38 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
placing the letters that one can distin- 
guish at a glance the first, the central, 
and the last letter. Now the rule to be 
observed to secure this result is as follows : 
The last letter of the monogram must be 
the principal feature, and must be the 
largest, the boldest, and the heaviest 
letter ; then the first letter must be the 
next in size, but the lightest in outline 
and color ; then the central letter must be 
the smallest and of an intermediate tint. 
If the monogram is of four letters, the 
two intermediate must be the same size 
and the second letter lighter in outline 
and color than the third.— Jtri Amateur. 
The French Diapason. 
THE Italian Theatre, in Drury Lane, 
London, has adopted our normal dia- 
pason. This is a very small victory for 
France, and one which should be followed 
by others more desirable. It is, however, 
victory, and we find pleasure in record- 
ing it for want of a better one. We will 
recall to those who may have forgotten it, 
what the normal diapason is. It is the 
agreement in virtue of wliich the note ob- 
tained hy a sonorous body which makes 
870 vibrations in a second at the tempera- 
ture of 15 degrees centigrade, is called La. 
This La is the note which is situated a 
little above the first half of the key-board 
of a piano ; it is the one which is the me- 
dium of female voices ; and also the one 
which is given by the next string to the 
treble string upon a violin. It is easily 
seen that one of the notes of the gamut 
having been settled, the positions of all 
the other notes will be established, since 
they have regular intervals between them. 
It would be the same with a mason's lad- 
der hung up on a wall ; if you should take 
one of its rounds and elevate or lower it a 
certain distance, all the other rounds 
would be either elevated or lowered in 
the same proportion. Since the 1st July, 
1859, the diapason at 870 vibrations has 
been obligatory by ministerial decree. 
It was quite time, however, to stop its 
ascensional progress. From the last of 
the Seventeenth century the diapason 
without official restraint went up, ui^ up! 
We can judge of this from the following 
table : 
In 1699, La ^ 808 vibrations. 
1713 " 812 
1780 818 
1810 "846 
1823 " 862 
1830 " 871 
1836 "882 
1868 "891 
Why did they select La as the standard 
note before regulating the degree of acute- 
ness of all the others ? Thereupon hangs 
a legend which I must relate to you. In 
the last years of the Seventeenth century 
the society of the " Yingt-Quatre violins 
de la chambre du Eoy " began to feel the 
urgent need of having a fixed diapason. 
But where find that point which should 
be an unchangeable standard for reference 
at all times ? Chance furnished it. In 
fact it was found only when the open La 
of the fiddlers corresponded in a small 
measure with the note given by the great 
clock {bourdon) of Notre Dame (taking 
into consideration, of course, an interval 
of several octaves). It was a happy coin- 
cidence, and they profited by it. 
If eventually the La had not ceased 
ascending, to the great detriment of 
singers voices, the blame should not have 
rested upon any but the instrumentalists, 
who, in their desire to shine, elevated 
more and more the diapason of their in- 
struments. In 1859, that is to say, in the 
epoch of the ministerial decree, which 
took the position of police of the gamut, 
the diapason of Paris was 896 vibrations ; 
that of Lille 904 ; that of Milan 900 ; that 
of St. Petersburg 903 ; that of Berlin 903. 
Sooner or later it will be seen that all 
musical Europe will sustain the rule of 
our diapason, and stand in unison with us, 
which will constitute a sort of European 
equilibrium. — Courrier des Etats-TJnis. 
Girls as Housekeepers. 
BEGIN with your own things and youi 
own place. That is what your mdthei 
will tell you if your rush to her, enthusi- 
astic with great intentions, and offer to 
relieve her of half her housekeeping. Ke- 
form your bureau drawer, relieve your 
closet pegs of their accumulation of gar- 
ments out of use a month or two ago. In- 
stitute a clear and cheerful order, in the 
midst of which you can daily move ; and 
learn to keep it. Have your little wash 
cloths and your sponges for bits of clean- 
ing ; your furniture brush and your feather 
duster and your light little broom and 
your whisk and pan ; your bottle of sweet 
oil and spirits of turpentine, and piece of 
flannel to preserve the polish or restore 
the gloss where dark wood grows dim or 
gets spotted. Find out, by following your 
surely growing sense of thoroughness and 
niceness the best and readiest way of 
keeping all fresh about you. Invent your 
own processes ; they will come to you. 
AVhen you have made yourself wholly 
mistress of what you can learn and do in 
your own apartnient, so that it is easier 
and more natural for you to do it than to 
let it alone— so that you don't count the 
time it takes any more than that which 
you have to give to your o'wn bathing or 
hair dressing— then you have learned 
enough to keep » whole house, so far as 
its clean 13^ order is concerned.— -E"^. 
