8oo 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



horn is lost in antiquity. It is the parent — in its native form 

 without pistons — of tlie numerous family of piston and slide in- 

 struments which have been evolved within the past century, and 

 it is one of the relics of the past, which has maintained a place 

 in the modern orchestra or military band through the addition 

 of valves. The instrument in question is known at present 

 as the French horn, to distinguish it from the sax-horn and the 



Fig. 7. — Slide Trombone. 



JIT 



Fig. 8. — Valved Trombone. 



English horn. When Beethoven first wrote for it in the orchestra 

 it was in its primitive state, the tones produced being those of the 

 harmonics of the open tube. These are doubtless familiar to most 

 readers who have heard military bugles. Intermediate tones were 

 produced by the insertion of the hand in the bell of the instru- 

 ment at first, which mufiled the tone and so rendered the efi^ect 

 uneven in timbre and not acceptable for solo purposes. The in- 

 troduction of pistons, about 1840, obviated the former drawbacks, 

 but its normal tone-character renders it useful merely as an acces- 

 sory, for it is too soft, subdued, 

 and lacking in individuality to 

 win a place as a solo instrument. 

 The slide trombone and trump- 

 et are equally ancient in their 

 primitive shape. The former yet 

 maintains a leading place. Be- 

 sides the harmonics of the open 

 tube referred to, intermediate 

 semitones, so as to complete the 

 range of the accepted octave, are 

 easily produced in the trombone by means of the slide, which 

 lengthens or decreases the tubing as required. Since valves were 

 invented, they have lieen applied to the latter, but the slide trom- 

 bone is yet jH'eferred, owing to the superior purity of its tones. 



Fig. 9. 



-Duty Bugle, the Precubsor of 

 THE Cornet. 



