etails to gratify the curiosity of those who like to know "how it's
done."

It is extraordinary the number and variety of rosins in the market;
some in most wonderfully contrived boxes designed to keep the rosin
dust from making the fingers sticky, or--more probably--to _sell_! Of
all the different patents in this way, I find the ordinary book-shape
by far the most satisfactory. The first quality of rosin is prepared
by boiling down Venice turpentine. In a certain authority on violin
matters I read that many soloists of celebrity use common kitchen
rosin, but I cannot say I have much faith in the source from whence
he can have received such information. It is advisable never to
change the rosin used until the bow is re-haired, as in each there is
some slight difference in composition that may not harmonize with
what is already on the bow.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE PERFECTION OF THE MODERN BOW--DR. NICHOLSON'S PATENT
BOW--VUILLAUME'S INVENTIONS--SELF-HAIRING BOWS--A FOLDING BOW--THE
"KETTERIDGE BOW."

It is worthy of note, as a testimony to the simplicity and perfection
of the bow, that there have been so few attempts, since Tourte's day,
to alter or "improve" it in any particular. The few experiments that
have been made in this direction have in nearly every case proved
failures and have sunk into speedy oblivion.

One of the most remarkable productions in this way was the ponderous
monstrosity invented by one Dr. Nicholson (Fig. 43). This hideous and
unwieldy weapon was put forth by its inventor as the only correct
form for a violin bow! It had to be haired with precisely 150 horse
hairs dyed red. The reasons for this and the eccentric curve of the
stick are subtleties into which I dare not venture!

[Illustration: FIG. 43.]

Vuillaume's erratic genius was responsible for sundry attempts at
improving the bow, the most complex being the fixed nut. He was
struck by the fact that with the ordinary nut advancing and
retreating by the action of the screw it was possible for it to be
not always mathematically in the same place. Also that as the hair
gradually stretched by use, the length thereof increased as the same
tension was obtained each time it was screwed up for use. This, of
course, made a minute difference in the balance of the bow. He
apparently considered this a serious defect and set about inventing a
nut that should render the balance and the length of the hair
immutable. This was his patent "_hausse