438 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 189:'. 



There seems to be little doubt that it has been continuously used in 

 the Mosaic service from the time it was established until now. (Hip- 

 kins, XII.) 



FORM. 



The shape of the instrument varies considerably. The modern ex- 

 amples are usually flat (PL xcvn, Fig". 1). Two Italian specimens of 

 the seventeenth century preserve the form of the natural horn ; the first 

 of these is in possession of the Eev. Dr. S. Morais, of Philadelphia ; it 

 was procured for him from Venice by Dr. Isaiah Luzzatto, of Padua. 

 The second Italian specimen (PI. xcvn, Fig. 2) was collected by Dr. H. 

 Friedenwald, and belongs to the National Museum collections. The 

 same shape is exhibited in a beautiful example figured by Hipkins 

 (PI. xcvin, Fig. 1), preserved in the Great Synagogue, Aldgate, Lon- 

 don. A number of excellent specimens were brought together at the 

 Anglo Jewish Historical Exhibition, held in London in 1887. They are 

 figured in the accompanying plates and briefly described in the list of 

 illustrations. Occasionally the instruments contain Hebrew inscriptions. 

 Such an one, found near Dessau, was exhibited before the Berliner 

 Gesellschaft fur Anthropologic, Ethnologic und Frgeschichte, at the 

 meeting of March 20, 1880, and formed the subject of a valuable paper by 

 r f. < f. Wetzstein (pp. 63-73. See PI. xcvin, Fig. 3). A similarly carved 

 and inscribed instrument is in possession of a lady in New York (PI. C, 

 Fig. 1). The inscription reads: a Happy are the people who know the 

 sound (of the shofar)," and on the reverse, "In the light of Thy coun- 

 tenance shall they walk." The inscription on the Dessau instrument 

 consists of Isaiah xxvii, 13 (quoted below), and the two blessings 

 recited by the person who blows the instrument: " Blessed art Thou, 

 O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with 

 His commandments and commanded us to hear the sound of the 

 shofar;" "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, 

 who has caused us to live, and preserved us, and caused us to reach 

 this time/' (Wetzstein, p. G5.) 



The shofar was not the only natural horn used by the Israelites as a 

 musical instrument, but no copies or representations of the other instru- 

 ments have come down to us. 



Some commentators are of the opinion that the instrument known in 

 the Bible by the generic name of qeren, was also made of rani's horn, 

 and was very nearly identical with the shofar, the only difference being 

 that the latter was more curved than the former. (Engel., p. 21.) 



METHOD OF SOUNDING. 



The method of sounding the shofar has been handed down by tradi- 

 tion, though it varies slightly in different communities. Three sounds 

 are employed: the shortest, or tcqihi, a broken or interrupted sound, 



