552 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



tbat none of these were ever iiiteiuled for musical instruments, and 

 tbis eftectually dis])Oses of the claim that the former objects were so 

 used. Almost any piece of steel, or even iron, certainly glass, made in 

 modern times, will emit a sonorous sound; but when these materials 

 are utilized in the construction of musical instruments, that intention 

 is always apj^areut, (See j). 526.) 



The United States National Museum possesses a large, interesting, 

 and valuable collection of musical instruments, which have been 

 obtained primarily through the interest of the late Dr. G. Brown Goods, 

 the assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, in charge of 

 the National Museum. Very many of these are extremely prihiitive 

 and might well have served in prehistoric times. Their use by savages 

 and primitive peoples in the earliest stages of their history shows an 

 almost certain connection with prehistoric times. It has, therefore, 

 been considered proper that they should be noticed among prehistoric 

 instruments. 



The Museum has also published various memoirs and ethnological 

 papers, reports of travels, descriptions and catalogues of collections, 

 wherein savage and primitive musical instruments have been figured. 

 It is deemed wise to employ this material so far as it relates to or will 

 elucidate the subject in hand so that it may be brought together, and, 

 so far as possible, a view of prehistoric musical instruments, especially 

 those in the United States National Museum, presented. 



The princii)al among these publications are: "The Shofar, Its Use 

 and Origin,"' by Dr. Cyrus Adler, curator of oriental antiquities; 

 "Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet," ^ by William Woodville Eockhill; 

 "The Indians of the Northwest Coast,"' by Lieut. Albert P. Niblack, 

 United States Navy; "Ethnology of Ungava District, Hudson Bay 

 Territory,"^ by Lucien M. Turner; "A Study of Siouan Cults," '^ by J. 

 Owen Dorsey; "The Point Barrow Esquimo,"'' by John Murdoch. 

 These will be em])loyed in connection with unpublished Museum 

 material, and the whole arranged geographically. 



Palestine and Syria. 



Dr. Cyrus Adler, speaking of the shofar," says: 



It is uot only the solitary musical iustrument actually preserved in the Mosaic 

 ritual, but is the oldest form of wiud iustrumeut kno>vu to he retained in use in the 

 world. (Musical Instruments, Historic, Rare, and Unique, by A. J. Hij)kins, Edin- 

 burgh, Black, 1888, p. 12; and Musical Instruments, by Carl Engel, London, 1875, 

 South Kensington Museum Art Books.) * * * Professor Steinthal pointed out 



' Report U. S. Nat. Mus., 1892, pp. 437-450, plates xcvii-c. 



-Report U. 8. Nat. Mus., 1893, p. 715, plate xxiv. 



:' Report U. S. Nat. Mus., 1888, pp. 329-364, plates lviii-lxii. 



■i Eleventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1889-90, p. 259. 



•'Idem, p. 455. 



''Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1887-88, pp. 385-389. 



"> Report U. S. Nat. Mus., 1892, p. 437, plate xovii. 



