An Enquiry into the Principal Phaenomena of Sounds and Musical Strings

Dublin: Joseph Hill, 1784. First Edition?. Full contemporary calf.. Near fine with some abrasions or shallow gouge to the front cover; front joint partially cracked near the head.. 8vo, [6], [1] - 203, [1 - blank] pp. + 2 engraved plates.

Young was educated at Trinity College, Dublin where he taught natural philosophy. he spent years working on a commentary to Newton's Principia. The book offered here is his work elucidating only one of the propositions, i.e., the nature and propagation of sound. He also examined the nature of the vibration in elastic fibers and accounts for some of the observed phenomena of musical strings. The result is a book that is perhaps the best non-mathematical account of the physics of a vibrating body and elasticity in general. An important book. Kassler 1085 - `87; absent from Babson and Wallis.