605 



PHYSICS. 



PIANO-FORTE. 



600 



condemned as part of the property of the Church, and sold by public 

 auction, on which occasion Dr. Hamey became the purchaser, and two 

 years afterwards, 1649, gave them in perpetuity to his colleagues. The 

 great fire of London, 1666, consumed the College and the whole of the 

 library with the exception of 112 folio volumes. For the next few 

 years the meetings of the fellows were generally held at the house of 

 the president, while a new college was being built on a piece of ground 

 that had been bought in Warwick Lane. This was completed in four 

 years, and was opened, without any particular ceremony, on the 25th 

 of February, 1764, under the presidency of Sir George Ent. Here 

 the fellows continued to hold their meetings for about sixty years, 

 when (as Dr. Macmichael says) " the change of fashion having over- 

 come the genius loci," the present new college, at the north-east corner 

 of Trafalgar Square, was opened on the 25th of June, 1825, and 

 an elegant Latin oration was delivered by the president, Sir Henry 

 Halford. 



PHYSICS. The word phy'sikc (<f>wiK^), or science of nature, might 

 include in one general term all that is called mixed mathematics, 

 natural philosophy, chemistry, and natural history. The title of 

 physician, or student of nature, has become in our language synony- 

 mous with one who investigates the origin of diseases and the 

 means of cure; but in the continental languages it still retains the 

 more general signification. Also physic (the study of nature) has 

 come to mean the drugs given to cure disorders, or medicines ; and 

 it would be difficult to name two more complete departures from 

 etymology. 



The plural physics is always used to mean the study of nature by 

 means of the severer modes of investigation. Some apply it to the 

 application of mathematics to material phenomena, and to this alone ; 

 others, distinguishing the preceding as mathematical physics, include 

 under the general term the sciences of experiment. There ia no 

 usage which in any degree approaches a universal reception ; we 

 prefer the second-mentioned signification. In this country, the phrase 

 Natural, Philosophy usually includes all that is understood by the term 

 Physio. 



PHYSIOGNOMY (Qvaioyvuiwvm) is the art of determining the 

 mental character of an individual by the examination of his counte- 

 nance. The popular ideas of the indications afforded by different kinds 

 of features, by the adoption of which almost every one is at times a 

 practitioner of physiognomy, are nearly as definite as the few principles 

 which those who have made it an object of peculiar study have 

 established. The circumstance on which the chief and surest indi- 

 cations afforded by the countenance depend, is, that when certain 

 feelings and habits are much indulged in, the positions of the features 

 which are associated with them are apt to become permanent, either 

 by the formation of wrinkles or other marks in the skin, or by the en- 

 largement and disproportionate strength of the muscles chiefly exerted. 

 Thug a person hi the frequent habit of sneering contemptuously 

 acquires at last a slight curve in his upper lip by the disproportionate 

 size and power of its elevator muscle ; he who is often meditating has 

 the wrinkles of the slight frown and the contraction of the brows 

 which are commonly associated with deep thought, permanently fixed ; 

 he who has his attention constantly alive to the objects around 

 him acquires an expression of vivacity hi the openness of his eye 

 and the quickness of the motions of all the muscles of his face; 

 while he, on the other hand, whose thoughts are rarely roused to 

 active efforts, acquires a smoothness of feature and a sluggishness 

 of action in the several parts of the face, which indicate that its 

 muscles have been exercised as rarely and with as little energy as his 

 thoughts. 



The peculiarities of feature thus acquired are often transmitted from 

 the parent to the child ; and in the latter, their indications will be 

 correct or false according as there has or has not been a coincident 

 transmission of the parent's disposition. Or a child may acquire a 

 peculiar expression of countenance by imitating those among whom it 

 is placed, and in this case also it will only be by accidental coincidence 

 that the indications of the features are correct. From these and other 

 sources of fallacy, the attempt* to raise physiognomy into a science 

 have not been so successful as to encourage a deeper study of it 

 than every one unconsciously engages in during his intercourse with 

 the world. 



PIANO-FORTE, a keyed musical instrument, variously formed 

 and under different denominations, such as grand, semi-grand, square, 

 cabinet, cottage, &c. The first notion of the square piano-forte was 

 taken from the clavichord by a German mechanic of the name of 

 Viator, more than a hundred years ago ; but, for want of friends 

 or funds, he never became known as a maker. The invention, how- 

 ever, was followed up by other musical instrument makers of the 

 same nation, who all ceased to produce clavichords and harpsichords, 

 and directed their attention to the new instrument, the piano- 

 forte. Thus we have Zumpe, Tabel, Schudi, Kirkman, Stodart, 

 Schoene, Buntebart, Pohlman, Pether, Beck, Garcha, Ganer, and a host 

 of others. 



The grand piano-forte is supposed to be of earlier date than the 

 square piano-forte, and is said to have been the invention of a German 

 rnu ician of the name of Schroder, or, as others say, of Christofali, 

 a harpsichord-maker of Padua. The first maker at all known in 

 this country was Backers ; but we are not aware that success 



attended his exertions with the solid advantages which were enjoyed 

 by his contemporary Zumpe, who realised an ample fortune and 

 retired. The grand piano-forte retains the shape of the instrument 

 from which it was taken, the harpsichord ; and although that shape has 

 been much condemned, it is the natural outline of the instrument: 

 and we do not think that a better form for it will ever be devised 



The square piano-forte, we have said, was taken from the clavichord, 

 but it retains only its shape, with the same disposition of the strings 

 and keys; their actions have no similarity. We must here explain 

 that the action of all such instruments is a technical name for all the 

 mechanism which intervenes between the outer ends of the keys 

 on which the fingers press, and the strings which emit the sounds 

 to describe the action, therefore, is to describe the essential parts 

 of the instrument. The action of the clavichord was simply a piece 

 of brass pin wire, which was placed vertically at a point where it 

 could be struck or pressed against its proper strings. Each note 

 had two strings. The right-hand string was free to vibrate ; whilst 

 that on the left-hand was mufiled by a piece of cloth, the object 

 of which was to damp or stop the string the instant the finger 

 was taken off the key. The touch of the clavichord was peculiar, 

 partaking both of the harpsichord and the organ; in other words, 

 both struck and pressed, and the pressure could be so varied as to 

 produce a kind of tremblant effect. The tones were feeble, soft, 

 and melancholy, and better suited to the student, the composer, 

 or the solitary, than any purposes of social amusement. A vertical 

 section of this action is shown in fy. 1. 



PI*. 1. 



a, Key; i, Brass pin -wire ; c, String; rf, Cloth woven between the strings as 

 a damper. 



The action of the square piano-forte, on its first introduction, con- 

 sisted of a key, a lifter, a hammer, and a damper. The key was the 

 same as that of the clavichord. The lifter was a brass wire, with a 

 piece of hide leather as a head, which was covered with a piece of soft 

 leather as a finish. This lifter, when in motion, struck the hammer 

 against the string, and thus produced the tone of the instrument. 

 The damper followed, and stopped the vibrations as quickly as the 

 finger was removed from the key. (Fig. 2.) The tone of this piano- 

 forte was thin and wiry, the hammer having only one slight covering 

 of sheep-skin leather UDOU it. 



a, Key ; b, Lifter ; <-, String ; d, Damper ; e, Damper stick or mopstkk ; 

 f. Hammer ; g, Lifter ; A, Brass damper. 



This rude idea of a piano-forte continued in use for many years. 

 The first improvement upon it was introduced by Longman and 

 Broderip, who brought out a patented invention having two additional 

 parts in the action, namely, the hopper and the under-hammer, as they 

 were called (fiy. 3.) This patent was followed by another introduced 

 by Clementi 4 Co., the burden of which simply, was an improvement 

 on the damper. It was called the Irish patent, from its having been 

 the invention of an Irishman of the name of Southwell ; but it had 

 simplicity only to recommend it, was found inconvenient, and shortly 

 afterwards was superseded by what is now called the crank damper. 

 We cannot give the name of the inventor of this improvement ; it 

 became so instantaneously general, that the inventor was lost sight of 

 in the crowd of makers who adopted his invention. It is still in use, 

 and is acknowledged to be a good and sufficient plan. The damper 

 used by Messrs. Broadwood previously to the introduction of the 

 crank damper was made in brass (fy. 2), but by whom invented we do 

 not know. We now come to the last addition which has been made to 

 the action of the square piano-forte, the check. This member was 

 borrowed from the grand piano-forte, and is so acknowledged by the 

 name given to those square piano-fortes which have it ; for they are 

 always called, par excellence, grand-square piano-fortes. The check 

 certainly is a most important part of a piano-forte, and the best of 

 actions is nothing without it. The check is placed behind the hammer, 

 nearly at the end of the key ; where, after the blow has been given, it 

 catches the tail of the hammer, and holds it till another is required 



