AOHONBY 5 ACO^JSTICS
Rt. Rev. Francesco di Pietro, b. at Naples, 1844, many countries adding valuable contributions to
was appointed 14 December, 1899. By 1920 statistics the subject, which made possible the classified
the diocese comprises 38,000 Catholics, 12 parishes, knowledge existing to-day. A few of the more
98 secular and 15 regular clergy, 25 seminarians, 44 noted among the early investigators and writers
(lurches or chapels, and 28 religious women. have been Bulfinch, Strickland, Mills, Joseph and
A»Y.«%«««v Tw«^«« ^« /A<,*,.-*,«x,«. ^t n T? Jacques in America; Eichhorn, Haege, Orth, Strum-
T ^™^' Diocese op (Acadensus: cf. C. E, y^^ • Germany; Williams and Srd Rayleigh in
1894, after a year of parish duty, became professor irL," ii„ „„7*„ui« Uoo k^^^^ ti.^J^^\^^^Z^4^ ^t
of the Classics and English at the diocesan college, tectHraUy suitable, has brought the development of
Ballaghdereen (1895^9^, and (1896-1911) was dein architectural acoj^ics withm the scope of rational
and professor of liturgy at Maynooth. He con- engmeermg problems. , • ^ *u .
tributed numerous articles on liturgical subjects to . The subject is necessarily complex; in order that
the original edition of the Cathouc Encyclopedia. J^fajing may be good m any church, it is nec^nr
Within recent years a new diocesan college, cost- t^^at the sound should be ^ciently loud, that the
ing about £20,000 and accommodating about eighty simultaneous components of a complex sound diould
students, has been opened for boys. A parochial maintain their proper relative mtenaties, and that
church has also been completed and dedicated in the successive sounds in rapidly moving articula-
the parish of Straid. Among the clergy who have tion, either of speech or of music, rfiould be clear
died were two prominent workers, Rt. Rev. Mgr. and distinct, free from each other and from extrane-
Loftus (d. 30 October, 1908), and Rt. Rev. Mgr. ous noises. As an engineering problem it involves
Staunton (d. 6 November, 1910). During the Worid the shape of the auditonum, its dimensions and the
War three of the clergy of this diocese served as matenals ©f which it is composed, and this latter
chaplains. property is by far the one that most controls the
In 1921 the total population of the diocese was acoustical conditions. 76,983, all Irish, and of this number only 1.927 are The researches above mentioned and the con- non-Catholics. There are 22 parishes, 43 cnurches, tributions of other physicists have made it possible 55 secular priests, 8 convents of women, 1 seminary, and practicable to determine, given the plans of a 1 coUese for men, and 3 high schools. Among the church and the kind of materials of which it is to charitable institutions are hospitals at Swinf ord and be constructed, the acoustical conditions in the Tubbercurry. The college and three intermediate finished building, and to make the necessary pro- schools are aided by the government. The Apos- visions to overcome faults.
tohc Union, 'Tia XJnio Cleri," and two missionary Of acoustical defects, the most common is excess
societies are organized among the clergy, and the reverberation, including, as a special case, the echo.
Sacred Heart League and Total Abstinence League Sound being energy will, when produced in a con-
among the laity. The Sisters of Mercy, of Charity, fined space, continue imtil it is either transmitted
of the £b&CTed Heart, of St. Louis, the Marist Sisters by the walls, or transformed into some other kind
and the Brothers of the Christian Schools are estab- of energy, generally heat. This |)ropess of decay is
lidbed here. called absorption. Sound, following the same gen-
Ad-Bsale (Jaca Rboaub), Diocese op (cf. C. E., ^"^ ^^^J? ^'8^^' ^« transmitted by the. intervention
I-105a), in the island of Sicily, is immediately sub^ glKl^!^T„fr^^*l,i5 ,^T«Lf triS«,^K,^^^^
iect to Rome. The third bishop, Rt. Rev. Salvatore Solids and bquids, as well as gases, transmit sound
Bella, who succeeded Bishop^' Giovanni Battista V^Jl^'^I^^ J^^ZVi±^
Arist^-Vigo (d. 27 September, 1920). in 1921, died '^']^'^-i^?lt^if,'XTKi\!f.^^^^
- >o vrar/.if 1099 or,/! ih^ o«o L «rv«r^.on««f Tays Will pcuetrate the membrane, _som_e will be
women, 5 convents for men, 287 secular and 80 '**?• o""'« «« ^^"j^^*'^*."'"^^ »*'=»"=»"* "?^^."
ww^MXA'.^M*, V -ovruT^uvo^ * w» Au^u, ^ui oy^uia* axx\M. w . Bome will Denetrate it and continue their mo-
reinuar clerKy. 1 seminary with 90 semmanans. 3 col- r- x /i. "'** f^**^!**"*^ ^ ""** x^w**w**xi*c «***.*» **»
l^ei for ^ with 670 students and 6 for ^omen *»<"» »« *!»« Ifc!?^- ^E"* "J^S™V^f; ^Z
^th 300 students. Among the charitable institu- to multiple reflection entera so krgely mto ^^
tiona are 2 homes under Catholic auspices; 10 •7^J^"S°L*".f^K^,5f„n?^»^„ »n^ ^1°^^^^^;^
societies are organized among the laity an<f 1 aiiong cl««r study of this phenomenon w^ a^^m the
the clergy and 2 Catholic piriodicals'are publishe<i! S'n3"Kditoriu^ ^^ttes"^'*'""^
Acoustics is that branch of natural science which By the term "reverberation" is meant the con- treats of the phenomena of sound, and the term tinuation of sound in a room after the source that "sound," as used in physics, is vibration that may produced it has ceased to operate. This is due to be appreciated by the ear. For the purpose of the reflecting quality of the walls. The principal this article the subject will be confined to its rela- cause of the gradual diminution of sound is the tion to church edifices, as these buildings must absorption of toe surface. The length of time that poasess the proper acoustical properties to render sound will endure after the source has ceased to them thoroughly serviceable for Divine worship. function is also spoken of as the duration of audi-
Many churches which are architecturally beau- bility. The continuation of sound after it is pro-
tif ul have failed to fulfill the expectations of the duced is obviously essential to hearing, but produces
builders in their acoustical quality, this being due indistinctness when the continuation is for too long
primarily to a general lack of knowledge of the or too short a period. If a speaker is to be heard
science of architectural acoustics. However, a distinctly, the syllable he has just spoken must not
search through literature on the subject shows there be too much in evidence when he utters the next
have been learned writers and investigators in one. On the other hand, there must be an amount
