516 nature's teachings. 



If the string of a bow be pulled and smartly loosed, the 

 result is a distinctly musical sound, higher or lower according 

 to the length and tension of the string. Perhaps some of my 

 readers may recall the passage in Homer's "Odyssey/' where 

 Ulysses strings the fatal bow : — 



" Heedless lie heard them ; but disdained reply, 

 The bow perusing with exactest eye. 

 Then, as some heavenly minstrel, taught to sing 

 High notes responsive to the trembling string, 

 To some new strain when he adapts the lyre, 

 Or the dumb lute refits with vocal wire, 

 .Relaxes, strains, and draws them to and fro ; 

 So the great master drew the mighty bow, 

 And drew with ease. One hand aloft displayed 

 The bending horns, and one the string essayed. 

 From his essaying hand the string let fly, 

 Twanged short and sharp, like the shrill swallow's cry." 



The Harp is, in fact, nothing but a magnified bow, with a 

 number of strings of graduated length and tension. Some 

 very beautiful experiments have been made on this subject by 

 the Rev. Sir F. A. Gr. Ouseley, Professor of Music at Oxford, 

 who stretched a string of sixty-four feet in length, and found 

 that although, when vibrating, it must produce a note, there 

 was no human ear that could distinguish it. Yet, if combined 

 with other musical instruments, it would probably do its work 

 well. The theory of the vibrations will be briefly described 

 on another page. 



These vibrations may be produced in various manners. 

 The string may be pulled with the fingers, as in the harp, the 

 guitar, the zither, or even the violin, &c, in pizzicato pas- 

 sages. 



The old harpsichord, now an instrument vanished into the 

 shadows of the past, pulled the strings with little strips 

 of quill, acting like the thumb-ring of the zither-player. 

 The " plectrum " of the ancients acted in the same manner, 

 and the Japanese have at the present day a sort of guitar 

 played with a plectrum. I have heard it, but cannot par- 

 ticularly admire the effect, the notes appearing to be without 

 feeling, and as if they were played on a barrel-organ. 



Sometimes, as in our modern pianos, the strings are struck 

 by hammers instead of being pulled by fingers, plectrum, or 

 goose- quill. 



