22 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and horn. All these have the same principle of sound production- • 

 namely, the vibration of a column of air in a tube. This vibration 

 is produced by blowing with the mouth (rarely with the nose) or by 

 mechanical means, as in the organ. It is interesting and important 

 to note that the column of air is not set in vibration directly by the 

 player's breath or the organ bellows. The vibrations are imparted 

 either by a reed, situated at the point of entry or exit of the air, or 

 through the vibration of bodies which do not form part of the 

 instrument, such as the lips of the player. 



WHISTLES 



The simplest wind instrument is a primitive whistle, corresponding 

 to the definition of a whistle as " a device in which a current of air 

 is forced through a narrowed aperture or against a thin edge, pro- 

 ducing a tone." Whistles are of various shapes, and may or may not 

 have finger holes. The most familiar form of whistle is a straight 

 tube, the instrument being fashioned from a straight stick, a bone, 

 or a section of bamboo, but globular whistles were used by the ancient 

 Aztecs and by other peoples of middle America. It seems possible 

 that such a whistle had its prototype in the globular tree gourd 

 with its hollow shell, which is more abundant than cane in that 

 region. Pottery whistles were frequently modeled in the form of 

 animals, an example of this being 93873 (pi. 14/), in the highly con- 

 ventionalized form of a reptile. The tail forms the mouthpiece, 

 while above the open end of the tube rises the neck and snakelike 

 head. Another whistle is from Mexico (95721), consisting of a 

 cylindrical tube, the lower end enlarged by a molding. Two pottery 

 wind instruments from ancient Rome are exhibited, 95042 having 

 been taken from an excavation. This whistle is in the shape of a 

 sweet potato, with the mouthpiece projecting from the thickest part. 

 It has twin finger holes and one thumb hole. Uncolored earthenware 

 forms the material of 95154, which is in a long spindle shape with a 

 mouthpiece projecting at its greatest diameter. It has eight finger 

 holes and two thumb holes. Nos. 95331 and 95332 are pottery toy 

 whistles from Spain, in the shape of dogs. A series of modern 

 ocarina are also exhibited, one being illustrated as 95154 (pi. 14/). 



A small group of bamboo whistles from Johore, on the Malay 

 Peninsula, was obtained during the World's Columbian Exposition. 

 Several double and triple whistles of bamboo are also exhibited. 



It is the custom of the American Indians to make whistles from 

 the wing bone of the eagle or other large birds, and numerous 

 whistles of this type are exhibited. Such a whistle is frequently 

 blown by a medicine man in connection with his treatment of the 

 sick. A whistle has always been an important feature of the cere- 



