636 



HARMODIUS HARMONY. 



tic ocean. It prevails in December, January, and 

 February, and is generally accompanied with a fog 

 or Imie, tliat conceals the sun for whole days together. 

 Extreme dryness is the characteristic of this wind ; 

 no dew falls during its continuance, which is some- 

 times for a fortnight or more. The whole vegetable 

 creation is withered, and the grass becomes, at once, 

 like hay. The human body is also affected by it, so 

 that the skin peels off; but it checks infection, and 

 cures cutaneous diseases. 



HARMODIUS. See Hippias and Aristogiton. 



HARMON1A, or HERMIONE; a daughter of 

 Mars and Venus, the fruit of an amour, in which they 

 were surprised by Vulcan. Her name was first used 

 to indicate music in general. She emigrated with 

 her husband, the Phoenician Cadmus, into Greece, 

 where she is said to have introduced music. 



HARMONICA, or ARMONICA, is a name which 

 doctor Franklin lias given to a musical instrument 

 constructed with drinking glasses. It is well known 

 that a drinking glass yields a sweet tone, by passing 

 a wet finger round its brim. Mr Pockrich, of Ireland, 

 was the first who thought of playing tunes formed of 

 these tones. He collected a number of glasses of 

 different sizes, fixed them near each other on a table 

 mid tuned them by putting into them water, more or 

 less, as each note required. Mr Delaval made an 

 instrument in imitation, and from this instrument, 

 doctor Franklin took the hint of constructing his 

 armonica. The glasses for this musical instrument 

 are blown as nearly as possible in the form of hemi- 

 spheres, having each an open neck or socket in the 

 middle. The thickness of the glass near the brim is 

 about one-tenth of an inch, increasing towards the 

 neck, which, in the largest glasses, is about an inch 

 deep, and an inch and a half wide within ; but these 

 dimensions lessen as the size of the glasses diminishes : 

 the neck of the smallest should not be shorter than 

 half an inch. The diameter of the largest glass is 

 nine inches, and that of the smallest three inches. 

 Between these there are twenty-three different sizes, 

 differing from each other a quarter of an inch in dia- 

 meter. The largest glass in the instrument is G, a 

 little below the reach of a common voice, and the 

 highest G, including three complete octaves; and they 

 are distinguished by painting the apparent parts of the 

 glasses within side, every semitone white, and the 

 other notes of the octave with the seven prismatic 

 colours ; so that glasses of the same colour (the 

 white excepted) are always octaves to each other. 

 When the glasses are tuned, they are to be fixed on 

 a round spindle of hard iron, an inch in diameter at 

 the thickest end, and tapering to a quarter of an 

 inch at the smallest. For this purpose, the neck of 

 each glass is fitted with a cork, projecting a little 

 without the neck. These corks are perforated with 

 holes of different diameters, according to the dimen- 

 sion of the spindle in that part of it where they are 

 to be fixed. The glasses are all placed within one 

 another ; the largest on the biggest end of the spin- 

 dle, with the neck outwards ; the next in size is put 

 into the other, leaving about an inch of its brim above 

 the brim of the first ; ad the others are put on in 

 the same order. From these exposed parts of each 

 glass the tone is drawn, by laying a finger upon one 

 of them as the spindle and glasses turn round. The 

 spindle, thus prepared, is fixed horizontally in the 

 middle of a box, and made to turn on brass gudgeons 

 at each end by means of a foot-wheel. This instru- 

 ment is played upon by sitting before it, as before the 

 keys of a harpsichord, turning the spindle with the 

 foot, and wetting the glasses, now and then, with a 

 sponge and clean water. The fingers should be first 

 soaked in water, and rubbed occasionally with fine 

 clialk, to make them catch the glass, and bring out 



the tone more readily. Different parts may be played 

 together by using both hands ; and the tones are 

 best drawn out when the glasses turn from the ends 

 of the fingers, not when they turn to them. The ad- 

 vantages of this instrument, says doctor Franklin, 

 are, that its tones are incomparably sweet, beyond 

 those of any other, and that they may be swelled or 

 softened at pleasure, by stronger or weaker pressures 

 of the finger, and continued to any length ; and 

 when it is once tuned, it never wants tuning again. 

 From the effect which it is supposed to have upon the 

 nervous system, it has been suggested that the fingers 

 should not be allowed to come in immediate contact 

 with the glasses, but that the tones should be pro- 

 duced by means of a key, as upon the harpsichord. 

 Such a key has been invented in Berlin or Dresden, 

 and an instrument constructed on this plan. It is called 

 the harpsichord-harmonica. But these experiments 

 have not produced any thing of much value ; and it 

 is impossible that the delicacy, the swell and the con- 

 tinuation of the tone should be carried to such per- 

 fection as in the first mentioned method. The har- 

 monica, however much it excels all other instruments 

 in the delicacy and duration of its tones, yet is con- 

 fined to those of a soft and melancholy character, 

 and to slow solemn movements, and can hardly lie 

 combined to advantage with other instruments. In 

 accompanying the human voice, it throws it in the 

 shade ; and in concerts, the accompanying instru- 

 ments lose in effect, because so far inferior_to it in 

 tone. It is therefore best enjoyed by itself, and may 

 produce a charming effect, in certain romantic situa- 

 tions. Besides the proper harmonica, there is a 

 pegged or nailed harmonica, the pegs of which are 

 of steel, and, being placed in a semicircle, are played 

 with a strung bow. This has no resemblance to the 

 proper harmonica, except some similarity in tone. 

 HARMONY ; 



1. A town in the western part of Pennsylvania, 

 where Rapp first settled with his Harmonists from 

 Wurtemberg, in 1803. He afterwards removed to 

 Indiana, but has since returned again to Pennsyl- 

 vania, with his 700 followers, where he founded the 

 village of Economy. The Harmonists are frugal and 

 industrious, and hold their property in common. 



2. A village in Indiana, on the Wabash, about 

 twenty-five miles from its mouth, founded by Rapp. 

 Mr Owen's society afterwards attempted to carry the 

 new social system into execution here, but it is now 

 broken up. 



HARMONY (from the Greek) ; the agreement 

 or consonance of two or more united sounds. Har- 

 mony is either natural or artificial. Natural harmony, 

 properly so called, consists of the harmonic triad, or 

 common chord. Artificial harmony is a mixture of con- 

 cords and discords, bearing relation to the harmonic 

 triad of the fundamental note. The word harmony 

 being originally a proper name, it is not easy to de- 

 termine the exact sense in which it was used by the 

 Greeks ; but from the treatises they have left us on 

 the subject, we have great reason to conclude that 

 they limited its signification to that agreeable succes- 

 sion of sounds which we call air, or melody. The 

 modems, however, do not dignify a mere succession 

 of single sounds with the appellation of harmony : 

 for the formation of harmony, they require a union of 

 melodies, a succession of combined sounds, composed 

 of consonant intervals, and moving according to the 

 stated laws of modulation. 



HARMONY, or EVANGELICAL HARMONY, 

 is the title of various books, composed to show the 

 uniformity and agreement of the accounts given by 

 the four evangelists, by reducing the events recorded 

 in the different evangelists to the order of time in 

 which they happened. 



