CHAP, v.] THE ORGAN. 181 



CHAPTER V. 



THE ORGAN. 



I. HISTORICAL OUTLINE PIPES AND STOPS OF THE ORGAN. 



THE organ is the most powerful and complete, and the grandest of 

 instruments. Its name indicates this (ppyavov, in Greek, means, 

 the instrument, the instrument par excellence) ; but, in fact, it is rather 

 a combination of wind-instruments than one particular instrument. 

 By its variety of tone, its voicing, and its compass from the deepest 

 bass to the treble, it forms an orchestra in itself. The date of the 

 invention of the organ is uncertain. Tradition carries it back to 

 the eighth century, because it was in 757 that the first organ was 

 introduced into the Christian Churches of the west. It is said, 

 that this -instrument was sent to Pepin the Little by the Greek 

 Emperor Con stan tine, surnamed Copronymus, and it was placed 

 in a church at Compiegne. But long before this period the 

 Romans used an organ known as the hydraulic organ, because the 

 movement of the air in the pipes was produced by the pressure of 

 water. It was only in the 5th century that bellows were substi- 

 tuted for the primitive method, and that pneumatic organs took 

 the place of hydraulic organs in churches ; the damp, consequent 

 on the use of water, rapidly changed and deteriorated the pipes and 

 mechanism. 



The organ is a wind instrument consisting of one or more series 

 of pipes formed in wood or metal, either square, cylindrical, tri- 

 angular or tapering, and with different-shaped apertures, and mouth- 

 pieces which the wind from the bellows, brought under control by 

 means of finger-keys and the necessary mechanical appliances, puts 

 into vibration cither successively or simultaneously. We will describe 



