These papers illustrate the career of Frederick Smith, covering his days as a student at the Royal Veterinary College (1873-1876), as a veterinary officer for the cavalry in India (1879-1885), as professor at the Army Veterinary School, Aldershot, and then returning to service, rising through the ranks during the Second Anglo-Boer War until joining the War Office during the First World War. Papers relating to this work include official correspondence, case notes, diaries and research data. Smith contributed a great deal of literature to the veterinary profession, with papers regularly published in journals from 1876 until the year of his death. The papers include research notes and data, extracts from other sources, drafts and proofs, and published copies of the articles.
Smith’s research and publications covered a broad scope, but there were particular interests in horse anatomy and physiology; stable hygiene and nutrition; saddlery; the loss of horses in war; and the eye and foot of the horse. Smith was also concerned with veterinary education and the reputation and status of the veterinary profession as a whole, and this is reflected in his correspondence with his peers.
There is very little information regarding Smith’s personal and family life within the collection. Some mention is made in Smith’s autobiography, but these papers are wholly concerned with Smith’s professional life and activities.
We currently have digitised parts of the correspondence series of this collection, they are available below. We will be adding to this periodically so follow us on social media or check this space again to find out what new content has been added. For more information on the Frederick Smith papers please click on the archive catalogue link at the bottom of this page.
Click here for full transcript of Case Notes for Horse A6
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[[1]]
12th Royal Lancers
Station: Bangalore
Date: 1882
Troop: A
Number of Horse: 6
Sex: M
Age: 4
Disease: Epilepsy
Date of Admission: 23 Sept
Date of Discharge: 10 Nov
Result: Relieved
Record of the Case
23 Sept
Epilepsy. Called suddenly to the lines to see this horse at 6 pm. found her down, in a highly nervous state, eyeballs rolling, head rocking from side to side, pulse weak, got her up after a lot of trouble, and walked her to the sick lines. She was then paralyzed behind, & leaned all over to the left side. Placed in slings. Administered aloes ℨV Mustard to the loins.
24th [Sept]
Better. Eyeballs less off rolling, not so much nervousness. Leaning over to the same side in the slings.
Apply Ammonia to the loins. Not purging, repeat the aloes. The Sp. Gr. of the urine is very high 10.52 owing to phosphate lime[?].
26th [Sept]
Continues to improve. Stood out of the slings all day. Sp. Gr. Urine 10.50
5th Oct
Urine changed colour from a yellowish white to red.
No deposit of lime. Sp. Gr. 1052
14th [Oct]
Took out of slings permanently. Continued rest
25th [Oct]
Send to the troop lines for rest, being now perfectly convalescent. There is the least suspicion of unsteadiness in the hindquarters.
10th Novbr
Moves perfectly. To remain unmounted for three months, as a precautionary measure.
Discharged, Relieved
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of Case Notes for Horse belonging to Colonel Dawson
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[[1]]
Colonel Dawson’s Horse
July 20th 1889
Admitted to infirmary stables at 5 pm exhibiting colicy pains. Gave drench, Spl (Aumm Aro) ℨj,
Spl Nit Ether ℨj, Tinct Opii ℨj. Water 1 pint. Gave enema and sent to walking exercise. Passed some dung with enema & a lot while at exercise.
6 p.m – Appeared a little easier, repeated Drench & enema, exercise
7 p.m Decidedly worse. Gave aloes ℨV in solution, Amm Carb ℨij & Ginger ℨiij in ball. Hot fomentations to abdomen.
10 p.m Suffering great pain, passed the catheter & emptied bladder, continued hot rugs to abdomen every ¼ hour. Gave Lig Ext Can Indica ℨijss, also Amm Carb ℨss in ball. Constant enemas.
11-30 p.m. Gave Ext Can lndica ℨj. Continued hot rugs & enemas, passed nothing. Continually walking round box
July 21st
Repeated Ext Can ludica, began to get sleepy
1-30 a.m. Lay down & was very quiet
10-15 a.m. Pulse scarcely perceptible, like a bit of cotton, passed catheter & emptied bladder. Gave one dose of Physostigmine, in ¼ hour began to pass wind & a little mucous, but no dung passed yet. Pulse improved wonderfully. Hot rugs and enemas.
1 p.m Repeated Ext Can Indica. Hot rugs and enemas, lay down a little, then got up and stood very quiet for 2 hours. Took off wet rug, dried abdomen and applied Liniment. Drank water several times. Passed nothing yet.
11 p.m. Standing very quiet. Gave Linseed oil 1 pint.
July 22nd
Lay down, very quiet
2 am
[[2]]
4 a.m. Got up & staled well.
6 [a.m.] Staled again.
7 [a.m.] Drank some water, gave enema, nothing passed.
9 [a.m.] ¼ hour exercise. Good pulse.
11 [a.m.] [1/4 hour exercise.] Continued enemas
4 p.m. Gave enema, brought away a little dung, ¼ hour exercise, as soon as he came in he passed some dung.
5.30 p.m Gave enema, passed some more dung
July 23rd, 7 a.m Gave enema, brought away a lot of dung, ¼ hour exercise
9.30 a.m. Gave bran mash which he very soon eat.
1 p.m. Gave enema, brought away some dung & during the afternoon he passed some himself.
6.30 p.m Began to purge & purged well all night
July 24th Doing well, still purging, keep warm, bran mashes.
[July] 25th Doing well, dung setting.
[July] 26th Doing well. Half diet.
[July] 27th [Doing well, Half diet]
[July] 28th [Doing well], ¾ diet, ½ hour Exercise daily
[July] 30th Full diet
August 1st Discharged Cured
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of Case Notes for Horse Y16
12th Royal Lancers
Station: Bangalore
Date: 1882
Troop: Y
Number of Horse: 16
Sex: G
Age: 6
Disease: Paraplegia
Date of Admission: 25 March
Date of Discharge: 30 March
Result: Died
Record of the Case
25th March
Paraplegia. This horse was admitted with a slight attack of colic yesterday. This morning on coming out of the box he was noticed to crop his hind leg, rolling unsteady gait & every symptom of paraplegia. Has control over bladder and rectum. Clipped spine & applied a severe blister. Gave internally Aloes ℨV, Constant enema & place in slings
26th [March] No change, blister has not taken, put on sheep skin.
27 [March] Worse & very unsteady in slings, rolls from side to side, a touch of the hand pushes him over. Give Linc: Ergot Cure. Pot Iodid ā ā ℨy to indic put on another sheep skin & re-blister. Has control over the sphincter.
28th [March] – Worse Slumping throwing so much weight into slings & sitting down, that I had to let him out of them. Continue Ergot, & foment loins
6 p.m. Struggles very slightly, but I have no hope for him
29th [March] No change except perhaps for the worse
30th [March] Remains same. No power whatever. Pulse fairly good, give aloes ℨy as the bowels are not acting. Patient feeds well. Fired[?] back as a last resort & blistered it again.
4.30 p.m. – Died rather suddenly. P.M examination revealed lungs congested. Heart filled with fibrous clots, (cause of death), Liver intensely congested. Kidneys
[[2]]
congested. Intestines healthy, filled with gravel, stomach healthy. Brain congested, slight extravasation on the surface of both hemispheres of cerebrum.
Vessels congested slight amount of serum. Spinal cord intensely congestion especially the lumbar & sacral portions, the latter surrounded by a gelatinous exudation. The congestion was confined to the pia mater. Spinal veins congested, filled with clots. Substance of cord rather harder than usual. The sacral region particularly rested on a quantity of serum effused within the dura mater.
Discharged, Died.
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of Nasal Gleet case
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[[1]]
[Annotated ‘Ozoena’]
11th September 1891
Mule destroyed for nasal gleet A.S.C.
Fed at 6 am with 3lbs of oats, destroyed at 12:20 noon.
Stomach contained 9 ½ oz dried
oats in a fluid & macerated condition. The fluid being like milk & only slightly acid. This is very remarkable & most marked. The acid of the stomach was not Hydrochloric. The oats had passed as far as the ileum & had entered the Caecum and also the 1st portion of the colon, though not from a greater distance than one foot of the latter gut. This is a remarkable & interesting fact as this mule not having received oats for days had none inside him excepting what was given at 6 am. The duodenum contained macerated oats in a pultaceous yellow mass, further on the grains of oats could be more distinctly defined floating in a yellow viscial[?] liquid. Further on, in an apparently more finely concentrated granular condition still in a yellow fluid, this granular condition I take to be pht acid albumin, & on arriving at the ileum pasty & sticking to the gut. The latter not being so contracted as usual. The reaction throughout was neutral excepting at the ileum where it was faintly alkaline. I cannot quite remember the reaction of the duodenum but I fancy faintly acid. I am not clear on the point as my mind is confused though a previous day’s post mortem (Segt Miles says it was neutral.) The Caecum contained a dark green fluid in which floated oats & grass. The latter sank, reaction faintly alkaline. The deep green colour was peculiar & produced by grass as I may say this animal had recd no corn for days & lived on grass in the paddock. The final colon contained a little corn for about a foot or so the ingesta was semi solid & also the dark
[[2]]
olive green of the caecum it construed wholly of grass. Reaction neutral. 2 colon very fluid grass. Dark green, reaction alkaline, 3 colon fluid grass, dark green reaction neutral 4 colon ditto.
Single colon ball formed slowly being slimy on their surface & dark green reaction faintly alkaline, after two or three feet they became alkaline externally & acid internally.
The 1 & 2 colon was alive with small thread like parasites. In this feeding experiment we have the undoubted fact that in 6 hours corn has entered the 1st colon.
The neutral reaction of small & large intestines & faintly acid alkaline reaction is very remarkable.
Exam of head. The frontal & max sinuses were filled with a dense gelatinous membrane which divided it into septa each containing a mucous looking pus. The inferior turbinated bone bulged considerably on the nasal passage at its posterior part & was ossified. I cannot quite understand the cause of this, the septum nasi was adhered to the superior turbinated bones on both sides
There was considerable thickening of bone at the sent from operation.
My post mortem experience leads me to believe that the thorough scraping out of the sinus & removal of periosteum would be the only likely method of cure in a similar case. This horse mule had double nasal gleet, the off side did well the near side was trephined several times but the membranes always formed[.] the case lasted 12 months.
The blood from this mule formed a firm clot in six minutes. The mule was pig fat on grass & must have had a large digestive co-efficient.
[[3]]
[Sketch of sinus cavity with annotations:
Point of attachment of the septum nasi
Cyst
Bulge of Inf: Turbinated bone]
The communication between the sinus & nasal cavity was very large & inside the nostril at this part was a cyst containing pus & serum or thick serum like material, the walls of the cyst being formed of schneiderian membrane. The turbinated bone at the bulge was ossified.
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of Case Notes for Chestnut Mare
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[[1]]
Chestnut Mare – Lazaretto [Annotated ‘5 Lancers’]
Previous History of Mare:
History of this case was that the mare without any reason showed signs of intermittent lameness; this gradually got worse & thrombosis was diagnosed from the following symptoms.
Would start well; after going a little distance would commence straddling with hind legs more marked in off than near. The straddling gait rapidly got worse & rocking from side to side. She was with difficulty got to a place where she could lie down. When she would get down at once showing every sign of acute pain extremities cold, veins of hind legs much distended (an important size & in the present case due to venous a well as arterial thrombosis) The iliacs were previous in May 1887 at time when the above symptoms were most marked. In March ‘88 the iliacs could only be felt as hard cords. Pulsation abruptly ceasing at posterior Aorta. There was no patchy sweating. Nothing out of the ordinary in the sweat symptoms to draw one’s attention to it. Symptoms passed off in an hour – Time symptoms took to appear was 5-10 minutes.
Roarer – She was an intermittent roarer & there was nothing on P M Exmn to account for this.
no Laryngeal paralysis
Note – That she had as slightly straightly dropped hind legs it was possible to have.
In Feb ‘87 mare was reported to have slipped backwards in jumping over a ditch leaving her hind legs “behind her” nothing appeared amiss afterwards.
On 20th March 1888 was found down and unable to rise, No signs of cholic. Feeding. no loss
of sensation. Pulse decidedly firm 40, less intermittent than
[[2]]
usual. Conjunction near mouth pale. got her up with help stood for ¾ hour. all hay & straw. relieved her of 1 Gall of urine which was thick & creamy in appearance. Examination per return should iliacs of both sides like firm cords & with no pulsation in them. Again fell down suddenly & lay quietly.
On morning of 21st evidently worse and died in forenoon. Had eaten feed.
[Annotated ‘P M Exmn’]
Great congestion of peritoneum; marked congestion of the bowels. Displacement of double colon. pelvic[?] flexnor[sic] being close to Diaphragm (there was great p. m tymphany although body was examined at 5 pm) Colon contained large quantity of healthy material.
Small intestines inflamed from Duodenum to ileum colon being maroon. gut not thickened; contents blood – coloured ingesta. Cause unknown unless intratracheal injection of serum from case of Hydrothorax produced it.
[Annotated ‘Liver’]
Small chocolate coloured and calcareous. 7 lb 12 oz. one deposit removed, as large as a cherry stone.
The lime deposits were nothing like so numerous as met with in India but quite as large &
of same character.
Stomach and Kidneys healthy
Attached to omentum were 2 small tumours size of nut. extremely hard & like the testicles of a small animal in appearance – on section found to be lime encapsuled. the deposit being of a dirty grey colour
[Annotated ‘Lungs – normal’]
A little water in chest & also in pericardial sac. On slitting up some of the pulmonary vessels the internal coat was found roughened & from thrombi attached. Beyond this change & a slight oedematous condition of anterior lobe of right lung (& that was probably due to the intratracheal injection) nothing of further importance was observed.
[[3]]
Post Aorta
Just before its bifurcation into the iliacs contained a firm thrombus which on the Cardiac side had a tapered extremity, about 3 ½ inches long. Whilst on iliac side it almost completely filled the vessel
the Ext[erna]l & Int[erna]l iliacs with their various branches were also plugged. so completely in fact that it was difficult to understand how any blood passed along the vessels. The thrombi extended down as low as the middle of Tibia where an artery had been accidentally cut across & a little fluid black blood escaped. The dissection of the vessels was as easily accomplished as in a[sic] infected “artery subject” in fact the feel imparted to the fingers on manipulating the arteries was just as if filled with firm wax injection. On slitting open the post[erio]r Aorta close to its iliac bifurcation a firm clot resembling much in shape a human pluis[?] was found. Its colon was yellowish internally, blood coloured externally & where flakey adherent to wall of the vessel it was brown.
This adhesion occurred at floor of Aorta so that whatever blood passed through the vessel was between the roof of the thrombus. In the Iliac arteries the clots appear to have completely filled the vessels & though collateral circulation must have been established to compensate for this plugging yet such was not observable.
Those vessels doing the work were not particularly large. Observe that the clots in all the vessels were irregular & appeared like dice on a string. The composite nature of thrombus showed that it had been gradually added to & that these additions were irregular was proved by the nodular condition of the vessels.
The Post[erio]r Vena Cava had a firm thrombus in it extending from its origin 6 or 8 inches forward.
It by no means filled the vessel; was firmly
[[4]]
attached to the wall at its posterior part but elsewhere lay free. It was a shrunken mottled, yellowish, white rigid clot. This latter was covered by a membrane which on being incised yellowish olive material could be squeezed out. Is it not peculiar for a thrombus to be provided with a covering.
The Iliac veins were free; but in tibial vein of off hind exactly in popliteal space was a firm thrombus completely distending the vessel causing it to assume a varicose appearance; & was as large as one’s thumb. On making a section into the varicose tibial veins the coats were found very thick. Thrombus externally yellow & firm internally brown & soft – this latter most peculiar.
The veins from head of tibia (off hind only) down to front of hock were completely plugged as far as front of hock (veins 2 not one) were varicose the whole distance & the plexus which forms over front front[sic] of joint being fully distended by the thrombus formed the most pretty natural injection conceivable.
On removing the skin from inside of thighs considerable hamorrhage[sic] had taken place into the muscular tissue & in places the muscular tissue & in places the muscular fibres appeared torn & hemorrhage was also present as far in as obturator foramen.
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of Case Notes for Horse 15894
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[[1]]
[Annotated ‘Fibralation of the Ven abl June 1927’]
1893 No 11 Corp: Horse number 15894
8th June – Valvula[sic] Disease – fell this morning & brought sick with injured knee. Took pulse and found it 14 no mistake, taken a dozen times. Temperature 102. 18, fainted five times during the day – heart sound difficult to determine first sound normal & sound attended long pause during which the heart appears to be spasmodically contracting, judging from the vibrations of the chest, irregular pulse. The thumping of the heart so great that it can be counted at a distance by the shock seen.
The scapula & chest wall.
9th [June] Pulse 15, fainted three times – feeding well
10th [June] [Pulse] 18, [fainted] twice [times] – [feeding well]
11th [June] [Pulse] 18 resp 18 [fainted] twice [times] – [feeding well]
12th [June] [Pulse] 24 [resp] 18 [fainted] four [times] – [feeding well]
13th [June] Temp 101 [Pulse] 36 [resp] 18 [fainted] four [times] – [feeding well]
14th [June] [Temp] 100 [Pulse] 43 [resp] 18 [fainted] three [times] – [feeding well]
15th [June] [Pulse] 18 [resp] 18 [fainted] three [times] – [feeding well]
16th [June] [Pulse] 18 [resp] 18 [fainted] five [times] – [feeding well]
17th [June] [Pulse] 18 [resp] 18 [fainted] four [times] – [feeding well]
18th [June] [Pulse] 30 [resp] 18 [fainted] three [times] – Case hopeless Board applied for
14th July – Destroyed by order of a committee. P.M.E The heart was enormously dilated & so flabby that it was like jelly all the cavities were dilated & the wall atrophied so much so that the left ventricle was thinner than an ordinary right ventricle. There was no vascular disease & I cannot account for the absence of the 2nd heart sound. Heart weighed 9 lbs.
14th July – Destroyed
[Annotated ‘Thickness of left ventricle 1 1/8 inches
Extreme width of left [ventricle] 11 [inches]
[Extreme width of] right [ventricle] 11 [inches]
P.T.O
[[2]]
This horse was destroyed with chloroform prior to which a very careful examination was made of the chest by Buller & me. The heart was irregular & thumping 1st sound an entire absence of the 2nd sound succeeded by distant vibrations of the heart wall or chest wall but no pound.
This heart sound was carefully gone into, it varied for 17 to 30 per mint[sic]. The higher number was due to excitement the animal being about[?] to be destroyed.
I expected the heart to stop readily under chloroform but this was not the case, it took two or three ounces & the exclusion of air to destroy him. The respiration then ceased before the heart.
I do not understand the absence of the 2 heart sound with healthy valves. There can be no doubt that it was absent this is quite ununderstandable unexplainable excepting on the
After the heart had stood for a few hours rigor mortis set in & the walls became firm, but not so firm as ordinary.
The cause of the Dilation of the heart is obscure doubtless the length of time it took the ventricles to fill is the explanation of the slow pulse
After a faint the pulse became nearly entirely lost. They gradually strengthened to a marked dicrotic[?] character.
Irregular pulsation observed as high as the junction[?]
[[3]]
Sounds of this heart
1st sound thumping
2nd [sound] sometimes entirely lost at other times a mere trace of sound.
In either case the heart contraction is followed by a vibration of the chest wall as if the heart were spasmodically contracting & yet no sound produced.
[Transcription by Claudia Watts, KCL History, April 2019]
Click here for full transcript of letter
[FS/3/3/2/1]
[[1]]
42 Rutland Gate Rd
Nov 27/97
Dear Captain Smith,
Since writing & talking with you about horses, I have not being [sic] idle but have been puzzling in various directions, and now want to consult you once again. Let me first say that I have had a good work at the Records of American Trotting horses, and finished a memoir thereon, not yet printed. It seems that there exists a very valuable collection of facts there, that could be used for hereditary inquiry, but which is at present practically inaccessible,
[[2]]
though with a little management it might to all appearance be easily obtained. I am in full correspondence about this, & only mention it now to shew that I am hopefully busy.
What I want now to ask you about, relates to the former question of horse – measurement, and to the following idea.
I suppose there to be little difficulty in gradually initialising a custom of having a “common” photograph taken of each valuable horse in the way to be described[.] I mean quite independently of the artistic and costly photos now usual.
[[3]]
The “common” photo is intended to carry on its face the necessary data for making measurements in the photograph itself, and these seem to be very sensible.
[[4]]
It seems to me from looking at horses in the street in harness, & those with waterproof rugs over their backs, that a plate of the sort I mean would practically coincide with a vertical plane tangential to the horse’s side. *postscript [struck-through text illeg] there would be no [illeg] difficulty in getting correct measures however much (within reasonable limits) the vertical position of the horse was oblique to the line of slight[.] For, by prolonging in pencil in the photograph of the top and bottom lines, seen in perspective, a vertical scale suitable to that perspective is obtained, and the horizontal scale can be easily deduced. Thus all the [vertic] distances in a vertical plane tangential to the side of the horse can be measured from the photo.
[[5]]
The graduated head stall would give a similar means of measuring the head; whatever its obliqueness to this line of sight might be[.]
3/ In measuring the body, the points in it might be spotted, with a small stiff brush dipped in chalk and water, before photographing. Precautions being of course insisted on, that these should be done by a skilled & trustworthy person[.]
It seems to my very enthusiastic
[[6]]
mind, that the interest & utility of providing means for future accurate measurement of every valuable horse, would lead in time (if the movement were first stabled in respect to the winners at prize shows) to its pretty general adoption[.] The points to be dotted with chalk and water are those we talked about, subject of course to re-consideration.
How does all this strike you? I should truly be obliged to free criticism, not wishing to make any move in a subject on which I have so little
[[7]]
practical knowledge, without approval from those who have.
Very faithfully yours with kind remembrances to Mrs Smith
Francis Galton
To avoid prolixity I have perhaps not entered fully enough into the ways of getting a scale from the graduations in the plate. The plate may slope vertically as well as in the way described but a divergence of even 8⁰ makes only percent error!
The data for finding all out, are the measured lengths in the photograph of AB, AC, and CD (page 4).
[[8]]
The scale for any measurement in the tan vertical tangential plane to the horses side can be deduced from these data, either by graphic methods such as architectural draughtsmen use, or perhaps more simply by the help of tables for the purpose. I worked out many of these during another & different attempt with horse – photographers, but have not regularly thought these out those that are suitable for the present purpose. There seems no difficulty in doing so.
Click here for full transcript of letter
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[[1]]
42 Rutland Gate, S.W.
Dear Captain Smith
You are most obliging & helpful. Let me suggest in addition (if not too late) a white streak down the line of the shoulder & possibly elsewhere.
I am making a little, optical instrument that promises to act very well, to standardise colour. Could you manage conveniently
[[2]]
to get me a few snips of hair, ches:t bay, brown & black, and of 2 or 3 shades of each, for me to mount experimentally[.] As much of the whole lot as could be stuffed into a common envelope, would suffice.
Very faithfully yours
Francis Galton
Click here for full transcript of letter
[FS/3/3/2/3]
42 Rutland Gate, S.W.
Dec 7/97
Dear Captain Smith
Last night on returning from a few days in the country, I found your most welcome photographs; the card about A reached me this morning.
The measurements are most easy to make on the photo and it is just possible that they may be
[[2]]
more trustworthy when taken as the perspective projection
[sketch of horse and camera positions]
of the spots on a vertical plane touching the horses side; that at is as mn (not MN). What is wanted is an horizontal projection of those
[sketch of camera position]
[[3]]
points viz μ, v. The small correction necessary to find these is easily to be obtained from the data h, k, Mμ, Nv.
h & k might be recorded by the photographer (a rough approximation sufficing) and Mμ Nv might be guessed for the particular horse after having been measured for two or three types of horses[.] The correction wd be very small never I should think exceeding 1 inch, except in the height of withers & elsewhere along the spine of the back[.]
the values of mn & your
[[4]]
measures of MN are given below
[table of data including mn (from photo) and MN (from measures)]
I took photos (not yet developed) of 2 horses in the country but foolishly did not measure between the spots, my object being to practice the technique of manipulation. It was an opportunity lost.
When I have worked at these, I should like to consult you as
[[5]]
to the best way of getting numerous photos with measures of horses; and of determining what points to select for measures.
Your gummed discs are beautifully clear. I am inclined to lithograph & cut out discs on this principle,
[sketch of disc]
(I have no compasses or scale at hand, & have used a shilling to make the circle. It shd have been 1” in diameter.). or else to stencil them. Pray accept my heartiest thanks.
[[6]]
As regards the whistles I enclose one for you to keep. You will probably find it to work best when the piston is greased.
There is so much difficulty in determining for each individual whistle, the relation between the depth & the note, that I would suggest your discarding the question altogether & in its place to find the depth that cats can just hear & some few children also. If in a more intelligible measure than
[[7]]
no of vibrations. Shaw’s method of doing this was by the method of interference between the sound wave, as it travelled towards a screen, and its echo as it travelled back. By moving the jet of a sensitive flame to and fro, the nodes of quiescence were easily found & the distance between 2 adjacent nodes was quickly found, whence the no of vibrations per sec: was of course found at once.
In using whistles for high notes, recollect that any intervening obstacle casts a well defined sound shadow.
[[8]]
The sound does not travel round them freely, as it does with ordinary notes. I tried all the beasts in the zoo with a whistle at the end of a walking stick. An india rubber ball was squeezed in the hand, and it
[sketch of whistle]
expelled air that passed through a thin tube to the whistle, which gave a tiny squeak. The big carnivores hated it. Some human persons do so also. It gives to them a strange dizzy sensation, that is not sound, but is conveyed by the ear in a different form to the brain.
Very faithfully yours
Francis Galton
P.S.
Do not call me “Dr.”
Click here for full transcript of letter
[FS/3/3/2/4]
42, Rutland Gate, S.W.
Dec 15/97
Dear Capt Smith
I must not bore you in this your busy time, but merely write to ask that you wd let me know before recommencing with the horse-measurements, as I have much improved and simplified.
The enclosed (to be read to-morrow at the R. Soc), may interest when you are next at leisure.
Very faithfully yours
Francis Galton
