802 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tlie cornet in its crude state, regulated the tube lengths, cut away 

 rough angles in the air-passages of the valves, and made it more 

 acceptable for artistic needs. It became popular immediately, 

 the great Koenig and other artists appearing before 1850 to give 

 it notoriety. In 1846 Sax also introduced his sax-horns, from so- 

 prano to bass, which were adopted in all countries, with special 

 improvements and modifications. The brass bands of modern 

 character — called " cornet bands " in some parts of this country 

 — therefore became a possibility. In sax-horns and more recent 

 adaptations of these instruments, such as the circular basses and 

 euphonium, the same piston system prevails as in the cornet. 



Bands were chiefly used for mili- 

 tary purposes up to about 1840, wlien 

 amateur and professional organiza- 

 tions for public celebrations appeared. 



Fig. 12.— Tenor Sax-horit. 



Fig. 13.— Bass Sax-horn. 



■Previous to the appearance of the clarionet they were composed of 

 hautboys, sackbuts, trumpets, flutes, serpents, horns, and various 

 other olDSolete instruments, all of a crude character, besides drums, 

 cymbals, and pulsatile accessories. Yet the invention and adop- 

 tion of sax-horns in military bands gave rise to an entirely new 

 order of instrumentation in the abstract, but without disturbing 

 the clarionet from the position it has always occupied. 



The manufacture of brass wind-instruments in America was be- 



