THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
41 
the back, aixl Ihe instrument would be 
worthless. It will not do to have both 
plates in unison, or giving the same 
sound. The belly must be a whole tone, 
or at least more than a semitone sliarper 
than the back, to give good results. If 
the back gives C 512 vibrations, the belly 
should give D, the next whole tone above. 
The amateur should, therefore, carefully 
work out the belly of his instrument until 
he has arrived at the proper degree of 
thickness, and he must bear in mind that 
the better he does his work the more per- 
fect will be his instrument. 
All tools should be kept perfectly sharp, 
so that the wood may not be torn off but 
cleanly and smoothly cut. The inside of 
a violiu should be as carefully finished as 
the outside. 
There is something we forgot to speak 
of in its proper place, namely, the cutting 
of the grooves around the edges of the 
X^lates and tlie inserting of the fillets or 
purfi'uig. We will return to this part of 
the work in our next article, and explain 
the manner of inserting the bass bar -a 
thing which is one of Ihe great secrets of 
violin-making. 
which will be found more or less useful 
for various purposes : A small hard brush, 
for brushing out dust and small chips 
from diaper or other depressed work. A 
marking-gauge of the ordinary type, a 
wood rasp, and a riffler, same as shown 
at Fig. 1, which is an excellent tool for 
Fig. 1. 
finishing up nooks and corners. A pair 
of medium-sized, egg-shaped callipers will 
often be found useful. We show a pair, 
which we think is the most suitable in 
shape for the carver, at Fig. 2. A pair of 
Amateur Wood-Carving. 
OME excellent lessons on wood- 
carving have appeared in previ- 
ous numbers of the Young Sci- 
entist, to which we gladly refer 
those of our readers who have not at- 
tempted the art heretofore, but who in- 
tend to practice it now, with a view of be- 
coming adepts. Wood-carving has always 
been to the uninitiated a ter7Yt incognito, 
but, like most of the arts practiced for in- 
dustrial and decorative purposes, the un- 
known and mysterious gradually disap- 
pear on closer acquaintance, until the art 
becomes as familiar as any other of our 
occu[)ations. 
No amateur will be able to work with 
satis fa,ction, or turn out creditable results, 
unless he possesses the necessary tools 
and api^liances for doing so. In the arti- 
cles referred to some of the tools required 
by the carver were illustrated and de- 
scribed. In addition to the tools already 
spoken of, we may add the following. 
I Fig. '2. 
i 
j spring dividers will also be found useful ; 
■and these should be good and about the 
j style shown at Fig. 3. Although most of 
the paring and cutting may be accom- 
Fig, 3. 
plished by pressure alone, or by a gentle 
tap on the handle of the cutting tool with 
the palm of the hand, there will be some 
cases where it will be necessary to make 
