April 10, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



593 



menting along tlie lines indicated above, has 

 found a gum varnish which he believes is 

 identical with that used by the Cremona 

 makers. 



The general appearance of this new varnish 

 is so characteristic that the eye can not dis- 

 criminate when placed side by side with the 

 original. The chief reason for this is that 

 the color is natural to the gum, and is not 

 added to it, consequently we get no stain 

 effect on the wood, such as we always do when 

 artificially colored varnish is used. Secondly, 

 the transparency is so perfect that we get two 

 reflections, one from the upper and one from 

 the under surface of the varnish. Thirdly, 

 the color bleaches in the sun, to " Amati " 

 yellow, it being known that this great maker 

 dried his violins in the sim, whereas Stradi- 

 varius dried his to red in the shade of an 

 attic, which he built on the roof of his home, 

 open on two sides to the atmosphere. The 

 new varnish chips off the wood, on rough 

 usage, as does the old, and in texture and 

 hardness they are identical. The effect on 

 the tone of an instrument is very marked. 

 When covered by this material all harshness 

 disappears, being replaced by what is known 

 among musicians as the " Italian tone." 



The supposition for the esplanation of this 

 last effect is that the varnish is so similar in 

 elasticity and other properties to the wood of 

 the instrument, that it exerts no influence 

 thereon whatever, leaving the violin to expand 

 or contract, under differences of atmospheric 

 temperature and moisture, just as though it 

 were not varnished at all, thus differing from 

 all other varnish, whether of spirit or of oil. 



In order to give this varnish a thorough 

 practical test twelve common trade violins " in 

 the white," of standard models, were procured 

 from four different makers (three from each), 

 and varnished and strung up. Many times 

 were duplicate pairs of these violins put in a 

 double case and submitted to prominent pro- 

 fessional violinists in order that they might 

 select the better of the two, if possible. In 

 no case has a definite decision yet been 

 reached. This is taken to mean that the tone 

 IS so pure that the musical ear can find no 

 point on which to offer any adverse criticism. 



Comparisons actually made with some of the 

 old Cremona violins prove very flattering to 

 the new varnish, the tone being not so " stale " 

 as in the old instruments. 



Frank Della Torke 

 Baltimore, Md., 

 February, 1908 



QUOTATIONS 



MEROY TO MANKIND 



Surgery in England was set back so far by 

 the successful crusade against vivisection that ■ 

 probably many thousands of men, women and 

 children have suffered days of agony for every 

 minute of discomfort saved to any animal. 

 The merits of the discussion are almost piti- 

 fully clear. The proposed laws will never 

 reach the irresponsible experimenter, even if 

 he is not entirely mythical. All they can do 

 is to handicap the hospitals and the expert 

 work. The present agitators are of a kind 

 with them who sneered at Pasteur as " an 

 obscure druggist " ; opposed Harvey's experi- 

 ments about the circulation of the blood, those 

 of Galen fifteen centuries earlier, and those 

 of Lister in our day. To show where real 

 science stands, we may observe that the men 

 who have protested against the present out- 

 break of ignorant sympathy include, among 

 many others. Dr. Weir Mitchell, Dr. Janeway, 

 Dr. W. W. Keen, Dr. Osier, and leading pro- 

 fessors of anatomy, physiology, surgery, physi- 

 ological chemistry, biology, bacteriology, zool- 

 ogy and medicine, in Harvard, Columbia, 

 Johns Hopkins, Yale, the University of Mich- 

 igan, the University of Pennsylvania, Hush 

 Medical College, Dartmouth, the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology, Georgetown 

 University and the University of Chicago. 

 Already there is punishment provided for ex- 

 periments improperly performed. The new 

 laws are an attempt to give ignorance a whip 

 to hold over science. The view which would 

 be taken of humane research by these animal- 

 defenders is shown clearly enough by their 

 special attack on the experiments on cats now 

 being made in the Rockefeller Institute, de- 

 signed to lead to the mastery of many serious 

 kidney troubles. One of their gruesome pic- 

 tures is called " The Dog has no Chance." 



