46 



ENG ROSSING EN HA R MON 1C. 



precious stone to them, thus forming vases, or any 

 otlier shape, by interposing diamond dust mixed with 

 oil, or emery and water, between the tool and the sub- 

 stance, as often as it is dispersed by the rotatory motion 

 of the former. The engraving of armorial bearings, 

 single figures, devices, &c., on any of the above stones, 

 after they are polished, is performed through the 

 means of a small iron wheel, the ends of the axis of 

 which are received within two pieces of iron, in a 

 perpendicular position, that may be closed, or other- 

 wise, as the operation requires ; the tools are fixed to 

 one end of the axis, and screwed firm ; the stone to 

 be engraved is then held to the tool, the wheel set 

 in motion by the foot, and the figure gradually formed. 

 The material of which the tools are made is gener- 

 ally iron, and sometimes brass : some are Hat, like 

 chisels, gouges, ferules, and others have circular 

 heads. After the work is finished, the polishing is 

 done with hair brushes fixed on wheels arid tripoli. 



ENGROSSING, in law, denotes the writing a deed 

 over fair, and in proper, legible characters; also, 

 the getting into one's possession, or buying up large 

 quantities of corn, or other provisions, with the in- 

 tention of selling them again. 



ENHARMONIC ;* the epithet given, by the 

 ancient Greeks, to that of their three genera, which 

 consisted of quarter tones, and major thirds. They 

 however, hail originally another kind of enharmonic, 

 more simple, and easier of execution than this, and 

 upon which the quarter tones or dieses were consi- 

 dered, by the theorists of the old school, as innova- 

 tions too refined and artificial. In our common 

 keyed instruments, such as the piano forte, the octave 

 is divided into 12 semitonic intervals, the sharp of one 

 tone being regarded as the flat of the next above. 

 This causes an error of a quarter tone on the enhar- 

 monic interval in the compass of the octave, which 

 may be easily proved on the piano forte. Thus, 

 tune a perfect major third from C to E, and another 

 third from E to G, sharp, then will the G sharp be 

 a perfect major seventh to A, in the scale of C, A 

 being the major sixth to C. Again, if A flat be 

 tuned a major third below C, it will be true as a per- 

 fect fourth in the scale of E flat, which is the third 

 minor to C. We have now got by perfect tuning, G 

 sharp, and A flat, which ought to coincide, if the 

 scale consisted of twelve equal intervals, but on trial 

 they will be found to differ by a quarter tone on the 

 enharmonic interval. It is the existence of this inter- 

 val which causes those slight deviations from per- 

 fect chords hi the tuning of keyed instruments, called 

 temperament. 



The defect of the organ arising from the occurrence 

 of the enharmonic interval has been the subject of 

 much discussion among musicians, and several at- 

 tempts have been made to procure perfect harmony, 

 by the introduction of new tones and keys. Very 

 recently an enharmonic organ has been constructed 

 by Robson and Son, of London, which has called 

 forth a very valuable paper in the Westminster Re- 

 view for January 1835. In that paper, the writer, 

 in order to explain the nature of the enharmonic 

 organ, lays down what he denominates the Normal 

 scale, hi which he gives the numerical^value of the 

 various Intervals in the octave, regarding it as di- 

 vided into fifty-three equal parts ; before giving 

 which, however, it will be necessary to observe that 

 the dissonances, f. e. the major and minor second and 

 major and minor seventh are double, or have some- 

 times an acute and sometimes a grave form, the 

 di.Terence being a comma. The acute form makes 

 just concords with the third and fifth, and the grave 

 with the fourth and sixth. 



In this article i signifies SHARP, /FLAT, and n NATURAL. 



The value of the intervals are : 



Key note, 

 t Minor second, 



i Major Krriintt, 



Minor third, 

 Major third, . 

 Fourth, 





 . 5 



8 



. 14 



17 



. 22 



Fifth, . 31 



Minor sixth, . 36 



Major sixth, 3V 



t Minor tu-vrntli, 45 



t Major seventh, 48 



The dissonances marked f, however, have less 

 usual forms, which may be expressed by the numbers 

 in order, 6, 9, 44, 47. The compass of the instru- 

 ment is three octaves, terminating in G alto, having 

 three stops and as many finger-boards. The lowest 

 is employed for the key of C, the paddle of the tonic 

 being red. The more ordinary forms of the disso- 

 nances have paddles in their usual places on finger- 

 boards ; the acute forms are white, and the grave 

 black, so that they are to be taken of the same colour 

 as the notes with which they are to make perfect 

 concords. The second finger-board is adapted to the 

 key of G, and the third to that of E ; and, in order 

 to extend the power of the instrument to other keys, 

 there are introduced in all the three boards addi- 

 tional notes, having finger-keys, in form similar to 

 those on the flute, by which means the performer 

 can take any key from four flats to five sharps. 



We embrace this early opportunity of laying be- 

 fore our musical readers a new, and extremely 

 simple method, never before published, of the 

 transposition of regular and irregular keys, discov- 

 ered by the Rev. T. Gordon of Falkirk, and which 

 leads to conclusions illustrative of the enharmonic 

 interval. The account we give in his own words. 



The principle on which this method is founded, 

 may be thus stated : 



All keys with sharp signatures ascend in the na- 

 tural forward order of the musical alphabet, and in 

 the arithmetical series, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; accompanied 

 in the same alphabetical order by their ascending 

 sharp signatures ; and, vice versa, all keys with flat 

 signatures descend in the reverse backward order of 

 the alphabet of music, and in the arithmetical series 

 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; accompanied in the same alpha- 

 betical order by their descending flat signatures. 



1. There are four letters in the natural scale, '. e. 

 B, C, E, and F, which point out the places and dis- 

 tances of semitones, from their natural keys. Two 

 of these letters, namely, B and E, may be denom- 

 inated natural sharps, for, like all artificial semi- 

 tonic sharps, they are immediately beneath the 

 semitones. All these artificial semitonic sharps, 

 which mark the places and distances of semitones 

 in relation to artificial transposed keys, are in the 

 natural forward order of the alphabet transpositions 

 of B and E, and all these artificial semitonic 

 flats which mark the places and distances of 

 semitones in relation to artificial transposed keys, 

 are in the reverse order of the alphabet transpdsi- 

 tions of F and C, two letters which may be denomi- 

 nated the natural fiat associates of B and E in 

 bringing out the semitones of the natural scale ; 

 inasmuch as, like all semitonic flats of artificial trans- 

 posed keys, they are immediately above the semi- 

 tones. Hence, if we would give a complete trans- 

 position of C major with B and E, of A minor 

 with B and E, we have only to raise these keys 

 one, two, three, four, five, six places higher on the 

 stave than their natural places, and to mark tfie 

 transpositions of B and E with sharp signatures. 

 Again, A minor, with F and C, and C major with F 

 and C, are also completely transposed by lowering 

 them one, two, three, four, five, six places on the 

 stave, and by marking the transpositions of F and C 

 with flat signatures. We shall exhibit this process 

 in columns. The natural and artificial keys shall 

 be designated by capital letters the letters or notes 



