74 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 
A considerable collection of casts of Greco-Roman sculptures, in- 
cluding statues and busts of the divinities, as also votive and sepul- 
chral steles and tablets and bas-reliefs depicting mythological scenes, 
is exhibited in the new building of the Museum in connection with the 
display by the division of archeology. 
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
One of the most popular and interesting of the subjects embodied 
in the classification of 1881 is that relating to instruments of music, 
of which a very good presentation, comprising examples from both 
aboriginal and civilized peoples, was soon effected. The collection 
now illustrates fairly well the range and development of these in- 
struments and ranks among the best and most comprehensive in this 
country. In fact, in many instances, especially as to scientific ar- 
rangement, it has been used as a prototype by other museums. After 
occupying for a long period the wall cases in the north hall, under 
unfavorable conditions, it was transferred near the close of last 
year to the northwest court, where the collection as a whole, as well 
as the individual pieces, may be studied more advantageously. The 
new installation is in the deep and practically continuous wall case 
which surrounds the court, broken only at the entrance and in the 
middle of the opposite side of the room, the latter for the insertion 
of one large piece of the series. Wiuth only table cases on the adjacent 
parts of the floor, the general view is unobstructed and the hghting 
excellent. The number of instruments displayed is about 1,200, but 
there are still others in storage. 
The classification, based upon the structure of the instruments, 
which determines the character of the sound-producing vibrations, 
is in four general divisions. The arrangement of the collection be- 
gins on the left of the entrance and is continued systematically with 
but a single exception. The first division comprises the vibrating 
sonorous instruments, such as bells, castanets, cymbals, gongs, musi- 
cal glasses, rattles, triangles, tuning forks, vibrating tohgues, and 
xylophones. In the second division are comprehended the vibrat- 
ing membranes, as in the drums and tambourines. Vibrating strings 
of gut, fiber, or wire compose the third division, which is subdivided 
into open and stopped strings. In the former—the harp, for exam- 
ple—the string can have but one tone in playing, while in the latter 
the tone may be changed by means of the fingerboard. There are 
also further subdivisions, according to the method of producing the 
vibrations. Strings may be rubbed with a bow, as with fiddles, or 
rubbed by a wheel, as with hurdy-gurdies, or picked or plucked, as 
with harps, lyres, psalteries, lutes, guitars, and banjos. Spinets and 
harpsichords are plucked by means of mechanism connected to a 
keyboard, dulcimers are plucked by striking with hammers, and 
a 
