that the pressure on towards the block is apt to widen instead
of closing the crack. The most usual way of mending a crack, or there
may be more than one, is by the use of a small hand vice. A piece of
stout card placed between the teeth of the vice to prevent an imprint,
the part to be joined will, after cleaning and glueing, be brought
closely as possible together and the vice screwed up. For this process
the help of another person will be almost absolutely necessary, as two
hands will be required for holding the parts together while the second
person holds the vice and turns the screw to order. When dry and
unscrewed the parts joined will require a little scraping of the
superfluous glue, washing away at a thin part as this is would be
dangerous; if brought together neatly the rib can then be pressed on
the block in the manner before explained.

The same process will be gone through when a portion of fresh rib has
to be inserted at this part, owing to loss of a piece through violence
or the ravages of the worm. In the latter case searching inquiry should
be made with a pointed wire or pin and the direction of the boring
operations ascertained, as it may be necessary to insert a larger piece
than was originally intended to avoid a large smash or general collapse
at the part where the greatest strength should be. There is often too
great a tendency shown in repairing, especially in preparation for the
market, as, for instance, when an old master has been unearthed in some
farmhouse or out of the way place on the Continent, to make a clean
sweep of a somewhat riddled part, the repairer trusting too much to
his imitative powers on new wood with new varnish, and we may say with
new ideas on old facts; it is seldom that the result is far from hideous.
Better trace the tortuous course of a whole family of worms and fill
up with a cement or plugging than, as is too often the case, cut a huge
slice away, for if so the instrument according to the extent begins
to assume a composite character, it may be ten out of twelve parts gem
of an old master and two parts modern trash, hateful to the eye of the
connoisseur.

While touching upon the subject of worm-holes, a few words more may
not be out of place when contemplating the ravages of these voracious
creatures. Almost all devotees to the "gentle art" of fiddling have
a great horror of the possible presence or the ungauged depths of the
mysterious tunnellings the entrance or exi