ted with
a louder stop, or with one of a more penetrating quality than the
latter.

This device, together with an elaborate arrangement of swells and
pedal-notes, has greatly enlarged the capacity of the organ for
producing those choral effects which mainly depend upon gradations of
volume. Yet the whole system, elaborate as it is, offers but a poor
substitute for the marvellous range of individuality that may be
expressed on the notes of the piano by instantaneous changes in the
values ascribed to single notes. By the same action of his finger the
pianist not only makes the note, but also gives its value; while the
method of the organist is to neglect the element of finger-pressure
and to rely upon other methods for imparting emphasis or softness to
his work.

An organ that shall emit a louder or softer note, according to the
force with which the key on the manual is depressed, will no doubt be
one of the musical instruments of the twentieth century. Whether each
key will be fitted with a resisting spring, or whether the lever will
be constructed in such a way as to throw a weight to a higher or lower
grade of position, according to the force with which it is struck, is
a question which will depend upon the results of experiment. But the
latter method is more in consonance with the conditions which have
given to the piano its wonderful versatility, and it therefore seems
the more probable solution of the two. Upon the vigour of the finger's
impact will depend the height to which a valve is thrown, and this
will determine the speed and volume of the air which is liberated to
rush into the pipe and make the note.

The nineteenth century orchestra is a fearfully and wonderfully
constructed agglomeration of ancient and modern instruments. Its
merits are attested by the fine musical sense of the most experienced
conductors, whose aim it has been so to balance the different
instruments as to produce a tastefully-blended effect, while at the
same time providing for solos and also for the rendering of parts in
which a small number of performers may contribute to the unfolding of
the composer's ideas. The orchestra cannot therefore be examined or
discussed from a mechanical point of view, however much some of the
instruments of which it is composed may be thought capable of
improvement.

But the position of the conductor himself in the front of an orchestra
is, from a purely artistic standpoint, highly anomalous. It is as