Aug. 14, 1885.] 



KNOAVLEDGE 



--1. Not only do instruments, under circumstances of 

 physical decay, became ranshackly and feeble ; when any 

 tone remains it is quite altered. I have heard an old 

 piano, hitherto known as one of sweetest and softest 

 tones, gi'adually become strident and discordant, and 

 another, once known for its truth and richness, become 

 thin and false. The miisic wo got from an instrument is 

 absolutely deprndcnt (m Uiv ciMnlli iuii of the mechanical 

 parts. So trur is tins tli;;t IIm sli-li(cst disturbance of 

 the machinery s]\ , tlir IiI-m-I, in- '•( :i hammer or two — 

 will pervert tlu' cn'tiiv lluu of nuAndy. 



G. All this is dc.ubtless very correct. I hold, never- 

 theless, that the individuality of an instrument is inde- 

 structible, despite all temjiorary aberrations — clouds 

 obscuring the moon's disc, so to speak. 



A. Say, rather, disintegrations within the very sub- 

 stance of the moon. 



B. And yet, after all, there are musical passages whose 

 beauty seems independent of the material qualities of the 

 instrument. 



-1. Not one. Moreover, we know that though a func- 

 tional derangement may be evanescent the structural 

 decay of an instruniiiu 'i> ili, 'iliiir :n id final. A musical 

 instument once worn I s ■ 'stored. 



G. Then music dc|H i, ; : ■ I,, nls.a after all ? 



A. Undoubtedly, ii J , "ipI- :i Iim ijulely on mechanism. 

 To a musical i'iitliusia;i lil.c yourself this may seem very 

 pitiful, but it is al.soliidlv true. 



B. But how wiiuikrful i\\v mechanism of a fine instru- 

 ment ! Jiow |)Li'fect the adaptation of means to ends ! 

 Even if we hold music to be a mechanical product, does 

 that lessen the beauty of melodious and harmonious 

 passages ? 



G. Or the mystery of music's origin. 



B. Humph ! 



A. The mystery doubtless consists only in our 



G. You offend my musical sense. Can the noble 

 music of Beethoven, Mozart, Rcssini, and their fellows, 

 be regarded as mere instrumental products ? 



A. If you ran dr;iw no di.stinction between music itself 

 and t lie iiisti'iiini'iil liy wliich the music is rendered, I 



fear y.. II :,>:■ lil..l\ In \<r I to remain offended. Good 



tcmpci- I- .1 pli N .^i.'liij ir;il I i-dduct, Only seen in perfection 

 when rundere-d, ko to s]. ;il<, Lv a hcnlthv body ; but docs 

 this affect the value "i ---d i nnpn- iTs ;i .|u:iIiI_n r S.. 

 with other virtues. 





tha 





propriety. 



C. No. That would be absn 111 ; Imi sniiichow you do 

 not seem to take a sufficiently liiu'li \ i' \\ "f music. I 

 wonder what David the swcii I's:i1.m!s(, or Apollo the 

 god of music, would lia\r said ol' \oin' ilmi liuc. 



.1. I imagine (hat DaNiiT. iil.;o.:,l.nui ,,mi -i,- were some- 

 what crude. As for Apollo, ,1 lir ,vii' om: ud, his ideas 

 about music were probably criulcr !,liU. 



PLEASANT HOURS WITH THE 

 MICROSCOPE. 



Br HuNKY J. Slack, F.G.S., F.R.M.S. 



I MUST, in the first. place, ask myreadei-s to correct an 

 error in my last paper. The figure given belongs to 

 Mi.-ii.-' ctrasi, the cherry aphis, not to If. rilis, the 

 currant one, which I was watching when I made the 

 mistake. The cherry fellow is large and black; the 

 curr.mt one green. I should not again refer to the 



Aphis tribe but for wonderful accounts in the newspapers 

 of swarms of so-called " flies." Exaggeration in these 

 matters is common in "the big gooseberry season; " but 

 the following from the Sussex Baihj News of July 23 

 may not be far out : — 



The village of Emavvorth, near Portsmouth, has been visited by a 

 remarkable plague of flies, which simnltaneonsly covered an area of 

 one mile. At some places it was impossible to move without closing 

 the eyes and mouth. Around every lamp in the town the spec- 

 tacle was most curious. Attracted by the light, thick swarms 

 abounded, and their buzz resembled that of a hive of bees. At the 

 post-office, where the upper portion of the door is open for ventila- 

 tion, and where necessarily the light is kept burning till the early 

 morning, the insects covered the sorting-boards, letters, and bags, 

 and had to be continually swept off with brashes. At one lamp they 

 simply hung down in clusters. Bicyclists coming from Havant were 

 in several instances compelled to alight, so thick was the swarm ; 

 and at the auction-mart at the bottom of the town the tray in 

 which the money was taken was covered an inch thick. 



A friend at Portsmouth sent me a squashed specimen, 

 and it joroved to be Fhorodon Jiumv.li, the plague 

 of the hop-grounds. Fig. 1, copied from Buckton, 



■Phorodon humuli, winged viviparous female. 



represents the winged viviparous female of this species, 

 which develops from the pupa (Fig. 2.). The two little 

 projections from the front of the head chn-mnt^tn^'se the 

 Phorndon genus. The warm, quiet weatheT-^^" Jul,-« was 



faynnrahl<'''tn tli(! multiplication of all kinds of aphides, 

 and low oardoni i-s ran have escaped a plentiful supply. 

 ■I'lir :N',aninu'- in clouds drpends upon the wind. The 



iusoois, ilM.iiL-ii orovilo-l V. iili wings (hat aro yorv lfir._'i^ 



The 



depen.ls on I In- iliivrli. 



to thn liop-m-otuaL^, a 



newspapers have nul 



sponding \vith the enormous numbers of the dcs 



seen near Portsmouth and at several other places 



south coast. 



It is remarkable that while aphidi s - ' 



ud 



tudin 



< app 



frosty spring often witnesses 



of newly-hatched speelnuns .■uier-inL: In ■ i 



can stand extreme cidil wninni iiijniy. 



I mentioned in my ! ^o > supplied a useful 



wash to keep down (in i : 1 inse on the cherry- 



tree were soon killed, aial > .n > !_n any fresh ones ap- 

 peared. A peach-tree was much troubled in June, bu( 

 spriidiliug with Sanitas solution got rid cf the firsl 



