1879.] 
Notices of Books . 
757 
ornamentation in different ages and in different nations. It 
would be, however, highly unfair to blame him for omitting sub- 
jects which he has intentionally excluded from his plan. What 
he has undertaken he has executed thoroughly and satisfactorily, 
and his work is hence an invaluable manual for the higher offi- 
cials of railways, for the authorities of the navy, and for the 
proprietors of trading- and passenger-vessels. All such persons 
will here find what, in this respeCt, is their duty to the public, 
and how it may best be performed. To the medical profession 
it will prove an indispensable guide in the examination of sup- 
posed cases of colour-blindness. 
The Music of the Bible ; with an account of the Development of 
Modern Musical Instruments from Ancient Types. By John 
Stainer, M.A., Mus. Doc., Magd. Coll., Oxon. London: 
Novello, Ewer, and Co., and Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. 
The author of this little book has carefully weighed the abun- 
dant though discordant evidences as to the identity of biblical 
musical instruments. The many sieges which Jerusalem has 
undergone have destroyed every monumental trace ; a few coins 
are the only Hebrew source of information. Fortunately nations 
with whom the Jews were in constant intercourse, the Egyptians 
and Assyrians, supply abundance of material for the determina- 
tion of the musical instruments in use by them, which may 
fairly be considered to have greatly influenced the musical 
resources of the Hebrews. 
With respeCt to the origin of stringed instruments, Dr. Stainer 
is of opinion that the common hunting-bow is the parent of the 
whole family ; and the series on page 72 show how easily the 
violin, guitar, dulcimer, and even the pianoforte itself, may have 
been evolved by a progressive series of alterations. Indeed the 
comparative anatomy, if it may be so called, of musical instru- 
ments seems to have been diligently studied by the author in his 
endeavour to show the probable nature of the resources of the 
Jewish orchestra. That the instruments varied at differert 
periods of their history there can be little doubt. For instance, 
at page 97, Dr. Stainer remarks, “ We have the same name 
(organ) for the single row of about fifty pipes, placed perhaps in 
a little room, and the mighty instrument of five thousand pipes, 
occupying as much space as an ordinary dwelling-house, and 
requiring the daily attention of a qualified workman to keep its 
marvellous complications properly adjusted; yet each is an 
organ. May it not have been the case that the ‘‘ugabl which in 
Gen. iv., 21, is mentioned as the simply constructed wind in- 
strument, in contrast to the simple stringed instrument, the 
