Ramsay
"The ratio of 1:2 is essentially simple in its character, and any power of the prime 2 always produces a note like itself. It is a law in musical science that doubling or halving a number never changes its character. Whatever ratios and notes are produced from the first power, the square, and the cube of any number, the same kind of ratios and notes will be produced, in the genesis of octaves, by the doubles or halves of that number. On this account the prime 2 has unlimited powers in producing notes, and is used in the first place in getting a series of octaves from 1 as unity;" [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 26]
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