Ramsay
"Although a sound is composed of the notes which, when developed, constitute three chords, beautifully differing in their musical effects; yet, as the three notes which make the fundamental chord have sixteen of the twenty-five circles of vibrations, this determines the predominance of the fundamental chord. And as the root of this chord has seven of these sixteen circles, the top of the chord five, and the middle of the chord four, so do these seven circles of vibration determine the predominance of the note to which they belong, and conspire to give a wondrous unity of effect to what is really a highly complex sound." [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 18]
dividing itself by 2 or 3 or 5, etc., up through the whole geometrical series of numbers, not keeping fixed at one thing; but while the whole length is vibrating the fundamental partial, it keeps shifting the still nodes along its length, and sometimes longer and sometimes shorter segments are sounding the other partials which clothe the chief sound. It has been commonly said that "a musical sound is composed of three sounds," for every ear is capable of hearing these three, and with a little attention a few more than these; but many will be startled when told that there are twenty-five sounds in that sound. Eighteen of them are simply the octaves of the other seven, all of these seven except one having one or more octaves in the sound. Four of the seven also are very feeble, the one which has no octave being the feeblest of all. Two of the other three are so distinctly audible along with the chief partial that they gave rise to the saying we have quoted about a musical sound being composed of three sounds.1 If the three most pronounced partials were equally developed in one sound, it could not be called one sound - it would decidedly be a chord; and when in the system they do become developed, they form a chord; but in the one sound they, the partials, having fewer and fewer octaves to strengthen them, fade away in the perspective of sound. The sharp seventh, which in the developed system has only one place, not coming into existence until the sixth octave of the genesis, is by far the feeblest of all the partials, and Nature did well to appoint it so. These harmonics are also sometimes called "overtones," because they are higher than the fundamental one, which is the sound among the sounds, as the Bible is the book among books. [Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 59]
Hughes
I add quotations from the first letter I received from him. "I have read the MS., and there are some very curious coincidences—exceedingly so—here and there. Whether it will clear out into a demonstrable system, I cannot say at present. If we can get our harmonical start, I think all will come out plainly, for there is so much that is consistent in sequence. There has been nothing at all like it at present, and some of it squares singularly with the old Greek notions." "I am more than half a disciple of your theory of the six tones, and am inclined to imagine that it would do away with much complication, and keep the mind bent on a smaller circle. We can only see things in patches, and hear in trinities, and every single sound is a trinity." [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Dr. Gauntletts Remarks1, page 13]
See Also
one sound contains three different sounds
trinity of sounds
triplet