HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 93 



Italian dulcimer decorated with a painting is 95318. With this group 

 is exhibited an Italian "tuning instrument" (95311), strung with 

 seven steel wires. 



INSTRUMENTS WITH STRINGS, BOWED 



The stringed instruments thus far considered have had their 

 strings set in vibration by plucking or striking. Sometimes this 

 was done with the fingers and sometimes with a plectrum or a rod, 

 either fastened to the fingers or held in the hand. 



We are now to observe a series of instruments whose strings 

 are set in vibration by friction. To this series belong the familiar 

 instruments of the violin family. The implement with which the 

 strings are frictioned is called a bow, and probably originated in a 

 somewhat rough plectrum. The Hindu ascribe the invention of 

 the bow to Ravanon, a mighty king of Ceylon who lived about 

 5,000 years ago and invented an instrument called a " ravanastron." 

 It seems probable, however, that so simple a device may have 

 originated in more than one place. The bows used by ancient and 

 primitive peoples are widely varied and strung with vegetable 

 fiber as well as hair. The development of the present violin bow 

 from these beginnings is too extended a study for detailed descrip- 

 tion. As will be seen, the bow was not of European origin, but was 

 introduced into Europe chiefly through northern Africa. 



It will be noted that some stringed instruments were both plucked 

 and bowed, the latter method of vibrating the strings gradually 

 taking the place of the former method. Probably the raised bridge 

 was a determining factor between the guitar fiddle and the ancestors 

 of the tenor viol. 



The term " fiddle " is commonly applied to all bowed instruments 

 irrespective of their outline, and the term " violin " is reserved for 

 designating the instrument known by that name at the present 

 time. 



Bowed stringed instruments will be considered under three classes, 

 having as their representative types the crwth, rebec, and viol. Each 

 of these types contributed to the development of the modern violin 

 and related instruments. 



The " crwth " was the ancient national instrument of Wales, but 

 has now passed into oblivion. In England the name was changed 

 to "crowd," and a carving of the instrument appears on one of 

 the choir seats at Worcester Cathedral, dated 1397. The Welsh 

 word designates also a scooped-out, bulging article of wood, and 

 " crwth halen " means a salt box. This implies that the instrument 

 once had a rounded back, like a lyre, but in the latter part of 

 the eighteenth century it had a flat back. An excellent copy of 

 2999-27 7 



