170 THE APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICAL FORCES. [BOOK n. 



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those qualities which depend in the greatest measure on the skill of 



the artist, which physics cannot analyze. 



Whistles, flageolets, and fifes are the most simple instruments 



with flute-mouthpieces. In the 

 first two, a pipe is fitted to the 

 mouthpiece which exactly re- 

 sembles those represented before, 

 with the exception that the end is 

 contrived so as to be placed con- 

 veniently between the lips of the 

 performer. 



The pipe is pierced with a 

 certain number of holes made at 

 points corresponding to the nodes 

 of the interior column of air. 

 When these holes are all closed 

 by the fingers, the sound produced 

 is the fundamental note, and its 

 harmonics 2, 3, 4, that is to say, 

 the upper octave, the third above 

 this octave, and the double octave. 

 By raising the fingers successively, 

 the intermediate notes of the natu- 

 ral scale are obtained ; the sharps 

 and flats being produced by half 

 uncovering the holes. 



Mutes are made of wood, box- 

 wood, or ebony, ivory and metal ; 

 the number of holes and of the 

 keys which are used either to close 

 or open them varying according to 

 the instruments. Fig. 117 gives 

 two specimens. In the last cen- 

 tury, the flute called the German 

 flute, to distinguish it from the 



flute with a beak, was much more simple : it had only seven holes, 



and its compass did not exceed two octaves. This is the ancestor of 



the modern flute. 



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FIG. 117. The flute. Longitudinal and 

 transversal section of the mouthpiece. 



