Acoustics

has, on account of several individual incorrect assertions—some of which he corrected himself in later years, and others, such as the accounts of the vibrations of a ring and a bell which do not accord with experience, he likely would have corrected had he lived longer and investigated the subjects more closely; [one should not] level the slightest reproach, but rather should accept the many contributions given by him with gratitude and respect.

La Grange. Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736–1813), a towering figure in mathematics and mechanics. This venerable veteran, who still continues to be useful for the perfection of higher mechanics and analysis with the same activity as formerly, has also performed great service regarding several subjects of acoustics, particularly in the first and second volumes of the writings of the Turin Academy of Sciences.

J. H. Lambert; Johann Heinrich Lambert (1728–1777), a Swiss polymath known for proving the irrationality of pi. instructive essays by him concerning the tones of wind instruments and the propagation of sound through the air are contained in the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.

Count Giordano Riccati, who, besides several other treatises, contributed much to a better knowledge of various acoustic subjects through his book On Strings, or Elastic Fibers, Bologna, 1767, quarto. original: "delle corde ovvero fibre elastiche" How little the most excellent scientific books are often known and appreciated is exemplified by the fact that in a place where several physicists and mathematicians reside, and where there is much literary commerce, I obtained this excellent work at an auction for two groschen (!) A groschen was a small silver coin of very low value; the author is shocked at the bargain price for such a masterpiece.. Furthermore, I have been unable to find a notice of it in any German scholarly journal, not even in the Göttingen [Review].

Just as several acoustic treatises by these and other meritorious men have not been properly known and utilized, so is this the case in many other branches of natural history Natural history: at this time, a broad term encompassing physics, biology, and the study of the natural world. Since not everyone may have the patience and opportunity [to seek out] the writings of learned so—