De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili

Subject: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: Jack Campin
Date: 13 Dec 11 - 08:05 PM

Question for anybody who knows Latin better than me or Google. This is from Kircher's "Musurgia Universalis" (1650), which now has multiple scanned copies on the web but no translation into a modern language that I've ever heard of.

This is at the beginning of his section on sound producers. He seems to be describing a "cone of silence" of some sort, and I'd guess "Pifa" is Perth. His source is Hector Boece, the none-too-reliable Scottish historian of the early 16th century.

De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili

Refert Hector Boetius in Scotia, Provincia Pifa nomine, saxum esse quoddam as indigenis surdum nuncupatum, eo quod (quantumvis ingenti sono excitato, etiam exploso tormento) sub eo tamen latentes nihil praeter aeris agitationem vehementem percipiant; Cuius quidem ratio ali esse non potest, nisi excessiva soliditas istius saxi ita a natura comparati, ut omnem aeri extrinseco ad sonum efficiendum necessario, ob perfectam singularum partium coagmentationem, aditum intercludat.

Contingit enim idem in sono, quod in visione per medium diaphanum, quod quanto erit purius, limpidius, defaecatiusque, tanto in remotiorem distantiam species visiles deferet; quanto vero vaporosius, tanto ad videndem erit ineptius, Sed rem experimento declaremus.

Anybody know any more about this thing, or can get more precise about what he's saying?

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 13 Dec 11 - 08:14 PM

Google translate (in its own weird way) suggest (I think) that it's a stone that has the property of absorbing sound (no matter how great the sound you perceive nothing but a strong agitation of the air).

Perhaps Joe will come along and translate it properly.

Mick

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: Joe Offer
Date: 13 Dec 11 - 09:26 PM

Mayhaps ye hast too much faith in Joe, Mick.


I gotta think on this one. Even with six years of Latin training, 17th-century Scottish post-medieval Latin doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Do we have any Scottish post-medievalists in the house?

-Joe-

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 12:04 AM

Sinsull has Latin, too, maybe she'll see it.

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Dec 11 - 07:32 AM

Kircher wasn't Scottish - he was describing a report from a Scottish historian (which I can't find). Most of his book is like that, put together from a vast assortment of informants, mostly from the Jesuit network. Hence things like the transcription of the song of the sloth and the arrangements of Armenian chant - his drawing of the sloth makes it look likely he'd never seen one, and he may never have met an Armenian either. It's still a pretty darn impressive achievement.

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 15 Dec 11 - 09:59 AM

Little Latin and less Greek - this much I have in common with Shakespeare. However, the sense seems reasonably clear to me. Those who hide beneath the stone, do not hear anything from outside. (He is probably talking about a British phone booth as they were in the Old Days.) The second sentence might mean something like:

"This is the same phenomenon in acoustics as in optics, where through a transparent medium, the purer and clearer it is, the more distantly things can be visible, whereas if it's steamy, it will render them invisible. [We don't have an explanation for that,] but we describe our experience."

(Corrections welcome.)

As for "Musurgia", those of us who ever used a "practising booth" will share my experience that acustic insulation may render the air unbreathable and steamy with sweat.

Subject: RE: De saxo surdo in Scotia mirabili
From: melodeonboy
Date: 15 Dec 11 - 07:19 PM

Oh, I thought it was a Latin salt advert! :)