36 BULLETIN 136, UNITED STATES NATIONAL. MUSEUM 



a large range of tone and its adaptation to all sorts of music and 

 to all occasions gave it a wide appeal. It was an instrument with 

 free reeds, operated by suction, the air being drawn through the 

 pipes, not forced through. The same principle was used in the 

 cabinet organ. The library of the music section contains a catalogue 

 or organs and melodeons published in 1869 by George A. Prince & 

 Co., of Buffalo, X. Y., which announces that 45,000 of these instru- 

 ments " have been finished and are now in use." The Prince melo- 

 deon is designated as a " musical luxury." In the collection is an 

 excellent example of a melodeon with single bellows worked by 

 a pedal (96410) made by C. H. Packard, Campello, North Bridge- 

 water, Mass.: also a working model of a portion of a reed organ 

 (94649) used by the firm Mason & Hamlin in 1882. This shows 

 the operation of the diapason stop and octave coupler. 



A new era in the popularization of music came with the invention 

 of instruments using perforated paper rolls. An early form of this 

 was the clariona or orguinette (72881). This is an automatic free 

 reed instrument whose action is described as follows by Mr. Hawley : 



The turning of its crank works a bellows which exhausts the air through 

 the free reeds, at the same time it moves a strip of manila paper over and 

 closes the air channels to the reed. In this strip of paper holes are cut at 

 such points as will admit the wind to the particular reed required to sound the 

 necessary note of the music. The length of the holes in the paper is governed 

 by the duration of the tune desired. 



With this is shown a strip of manila paper wound on a spool read}' 

 to be placed in the instrument : " This strip has the long and short 

 holes necessary to play ' Home, Sweet Home,' and four other tunes." 



The pianola was invented by Edwin S. Votey in 1896, and an in- 

 strument was presented to the Museum by the Aeolian Company 

 (324741). Mr. Votey describes the instrument as follows: 



The pianola was built for the purpose of playing on the keyboard of any 

 regular piano and operated by means of a perforated music roll through 

 a suitable pneumatic action, actuating a series of finger levers which struck 

 the piano keys the same as a pianist would — the performer supplying the 

 power by the use of foot pedals which enabled him ateo to vary the force of 

 blow and thereby play loud or soft according to the force applied. 



Two other musical instruments using perforated music rolls are the 

 automatic piano (239911) and the "violin virtuosi" (not num- 

 bered). 



The pipe organ has been called the " king of instruments " and the 

 Museum is fortunate in possessing an instrument of historic as well 

 as musical value (244841). This church organ is said to have been 

 made in England in 1700. It was first used in the old Port Royal 

 Episcopal Church in Virginia and passed from there to Christ 

 Church, Alexandria, where it was in use during George Washington's 



