Various

“ The instrument, although with extraordinary advantages in tone, character, and adaptability, that render it valuable to the composer, is yet complicated and capricious for the performer; but its very imperfections remove it from the mechanical tendencies of the age, often damaging to art; and, as the player has to rely very much upon his ear for correct intonation, he gets, in reality, near to the manipulation of the stringed instruments. ”

“ The flute is an instrument of embouchure—that is to say, one in which a stream of air is driven from the player's lips against an edge of the blow hole to produce the sound. The oboe and bassoon have double reeds, and the clarinet a single reed, made of a species of cane, as intermediate agents of sound production. There are other flutes than that of embouchure—those with flageolet or whistle heads, which, having become obsolete, shall be reserved for later notice. There are no real tenor or bass flutes now, those in use being restricted to the upper part of the scale. ”

“ We may, therefore, expect to see hydrogen and oxygen take an important place in ordinary usages. From the standpoint alone of preservation of fuel, that is to say, of potential energy upon the earth, this new conquest of electricity is very pleasing. Waterfalls furnish utilizable energy in every locality, and, in the future, will perhaps console our great-grandchildren for the unsparing waste that we are making of coal.—La Nature. ”

“ Without the assistance of photography, however greatly the resources of genius might overcome the optical and mechanical difficulties of constructing large telescopes, the astronomer would have to depend in the last resource upon his eye. Now, we could not by the force of continued looking bring into view an object too feebly luminous to be seen at the first and keenest moment of vision. But the feeblest light which fell upon the plate was not lost, but taken in and stored up continuously. Each hour the plate gathered up 3,600 times the light energy which it received during the first second. ”

“ Beyond that note, increased pressure, or overblowing, assisted by a harmonic "speaker" key, produces the first harmonic, that of the octave, and so on. The lowest notes are rough and the highest shrill; from A to D above the treble clef, the tone quality of the oboe is of a tender charm in melody. Although not loud, its tone is penetrating and prominent. Its staccato has an agreeable effect. The place of the oboe in the wood wind band between the flute and the clarinet, with the bassoon for a bass, is beyond the possibility of improvement by any change. ”

“ It is this principle that is utilized in refrigeration and ice making. In the absorption system, where aqua ammonia is used, the liquor is contained in a retort to which heat is applied by means of a steam coil, and a great part of the gas which was held in solution by the water is expelled, and carries with it a small amount of water or vapor. This passes into a separator in the top of a condenser, from which the water returns again to the retort, the ammonia gas, under considerable pressure, passing into the coolers. These are large receptacles in which the gas is permitted to expand. ”

“ THE PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN THROUGH THE ELECTROLYSIS OF WATER.
All attempts to prepare gaseous fluids industrially were premature as long as there were no means of carrying them under a sufficiently diminished volume. For a few years past, the trade has been delivering steel cylinders that permit of storing, without the least danger, a gas under a pressure of from 120 to 200 atmospheres. The problem of delivery without pipe laying having been sufficiently solved, that of the industrial production of gases could be confronted in its turn. ”

“ In all these old finger hole instruments the scale begins with the first hole, a note in the bagpipe with which the drones agree, and not the entire tube. From the bass and double quint pommers came ultimately the bassoon and contra-bassoon, and from the alto pommer, an obsolete instrument for which Bach wrote, called the oboe di caccia, or hunting oboe, an appellation unexplained, unless it had originally a horn-like tone, and was, as it has been suggested to me by Mr. Blaikley, used by those who could not make a real hunting horn sound. It was bent to a knee shape to facilitate performance. ”

“ The reed initiating the tone by the player's breath is a broad, single, striking or beating reed, so called because the vibrating tongue touches the edges of the body of the cutting or framing. A cylindrical pipe, as that of the clarinet, drops, approximately, an octave in pitch when the column of air it contains is set up in vibration by such a reed, because the reed virtually closes the pipe at the end where it is inserted, and like a stopped organ pipe sets up a node of maximum condensation or rarefaction at that end. ”

“ All differ in tone and quality; the A one is softer than the B flat; the C is shrill. The B flat is the virtuoso instrument. In military bands the clarinet takes the place which would be that of the violin in the orchestra, but the tone of it is always characteristically different. Although introduced in the time of Handel and Bach those composers made no use of it. With Mozart it first became a leading orchestral instrument.
The Basset horn, which has become the sensuously beautiful alto clarinet in E flat, is related to the clarinet in the same way that the cor Anglais is to the oboe. ”

“ During the manufacture of the cylinder, as we have already indicated, much oil is used, and, so far as steel can be saturated with that fluid—in the popular sense—the metal is in that state. It is essential that this oil should be completely got rid of, and this is carefully done before the cylinder is charged with gas. Previous to such charging, the vessel has to be fitted with its valve. Of these valves there are three kinds, known respectively as the Brin, the Birmingham, and the Manchester. Each has its admirers, but we cannot here discuss their individual merits. ”

“ By such expansion heat is absorbed and the temperature of the surroundings is lowered. From the coolers the gas returns to the absorber, from which it is pumped, in liquid form, into the retort, to be again heated, the gas expelled and the process repeated. As the gas passes through the different processes, being heated under pressure, cooled, expanded again, more or less decomposition takes place, presumably from a combination of a small portion of the nitrogen with vegetable, animal, or mineral matter that finds its way into the system. ”

“ Photography put it in the power of the astronomer to accomplish in the short span of his own life, and so enter into their fruition, great works which otherwise must have been passed on by him as a heritage of labor to succeeding generations. The second great service which photography rendered was not simply an aid to the powers the astronomer already possessed. ”

“ Each instrument in which such a mouthpiece is employed requires a slightly different form of it. The French horn is the most important brass instrument in modern music. It consists of a body of conical shape about seven feet long, without the crooks, ending in a large bell, which spreads out to a diameter of fifteen inches. The crooks are fitted between the body and the mouthpiece; they are a series of smaller interchangeable tubings, which extend in length as they descend in pitch, and set the instrument in different keys. The mouthpiece is a funnel shaped tube of metal, by preference silver ”

“ Supposing very small losses in the dynamo and piping, we may count upon a production of one cubic meter of hydrogen and 500 cubic decimeters of oxygen for 10 horse-power taken upon the main shaft, say an expenditure of 10 kilogrammes of coal or of about 25 centimes—a little more in Paris, and less in coal districts. If, consequently, we fix the price of the cubic meter of gas at 50 centimes, we shall preserve a sufficient margin. In localities where a natural motive power is at our disposal, this estimate will have to be greatly reduced. ”

“ In the required length of slide the ear has always to assist. It is clear that the very short shifts of a double slide demand great nicety of manipulation. It is, of course, different with the valve trumpet. The natural trumpets are not limited to one or two keys, but those in F, E, E flat, D, B flat, and even A have been employed; but, usually, the valve trumpets are in F, and the higher B flat, with a growing inclination, but an unfortunate one, to be restricted to the latter, it being easier for cornet players. ”

“ Having alluded to the cornet à piston, it may be introduced here, particularly as from being between a trumpet and a bugle, and of four foot tone, it is often made to do duty for the more noble trumpet. But the distinctive feature of this, as of nearly all brass instruments since the invention of valves, tends to a compromise instrument, which owes its origin to the bugle. The cornet à piston is now not very different from the valve bugle in B flat on the one hand and from the small valve trumpet in the same key on the other. ”

“ Anhydrous ammonia, the gas, may be reduced to the liquid form at ordinary temperatures when submitted to a pressure of about 95 pounds. During the process of liquefaction the ammonia gives up a large amount of heat, which if absorbed or radiated while the ammonia is in the liquid condition, the gas when allowed to expand will absorb from its surroundings an amount of heat equal to that radiated, producing a very great lowering of temperature. ”

“ If electric sparks are passed through the gas, it suffers decomposition, the nitrogen and hydrogen then being in the condition of a simple mixture. When decomposed in this manner, the volume of the gas is doubled and the proportion is found to be three measures of hydrogen to one of nitrogen, while the weight of the two constituents is in the proportion of three parts hydrogen to fourteen of nitrogen.
The ammonia gas may also be decomposed by passing through a red hot tube, and the presence of heated iron causes a slight degree of decomposition. ”

“ But times have changed, and a cylinder of about the same size, but half the weight, is now made to hold four times the quantity of gas at the enormous initial pressure of 1,800 pounds on every square inch. This means the pressure which an ordinary locomotive boiler has to withstand multiplied by twelve. The change is due to improved methods of manufacture and to the employment of mild steel of special quality in lieu of the wrought iron previously employed. The cylinders are now made without joint or seam, and the process of manufacture is most interesting. ”

“ In the manufacture of chains by the aforesaid process of punching there is a practical minimum limit for the dimensions of the punches which cannot be reduced without compromising their efficiency, and consequently the width (and therefore the length) of the link must necessarily bear a certain proportion to the thickness of the web of metal out of which it is formed, since the breadth of the link depends on the length of the cross stay, which is determined by the breadth of the mortises forming the eyes of the link. ”

“ The primary task of the sun's motion in space, together with the motions of the brighter stars, had been already put well within our reach by the spectroscopic method of the measurement of star motions in the line of sight. Astronomy, the oldest of the sciences, had more than renewed her youth. ”

“ Economy in acid being therefore imperative, the silver solution finally becomes much concentrated, and it requires high heat and careful management to finish the solution of the bullion. Bars containing more than about 10 per cent. of copper cannot be dissolved at all, owing to the separation of copper sulphate insoluble in the small amount of free acid finally remaining. The advantage gained by dissolving bullion with abundance of free acid in the improved process is so evident that it merely requires to be pointed out. ”