FAIRY MUSIC.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1924, Page 4

FAIRY MUSIC.

Stories of fairy music in tlie forest, of haunted waterfalls, and mermaids sinking near the seashore, long thought mere ligments of the imagination, may have a sound basis in fact. In the forthcoming issue of “Science,” Dr Alexander Forbes, of the Harvard Medical School, reports numerous cases in which trees seem to have separated discordant shouts and noises, and given back echoes in musical tones, “In every case,” he says, “the source of the sound—waves on a beach, roar of a river, exhaust ol motor boat, or discordant human voices—was one in which many pitches were present. (something in the surroundings, usually trees, must have separated Lho sounds according to pitch, placing those of one pitch in one place, and those ol another pitch elsewhere. In this respect the phenomenon appears analogous to that of white light being broken up into pure spectral colours by a prism.”

This reflection or absorption of sound waves of different pilches. Dr Korlx-s explains, is only rarely observed. Sometimes tin: phenomenon is distinct and dear ill one spot, yet a I'c.v paces backward or forward only the ordinary noises are heard. The frc(|iient association of trees with these musical echoes is thought to he due to lack of uniformity they present as a reflecting surface for the sounds. Hath tree apparently, sends hack part of the sound, and this reflection is broken tip into innumerable parts on account ol the varying element of distance.