124 



NA TURE 



{Dec. lo, 1885 



development of the remarkable instrument which has 

 superseded the far more ancient organ, and which has 

 become the domestic companion and indispensable ac- 

 cessory in thousands upon thousands of households 

 throughout the civilised v/orld. 



Probably no man living knows so much about the 

 pianoforte as Mr. Hipkins : attached for many years to 

 the honoured house of Broadwood and Sons ; almost 

 able to remember its original title of Tschudi and Broad- 

 wood, which carries us back at one bound to the epoch 

 of the harpsichord Mr. Hipkins is not only an experi- 

 enced musician, but an excellent physicist in his special 

 line. He has read valuable papers before the Royal 

 Society, and efficiently co-operated with Mr. Alex. Ellis 

 in his laborious determinations of pitch and of oriental or 

 archaic musical scales. 



The somewhat neglected subject here given with the 

 terseness and accuracy of a monograph, as is proper in a 

 work somewhat of the nature of an index, is the mechani- 

 cal development of the modern pianoforte from the 

 earliest form of keyed instrument with strings, shown in a 

 drawing by Miss Edith Lloyd of a sculpture in St. Mary's 

 Church, Shrewsbury belonging to the first half of tlie 

 fifteenth century. Besides this and other woodcuts of 

 typical instruments, is a series of diagrams showing the 

 various forms of "tangent," "jack," '' hammer," "action," 

 and " escapement " by which the sounding string has been 

 successively made to vibrate with ever increasing fulness 

 and beauty of tone and quality. Towards the end of the 

 article the recent substitution of metal for wooden 

 framings is similarly summarised and illustrated. No 

 doubt much of this would be hard reading for an un- 

 mechanical student ; but it was really needed, and as a 

 compact whole could hardly be said to exist previously. 



The early part of the article appeals to every reader, and 

 is full of fascinating and original research. There are 

 eleven other capital woodcuts besides that named above 

 of clavichords, clavicymbalums, spinetts, and clavicythe- 

 riums, which, under a multiplicity of names, preceded the 

 four " gravicembali col piano h forte," which Cristofori, 

 the Paduan harpsichord maker had, on the undoubted 

 authority of the Marchese Scipione Maffei, completed in 

 the year 1709. This date may be looked on as the birthday 

 of the name and the instrument. Originally adjectival 

 and explanatory, it has been adopted substantivally 

 wherever this ubiquitous form of the " dulcimer with 

 keys," as Mr. Hipkins quaintly defines it, has penetrated. 



BALL'S "STORY OF THE HEAVENS" 

 The Story of the Heave?is. By Robert Stawell Ball, 



LL.D., F.R.S., Royal Astronomer of Ireland. (London, 



Paris, New York, and Melbourne : Cassell and Co., 



Limited, 1885.) 

 "pCPULAR works on astronomy, either on its entire 

 range or selected portions, have been so numerous 

 of recent years as to make it difficult to Judge a new one 

 entirely on its own merits ; it is felt that there must be 

 some well-marked originality of plan or execution, some 

 novelty of treatment, or freshness of fact, to justify an 

 addition to an already abundant literature. 



The present work can urge its claim to a favourable 

 reception on a twofold ground ; it is the fullest and most 



complete exposition of the leading facts and principles of 

 astronomy which has yet been laid before the entirely 

 unscientific public, and it devotes 'special attention to 

 some of the most recent and interesting astronomical 

 discoveries. It is in no sense whatsoever a student's book, 

 but aims to give, in such simple and untechnical language 

 as may be most acceptable to the general reader, a com- 

 prehensive view of the results of astronomy as at present 

 received. So thoroughly is it elementary in character 

 that Dr. Ball from time to time seems to think he has a 

 childish audience before him, and descends to a style 

 which is nowadays considered almost too condescending 

 to be addressed even to children. Thus, in speaking of 

 the distance of the sun, he says (p. 28) : — 



" The actual distance of the sun from the earth is about 

 92,700,000 miles ; but merely reciting the figures does 

 not give a vivid impression of the real magnitude. 

 92,700,000 is a very large quantity (jvV). Try to count it. 

 It would be necessary to count as quickly as possible for 

 three days and three nights before one million was com- 

 pleted ; yet this would have to be repeated nearly ninety- 

 three times before we had even counted all the miles 

 between the earth and the sun." 



But though Dr. Ball may sometimes resort to this 

 infant-school style he never falls into the opposite fault of 

 being turgid or obscure. His language is always clear 

 and distinct, and when treating of the particular subjects 

 most congenial to him he usually succeeds in avoiding 

 tlie fault we have just noticed, and his style leaves nothing 

 to be desired. 



In a brief introduction Dr. Ball indicates the principal 

 ciuestions which it is the business of the astronomer to 

 seek to answer, and glances at some of the most im- 

 portant discoveries made by the ancients, concluding with 

 the labours of Copernicus. The main volume then com- 

 mences with a chapter on the astronomical telescope. 

 The Dunsink South equatorial, the great Vienna refractor, 

 and Lord Rosse's 6-foot reflector are described, and illus- 

 trations given of them ; the Paris meridian circle is 

 represented as a type of meridian instruments, and a 

 well-written page (p. 22) is devoted to drawing a contrast 

 between the ideal instrument and the actual one. 



A number of chapters on the different members of the 

 solar system follow. These occupy more than half the 

 volume, and do not call for much special comment, for, 

 whilst travelling over such well-trodden ground, there is 

 but little scope for original treatment. The author 

 throughout gives a clear matter-of-fact account of what 

 he has to describe ; there is never for a moment any diffi- 

 culty in following his meaning, and for a work of this 

 character this is a first essential. The chapter on the 

 Sun is perhaps the least successful. Dr. Ball considers 

 that it is not proved that " sun-spots are really depres- 

 sions in the surface"; a statement which may be per- 

 fectly correct if " proved " is to be taken in its hard 

 mathematical sense ; but it ought to be supplemented 

 by the further one that the entire evidence is in 

 favour of that supposition. No reference is made to 

 the frequently-repeated coincidences of solar outbursts 

 and magnetic disturbances which were observed in 1S82 

 and 1883, and which placed the connection of the two 

 orders of phenomena in such a striking light. And again 

 with reference to the spot-cycle, the nature of the cycle is 

 rather crudely stated, and one of its most curious 



