633 



VIOLET SAUNDERS. 



VIRTUAL VELOCITIES. 



631 



the foliage aa possible exposed to the air. In about six weeks the 

 runners have formed roots. Then take up the old plants and select 

 the best runners. These are to be planted in a bed formed of two 

 parts of turfy loam and one part of leaf mould, placed so as to be 

 shaded by trees, but well exposed to the air. A trench is to be made 

 by removing the soil to a depth of about four inches, which is to be 

 filled up to a level with leaf mould, over which the removed soil is to 

 be placed. Upon this the runners are to be planted, at distances of 

 about four inches, the rows being at least seven inches apart. They 

 are then to be well watered, and the watering repeated frequently 

 during the summer months. In September they will have become 

 strong enough to be removed, with good bulbs at their roots, and may 

 be transplanted to frames under glass, well watered and shaded from 

 the sun, for about a week, when they will have rooted well again, and 

 may be freely exposed to the air. By October they will be in bloom, 

 and will continue flowering till May. 



VIOLET SAUNDERS. [CoLOUitrxo MATTERS.] 



VIOLIN. The colouring matter of violets. Its composition is 

 unknown. This name has also recently been applied to one of the 

 numerous and beautiful colouring matters derived from aniline. Dr. 

 David Price prepares this colour by heating an aqueous liquid con- 

 taining two equivalents of sulphuric acid and one equivalent of aniline 

 to the boiling point, and then adding one equivalent of binoxide of 

 lead, boiling the mixture for some time and then filtering it whilst hot. 

 The filtrate is of a dark purple hue, ia boiled with potash both to 

 separate the excess of aniline and also to precipitate the colouring 

 matter. When all the free aniline is volatilised the residue is thrown 

 on a filter and slightly washed with water, and then dissolved in a 

 dilute solution of tartaric acid. This solution after filtration is evapo- 

 rated to a small bulk, re-filtered, and then precipitated by means of an 

 alkali. Thus obtained violin presents itself as a blackish purple powder, 

 which, when dissolved in alcohol and evaporated to drynesa, appears as 

 a brittle, bronze-coloured substance, similar to aniline purple, but pos- 

 sessing a more coppery reflection. It is nearly insoluble in water, very 

 soluble in alcohol, and insoluble in ether and hydrocarbons. These 

 solutions 0088688 a colour somewhat similar to that of the field violet. 

 Concentrated sulphuric acid dissolves it, forming a green solution, but 

 excess of water restores it to its original colour. Reducing agents 

 deprive it of its colour, which is, however, restored by the action of 

 the atmosphere. Tannin produces an insoluble compound with it. 



VIOLIN ( Viotino, It., o small viol), a musical instrument known, in 

 some shape, as used with a bow, in nearly all parts of the world, is by 

 many antiquaries believed to have existed in very remote times. Be 

 that as it may, the Abbe' le Beuf has produced a strong proof that the 

 violin or perhaps rebec [REBEC] acted on by a bow, was known 

 in France during the 8th century, and thus has left little if any doubt 

 of the use of the instrument from that period, however uncertain we 

 may be as to its previous existence. The Welsh cruth, or crwth, or 

 crowd, which pretends to great antiquity, seems originally to have 

 partaken more of the form and character of the harp than of the violin. 

 The cruth of a later period was, however, certainly a violin, with 

 gut strings, and played on by a bow. (See ' Hudibras,' I. ii. 105.) 



The modern violin has four gut strings, the last, or lowest, covered 

 with silver-wire. These are tuned in 5ths, E, A, D, o ; or, 







M. Baillot, one of the finest modern performers, in his ' McSthode ' for 

 the violin, adopted by the Conservatoire de Musique, says that the 

 compass of the violin exceeds three octaves. Supposing this to signify 

 three octaves and a half, the legitimate extent of the instrument will 

 be from o, the fourth space in the base, to the octave above the second 

 added line in the treble. But we cannot refrain from expressing our 

 wish that violinists would confine themselves within a more limited 

 compass. The highest sounds of the instrument are disagreeable to 

 most ears ; are often harsh, and almost always squeaking ; and though 

 they display a kind of mechanical skill in the performer, they, in most 

 instances, betray his vanity and want of true taste. 



When complete, says M. Otto (instrument-maker to the court of 

 Weimar), in his ' Treatise on the Construction, &c. of the Violin,' this 

 instrument consists of fifty-eight different parts, or pieces : but such 

 small divisions are not indispensably necessary, for in many instru- 

 ments of a cheap description the parts are not so minutely divided. 

 " The wood is generally of three sorts. The back, neck, sides, and 

 circles are of sycamore : the belly, bass-bar, sound-post, and six blocks, 

 of deal : the finger-board and tail-piece of ebony." The finest violins 

 now in use were made by one family, living in Cremona. The oldest 

 came from the hands of Hieronymus Amati, at the commencement of 

 the 17th century. He was followed by Antonius Amati, about the 

 middle of that century ; and succeeded by Nicolas Amati, towards the 

 riid i if the same. To these is to be added Antoniua Straduarms, of 

 Cremona also, who was contemporary with the two latter of the 

 Amatis. And last, Joseph Guarnerins, at the beginning of the 18th 

 entury. " All their instruments," M. Otto adds, " were constructed 

 after the simplest rules of mathematics (?), and the six which came 

 into my possession unspoilt, were made after the following proportions : 

 The belly was thickest where the bridge rests ; then it diminished 



about a third at that part where the / holes are cut ; and, where 

 the belly rests on the sides, it was half as thick as in the middle. 

 The same proportion is observed in the length. The thickness 

 is equally maintained all along that part on which the bass bar 

 is fixed :. thence to the upper and under end blocks the thickness 

 decreases to one-half, so that the cheeks are three-fourths the thickness 

 of the breast, and the edges all round only one-half. These propor- 

 tions are best adapted for imparting a full, powerful, and sonorous 

 tone. The back is worked out much in the same proportion as the 

 belly." 



Steiner, of Apsam, is also celebrated for his violins. " They differ," 

 M. Otto tells us, " from the Cremonese, both in shape and tone. They 

 are higher modelled, and their proportions of strength are calculated 

 quite differently. A Cremonese has a strong reedy tone, something 

 like that of a clarionet, while a Steiner approaches that of a flute." 

 The same author also gives the names of many German violin-makers ; 

 but as they are not generally known out of their own country, we 

 cannot afford any space to them, but refer our readers to the transla- 

 tion of M. Otto's work, by Mr. Fardeley of Leeds. 



Many years ago, M. Savart constructed a violin with straight sides, 

 and differing in several other particulars from the ordinary instrument. 

 It was tested by musicians, and reported on most favourably by 

 M. Biot (' Annales de Chimie et de Physique,' torn. xii.). It would 

 appear from this report, that a first-rate violin may be constructed for 

 a few shillings, provided the parts be selected and put together on the 

 acoustic principles therein described. We are unable to say what is 

 the cause of failure, but it seems that out of Savart's own skilful hands 

 the experiment has not succeeded. 



VIOLIN STRINGS. [CATOCT.] 



VIOLONCELLO (a diminutive of Viulone, Ital., a contra-baao, or 

 double-base), a musical instrument of four gut strings, the two lowest 

 covered with silver-wire, and tuned in 5ths, A, D, a, and c ; or, 



This fine rich instrument is an improvement of the rial da gambit, 

 the latter having formed one of the family of viols. [ViOL ; VIOL DA 

 GAMBA.] England may justly claim the merit of having given birth 

 to the best performers on the violoncello that Europe has produced. 



VIRGINAL, a musical instrument now entirely disused. It is de- 

 scribed by Dr. Burney as " a keyed instrument of one string, jack, and 

 quill to each note, like a spinet, but in shape resembling the present 

 small piano-forte. It," he adds, " has been imagined to have been 

 invented in England during the reign of Elizabeth, and to have been 

 thus denominated in honour of that virgin princess ; but a drawing 

 and description of it appeared in Luscinius's ' Musurgia ' before she 

 was born." ( Hist, of Music,' iii. 5.) The compass of the virginal was 

 from the second added line below the base to the second added line 

 above the treble or four octaves. 



VIRGO (Constellation), the sixth constellation in the zodiac, sur- 

 rounded by Libra, Bootes, Leo, and Corvus. It is best known by two 

 remarkable stars : the first, Spica (a Virginis), a star of the first magni- 

 tude, is in the hand, which holds ears of corn, typical of the harvest, 

 which approached in the time of the Greeks as the sun ueared this 

 star ; the other, Prsevindemiatrix, or Vindemiatrix ( Virginis), took 

 its name from the vintage. The star Spica forms a remarkable triangle 

 with Arcturus and ft Leonis (or Denebola) ; and of the bright stars in 

 this triangle, Vindemiatrix is the one nearest to the line joining 

 Arcturus and ft Leonis. 



The principal stars are as follows : 



Chiractcr. 



Not in Bayer. No. in Catalogue 

 ( ) of Flanutced. 



ft 

 ri 

 1 



5 

 c 



5 



15 



29 



43 



47 



61 



7 



79 



98 



99 



100 



105 



107 



109 



No. in Catalogue 



of British 

 Aftftociation, 



4002 

 4145 

 4268 

 4340 

 4367 

 4401 

 4480 

 4532 

 4716 

 4727 

 4743 

 4792 

 4855 

 4878 



Magnitude. 

 8 

 3 

 3 

 8 



. 3 

 4 

 1 

 4 

 4 

 4 

 4 

 4 

 4 

 4 



Ilesiod and Aratus unite in representing Virgo to be justice, who 

 retired to heaven when the golden age came to an end : the former 

 makes her the daughter of Jupiter and Themis ; the latter, of Aatneus 

 and Aurora : others make her to be Fortune, others Ceres, &c. 



VIR1D1C ACID. [TANXicAciD; Yiridic Acid.] 



VIRTUAL VELOCITIES. The name of the principle of virtual 

 vdociliet, which is given to what is perhaps the most important gene- 

 ralisation in mechanics, is very ill-fitted to express the idea which is to 



