HISTORY OF MUSICAL SCALES. 



431 



2. A pottery whistle found in the ruins of Bal)ylon, datinj>' probably 

 from about 500 B. C, is in the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society, 

 London' (tig". 4). Ro\vl)otliam'' says this is similar to the reindeer 

 joint used by the cave men. Its extreme length is 3 inches and it 

 has two finger holes. The three notes are stated to be C (of 525 d. v.), 

 E, and G; but the holes not being ([uite 



equal, the E from one of them is a (juartei- of 

 a tone fiat. By blowing hard the G can be 

 carried up to A. The chart (Plate 10) shows 

 that if the interval C-G is exacjt, with equal 

 holes the intermediate note E will be a very 

 little sharp of the piano note, but the differ- 

 ence is onl}' about 1 per cent, one-fifth of 

 a semitone, and so is utterly negligible in 

 notes of such imccrtain intonation. 



3. Striking comparisons have sometimes 

 been made, and especially by the late Prof. 

 Terrien de la Couperie, between the Assyrian 

 and early Chinese civilizations. Whatever 

 their relations may have been, it is curious 

 that the only instrument of the resonator 

 type, having several finger holes and coming 

 from a people who had a musical theory, is 

 the HsiXan (Van Aalst)^ or Hinen (Amiot)* of the Chinese, said to have 

 been invented some 2,700 years before our era, and still used in the 

 Confucian ceremonies, though very rarely seen. It is described as a 

 hollow^ cone of baked clay about 8i inches high, having a mouth-hole 

 at the top, three equal finger-holes on one side, and two equal holes on 



the other. The descriptions available 

 are inconsistent and incomplete, but 

 that given by Amiot a century ago is 

 the fullest. He reports the scale as re*, 

 fa, ■sol, I((, doj re, and as he gives a cut 

 (fig. 5), also th(^ diameters of holes and 

 the external measures, an approximate 

 calculation can ]>e made of the scale by 

 the laws of resonators. The pitch of 

 the fundamental comes out D above 

 middle C, and the other notes, F, G, 

 and A, for one side; then starting anew for the other side we get C and 

 D, all within a quarter of a semitone. This, it will be noticed, is a five- 



Fig-. 4. 



BABYLONIAN WHISTLE 

 After Eiigel. 



% 



CHINESE RESONATORS. 

 After Amiot. 



' Engel, Music of the Most Ancient Nations, p. 75. 



•■'History of Music, II, p. 628. 



=' Chinese Music, Shanghai, 1884, p. 82. 



^M^moires concernant I'histoire . . . de.s (ihinois, p. 225. 



