42 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



THE GREAT BOSTON ORGAN. 



During the past year there has been erected in the Music Hall, of 

 the city of Boston, Massachusetts, an organ, which for absolute power 

 and compass ranks among the three or four mightiest instruments ever 

 built ; and in the perfection of all its parts, and in its whole arrange- 

 ments, challenges comparison with any the world can show. The in- 

 strument in question was built by E. F. Walcker, of Ludwigksburg, 

 in the kingdom of Wiirtemburg, and was upwards of six years in the 

 course of construction. Its cost was upwards of $50,000, and the case 

 alone cost $15,000. 



In itself, this organ may be described as really comprising five dis- 

 tinct organs, or systems of pipes, which are capable of being played on 

 alone, or in connection with each other. Four of these are played 

 upon by manuals or hand key-boards, and the other by pedals or a 

 foot key-board. The lowest of the former controls the swell organ, 

 the pipes of which, as in other instruments, are enclosed in a box (in 

 this case, itself as large as many complete organs), and so arranged 

 that it may be open or perfectly tight at the will of the performer, thus 

 giving opportunity for light and shade in endless variety. This organ 

 contains 18 registers or stops, with which are drawn on or shut off an 

 equal number of ranks or series of pipes, all of which, or any of them 

 separately or in combination, may be made to speak through the swell 

 manual. Next above this is placed the key-board of the " great 

 organ," as it is technically called. Here we have 25 registers, all 

 of which connect with pipes on a large scale, and are the loudest 

 voiced pipes in the whole organ. Here are the grand diapasons which 

 form the foundation of the whole sound-superstructure, and the im- 

 mense trumpets and clarions which ring out like a call to battle. Above 

 the great organ manual comes that of the choir organ, which has 15 

 registers, and is in many respects the " great organ " on a softer scale, 

 but without the harsher reed stops. The last and upper manual be- 

 longs to the solo organ, which also answers for the echo organ, con- 

 taining 1 1 stops, and among them the famous vox humana, the quali- 

 ties of which have not yet been publicly tested. The pedals are the 

 only remaining key-board, and in connection with them are 20 dis- 

 tinct stops, 15 loud and the rest soft, some of the former being monster 

 reeds and a close imitation of orchestral instruments. We have then 

 a total of 89 speaking stops, which may all be combined, and a grand 

 total of 5474 pipes. The largest of these pipes measure thirty-two 

 feet in length, and are sufficiently capacious in diameter to allow men 

 to crawl through them, while the finest tubes " are too small for a baby's 

 whistle." The breath to the'se pipes, " to be poured forth in music, " is 

 furnished by twelve pairs of bellows, moved by water-power derived 

 from the Cochituate reservoirs. 



But this great instrument does not differ from other organs merely 

 in size and wonderful variety of stops, but it excels them in almost 

 every detail which can be mentioned. The principal diapasons are 

 made of the purest English tin which is consistent with stability, and 

 the pipes in the swell organ, although they are always hidden from 

 view, are finished with the most scrupulous nicety. The dip of the 

 keys of ordinary organs is three-eighths, or at the most three-eighths 



