( 515 ) 
directly against the bridge but against a moveable piece of steel p 
The weight of the clamp is rather more than 7 grammes. 
If the bridge swings in its own plane about its right foot /, then 
when we attach the clamp to the bridge at a, the moment of inertia 
of the bridge about the axis of rotation at f perpendicular to the 
plane of the bridge will be much increased. 
On the other hand when we fix the clamp at b, the effect on the 
moment of inertia will be much smaller. 
We found however that there was very little difference in the 
sound of the violin in the two cases. By fixing the clamp at a some 
damping influence was noticeable in the g string; at b the e string 
was somewhat damped. 
In view of the effect of the clamp being about the same in both 
cases it is difficult to conclude that the bridge swings principally 
in its own plane about one of its feet. Moreover the influence of 
the damper was in both cases very small. 
The following experiment speaks even more clearly. 
The distance between the middle of the right foot and the middle 
of the upper edge of the bridge fc is in our case 38 mms. The 
distance fa is 37 mms. 
When the clamp is placed at c a strongly damped sound is 
obtained : this is the well known mute-effect, but even stronger in 
our case than with the ordinary mute which weighs only about 4 
grammes as against ours which weighs over 7 grammes. At a the 
effect is as we saw, extremely small. 
As fc and fa are approximately equal, the increase of the moment 
of inertia of the bridge is about equal in both cases. If the sound 
Were transmitted by the bridge chiefly by its vibrations about an 
axis at f, the damping effect of our clamp should be about equal in 
both positions. 
As this appears not to be the case we cannot but infer from these 
experiments that the motion of the bridge in its own plane is not 
of primary importance for the transmission of the vibrations of the 
strings to the roof of the violin. 
We subjoin as an instance some results obtained by two indepen¬ 
dent observers each playing his own violin. 
Violin with strong sound, about Old violin by a pupil of Stainer’s, 
50 years old, maker unknown, small strongly arched model, 
model Maggini, very large. fine mellow sound, but not 
strong in tone, d string least 
fine, a string by far the best, 
e also very good. 
