Ramsay
Speaking of acute harmonics Pole says - "The first six are the only ones usually considered to be of any practical importance, and it is rarely possible to distinguish more than 10 or 12."
Mercenne (French, 1636) says - "Every string produces 5 or more sounds at the same instant, the strongest of which is called the natural sound of the string, and alone is accustomed to be taken notice of; for the others are so feeble that they are only perceptible to delicate ears . . . not only the octave and fifteenth, but also the twelfth and major seventeenth are always heard; and over and above these I have perceived the twenty-third and ninth partial tones in the dying away of the natural sound."[Scientific Basis and Build of Music, page 59]
Hughes
The diagram begins with C, the third space of the treble clef, as being more convenient to write than C, the lowest note in the bass clef. The life of musical sounds rising from a hidden fountain of life is shown by the chasms of keyed instruments between B and C, and E and F; their great use will be strikingly manifest as the developments proceed. The fundamental key-note C and its root F rise from the chasms. B, the twelfth key-note, and E, its root, sound the octave higher of the fountain B. The generation of harmonies is by one law a simple mode of difference. Each major major key-note and its tones embrace the eighteen tones of keyed instruments which all lie in order for use. The power and extent of each are complete in itself, rising and developing, not from any inherent property in matter, but from the life communicated to matter. In the whole process of harmony there are limits, and yet it is illimitable. Its laws compel each key-note to follow certain rules within certain bounds; each separate key-note, being the fountain of its own system, has its own point of rest, and series after series rise and enlarge, or fall and diminish infinitely. [Harmonies of Tones and Colours, Diagram I - The Eighteen Tones of Keyed Instruments, page 22a]
See Also