HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 37 



time. From there it was taken to the Episcopal Church at Shep- 

 herdstown, Va., and in the early sixties it was taken by canal to 

 Hancock, Md., and installed in St. Thomas' Episcopal Church. It 

 was in use in that church until received by the Museum in 1907 as 

 a gift from the vestry. 



The jew's-harp, as already indicated, is a free reed set in vibration 

 by the player's hand. It seems probable that the name came from 

 the French jeu-trompe, implying a toy trumpet. In Scotland, where 

 it was much used at an early date, it was called a "tromp." This 

 simple instrument consists of a flexible steel tongue riveted at one 

 end to a frame of brass or iron. The free end of the tongue is bent 

 outward at a right angle so as to allow the finger to strike it when 

 the instrument is placed to the mouth and firmly supported by the 

 pressure of the frame against the teeth. Mr. Hawley writes that : 



The pitch of the tone is governed by a complicated law of acoustics. The 

 vibration of the tongue itself corresponds to a very low sound, but the cavity 

 of the mouth is capable of various alterations, causing a series of higher 

 reciprocated tones. These are not consecutive diatonic tones, and therefore 

 it is necessary to use several instruments of different sizes to produce a 

 complete scale. If this is done, it is said that " extremely original and beauti- 

 ful effects can be produced." 



A group of manufactured jew's-harps of various sizes is exhibited, 

 as well as jew's-harps of bamboo, the latter showing the use of the 

 instrument among widely separated peoples. 



Among the bamboo jew's-harps are 178242, from Siam. When 

 played the handle is held in the left hand, resting against the 

 teeth, and the leaflike spur at the outer end is struck with the 

 finger of the right hand. Two modern jew's-harps from the island 

 of Mindanao are 230143 and 232846. In the latter the slip of bamboo 

 is lashed to a carved wooden openworked handle painted red and 

 black. A specimen from the State of Johore on the Malay Penin- 

 sula is 95707, which is peculiar in that it is a sort of jew's-harp in 

 which the frame and not the tongue is vibrated. This is accom- 

 plished by a string attached to the frame, with a short stick at 

 the other end. A copy of a bamboo jew's-harp of the island of 

 Java is 229448, marked "grinding." From the island of Guam we 

 have 230997, in which the spur struck by the finger is unusually 

 long. An interesting specimen is 95940, made from a piece of dark 

 colored bamboo cut to form three prongs, all united at the base. 

 The inside one is flat, thin, and pointed, and is the tongue. The 

 outer ends of the other two are lashed together and the tongue 

 vibrates freely between them. This specimen is from New Guinea. 

 A particularly old specimen is 19412, obtained in Japan by Gen. 

 Horace Capron in 1855, and used by the Ainos. The tongue and 

 frame are of one piece of bamboo, and the tongue is set in vibration by 

 2999—27 4 



