Altered Sensations Archimedes NEW STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 24 EDITOR Jed Z. Buchwald, Dreyfuss Professor of History, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. ASSOCIATE EDITORS Jeremy Gray, The Faculty of Mathematics and Computing, The Open University, Buckinghamshire, UK. Sharon Kingsland, Department of History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. ADVISORY BOARD Henk Bos, University of Utrecht Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of Technology Allan D. Franklin, University of Colorado at Boulder Kostas Gavroglu, National Technical University of Athens Anthony Grafton, Princeton University Trevor Levere, University of Toronto Jesper Lützen, Copenhagen University William Newman, Indian University, Bloomington Lawrence Principe, The Johns Hopkins University Jürgen Renn, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte Alex Roland, Duke University Alan Shapiro, University of Minnesota Nancy Siraisi, Hunter College of the City University of New York Noel Swerdlow, University of Chicago Archimedes has three fundamental goals; to further the integration of the histories of science and technology with one another: to investigate the technical, social and practical histories of specific developments in science and technology; and finally, where possible and desirable, to bring the histories of science and technology into closer contact with the philosophy of science. To these ends, each volume will have its own theme and title and will be planned by one or more members of the Advisory Board in consultation with the editor. Although the volumes have specific themes, the series itself will not be limited to one or even to a few particular areas. Its subjects include any of the sciences, ranging from biology through physics, all aspects of technology, broadly construed, as well as historically-engaged philosophy of science or technology. Taken as a whole, Archimedes will be of interest to historians, philosophers, and scientists, as well as to those in business and industry who seek to understand how science and industry have come to be so strongly linked. For other titles published in this series, go to www.springer.com/series/5644 David Pantalony Altered Sensations Rudolph Koenig’s Acoustical Workshop in Nineteenth-Century Paris 123 David Pantalony PhD Curator, Physical Science and Medicine Canada Science and Technology Museum Adjunct Professor, Department of History University of Ottawa Ottawa, Canada [email protected] ISBN 978-90-481-2815-0 e-ISBN 978-90-481-2816-7 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-2816-7 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009928017 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover image source: Guillemin 1881, p. 65 Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) For Trevor Levere, who introduced me to the history of scientific instruments. Acknowledgments This research began as a small instrument cataloguing project initiated by Doug Creelman at the Psychology Department at the University of Toronto. It led to research in the Koenig collection at the Physics Department (one of the largest in the world), followed by the discovery of the Koenig-Loudon correspondence in the U of T archives and then to research in the Koenig collection at the Smithsonian Institution. I have since tracked down Koenig’s materials and instruments in collec- tions across Europe and North America. It has been an adventure and privilege to trace the instruments and history of one of Paris’s more prolific instrument makers. I am deeply thankful to Trevor Levere for first seeing the value of doing this project and to Randall Brooks (Canada Science and Technology Museum) for supporting its completion in this form. I would also like to thank Jed Buchwald for supporting the publication of this book in the Archimedes series. I would like to acknowledge the following people and institutions for their key support in this undertaking: University of Toronto: Trevor Levere, Sungook Hong, and Ian Hacking for their supervision of the first part of this project, the doctoral dissertation (2002). National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution: Steve Turner, Debbie Warner, Roger Sherman, and Karen Lee. Dartmouth College:RichKremer. Dibner Institute, MIT: George Smith, Myles Jackson, David Cahan, Erwin and Elfrieda Hiebert. I am indebted to Julian Holland (Australia) and Myles Jackson (Polytechnic University, Brooklyn) for carefully reviewing the entire manuscript. I would also like to acknowledge the generous research assistance and manuscript suggestions from a number of people at museums and universities throughout North America and Europe: Paolo Brenni (Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, Italy); Doug Creelman, John Slater, Harold Averill, Louisa Yick and Rob Smidrovskis (University of Toronto). Tom Greenslade (Kenyon College); David Cahan (University of Nebraska); Marta Lourenço, Gil Pereira, Catarina Pires, vii viii Acknowledgments Marisa Monteiro, Ermelinda Antunes (Portugal); Michael Kelley, Sara Schechner, Jean-François Gauvin, Marty Richardson and Samantha Van Gerbig (Harvard University); Roland Wittje (University of Regensburg); Ralph Gibson, Tom Kenyon, Kellen Haak and Debbie Haynes (Dartmouth College, NH); Elizabeth Ihrig and David Rhees (Bakken Museum); Sylvie Toupin (Musée de la Civilisation du Québec, Québec, Canada); Elizabeth Cavicchi, Debbie Douglas, Markus Hankin, Yinlin Xie and Sam Allen (MIT); Neil Brown (Science Museum, U.K.); Bill Fickinger (Case University); Michael Wright (London); Thierry Lalonde (CNAM); Jean Barrette (McGill University); Anna Giatti (Fondazione Scienza e Tecnica, Italy); Fulvio Medici (University of Rome); Kathy Olesko (Georgetown University); Barnaby Frumess and Ennis Pilcher (Union College); Dennis Alexander (Aylmer, Quebec); David Murray (Queen’s University, Canada); Mike Allibon (Toronto). I am grateful to Eberhard and Reinhild Neumann-Redlin von Meding of Bückeburg, Germany for opening their home and family archives. This project was funded and supported by the following agencies and institu- tions: Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, U of T; Massey College, U of T; School of Graduate Studies, U of T; Smithsonian Institution Pre-Doctoral Fellowship; Ontario Graduate Scholarship; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant, Government of Canada; Munk Centre for International Studies; Dartmouth College, NH, Post-Doctoral Fellowship; Dibner Institute, MIT, Post-Doctoral Fellowship. With particular thanks to Mom and Dad, my family (the Pantalony Foundation), and Rebecca and Dominic for their continued and generous support. Contents 1 Training ................................. 1 JourneytoParis............................. 1 Vuillaume’s Violin Workshop – 1851–1858 . ............. 4 FromViolinstoTuningForks...................... 9 TheScientificInstrumentTradeinParis................. 10 Notes................................... 15 2 Hermann von Helmholtz and the Sensations of Tone ........ 19 HermannvonHelmholtz......................... 20 Physical Acoustics – Theory and Instruments (Tuning Forks, Tonometer, Double Siren) . ....................... 22 Instruments as Agents of Change . .................. 25 Experimental Results . ....................... 26 Physiological Acoustics – The Piano as a Model for the Inner Ear . ............................ 27 Psychological Acoustics – Resonators as Aids for Hearing Simple Tones . ....................... 28 Synthesising Vowels Sounds ....................... 31 A Comprehensive Theory of Harmony and Music . ........ 33 Notes................................... 34 3 Transformations in the Workshop ................... 37 Inside Parisian Workshops . ....................... 38 The Phonautograph and the Origins of Graphical Acoustics . .... 41 Precision and Graphical Acoustics . .................. 47 The “Plaque tournante” at Rue Hautefeuille: Transforming Helmholtz’s Acoustics .................. 50 Demonstrating Helmholtz: Adam Politzer and Koenig at the Académie des Sciences ...................... 56 Manometric Flame Capsule and Optical Acoustics . ........ 58 Notes................................... 60 4 The Market and Its Influences ..................... 65 The First Year of Business – from the Workshop totheClassroom............................. 67 ix x Contents 1862 Exhibition at London ....................... 68 Selling Helmholtz’s Instruments . .................. 70 Function Replaces Beauty: 1867 Paris Exposition . ........ 72 Americans at the Fair . ....................... 74 William B. Rogers, Alexander Graham Bell and MIT . ........ 75 The Parisian Science Monopoly and a Portuguese Customer . .... 77 Notes................................... 79 5 Constructing a Reputation, 1866–1879 ................ 83 Measuring the Velocity of Sound in the Sewers of Paris ........ 84 Creating Vowels Sounds Out of Wood, Brass and Steel . ........ 86 Seeing a Voice: Manometric Vowel Studies . ............. 88 Extending the Tonometer, One File Mark at a Time . .......