Ramsay
In a musical air or harmony, i.e., when once a key has been instituted in the ear, all the various notes and chords seem animated and imbued with tendency and motion; and the center of attraction and repose is the tonic, i.e., the key-note or key-chord. The moving notes have certain leanings or attractions to other notes. These leanings are from two causes, local proximity and native affinity. The attraction of native affinity arises from the birth and kindred of the notes as seen in the six-octave genesis, and pertains to their harmonic combinations. The attraction of local proximity arises from the way the notes are marshalled compactly in the octave scale which appears at the head of the genesis, and pertains to their melodic succession. In this last scale the proximities are diverse; the 53 commas of the octave being so divided as to give larger and lesser distances between the notes; and of course the attraction of proximity is strongest between the nearest; a note will prefer to move 5 commas rather than 8 or 9 commas to find rest. Thus far PROXIMITY. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 91]
See Also
first combination of the three primary ratios
first comparison and combination of motions
first comparison and combination of quantities
harmonic
Law of Molecular Synthesis and Combination - Organic
LAW of PERMUTATIONS and COMBINATIONS
second combination of the three primary ratios
second comparison and combination of the three primary ratios
sympathetic mechanical combination
third combination of the three primary ratios
third comparison and combination of the three primary ratios
three combinations of the three primary ratios