the true one.