Music and the Scientific Revolution
Read MoreThe many illustrations and detailed descriptions of instruments and tunings in Harmonicorum speak to Mersenne’s interest in music as a means to discover and measure nature’s hidden properties. By using musical instruments as scientific instruments, he was able to determine the laws that govern the vibration of musical strings, now known as ‘Mersenne’s Laws’.
The diagram above demonstrates the so called ‘Mersenne test’, used to determine the quality of a musical string. The sounding vibrations of a ‘Bonne Corde’ are regular and distinct at the outer sides and free from fuzzy lines in the middle. Modern methods of gut string manufacture obviate the need for this test.
Author: Marin Mersenne
Title: Harmonicorum [Harmonics] (Paris, 1636)
Shelfmark: D.1.17
Provenance: Bequeathed to Queens’ College by John Smith
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