The System of vibrations determines everything in the chords and scales of music. The subdominant, or lowest chord in a key - F, A, C - is the natural product of the first combination of the three primary ratios. Their second combination develops the tonic and middle chord - C, E, G. The third develops the dominant or highest chord - G, B, D.
A musical sound, thus illustrated, is composed of 25 circles of vibrations, and each circle is a more or less developed sound. There are, therefore, 25 sounds in one musical sound.1 When these 25 sounds, with 19 different ratios, are fully developed and standing in the same order and in the same proportions as that in which they naturally arise in a single sound, and in this fully developed condition all heard together, they produce one grand harmonious chord of chords.2 The reason is obvious; these 25 sounds are distributed over six octaves. As B, the seventh in the octave-scale, cannot be developed save at the distance of five and a-half octaves above the fundamental sound, so on that account it has no octave in the chord, having only one circle of vibrations in Nature's grand fugue. D, the second of the octave-scale, arises at nearly five octaves up, and has only two circles of vibrations; G and E arise in the fourth octave, and have three circles each; A arises in the third octave, and has four circles; C arises in the second octave, and has five circles; while F, the fundamental sound, the genetic root of the whole system, has the first octave entirely to itself. It has also the seven circles of vibration which embrace and enclose the whole six octaves, and give unity of structure to the whole system of vibrations.
1 Of course, when these 25 sounds are heard as they arise in Nature, as a lovely halo of sound clothing one fundamental sound, it is not in the power of the human ear, as at present endowed, to distinguish them all; some ears will distinguish more, some fewer; but the likelihood is that the acute harmonics, as they are sometimes called in the scientific works on "Sound," are all there - at least sometimes - perhaps always; our limited powers of perception being the only defect. - Editor.
2 D. C. Ramsay originated an easy way to hearing this grand chord of chords by notching a lath of wood so that it would strike down at one stroke all the 25 sounds on the keyboard of the piano. The lath may be of half-inch wood, 3 inches broad, notched three-fourths of an inch deep. See Plate III. - Editor.
Ramsay
When Ramsay gave a course of lectures in Glasgow, setting forth "What constitutes the Science of Music," his lecture-room was hung round with great diagrams illustrating in various ways his findings; an ocular demonstration was also given of the system of musical vibrations by his favorite illustration, the oscillations of the Silent Harp of Pendulums. A celebrated teacher of music in the city came to Mr. Ramsay's opening lecture, and at the close remained to examine the diagrams, and question the lecturer, especially on his extension of the harmonics to six octaves. Having seen and heard, this teacher went and shortly after published it without any acknowledgment of the true authorship; and it was afterwards republished in some of the Sol-Fa publications, the true source unconfessed; but our plagarist stopped short at C, the top of the tonic, instead of going on to F, the sixth octave of the root of all; the effect of this was to destroy the unity of the great chord. The 22 notes instead of 25, at which this teacher stopped, allowed him, indeed, to show the natural birthplace of B, which Ramsay had pointed, but it beheaded the great complex chord and destroyed its unity. If C, the root of the tonic, be made the highest note, having quite a different character from F, it pronounces its character, and mars the unity of the great chord. Similar diversity of effect is produced by cutting off only two notes of the 25 and stopping short at D, the top of the dominant; and also, though in a weaker degree, by cutting off only one note of the 25 and stopping at E, the middle of the tonic; this, too, disturbs the unity of the fundamental sound. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 111]
What the Chord of Chords sounds like: http://www.svpvril.com/sharedfilefolder/Grand_Fugue-11-17-21-Stereo.mp3
See Also