George Saunders' 'Treatise on Theatres' of 1790 and Optimum Acoustic Profiles

We now refer to the eighteenth century as the 'Age of Reason'.Perhaps it should come as no surprise to find enterprising attempts from the period at logical development of auditorium forms.For instance, Pierre Patte in 1782 l proposes the elliptical plan form for a theatre because:"the elliptical curve ..... possesses the unique ability of preserving from all directions the useful reflections of the voice...... Consequently such a theatre could not fail of being perfect."Patte's concept of acoustic reflection seems sound enough.But it now seems amazing that he was unconcerned by the extreme focusing behaviour from which his preferred form suffers. '