The law of gravitation is the law of Music as well as of Astronomy. The cycles of the distances, that is the intervals, in Music correspond to the cycles of the periods in Astronomy. In Astronomy the distances and quantities of matter are primary, and determine the periods; in Music the periods and quantities are primary, and determine the distances or intervals. In Astronomy the distances are commensurable; in Music the periods are commensurable. In Astronomy the periods are incommensurable; in Music the distances or intervals are incommensurable. In Astronomy, because the simplicity is not in the periods, the conjunctions are very few at one time; in Music, because the simplicity is in the periods, the conjunctions are very many at one time. And herein lies in the one case the harmony and permanence of the solar system, and in the other case the harmony and beauty of the musical system. The periods and distances in Astronomy and Music are inversely related. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 30]
The mathematical scales, if followed out regardless of other laws which rule in music, would read like a chapter in Astronomy. They would lead us on like the cycles of the moon, for example. In 19 years we have 235 moons; but the moon by that time is an hour and a-half fast. In 16 such cycles, or about 300 years, the moon is about a day fast; this, of course, is speaking roughly. This is the way seemingly through all the astronomical realm of creation. And had we only the mathematical ratios used in generating the notes of the scale as the sole law of music, we should be led off in the same way. And were we to follow up into the inaudible region of vibrations, we should possibly find ourselves where light, and heat, and chemical elective motions and electric currents are playing their unheard harmonies; or into the seemingly still region of solid substances, where an almost infinite tremor of vibrations is balancing the ultimate elements of the world. Music in this case would seem like some passing meteor coming in from among the silent oscillations of the planetary bodies of the solar system, and flashing past with its charming sound effects, and leaving us again to pass into the higher silence of those subtle vibrations to which we have referred, having no infolding upon itself, no systematic limit, no horizon. But music is not such a passing thing. Between the high silence of these intense vibrations, and the low silence of oscillating pendulums and revolving planets, God has constituted an audible sphere of vibrations, in which is placed a definite limit of systematic sounds; seven octaves are carried like a measuring line round twelve fifths; and motion and rest unite in placing a horizon for the musical world, and music comes [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 39]
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